Home Alone at Christmas

I contacted some girlfriends of mine just recently to send Christmas Greetings and some of the replies I got reminded me about what it felt like to be 'home alone' at Christmas. I've been there and tried to do what some people are doing which is to try to ignore the hype completely and get on with doing some ordinary things till the day passes. But no matter how much you try to ignore it, if you are not connected with significant others in a real way, a kind of loneliness can creep and sit there on your shoulder.

And you know its not just about not being with other people. Its more about a kind of compounding of every aching emptiness you've ever felt when bells are jingling and families are slicing turkeys together but you're feeling completely out of it. 

What's this got to do about success? Not a lot really- just me responding to the thoughts and feelings of others I know, and thinking about my own blessings that at least I have the choice of spending time with my significant others. I chose last year to make that time a time of quiet peacefulness by myself. And it was good.

But I think now of those people who ache inside at this time of the year and I wish them peace too.

On an entirely different note, I have been thinking more about me blog and how I can make it even better next year. I came across this information I wanted to share about successful blogging. And here it is.

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Blessings for Today

1. I am thankful for the people I now choose to spend my time with this Christmas and that I have a choice at all.

2. To the woman at the cinema today who simply gave me 2 complimentary tickets to see the film for no good reason I can think of. I want to say again Thank You. I am grateful for the entertainment that is now available to me.

3. To be able to give and receive gifts is a blessing indeed.

Personal Development and Success

Read more!

The Will to Succeed

What the mind of man can conceive it can achieve. That's a pretty bold statement, wouldn't you say? And whether or not we believe it, we can't deny that we are capable to so much more when we put our minds to it. And isn't it incredible what we've been able to achieve using only a small fraction of the mind. Imagine if we could use another 10%!! What yet to be imagined creative and destructive realms would await us. Its incredible to think of the depth and breathe of the human mind. Everything we are and have, has come from a thought in someone's head. That's awesome.

As we grew from infancy there was much to learn, to absorb. Many things we were taught as children but as we grew older we became responsible for our own learning. What we choose to learn will have a major impact on our success in life, wouldn't you say? So you can see how critical it is to continue to learn and develop our minds.

There are people for whom striving to grow intellectually stops when they walk out of the school gates for the last time. But imagine now, OK, what would happen if you just kept on accelerating your learning. What could you do, be, have, if you were committing to a process of continual growth. That's what being a part of Success University has contributed to my life. At the click of a mouse, there online are numerous personal development courses available to me that allows me to keep on opening my mind.

Our will is but one part of the mind that remains forever fascinating. There is a boy of my acquaintance whose will to succeed constantly astonishes me.

He is only 15 years old but he puts me to shame with his almost unshakeable willpower. . determination and will power. That's my boy.

What is the Will? Free Will. Will Power. Weak willed. Strong willed. I've heard it described as the strength of our determination. I know pretty much all of us have struggled with it on many occasions. But its kind of hard to say what it really is.

Another helping of pie? Struggle struggle.

Cold outside and you need to do your exercises? Struggle struggle.

Read a book rather than watch idiot TV? Struggle struggle.

You know the sort of thing I mean! It is where our resolve lies and the choices we make. You can exercise your body. Can you exercise your will? Can you strengthen and develop it? I believe we can. But we have to exercise it regularly as we would our bodies if we hoped to gain physical strength. And when we do, it will powerfully support our success.

Another piece of pie? ARRRR....NO THANK YOU. Just this once.

Then try it out again tomorrow. And again the next day and so on until.....

What's been your will in the past? What's it like now? Has it changed? Have you had some tough choices to make? Do you think they have made you stronger? Do you find that in some areas of your life its easier than in others to exert your will?

Consider now the things you have been putting off doing or the decisions you haven't wanted to make and start exercising your will by doing or deciding now. Start small and build yourself up. Go to bed now or stay up another 2 hours? Then when it comes to major choices of will power, you're much more ready to go.

Blessings for today

1. My house guests made dinner and washed up. How cool was that for me? Heaps. I am grateful to them for this gesture on their part.

2. My sister remains very ill. I am struggling to find a gratitude to express about her situation. I guess that she is in somewhat less pain than before is a blessing.

3.In the bitter cold outside, I have had the means to keep myself warm inside and I have so much gratitude for the comforts of my life.

Personal Development and Success

Read more!

Reasons to Succeed

Lets face it. There are not many people for whom life's all plain sailing now are there. Some people are sailing more close to the wind its true, but we all face challenges on many kinds. That's life. 

And when it gets rough out there, what's going to help you keep your head above water? How badly do you want to succeed in many areas of your life? As we approach the New year, many of us will be setting some new goals. But how big is your WHY?

I'll admit to having watched a bit of The X Factor last night. Boy how hungry were those contestants for the ultimate success!. They were all winners as far as I was concerned. And it seemed to me that they pretty much all had a very big WHY. A big enough reason to succeed. My heart went out to Leon who won and as a mother of a teenage son who has set himself a stupendous goal he wants to succeed in, I got quite motional for him.

What's my why? What are yours? Would answering some of these questions help you to discover your WHYs?

What do you want to achieve in you lifetime? 

What makes you ....  happy and excited?

What areas of your life do you want to grow in?

What gets you really worked up socially and politically?

What areas of personal growth mean the most to you?

What are you most afraid of?

If you could help others transform their lives in some truely meaningful way, what would that mean to you?

What does family and friendship mean to you?

Are there people in your life for whom you would do pretty much anything?

You tell me you want to lose weight. What's your WHY?

You say you want to make money. Is your reason strong enough to get you out of bed in time in the morning?

You want to run a marathon. What will achieving that do for you?

So many dreams. So many desires. So many goals. How are you going to get there? How powerful are your reasons?

What gives your life worth and meaning? Your WHY has such immense power. That's one of the major things that's going to motivate you to get off your butt and take action to succeed at the things you say you want. That's your carrot. That's what drives you.

Now, here's the thing. I don't recommend you keep this in your head. There is power in the written word. So grab a paper and pen. Or better still, something more permanent like a lovely hard-backed journal. Reason's to be cheerful. Part One. Go on. Start with one reason why you must succeed. Make it real. Ten expand on it as much as you can.

'For my mum' may be a good enough motivator for you but allow yourself to think of as many reasons as you can why it should be for your mum. Keep going. And then some more. Aim for at least 3 good reasons in each area for which you have a goal. You;ll know when you hit the peak. When it hits you in the eye -'So that's why I've got to do it.'

When you've written them down, do you know you will be one of only about 7-3% of people who ever bother? And that will make you one of the small % of people likely to succeed. Way to go! Now imagine looking back at your journal in 6 months, 1 year, 5 years or 10 years time and tracking your success. How good does that feel? And that imagining and feeling will greatly contribute to attracting that success to you.

My Reasons to Succeed

1. For my sister whose life is rapidly ebbing away as I write this, my son who has bigger dreams and takes action in a way I would never have dreamt of at his age, for my husband who deserves to kick back in his life a bit more now and for me because I deserve the feeling of achievement I would surely get.

2. The children around the world whose lives I have the capacity to transform by sponsorships and for paying for life changing surgeries.

3. For the future of the earth if I can make whatever contributions I can to preserving it and creating gardens of peacefulness and relaxation.

Personal Development and Success

Read more!

30 Ways to Fail, 30 Ways to Succeed

I was talking today to the Apple Mac technician Syed to sort a problem I was having and I was so impressed by his patience and courtesy as well as his problem solving skills and it just connected with one of the ways Napoleon Hill talks about in a chapter from his book Think and Grow Rich called How to Overcome Failure and achieve Success. 

After speaking to Syed I definitely felt warmer towards his company and I hope it reflects how they select and train all their technicians. Of course people are going to want to use this company if they have got the right ingredients for success, and for me a key pointer is treating their customers right, with courtesy and patience in my case.

