Ding dong merrily on high. Bells may be ringing in heaven but when it comes to Christmas time most of us experience some degree of stress. Why? Because there’s money to be saved, relatives to be accommodated and most importantly presents to be bought. It’d be great if we could cut out the chopping part and just pay for all the presents we have to buy but unfortunately there’s a level of thoughtfulness which needs to be put into each gift.

So usually you’d put on your hat and scarf and head out onto the cold highstreet and fight your way through the crowds to buy presents. Luckily for us the internet provides a much nicer way of buying presents and that’s all thanks to websites such as RedSave.com. It’s the UK newest gadget and gizmo website with little extras like Gift experiences, health and fitness and home decorations and appliances available too.

If you have any reservations about buying your Christmas presents online then worry no more. Red Save uses a secure connection made safe using McAfee and GeoTrust which encrypts your personal details before they’re sent over the net. That means there’s no chance of identity fraud or anyone stealing your bank details. Secondly, if you’re worried about not being able to see, touch or smell the product before you buy it then just take a look at the detailed descriptions, specifications and photographs given for each and every product and bear in mind that RedSave has a free 30 day returns policy.

The internet has revolutionized the way we can do our Christmas shopping. Ok so we don’t get to walk around in the cold and wet in a rush which can make us get in the Christmas spirit but it saves a lot of time, effort and we can also do it in secret without making excuses and having to hide shopping bags!

Do you want to make a real difference in the world? Is there something you’d like to change – some way to find your own purpose for being on this earth?

You know, you don’t have to do take-on-the-whole-world-by-yourself projects. The easiest and most effective way to change the world is for each of us to do one small kindness at a time. One kindness has a ripple effect, with far-reaching consequences you may never know about.

Below you will find five ways you can make a difference from the e-book, “101 Ways to Change the World”. Many things can be done that don’t cost a lot – just a small investment of your time.

1. Give anonymous surprise gifts to co-workers or friends – with a note telling them they matter. It doesn’t have to be much to let them know someone cares, how about:

Every time, it will be the fun of knowing someone cares that will make their life better – just by giving a little time and thought to someone else.

2. Give away a professional service – offer it FREE once a week, twice a month or once a month to someone who needs it.

3. Form your own “Good Deed Patrol” for a fun way to change your world.

4. Respond with kindness every time someone is rude or mean to you. One lady was treated very rudely by an attendant at her gas station. She responded by taking him a plate of cookies and telling him to have a nice day. Now he goes out of his way to be nice to her. Each of us can choose to respond this way!

5. If you like to give parties, you can make an even bigger difference.

There you have it – just a few simple ideas to get you started. If these didn’t spark your imagination, go to http://www.101WaysSeries.com to download a copy of the e-book, “101 Ways to Change the World”. Let’s start a kindness revolution!

Author Ginny Dye shares practical acts of kindness that will make a difference in our world. Get 96 more tips on how you can make a difference. Go to http://www.101WaysSeries.com and request “101 Ways to Change the World”.

I would like to recommend a movie I saw recently called, March of the Penguins, produced by Warner Independent Pictures and National Geographic Feature Films.

This movie was a surprise to me, not at all what I was expecting. I was hoping it would be more like Polar Express and I would leave the theatre feeling uplifted and that feeling would stay with me for days. This was a different kind of film. It was beautiful and stunning and I was deeply touched but I couldn’t help but feel the anguish and pain that these grace filled beings suffer every year when they endure the 70 mile – 20 day march to their breeding grounds and the experiences that follow, to give life to the enchanting baby penguins. There were scenes in this film that are burned in my memory forever.

I saw this movie with a friend who was feeling a little down and thinking his life was difficult. After watching this documentary, both of our lives seemed like a piece of cake. I highly recommend this movie. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. I have been haunted by it ever since. This amazing story has caused me to think deeply about so many things. It has uncovered places deep inside me that cry out for healing and it has reminded me of what is really important in life.

The story, beautifully narrated by Morgan Freeman, opens with the words…”In the harshest place on earth, LOVE finds a way. This is the incredible true story of a family’s journey to bring life into the world.”

And incredible is an understatement. As I watched these tuxedo clad beings leap out of their ocean home to begin their journey, walking upright in single file, I understood the power of clear focus, keeping your mind on the goal and moving forward with fierce determination in a way I had not comprehended it before. I understood too about never giving up. And as they progressed along their perilous journey in the dark and cold and the scenery changed from previous years, and they needed to find their way, I knew the importance of following my own instincts and connecting to my own inner guidance. I appreciated how important it is sometimes to just keep going, even if it means you may have to crawl on your belly for awhile.