So what's holding you back from being the success you would like to be? From the thousands of people Napoleon Hill studied back there in the 1930s an impressive 98% could not be classed as successful. OK there was The Depression, but could things be very much different today? Yes I know that depends on how you define Success but I rather suspect still a huge percentage of us would struggle to class ourselves as 'successful'.

Check this out. Where would you stand on Hill's list of the 30 major causes of failure (and therefore the keys to success)? He based his list on 25 years of careful analysis of the methods of both successful and unsuccessful men in America. Try this out with someone who knows you well as we mostly can't see ourselves as others see us.

1. Unfavorable hereditary background. Here he's talking about people with a 'deficiency in brainpower' and is the only one thing on his list that can't be corrected. OK. Once you've decided that's not you, move on.

2. Lack of well defined purpose. What are you about? Do you have definite goals? 98 out of 100 of us have no such thing. Got your goals sorted out for the coming year and written down??

3. Lack of ambition to rise above mediocrity. This is people who don't want to get ahead in life or lack the motivation to put the work necessary in.

4. Insufficient education. We're not talking college degree here but self education or becoming self made, and the ability to APPLY what you know.

5. Lack of self discipline - not having self control or self mastery ca be one of the hardest things to do.

6. Ill Health mostly caused by eating unhealthily, negative thinking, lack of proper exercise, fresh air and poor breathing

7. Poor childhood influences leading to criminal tendencies

8. Procrastination . One of the most common causes of failure. Most of us are living in wait for the right time to start something. There's not usually a right time. Just start and develop as you go.

9. Lack of persistence -starting and never finishing and then giving up at the first sign of defeat.

10. Negative personality. Success can't come if your negativity repels others but from applying power through cooperation with others.

11. Lack of controlled sexual urge. What? I hear you say! This most powerful of human urges needs to be converted into other channels.

12. Uncontrolled desire for something for nothing - a gambling instinct that leads millions to failure.

13. Poor decision making. Finding it hard to make decisions then frequent changing of mind. Indecision and Procrastination are twin brothers.

14. Having one or more of the basic 6 fears (that's for another chapter)

15. Selecting the wrong marriage partner leading to misery, unhappiness and loss of ambition.

16. Over-caution - not willing to take risks. Life is filled with chances.

17. Selecting the wrong people to associate with. We end to copy those we mix with. Who are you associating with?

18. Superstition and Prejudice leads to fear and ignorance. Keep open minded.

19. Selecting the wrong vocation. You've got to like what you do that you can be wholeheartedly involved in.

20. Not concentrating your efforts - having a jack of all trades mentality so you don't concentrate on one definite aim.

21. Indiscriminate spending leads to an eternal fear of poverty. Develop the habit of saving a percentage of your income systematically.

22. lack of enthusiasm - its contagious.

23. Intolerance especially around religious, racial and political differences. You need to develop open mindedness and be ready to learn new things.

24. Intemperance - overindulgence in drink, sex, food .

25. Not cooperating with others that can lose you big opportunities in life.

26. Possessing power not achieved through your own efforts. "Power in the hands of one who did not acquire it gradually, is often fatal to success. Quick riches are more dangerous than poverty."

27. Intentional dishonesty will sooner or later erode your reputation and maybe even your freedom.

28. Egotism and Vanity will flash like warning lights for others to avoid you.

29. Guessing instead of thinking. You need to take time to get the facts so you can make accurate judgements.

30. Lack of capital. (Thinks... Are there not people we know, or know of, who are now successful but had practically nothing or were even in debt to start with?). He says its especially hard for first timers to absorb the shock of their mistakes to tide them over till they've built their reputations.

Well there you have it. How did you score in the success/failure stakes? Did Hill get it right? Have things moved on from his days? Just something to consider and I for one will definitely keep good goal setting along with persistence and self discipline at the forefront.

Blessings for today

1.I am thankful that I have been able to maintain my focus and discipline today despite low energy from lack of adequate sleep.

2. I give thanks for my family relationships that support and encourage.

3. I am grateful for the labour of the Women of Columbia whose craft was given to me as a gift. Their labour of many hours to produce a scarf of great beauty is a testimony to their resourcefulness and hard work and I wish them divine blessings in their work. I take inspiration from their work.

Personal Development and Success

http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

Read more!

More on Creating Goals from Vic Johnson

Coincidentally - well not that surprising really at this time of the year! - I just came across a little video from Vic Johnson about setting goals. Its very good but it stops short of the really impactful bit I was looking forward to which was taking you through a process of reprogramming your thoughts so you can get beyond self limiting beliefs and achieve greater success in your goals.

And we all have them, don't we? No matter how 'sorted' we are. There's usually a little tape we play over and over inside our heads of all kinds of negative stuff. You know the one that goes something like "the reason you can't have an intimate relationships is because you're..fat/ugly/ignorant"...You fill in the blanks. Or how about "you can't possibly do that. You haven't been educated" Oh there are so many. What's your favourite?

Well here's the thing. How we hold ourselves from getting where we want to because we keep feeding a lot of negative self limiting stuff to ourselves. Yes we have to be honest with ourselves, but is that honesty? Are there people who are fat and loved to bits by their partners? Are there people who acquired wealth who didn't have a college degree? If we keep telling ourselves the reason we don't achieve is because of some deficit, we may just be short changing ourselves. Heck, there are enough people out there who may want to knock you off your perch, why do it to yourself?

Vic says making goals is a process like making a cake. There are ingredients to get and steps to follow. And what happens if we don't, is that the cake won't turn out as we expected or hoped. The good thing is that you can expect good results if you follow the recipe.

I like his analogy too of travelling along the road to get from A toB. You're lucky if the road is clear and you can just whizz on by. But all too often there are roadworks, obstacles, detours, traffic lights to stop at, hedgehogs crossing the road. So what are you going to do? Give up and go home, right? Heck no. You might have to stop a little, find another route or something. You just need to be flexible.

He talks about the 5 step process to getting what you want and I recommend you have a look at his video on http://www.Goals-2-Go.com It may not take you the whole way but its a good start.

Blessings for Today

1. When my husband accidentally burnt my son's school tie tonight, a neighbour came to the rescue with his son's old school tie. Thank heavens for neighbour you can call on in a time of need

2. I'm glad I stumbled across Vic's video. It was very timely. I guess I manifested it and I am grateful to the universal energy that drew me there.

3. Its pretty cold outside and I wouldn't like to be the one huddled up in some doorway trying to fend off the cold. Am I lucky or am I lucky that I have shelter from the storm? I am grateful.

Personal Development and Success

http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

Read more!

Making 2008 Your Best Year Ever

OK. So moving on from yesterday, I'd like to tell you more about some of the tips from Eric Edmeades for making 2008 your Best Year Ever. Remember - dream big but plan smart, tackle your limiting beliefs, uphold your promises to yourself like they were the promises you would make to your children if your life depended on it and would uphold whatever happened, write down your goals so you really know what you are aiming for. Needless to say, this starts to make them more concrete.

This comes from a man who spent many years turning his life around from near financial ruin, divorce, stress, being alone in a new country to financial freedom, a loving relationship and international leadership. Can you and I do it? Or is this for 'special' people? I know this for sure, if we always do what we always did, we'll always get what we always got. So what're you going to change, to create a different future?

Quite simply, and make no mistake, knowing what you want, is the way to get going. I had so much to write in this next exercise where we dated our 'journal' exactly one year from now and just started writing about all the things we had experienced during the year 2008. Beginning with .....

"Wow! What a year!..." Write about the beautiful things you now owned, the wonderful things you did, the amazing relationships you made, the places you'd visited, the way you took care of your physical health and your spiritual needs, about eliminating your debts, your rise in self confidence and self esteem, the friends you've made along the way. Wait, you've not done yet. How about.....

The learnings you've done, reaching your ideal weight, feeling fitter, younger, blessed, the car you acquired, the business growth you've made, the contributions you've made in the world, the love you've expressed and accepted, the way you've fostered relationships in your family, the things you can now do that you couldn't do a year ago, the income opportunities that came your way, the career shifts, the courses you've done, the activities you've enjoyed . Then add some more. Keep going. Here's your chance to really go for it in all areas of your life.

Talk about how great its been and all the other fantastic emotions that have blown you away during the year. Fill it with pride and joy and peacefulness and appreciations. Add some love and wonderment and surprise. Write about the difference you make in other people's lives and the fulfillment you've had.

Then when you've done that, find some quiet and uninterrupted place where you can allow yourself to close your eyes, and drift down into a beautiful place of total relaxation in your mind and as though in a dream, take yourself one year forward and looking back at your life, 'seeing' all those things you wrote about to come floating into your mind, already achieved.

Imagine you are already driving that car, recieving that cheque, meeting that special person, living in that amazing house, playing that alto saxophone (my dream folks!), floating that business on the stock market... Whatever floats your boat. This is the start of manifesting these things into your life, embedding them in your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind doesn't know the difference between fantasy and reality. However, as you might guess, there's more to do than dreaming. This is just the start.

He had us do this exercise where we identified 5 areas for consideration -

1. Perfect Intimate Relationships
2. Physical Health
3. Experiential/learning
4. Contribution
5. Financial

In each area we would then start some detailed mapping of exactly what we wanted to achieve. For example in Physical Health it might be;

• exercise for at least 3 times per week for a half hour each time
• drink at least 4 glasses of water daily
• join a walking club and go walking with others at least once a month/fortnight
• spend ten minutes per day in deep breathing
• meditate at least twice per week for about 10 minutes
• radically reduce your refined sugar and saturated fats by at least a half
• get that health check you've been meaning to get by the end of the month
• get to sleep a half hour earlier than usual
• eat a set portion of fruit and vegetable daily
• always take the stairs rather than the elevator
• join that football club
• etc. etc.

You begin to see how that dream of a fitter healthier more physically robust you gets broken down into specific and manageable small steps that you can begin to put into practice without too much difficulty.

Each area can be given a similar treatment and what you are going to end up with is a dream that's broken down into specific goals within which you can start to take small steps towards its achievement.

Taking small action steps is important. You are chunking down into manageable bite siized pieces (How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time!) From all the smaller steps you wrote down, go ahead and select 2 or 3 from each area that you really could do. No sweat.

Remember where I wrote about making promises to yourself? Now's the time to bring that into play. However if you can now also find yourself a partner, or better still a group of people with whom you can share your goals who can challenge, support, brainstorm with you and encourage, you are going to accelerate your success in achieving what you set out to do at a much much faster rate. People who will hold you accountable and be your mastermind group.

I must say that when we got together at the seminar with others this didn't really work so well for me. There was no time to get acquainted with the others or really understand or be understood about what we were trying to achieve but the idea was there of how we could develop using a mastermind group to achieve success.

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." Christopher Reeves 1996

Blessings for today

1. I want to thank the members of the group at the seminar that I was in for their contributions to my success. If only one germ of an idea was valid, that has a potential for enormous growth.

2. I enjoyed my dinner tonight. I am grateful for the food I eat and that it is so easily accessible to me.

3.For sharing warmth and love with my son and my husband when I walked through the door on returning from work today. I felt the caring and I wouldn't want to take it for granted for it is special in my life.



Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

Read more!

2008 - Your Best Year Ever

Listen up. If it seems to you that you've got bags of time to start thinking about your goals for the 2008, think again. At least Eric Edmeades wouldn't let you get away with that kind of thinking. He's all for getting started right now and right away. I know because I've just been attending today a one day training with him where he's been sharing his best guide for making the coming year your best ever.

Eric is now an international speaker in such areas as wealth, communication, business building and team building. Today he's been looking at creating clear goals that have a practical follow- up element, turning those deep desires we all have to create a better life experience for ourselves into attainable goals. It was one inspirational day.

For Eric dedicated planning is one of the keys to success. How many of us can get our focus around this at this time of the year? Well, a hell of a lot of people today by the look of it. It seems too many of us are sick of more of the same and we want to make a difference in our lives. And we want to do it now. But how to do it?

Eric said "I planned holidays and adventures, I planned charity and contribution, I planned for learning and I planned for success." He must have done something right for by all accounts he's doing pretty well in the world. Is it for us mere mortals? You betcha! If you don't know where you're going, how on earth will you know when you get there?

People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. - Earl Nightingale

What it takes is smart planning.

You miss 100% of the shots you do not take. - Wayne Gretsky

So let me offer one or two tips from the day that anyone can use.

1. Be aware of limiting beliefs when creating your goals. These are things like "I can't possibly aim that high.", "Its too much to shoot that far." Dream big goals - why not? Just be aware of that little voice inside that's getting back at you. If you try to set massive goals but know you screw up with your promises to yourself or you like a long lie-in in the mornings, that little voice is going to tell you no, you won't be able to reach them. How do you change that? What if you could find a more productive way to interrupt the negative thought patterns you have? He had us doing an NLP pattern interrupt exercise within small groups. Thats more involving to describe here but this next thing is well within all our capacity to do.

Create a Pattern Interrupt card. Use your computer to create a little card like a drivers licence with your picture on it. Create your own mission statement. Have 5-6 goals you want to achieve for the year. Laminate it. Stick it in your wallet. Now every time you are tempted to break your goal (e.g. you reach for that packet of biscuits you said you would never touch again), you bring out the card and read it. You may find you carry on eating the biscuits anyway but you still look at the card, still reminding your conscious mind and your subconscious what it is you are aiming for. Eventually the message will most likely get through.

Here's an exercise from the day. How about writing down what would be your perfect day if you could create it. But First! Consider, what would a messed-up day look like? Negative thinking, hitting the snooze button once again, procrastinating, drinking, smoking too much, having arguements with others, watching the news, being in a bad mood or others being so towards you. The list goes on. Now you'll know what you don't want. That's the stuff you're chucking out

Then come the real fun bit. This bit starts to give you clues about what you might want to be aiming for in your life. Describe your perfect day. Notice if it contains positive attitudes, spiritual enhancement, exercise, being in control of what you do, telling others you love them, keeping your word, doing something for someone else, play, fun, expressing gratitude, balancing work and play, dreaming and doing, drinking more water. What? What? Couldn't you just get totally blown away writing such a day?

2. Consider what happens when you give your word but don't follow through. Not to yourself or to other people. This bit's important because you're going to have to not only say you're going to take some action, but actually do them. Your currency to yourself or others have limited value if you don't.

I've a friend who I just say 'yea, yea' to now without the least conviction because repeatedly, she's failed to follow through with me and promises have been broken. After a while not only do others stop believing in you, but you don't even believe in yourself either. What does that do to your self esteem? How far down the road to success will you travel? Don't promise you will do something unless you know you will get things done. Shades of New year's resolutions here. And its far harder to keep those promises to yourself, isn't it?Who's going to check up on you? So during the day there was a lot of earnest promising both to ourselves and to our 'mastermind' groups about the steps towards achieving our goals we said we would take.

Wait. There's more. But I'm saving that for tomorrow.

Blessings for today

1. I had a wonderful and totally free opportunity today to revisit where I want to get to in my life in the next year. And I felt totally free to dream big and plan small practical steps. I'm excited by the future and totally committed to getting there. I am grateful to Triumphant Events and to Eric Edmeades for making this day possible that I and others may grow.

2. I am grateful to the people I met and connected with and especially with Naz and Christianna. Great company and conversations. And if at times I felt a little lost, it was good to have them near me and to to share our experiences.

3. One of the terrific things about living in London - so many wonderful experiences and opportunities to enhance my life right here on my doorstep. I feel lucky and appreciate them hugely.

Personal Development and Success

http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

Read more!

Turning Failure into Success

Guess what I’ve been reading? Napoleon Hill’s How to Overcome Failure and Achieve Success. It particularly struck a chord for me especially after the weekend meeting with my mastermind group and I wanted to share some of the core ideas he wrote about like masterminding and not quitting.