After the long, cold and arduous trek to their mating ground, I sat raptured as each penguin attempted to choose a partner, someone especially for them, from a sea of what only appeared to be identical partners, wondering just how and why they made their choice. And then I witnessed what had to be the most tender, delicate, intricate, courtship dance on the planet, intimate, affectionate and stunningly beautiful. Totally enthralled with this ritual, there were moments here where I didn’t know where these beautiful beings ended and I began.

Each female, lucky enough to have found a mate, laid a single egg and that egg was very carefully transferred to her male partner, to guard and hatch, while the now very weak female begins her journey back the same 70 miles to obtain nourishment again on the ocean floor.

As I later viewed the fathers gently hovering over their new born offspring, the baby chick cradled on top of their feet, I felt their deep love and parental bonding and I experienced the sacredness and importance of sustaining life at all costs. And as I witnessed thousands of penguins huddled together braced against the elements, I realized the importance of sticking together for a common goal and the comfort that a sense of community can bring. Each one took turns on the outside and inside of the circle in order to share the warmer and cooler spots and I saw first hand what integrity and a sense of fair play can mean to the interconnectedness of all living things.

Now desperately needing nourishment of their own, and elated at the safe return of the females, I witnessed each father, with great sadness, getting ready to leave his baby chick and listening for the chick’s song, so that he would recognize him or her, upon his return and I remembered that we are all born with our own unique song in our heart and when we sing that song with love, our true nature is instantly recognizable and our extraordinary life purpose fulfilled.

And later when I listened to one mother penguin cry out in pain over the loss of her chick to the bitter cold, I ached too for my own lost family and understood her grief. As the weather warmed and I saw another mother push her little one out to mix and mingle with the other young penguins, I was transported back to my first day at school when my own mother did the exact same thing to me.

Near the end of the movie I watched in shock as the parents finally walked away and left their young ones behind. In that moment, I felt a strong sense of betrayal, abandonment and fear as my own need to cling to things long after they are over surfaced once again. I was reminded of the importance of letting go and moving on, taking that next step or leap of faith into a brave new world, as these little ones eventually did with their first courageous leap into the sea, their new home for the next four years, until they too would make this remarkable journey.

Until this film, I was not aware of what is involved in the life of a Emperor Penguin as I am unaware of so many other amazing things that happen on our planet. What if, in the media, instead of focusing on the comings and goings of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities, we strive to learn more about the nature of the universe and the wonders of our planet instead. How our lives would be so changed for the better I suspect, if we each did that. I applaud everyone who was involved in bringing this beautiful story to life and I thank you for a job well done.

Copyright 2005 Kathy Paauw

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle

Procrastination is the single habit at the root of so many problems that plague all of us at one time or another – challenges with managing our time, relationships, projects, and information.

Procrastination is doing low-priority tasks and activities instead of the high-priority ones which so often contribute the most to our success. For some, procrastination becomes a harmful habit which impedes personal and professional development.

If procrastination is so harmful, why do we do it? We tend to put off doing things for the following reasons:

**They are unpleasant to do. **They are difficult or complex to do. **They involve making tough decisions that can be overwhelming.

When we don’t want to do something that is unpleasant or difficult, we find less important things to do that will keep us “busy” so we have an excuse for why we didn’t get around to it. But putting something off does not make it go away, and postponing it often just makes it worse. As someone once said, “Killing time murders opportunities.”

I’ll share a key to success that I’ve learned from my own life experiences…

If you want to make big changes in your life, start by making small ones.

What small change have you made recently that yielded positive results for you? By thinking about what is working, you are focusing on the positive. Remember that we attract whatever we choose to give our attention to — whether wanted or unwanted. When we focus on what we want, we are more likely to attract it into our lives.

Unlike a long list of unrealistic New Year’s resolutions that usually get broken before the end of January, small changes can create a ripple effect of another small change, followed by another. In other words, small changes can lead to other related changes. Next thing you know, you’ve generated an unstoppable tidal wave!

Ask yourself this question: What’s one thing that, if you did consistently, would make the greatest positive difference in your life?

I asked a client (I’ll call her Kate) this question a couple of years ago during a coaching call. Her initial response was that she wanted to start taking the train to work instead of driving her car in horrible rush-hour traffic. But Kate said she could not do that because she often needed the car to get to meetings during her workday. I asked her if there were other means of transportation available to her (subway, taxi, etc.) on days she had appointments that were not walking distance from her office.

Kate was not sure how it would work, but she was willing to commit to a one-month trial period. I spoke with her at the end of her first week. She recognized how this one change was already having a tremendous positive impact on her life. Over time, the impact grew larger. The ripple effect was doing its thing!