Haven’t we all got a desire to do, be or have something? Even something a vague as ‘to be a success’. We embellish this in our imagination and then if our desire if great enough, before long, we’ll find a way to start turning these imaginings into concrete plans for how we will achieve that desire. What Hill now describes is something of a blueprint for moving desire forward into success

This guy's an original creator for success through following ‘the mastermind principle’. Its about forming an alliance with like-minded people with whom you can relate in harmony, and that requires you to be able to contribute to other’s success as well as gaining from their experience, knowledge and skills. It comes down to more heads being better than one.

My mastermind group meets, like most I know of, about once per month but in fact, he suggests meeting at least twice a week if your plan is around making money. It turns out from his observation of people who became wealthy, everyone who had acquired wealth have got there through the combined education, native ability, experience and ability of other people. Although you can create your own plans, it works best to submit them for scrutiny to others to test that they are workable and practical. Of course this requires a good deal of trust and I’m finding from my own experience that that takes a while to grow.

And, oh yes, lets not forget perseverance. Guess what stops most people from succeeding? Yup! Lack of perseverance. The problem is, sometimes it just seems so darn hard to carry on especially if you’ve been trying and not getting anywhere fast. Imagine ‘failing’ ten thousand times like Edison did in trying to create the electric light bulb! Hey, at what point would most of us have packed up and gone home? Could I have stood his pace? Who has that degree of dogged determination and sheer persistence? For him, he just learnt 9,999 times how not to create the light bulb and he saw no reason not to continue until ‘bingo!’, there was light. What an inspiration! Okay, I just needed to remind myself about that.

We tend to think that successful people must have superior minds – or immense good luck. Hill says more likely what they have is a sound plan of action. And then they keep at it. Think about this -failure is built largely on quitting in the face of temporary defeats. Lets face it, it’s the old adage isn’t I?. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.

I was at a StartupsLive business network meeting the other night listening to several very successful people testify to their success and without fail, every one had a story of temporary defeat. And the bottom line is, it didn’t stop them. Hill says that when defeat comes, accept it as a signal to do something differently with a sound plan

“A quitter never wins – and a winner never quits”

Here’s something else. Try, as he suggests, writing this out and placing it where you will see it every morning and every night. Its sure worth keeping in mind when we are tempted to buckle in the face of apparent failure. And then go consider the plan again, preferably in the company of your mastermind group.

Blessings for today

1. I am grateful for the frankness and support in my mastermind group. For some it was an emotional experience, but boy did it move us on a notch.

2. I got a bit morose for a couple of days. It may have been because I hadn’t been counting my blessings. But several sources have been hitting my face that have said never quit, keep on going. And today I acknowledge the universal spirit that shows me the way.

3. I’ve had a major presentation to prepare for which has consumed much of my time for several days. I am so thankful and relieved that it is over and that moreover, it was very successful.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer Read more!

Internet Marketing Success with Daniel Wagner

Great meeting last night with Daniel Wagner in London as he clearly set out to encourage learning about using the internet to develop an income stream.

He talked about your life being a printout of your inner world. In other words, there is a process of manifestation taking place when your thoughts impact on your feelings which determination the actions you will take that influences the results you will get. So if you want to become successful in this business as in any others, start looking at the thoughts you are generating because that will surely influence your results.

So his model of success was, as I followed it:

• Showing up to learn
• Modelling from other people who've 'done it'
• Honing your knowledge and skills one step at a time. And he had some pretty good knowledge to share with the packed room last night that included:

How to research a niche market and develop a niche product
Creating a Squeeze opt-in page
Using Google Adwords
Generating targetted traffic to your website
Affiliate marketing
Using autoresponders to build a list
Joint venture, Blogs, Adsense
Building a funnel
And more

He gave great value and managed to pack a lot into 3 hours. Well done Daniel and thank you.

Blessings for Today

1. I really felt a part of a community of sorts as I connected with a lot of people I knew at the Internet marketing seminar last night and I was garteful for that sense of shared community.

2. For all the new learning and the reinforcement of old ideas, I am thankful.And that there are people like Daniel who inspired us to see this business as a level playing field where anyone can succeed playing even against the 'big guys'. I found that reassuring.

3. That my son's hard work paid off with the French exams. His determination to succeed plus the actions he took around his revision, coursework etc. really paid off for him. And he continues to inspire me.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer Read more!

Making a Head Start in Internet Marketing Success

As it turned out, I met up this week with a group of people who like myself are fairly new to the world of Internet Marketing. Although we’re not a mastermind group as such, quite simply, we have all the hallmarks of a great support group. Make no mistake, this is one of the things that will greatly contribute to our success.

Let face it, we’ve all known what its like to struggle on by ourselves but with many more heads together what couldn't we achieve?. We had a great meeting and we've agreed that we wanted to use the group

to support and motivate each other
to act with integrity around each other
to be focussed in our meetings
to share our knowledge and resources as appropriate
to aim to make money online

In terms of the sharing of resources, I wish we’d come across these Head Start audios just perfect for newbies like ourselves that have been created by a guy in Australia called Nathan Hockley.

Check it out here for more information

www.InternetMarketingHeadStart.com/?e=info@livingoutyourdreams.com

The fact that it costs so little at $5US was an added incentive for me to get this great set of 20 mp3 audio talks (5 volumes) explaining in simple terms, (Oh I do like simple!) the basic principles of Internet Marketing. I’ve been lucky to spot it as its only available for another day or so. I’m already up and running with ideas about the how and why of article submissions. Which just happens to be one of the actions I said I would undertake by the time the group next meets in a couple of weeks.

It takes you through all the basics of internet marketing, covering topics such as
Writing articles
Building lists within 24 hours
Traffic generation
Writing killer ads
PLR domination
Email marketing
Secrets of the gurus
Professional forum participation for profits
Increasing the potency of testimonials
and much, much more ...

An amazing resource for so little money. They’re great for anyone who’s struggling to get started online and also for people who don’t want to wade through another manual but would rather listen on-the-go as they’re downloadable to an MP3, ipod, cellphone, PC.

If you are a newbie like myself, its certainly not going to break the bank at only $5 or about £2.50. What’s that? The cost of a pint or a coffee? Check it out here

www.InternetMarketingHeadStart.com/?e=info@livingoutyourdreams.com

I think we covered a lot in our little group and I'm very optimistic for where this collaboration may take us. I hope this is shared by the others and that within the next six months we’ll be celebrating being gurus ourselves and enjoying the fruits of our labours. I’ll certainly be posting more news about how we are getting on.

Blessings for Today

1. The Gasman Cometh. Well, actually he came. And he gave us a clean bill of health, and its something to be grateful for that we set up for whatever the winter may bring. I am so grateful for the warmth in my home. At many levels.

2. I went out for a walk in the garden today and saw the first terrifically blue periwinkle in flower from a cutting I’d taken a few years ago. I can’t tell you haw delighted I was – it was like finding gold in them there hills. I felt really cheered seeing it. I appreciate the little things that bring joy into my heart.

3. I am grateful to my Internet Marketing Success Group for the great start we have made and the feeling of hand-holding in unfamiliar territory. Thank you.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

Read more!

Can You Imagine a Life Like This?

If you were to close your eyes right now and spend a few delicious moments just imaging what your life might be like one, five or ten years from now, what would you see happening?

What if your thoughts became your reality, your life? What then would you start to imagine in your life? If you knew the secrets of success lay in the thoughts you have, would you change your vision? Would you live with more passion? Would you see yourself living the good life? Would you let in peace of mind, great health, financial security, the car you really want, the schools you really want your kids to go to, the business you would be running, the relationships you would have, the joyfulness and sense of purpose that would fill your life? Too right you would.

But you know what? Most of us occupy our minds with the detritus of life - the bills we can't pay, the income we can't have, the broken relationships, the lack, the problems. I hold my hands up to spending far too much time lately on a particular broken relationship and I'm not best pleased with myself that I've allowed that to happen. So I'm really drawing more of the same to me. I should know better!

How often do we get good news on The News? Exceptionally. So thats what often occupies our mind. Bad News. And needless to say, when we fill our thoughts with lack and bad news, don't we just seem to generate more of it? We come to accept it as part of the condition of being human.

But what if we had the opportunity to shape our destiny the way we really wanted it and to get excited about our futures? What if we could start right now to create that future by changing our thoughts? Ya Ya Ya Di Da! Off with the fairies again! I know its hard to take in but if we want to improve the circumstances of our lives, we have to start with the circumstances of our thoughts.

And the first place to start is to get very clear about what you want to happen in your life. I heard about this guy called Eric Edmeades who is leading a one day workshop in London on 9th Dec. on Your Best Year Ever. Its an event designed to help people plan, focus and construct their goals that will help them turn 2008 into one of the best. He has a structured approach to helping others succeed in business, career, finance, lifestyle, relationships, travel and adventure and more. I'll be there for sure. I want to hear more of what he's about.

"To accomplish great things, we must not only believe and dream, but also plan and act. "- Eric Edmeades.

To get hold of more information about this free seminar, visit http://www.triumphantevents.co.uk/EricEdmeades2008
This is a combination of practical NLP and real world life lessons that's going to be very rewarding, inspiring, effective and fun.

"Dream big, Plan well, Play hard" - Eric Edmeades

I believe Eric isn't much taken by all this Law of Attraction stuff. He is much more into smart planning. But many roads can lead you there and I don't think the one approach cancels out the others so here's a different mindset approach. However outrageous it might seem.

• Get a piece of paper now.
• Write down an many of your dreams, goals, desires, outcomes as you wish. Let your ideas flow. Do not limit yourself or justify why your can't or shouldn't have something.
• Keep it in your focus every day by reading it through several times.
• Adding pictures or drawings have a big impact ... paints a thousand words.
• Build a picture in your mind of having all your accomplishments. Imagine it exactly as you wish it to be.
• Tap into it as often as you can for example by frequently talking to others about it, putting it on a tape in your car and listening on long journeys.
• If you are consumed by a passion or purpose for accomplishing these things, that will drive your success.So ask yourself with each accomplishment you desire,- WHY have it? If your purpose is big enough, that will add to your motivation to sieze the opportunities when they do come, to take the action needed to create the reality.

So, what are you waiting for? Start creating this new life for a New Year now. Bring the power of your imagination, your thoughts to developing success in all areas of your life. And share that with the people you care about. Can you imagine a life like this?

Blessings for today
1. I know exactly where my son is - he's sitting right beside me doing his homework and sharing his thouhgts as he goes. I am grateful to have him here doing this.

2. Its the end of the day and I'm tired and I know I have a warm, safe and comfortable bed to go lie in. That will be bliss. I am one of the lucky ones.

3. For opportunities that come along for learning and earning and personal growth.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer Read more!

The Genius Without as well as Within

“I feel there are two people inside me – me and my intuition. If I go against her, she’ll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we’ll get along quite nicely.” Kim Basinger

Does this make sense to you that when you start getting in tune with your inner voice and allowing your intuition to grow, you start to find that you’re getting prompted by external factors as well? Odd how that happens. As you ruminate on a situation and ask yourself for intuitive guidance notice when circumstances around you resonate with you about the situation. Here’s what I mean.

Imagine now that you needed to find the solution to a difficulty and you settled yourself quietly and asked your inner self for an answer. Some times after a while the solution can simply pop into your head from your inner genius. And then, when you think you missed the answer, or to reinforce the answer you’ve come up with, something will happen in your environment that will show you the way. Has this ever happened to you?

It could simply be catching sight of a headline in a newspaper in passing, walking into a room at the very moment a TV presenter is addressing the very thing you are concerned about and giving some hints about where you might look or find answers, being called by a friend out of the blue with the very offer or suggestion that helps the situation. Whatever, it just seems to happen that the solution presents itself in some unexpected way. Loud and clear. Weird when that happens.

Ask you inner spirit for the solution or answer and wait for the genius within or without to manifest the right answer for you. Even if things don’t always seem to go right, trust yourself that ultimately, you will get the right outcome for you.

Can you see how you might be able to use this to develop prosperity in your life? What might you accomplish if you were able to gain insights through the power of your intuition? What rich, intelligent, prosperity ideas might flow? And the best time to let it flow is during periods of quiet and peacefulness when the mind is relaxed. The more you allow your intuitive power to grow, the greater your confidence in whatever you do in your life. During those times of quiet, let your imagination guide you in visualising the perfect outcome.

Furthermore, and especially if you think you’re getting stuck on your own, you can use also the creative energy of a group of people whether it is a mastermind group, a business or family group or simply a group of trusted friends to help you grow your intuition about what is the right thing to do or the answer to a problem.

Catherine Ponder from The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity says “Never underestimate your genius powers! They want to work for you to bring you greater happiness, success and confidence in your ability to receive guidance every step along life’s pathway. Why not let them? Declare often for this purpose; ‘I give thanks that my genius powers of intuition and creative imagination are now released, and that I happily fulfil my divine destiny.’”

To all our success.
"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level." -Dr. Joyce Brothers.



Blessings for Today

1.I got the chance to do a speed reading mini course today. Its going to be great to advance my efficiency at reading with speed. I am grateful to the folks who organised this and lunch too.

2. My son is busy and studiously learning his french for his exam at the end of the week. He's in full flow and fine humour. Always great for me to see him focussed and fulfilled. He slipped in for a cuddle today and I am so grateful that he still feels he can do this. Keeps us both happy.

3.I'm blessed for all I have at my disposal through many sources, like Success University, for my own personal development and improvement

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer Read more!

The Genius Within

Consider this for a moment. What could you do or achieve if you are able to listen to and understand your own still small voice – the genius within? Here’s a clue. People the world over who have been considered geniuses have known the immense power of trusting and listening to their own inner voices or intuition and creative imaginations. The thing is, they haven't possessed any greater special powers than the rest of us. They have simply encouraged and actively used their intuitive powers.

"The only real valuable thing is intuition." -Albert Einstein.

Think about it. You know how it is when you develop a sixth sense or hunch about something, when something just niggles at you – it feels right or its just all wrong, and you feel you have to follow that hunch because it keeps pinging you. Has that ever happened to you? To some people, it may seem strange or eccentric but many others rely on it for their success, safety, or satisfaction in life, sometimes without even realising that’s what they are doing. Are they crazy?

They say women do it better. I tend to think its because we've needed a different kind of ‘strength’ to keep us and their families growing and thriving and safe. Perhaps men are too busy in their external worlds or perhaps we’ve been mind washed into thinking that this is so. But really, aren’t we all much too busy these days with not enough time to listen to the still small voice?

It all comes down to this. When your antennae are tuned in to picking up the right vibrations, your own genius power is released to start working for you. Have you ever followed where you intuition leads you? Acted despite what ‘reason’ and’ logic’ told you was the thing to do? Now, I’m not saying we should let reason fly out the door, just that when you are following your intuition you are often heeding things for which you have no logical explanation but rather having faith in your own inner prompting. Make no mistake, highly creative people allow this to inspire their creativity, but pretty much all of us have it and use it to some degree.

How, I hear you ask, can those of us less trusting of our intuition get a better grip of it? Quite simply, developing our internal geniuses is really best done when we can quieten our minds from the busyness of our thoughts, when we can relax and become receptive. But being busy doesn’t necessarily stop it either. It’s just that you need to really listen to yourself and how are you going to do it if you don’t turn down the volume on extraneous noises?

Are there other things we can do then to develop our intuitions? Here are some things as recommended by Catherine Ponder in The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity:

Your intuitive power is a spiritual part of you that wants to lead to your greater good. Have faith and confidence in it. Develop trust. “All that you see in the world about you came forth because of someone’s hunch or feeling that it could be done. You can use your ideas and inner feelings to create a more wonderful world.”

Let yourself accept as you go about your daily life that there is some Higher Intelligence acting in you and for you that wants to help and guide you. If you develop this attitude of mind, you will find you are attracting better experiences to you that allows you to accomplish what you want to. You can do this by affirming in your mind daily.

“Divine Intuition is now showing me the way, producing easily and quickly the perfect outcome.”

As you reprogramme your mind, you’re more likely to find that you get more insightful about the things you are interested in or thinking about. You open yourself to discovering hidden secrets and gems that come up from inside yourself.

Be prepared to be pleasantly amazed when you start to follow your little hunches and begin to see a happy and successful outcome. It is your desire for something good to happen that will manifest for you.
“Desire is God tapping at the door of your mind, trying to give you greater good.”

If you're unsure about heeding that inner prompting, just keep asking your mind for direction and you may find that assurance comes simply by asking for it.

“Just what is the perfect truth of this situation? Make it clear to me now so that I cannot possibly mistake it.”

Have you ever found like I have that answers reveal themselves after a period of rest and relaxation – so after a nap or on waking in the morning, the answer just appears in your mind? It was there all along and you just needed that space, that break, to get some clarity on the situation. It’s amazing when that happens, isn't it?

Be prepared for the fact that solutions will come in ways we hadn’t originally thought. Quite simply, the problem or situation has been reconfigured in our minds and we can gain different perspectives on it. We can now choose to accept and act on only the good that will come from the situation.

Blessings for Today
1. I had a terrific time with the new support group. A great sharing experience and I'm very grateful to have linked up with people who are willing to support each other's success. Thanks guys.

2. I am blessed by what I have learnt today that will propel me forward in my business.

3. To my husband for his catering to our needs and his help in fixing things so the group could work, and to my son for his grand good humour and the many wonderful touches of the day.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

Read more!

Rich Beyond Words

I feel one of the richest people alive today. More than winning the jackpot. Much more. That pleasure is yet to come. Well, here's the story. Frankly, yesterday was an ordinary working day. The usual stuff. I must admit, apart from crashing at home, the one thing I was looking forward to, was getting there and finding out how my son's day had been.

It'd been a day off school, he was planning mega revision with his friend and there was talk of another friend's birthday party that he had some doubts about but that I was encouraging him to consider going to and I couldn't wait to hear how he'd got on.

Ever had a near death experience? Well, I have. Many times since childhood I cheated death. It just wasn't my time. I don't know how many lives I'm blessed with, but for what its worth, it all turned on a sixpence and yet I'm still here.

When my son told me how he'd nearly been killed today - nearly run over by a bus on his way out of the party restaurant - I felt like my life had been spared once more. This could have been a very different story today. Indeed, there might have been no more stories if the unimaginable had happened. And so today I have so much to be grateful for. And I want to shout it to the Universe. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The bottom line is this, there is nothing more precious to me in the whole universe than the gift of life for my son and so I am today rich beyond what words can express for his affirmation of life. But I'll express what I can anyway.

My gratitude to the guardian angel who protected him, to the Universal Spirit that guarded him, to the friend who pushed him out of the way, to the bus driver who in a few seconds, was more careful at that moment than he otherwise might have been and to any unseen forces that in that moment spared my life too.

I asked my son what he'd learnt from the experience. He was extremely appreciative too and it gave him a treasured perspective on life in general. It reminded him about looking and listening out on the roads. He's usually pretty good and haven't we all for a split second, made a mistake. He tells me its made him want to write down the things he wants to achieve in his life, short and long term and that's great - we all would benefit from doing that. And its reminded him of the government road safety slogan aimed at young people - Don't Die Before You've Lived - Think!

And I think that applies to pretty much all of us. Don't die before you've lived. We're never too old to consider this. How will you live today? What must you accomplish before you die? And I am reminded of the old slogan:

Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.

So how do you want to live it?

"Life becomes precious and more special to us when we look for the everyday miracles and get excited about the priviledges of simply being human." Tim Hansel

Blessings for today
1 I am grateful that my son is alive and well and that I am here to testify to this today.

2. Death and serious injury would have given me a very different day and a very different life from today and so I am grateful to all the entities that assisted in what I now have.

3. For the lessons learnt and the opportunity to reflect again on what's important and what we want to achieve in our lives.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/specialoffer Read more!

Believe it or not

Its possible to either have your skepticism confirmed or to get really excited at new possibilities for living if you've seen the film The Secret. After all, its a little absurd you'd think to believe in such a thing as the Law of Attraction that states that what you think about and believe, you can bring about in your life. It can't be that easy and nor would you want it to be otherwise we'd live in fear that every wicked or disturbing thought we had would somehow be manifested. How could we live with that?

Well, I figured I'd want to know more. Well, you would, wouldn't you. After all, there's a lot at stake here. What if ... you really could conceive of an idea, believe it could happen and then manage to achieve it? What is the human mind capable of that we cannot even begin to understand?

But, here's something interesting. This idea is as old as the hills. Yes, even long before Jesus was on the scene. It was there all along and crossing many cultures, and I never knew it existed until recently! How can that be?

Well, if there's one book you must read on the subject, its Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. This guy was saying something in the 1930s that a few people cottoned onto and used for their enrichment. But where did he get his ideas from? I've been discovering that quite a few people since then have been sharing the same message that there is a power within and around us that if we use it right, cannot fail us in our endeavour to live more successful lives.

Has it ever happened to you that you were able to think about something and make it happen? What was going on? It sort of shakes you up, doesn't it? But here's the thing. It makes you want to try again to see what else might be possible. My own first experience of deliberate manifestation was shocking to me. I wanted my named called to receive a raffle prize and I 'worked' on it, and when it was I could hardly believe it. Here are some of the steps I took.

• Finding a place to quietly mediatate and to check out if this was something I really wanted. Actually I was in a beautiful park with many people around me but still able to enter my own world in peace
• Creating a mental picture of having the thing I desired and building that picture with all the most vivid images I could.
• Being in the moment and using all my senses to enhance the feelings of my present state
• Going through all the steps of achieving my desire right to the end where I knew I had got it and the accompanying feeling that went with having it
• Declaring to 'the universe' my desire and then my thanks for the achievement of my desire

Is that it? I hear you ask. Mere coincidence! And that would be a reasonable reaction.

The point is, that from what I'd learnt from other people, from reading and watching, I decided to give the Law of Attraction a try. There are now many people world wide who are using this capacity, whatever its called, for healing, personal and comunity peace, enrichment of many kinds and many more, with great success. It could work for me too if I could create the right vibrations that would tap into the universal energy.

Stuff happens. Funny stuff. And we don't know why it works, but it still does. Why I don't know why I can hold a piece of plastic with a few bit of metal wires to my ears and be able to listen and talk to someone on the other side of the world. No, I really can't explain the science though I believe there is a scientific explanation. I can't explain the science of the Law of Attraction either but I believe quantum physics is working on it.

Believe it? I wouldn't try to persuade anyone but I'd say, find out more and see for yourself if you can create the life of your dreams in this manner. Intriguing, isn't it? I'd really recommend Catherine Ponder's book The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity and if you're not a religious person, to look at her biblical and spiritual references as simply another expression of a mighty energy outside ourselves which quantum physics is only beginning to unravel.

Blessing for today
1. I give thanks for what I now know about increasing proseprity in my life

2 I give thanks that the £35 in my purse is but a symbol of the inexhaustible substance of the universe and that 10 times this much is now on its way to me and quickly manifests in perfect ways (thanks Catherine).

3. I am grateful that my winter cold is passed and that perfect health is restored to me.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com


Read more!

Joining Technorati

Technorati Profile Read more!

Tithing to Thriving - The Magic of Giving for Increased Prosperity

I've been reading the chapter in Catherine Ponder's book The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity entitled The Ancient Law of Prosperity. In it she shares her experience of how time again its been demonstrated that the practice of sharing one tenth of your income is one of the most enriching for those who give, making it one of their best investments in successful living, for peace, health and financial rewards.

She says it renders a number of significant surprises for the giver:

1. the amount of money they will have to share for doing good
2. the wisdom and judgement they will have in using the remainder of their income
3. the ease with which they find they can meet thgeir financial obligations
4. how they deepen their prosperity consciousness and their spiritual life
5. how easilty they can go on to give even larger amounts
6.how they wonder why they hadn't started tithing sooner

The reason she states for this hapening is that when you tithe, you are opening your mind, body and affairs to the universe - its life, love, wisdom, pwoer and substance. You are opening the channels for receiving similar things back into your life.

Many very prominent millionaires attribute tithing to their amazing success and it has ever been so for thousands of years for those who knew amd practised this as a standard for increase in their own lives. Catherine says " Tithing is an act of faith, and faith moves on universal substance to enhance and bless the tither. So it is only natural that the faithful tither should prosper, and that problems should fall away from his life."

To whom should we give? Topher Morrison in his seminar The Mental Game of Life says that it should be to a cause that advances mankind in some way. To Ponder it should be to some enlightened or spiritually evolving individuals, causes or organmisations. "The first tenth should go to spiritual work ort workers whose philosophiy is uplifting and helpful to mankind, and one with which you agree." If however you have no spiritual inclination then a secondary form of giving is to a charitable, educational, cultural or humanitarian causes that will develop your prosperity consciousness of sharing.

Another aspect of the giving is that it should be kept a secret or without publicity, and without strings attached or possessive or resentful feelings. Giving systematically to a single cause and freely from the heart is more effective than scattering to many causes and in an inconsistent manner.

"Never be afraid of giving big tithes to one or two causes, if you wish to reap big results in your own life. Nor should you be afraid of giving 'too much' for the benefit of the recipient of your gifts." - Ponder

I would love to have comments from anyone reading this who has had experiences of the success of tithing in their lives that could be shared with others.



Blessings for today

1.My son came home rapping and laughing and generally being in a great mood.And I was happy he was happy.

2. I'm happy also to be able to share what I have with others who do not have much abundance at the moment.

3. I give thanks for the rich bounty of the universe and my share in it.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com Read more!

This Giving Thing - How to Increase by Giving Away

One of the most fascinating secrets about attracting prosperity and abundance into our lives is that the more we share what we have and give away freely, the more we get. The practice of giving has been one that has brought ultimate success to individuals and nations that have done it. The early Chinese, Romans, Egyptians, Persians and others have been among those who have deliberately used this success principle and prospered greatly by it.

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.- Winston Churchill

Reading Catherine Ponder's book The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity has brought this home again to me. And this is particularly pertinent at this time of the year when many of us turn our thoughts to the giving and receiving of gifts.

I have to confess that I have had a particular loathing for what I have regarded as an annual wastefest at Christmas time and as a consequence, I have gone out grudingly and through gritted teeth to brave the crowds going crazy in gay abandon. Its not been an easy journey this one but as I have become aware of the significance of giving with an open heart, to people I really want to give to, its made it easier to give with love rather than with resentment.

Life is an echo -- what you send out comes back.- Unknown

Ten has for many thousands of years been regarded as the magic number of increase so giving or 'tithing' a tenth of your income has been an accepted practice for increasing one's own prosperity for many peoples of many ages in human history. That giving has to be carried out in a certain way, consistently and systematically, giving not the last and least, but the first and best.

Catherine Ponder describes many biblical references including Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Jesus and Paul who all held, practsed and profitted by this ancient secret principle. "The tithe of all things brought they in abundance...and laid them by heaps at the altar." (Chronicles 31:5,6) She links prosperity to knowing God as the Source of all supply and that without a spiritual dimension to giving there can never really be true peace of mind and health of body as well as financial prosperity in accordance with the meaning of the word 'wealth' meaning "well being" and "wholeness."

This gives an added dimension to the whole concept of giving and receiving this Christmas or indeed at other celebratory times religious or not - that we give not out of obligation and with resentment, but with a 'free' heart and that the giving is done with love.

Indeed this applies even to something like paying a bill and as I have started to develop a different consciousness about what I give out coming back to me, I choose to give with an open heart and with truely my best wishes. Including the taxman or the checkout at the supermarket.

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.- Oprah Winfrey

Blessings for today

1 I am grateful that I am able to share with others whatever I have.

2. Iappreciate the many gifts I have been given - from the rain that keeps the earth alive to the more personal items.

3.One of the most precious gifts I have ever been given is my son and I am blessed.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com Read more!

A Healthy Spiritual Life

Would you agree that having good health is right up there at the top of the list of living a successful life?

“Some people don’t do well simply because they don’t feel well.” - Jim Rohn

No amount of other successes can compensate for debilitating illness of the body or the mind. It’s a lot easier though, to see where the significance of physical health lies than in another area of health, that is, Spiritual health.

To have a rewarding spiritual life brings many benefits to our lives. By spiritual I do not necessarily mean having a religious life although for many people this is intrinsically linked. What I mean is an experience outside ourselves, sometimes beyond our ability to understand, that nourishes and nurtures our soul. When this impacts on us, it brings peacefulness, joy, wholeness, strength, less stress, purpose and passion, a sense of calm and emotional stability into our lives, imbuing us with a richer, deeper meaning to our existence.

There are many ways to finding and developing that spiritual element in our lives.
There is a website that is an initiative of the Bhrama Kumaris World Spiritual University at www.just-a-minute.org. I found this today and it’s quite a find. It encourages us to take one-minute pauses through our day to create some personal peace in our often-frenetic lives. It offers a range of one-minute meditations and is for anyone regardless of background or beliefs. Going through some of them today was for me a perfect antidote to life’s busyness. And because it’s just for one minute, no one can say ‘I haven’t got the time’.

I think its important to set aside time when you can be alone with your thoughts when you can cultivate that inner life. For some people it may be moments of prayer, or reading a spiritual or uplifting book or listening to music that moves your spirit or uplifts you. I find that sitting in the garden for a few quiet moments, listening to the birds and the rustling of the plants, watching the many engaging sights, smelling the flowers or feeling the sun or the breeze on my skin induces a feeling of calm and peacefulness and spiritual connectedness.

I remember as a child slipping out of school at lunchtimes to go and sit in peace in a nearby church. I would often be the sole person around and those few moments of quiet in the peaceful sanctity of the church replenished me in ways I did not even realise then. Maybe these days they don’t leave churches open for wayfarers to slip in and the way some of us live can make it hard to find that space for quiet contemplation but its never impossible as even a walk in the park can do it. The important thing is to nurture our spiritual lives in whatever way it fits for us and to build that into our aspirations for success.

“Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions; but only spiritual success will enable you to enjoy them.” - Nido Qubein

Blessings for today
1.I am grateful for the many times I get to have those quiet alone moments when I can gather my thoughts and find a stillness in my life.
2. For connectedness with my neighbours
3. For a hot meal provided for me on this cold and frosty night and my family to share it with.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com
Read more!

Thoughts of a Reluctant Millionaire

Opps! I can't believe I said this. I was talking to someone just recently and I mentioned that I was on a wealth creation journey. That created a raised eyebrow or two and a frowning look. The implication was that there was something wrong with wanting to acquire wealth. I heard myself qualifying what I had said by adding that my intention was not to have a ferrari in the front drive or a jacuzzi in the back garden. Phew! Relief! So...you're not one of those people!! For who did I think I was, buying into that get rich stuff??

Like I said, I can't believe I said that for I know by now that thats a sure way of creating a huge chasm between me and prosperity. Doh! I still don't want the ferrari but the jacizzi would be nice....

The point is the ferrari isn't my dream but there is nothing wrong with it as someone else's. We have to look to our thoughts about us and money/prosperity or we stand a good chance of repelling it away from us if what's going on in our heads doesn't match up with what we say we want.

This was a learning moment and I now give myself permission to think and act differently. This is about learning how not to be ashamed and rather to celebrate my success and the success of others. The language I use to myself and also to others is crucial. I now choose to use language of abundance and wealth.

A few other helpful pointers are:
1. To create a dreamboard of the things you want in your life both on a material and non material level. That would include rich people I admire - the ones who can have the money and yet act with full concern and appropriateness for others. Whatever images the mind sees, it is more likely to be drawn to. It increases our prosperity thinking to review our images daily.

2. To recognise that all the spiritual leaders of the world's greatest riligions have promoted abundance and wealth and that it is our right to share in the wealth of the universe. Only so often have we misread or misinterpreted the message and thought that there was something inherently pious about being impoverished. It will help at the level of belief to review what the great spiritual leaders were actually encouraging in us in desiring prosperity. As in Deuteronomy 8:18 "But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth power to get wealth."

3. In my purse I carry a million dollar 'note'. Why not have two, or three. Again, its about where I put my focus. I understand that there is a feng shui approach that suggests having jars of coins around the house for exactly the same reason, that there is an automatic association with the mind about attracting abundance.

So to reinforce a new way of thinking to create not just wealth but many other areas of abundance and success in our lives, we need to look at what we're saying to ourselves and to others, whether our thinking really matches up to what we say we want, and finally to work at our levels of belief and practically take steps to keep our success and prosperity focussed in our minds daily.

To all our success. To abundance and opportunities galore. I now choose to congratulate all the ferrari owners out there and to celebrate their success.


“When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace,love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things.” Maya Angelou

Blessings for today
1. I am blessed by the opportunities for reflections and developing insight and for the teachings and wisdom of many who have gone before me.

2. I have so enjoyed the autumn sunshine of the last few days in contrast to the dull greyness that we sometimes endure at this time. Its brought out the startling beauty of the autumnal colours outside which have been a joy to behold.

3. I am blessed by the energy and committment of my son. He is an inspiration to me.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/ Read more!

Health - The Third Pillar of Success

As human beings we are designed as complex beings, not mere physical bodies but as three parts interconnected with each other - the physical Body, the Soul or mind, emotions and intellect, and the Spirit or the part of us that is beyond this world and lives outside our physical beings in communion with some other spiritual entity we may choose to call many other names such as God, Universal Energy or simply Nature.

What is a successful life without health? When we talk about being healthy, a principal flank of being successful, we have to consider a more rounded view of what it means to be healthy. When desease and decay infects any one of our health systems, we run the risk of it spreading to the other parts of our systems.

I speak as someone who is currently having a little tussle with a bad cold and know how run down and lacklustre it can make me feel. It is nothing in comparison with the physical disabilities and pain some people endure and for long periods. However I am working at maintaining Soul and Spirit at a more optimum level and that's why one of the things I need to do today is my daily Blessings. It gives a lift and is good medicine for spirit and soul.

Blessings for Today

1. I give thanks for the Universal Intelligence that helps me know, remember and understand.

2. I am grateful that I know that this cold will pass and good physical health return to me. I am grateful for all the available resources at my disposal to enable me to make a recovery and I realise that for many people around the world, this is not so. I send thoughts out to them for returning health.

3. I appreciate my partner's soft and gentle touch.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com Read more!

Using the Energy Field of the Masterminding Group

I had the rather pleasant experience recently of being lifted high into the air by the combined energy of four people using just 2 fingers each. This technique required the lifters to try to lift me, having failed to do so on the first occasion, after some mental preparation and creating a combined field of energy which they transmitted through me. My part was to think about being light to lift – and to enjoy the ride. How was this apparently impossible feat achieved? On their third attempt, I was so high in the air it was amazing.

It brought to mind the immense power and energy that can be contained in a mastermind group. After all, this is about harnessing the collective energy and brainpower of a group of individuals to create the lift that will provide each individual in the group with an additional opportunity to grow and develop themselves and their business.

“No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.”
— Napoleon Hill, Think And Grow Rich


Clearly one of the criteria for the development of such a group is to have the right mix of people and by that I mean people who can create synergy. The success of the mastermind group requires people are committed, participative, open minded and positive. They also need to be focussed around their own goals and yet also able to give positive attention to the person whose circumstances are being discussed at the time.

I have been in a mastermind group where there appeared to be several individuals not able to give this quality of attention to others and nice people that they were, it nevertheless diffused the level of energy of the group. This meant that the individuals who wanted to develop their visions and focus within the group were left with an empty dissatisfied feeling.

It’s a young group that is growing and there is some learning taking place but it is important in any mastermind group to establish a clear structure and focus, and also for people to be trusting and confident enough to challenge each other when one or more members go off at a tangent into their story when they needed to be giving quality attention to another individual. I suspect I could only have been lifted off the ground when my helpers were able to use their combined focus and energy to give their attention to me at that moment

I love the fact that we’ve got the group going. That is a success in itself. We have some learning to do as the masterminding concept is new to some of us. We have the capacity to leverage each other’s collective brain power and to rise to new heights within it.

Blessings for Today
1. I am grateful for all the popel from whom I have learn many and wonderous things today and yesterday. They have opened my eyes and filled my mind with new insights.

2. I am grateful to the author of the book on coping with stress that I have been reading, for its clear, humourous and practical approach that I can use in my own presentations.

3. For getting back home to a prepared meal in the oven. That was worth coming home for! I am thankful to my husband for all his efforts in our home today.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com/ Read more!

The Joy of Money

When I was a child I used to have a recurrent dream of discovering a hoard of coins as I walked in the streets, and about how I would gather them up in my frock. Sometimes I would find them in a stream like pebbles on the bottom of the water. The feeling was always one of joy and delight. It was a disappointment to awake to find it was all a dream.

At some point in my adulthood many years ago now, I was walking along the riverbank nearby when I happened to notice some coins laying on the riverbed. With delight I went in and fished them out - a few pennies, sixpences etc. I took also a small rock and painted it, a picture of myself as a child with a whole pile of coins in my lap. I have it still and I must fetch it out of hiding as a reminder that its more than OK to have a pile of money in my world.

For many years I gave no thought to financial prosperity and indeed if you asked me, I would probably have given you very negative associations with being rich - money the root of all evil and all that. It never crossed my mind to consider that there is nothing good, spiritual or becoming of a mind of lack and poverty, or that I could in any way share the some of the bounty of this earth. That seemed to belong to other people. It's just taken the last few years to begin to change my mindset. What good can you do if you have much more of it?

I am a supporter of The Smile Train a charity that provides surgery for children with hare lips and cleft paletes. Today a letter came asking for a contribution to continue their work The amount seems small for the amazing gift of life that it offers these children and it is one of my dreams to be able to directly help to transform the lives of 20,200, 2000 children as I go. So what good can I do with more money? Need you ask?

I do meet people now whose lips curl at the idea of making or talking about money. I do know where they are coming from but I also now choose to think differently. "Money can't buy you happiness." we've been told. Well, it can. Used well and rightly, it can open doors and create joy. And lack of money can bring complete misery.

Catherine Ponder in Dynamic Laws of Prosperity puts it like this:
"Lets get the record straight. There's nothing wrong with money, or in our wanting money. It is a god-given medium of exchange, and there's nothing evil about that. The moment we let go of those false ideas that someone ignorantly taught us years ago - that money is evil- we will find that money circulates much more easily and more satisfyingly."


“It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.” - George Lorrimer

Blessings for today

1. All the learning I have had over the last couple of days at the workshops I have attended. I especially appreciate the opportunity to reflect on where I stand in the TA model and how I might like to consider the changes I can make in my life to create good change - like remembering to release more of my inner 'positive child' that brings fun and spontaneity to life.

2.I am grateful to the friends who have rung me tonight to keep in touch.

3. I had a great lunch today at the conference I attended. I really enjoyed indulging for a change.

Personal Development and Success
http://yvonnem.successuniversity.com Read more!