Here are some of the benefits Kate has experienced:

* Kate is able to sleep 30 minutes later each workday, since she actually gets to work quicker by taking the train. * Kate has saved enough money in gas and parking fees to pay for her coaching sessions with me. * Kate has time for her professional reading, which she does in the mornings on her way to work. * Kate has time for pleasure reading on the way home. (She had not read a novel in years!) * Because she has to catch the train home at a specific time, Kate leaves the office at a set time instead of staying for “just a few more minutes” (which was never just a few minutes!) to get caught up. * Kate is conducting more business using technology (teleconference calls and webinars), which saves her a lot of time that she used to spend getting to and from meetings. Others appreciate this time savings, too! * By leaving the driving to someone else, Kate’s stress level is much lower when she gets home. * Kate’s reduced stress levels gives her added energy, and she now works out at a nearby health club a few times a week. (Before, she barely had the energy to crawl in the door of her home. Once she got there, she rarely ventured out at night.) * Kate met a wonderful man at her train stop near her home, and they started dating last year. (They’re still dating, and the future looks promising!)

I could keep listing the effects this one change has had on Kate’s life. It’s a perfect example of the ripple effect in action — all of this by making one change, which led to another, and another.

For more articles about overcoming procrastination, visit these newsletter articles at http://www.orgcoach.net/newsletter.html

* Fear Not! – The Perfectionist’s Credo * March 4th . Time to March Forth * To do or not to do.that is the question. * The Time Has Come.Just DO IT! * First Things First * Get Productive!

Motivation is an acquired skill. In order to build it within yourself, whether its for your business or personal growth, you first must discover what it is that actually motivates you.

Ask yourself questions. What do I like to do? Doing more of what you like to do is probably the best place to start. Once you are able to identify the triggers, form daily motivation exercises that help to stimulate you.

We all suffer from a lack of motivation from time to time. It usually stems from a negative thinking process that we lull ourselves into. It’s important to refocus, regroup and pick an activity that you know will help in changing to a more positive mindset.

Try watching an uplifting movie, listening to your favorite music or reading material you know in advance will give you the inspiration and words of motivation that will get you pumped.

Whether its at work or in your business motivation skills are essential to reaching your optimum performance and gaining that winning edge. Today, in our busy world you have to motivate yourself if you want to move forward.

Look at Self-Motivation as a planned daily activity. Set aside time each day to pull yourself away from the pack. Even if it’s 15 minutes, take this time and visualize your desired outcomes.

I personal recommend first thing in the morning. There’s a lot fewer distractions and why not start your day off on the right foot. You’ll find as you engage yourself in this powerful regiment, your whole approach will change from a passive activity into an engaging process.

Once you’ve established this daily habit, why not try and increase the time you spend t 30 minutes or an hour if your can.

Multitask and work in a light exercise activity. By combining the two, you’ll find your fitness motivation level will benefit significantly. As you exercise, you will be sharpening your mind just as much as you are increasing the strength of your body.

Look to others for motivation. Find the leaders in your fields of interest. Read and gain knowledge. Attend live seminars. It’s amazing how motivating it can be when you’re surrounded by like minded people.

Constantly look at new ways to feed your mind, spirit and soul. There’s been major advancements in understanding the inner workings of the human mind in just the last few years and how we can influence the changes we desire in our lives. The world is your oyster.see here for more info

Lifestyle coaching is a therapy that has become increasingly familiar over the last seven years. The term personal coaching first became popular in the USA where, together with NLP aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, it became part of a redesigned spectacular wave of very proactive therapy techniques. Change your life today with Life Coaching.

In many ways both Performance Coaching and NLP are an answer against certain variants of the Humanistic movement, in particular Humanistic Counselling. A problem of the humanistic and person centred therapy approach is that it is very reactive and not awfully proactive. Although this works spectacular with some people, with other people long periods of impasse or low return for time and effort occur. Success coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming are both humanistic therapy in stance, spending time on improving a customers happiness rather than jumping into the minefields of childhood, as in traditional psychology. Life coachings emphasis is, however, deliberately proactive and resolve issues.

Coaching is not about telling the coaching client what to do. This is a common misconception. Some lifestyle coaches are somewhat successful in their business careers and then make the change to success coaching, assuming that they will merely be required to divulge their pearls of astonishing success and wisdom with the life coaching client. This is more like mentoring an apprentice in a specific environment. Performance coaching is instead about life as a collective.

Many writers comment on how confidence is just about THE thing for attracting a partner. Males and females alike find confidence the most attractive quality in a potential mate. However, there is secret key to being confident. It is a key, which is rarely – if ever – mentioned.

When the topic of how to become more confident comes up the answers are often put in ways which just scare people off. People wanting to be more confident are often advised to gain it by doing a variety of things such as walking right up to people in Shopping Malls and starting a conversation with them, practice saying ‘hello’ to strangers and all that kind of thing.

To my mind, this kind of ‘help’ shows a real lack of understanding of human nature. It works for some people; but for many people the tackle-it-head-on approach misses the point and causes a lot of completely unnecessary fear and trauma.

In fact, for many people the kind of ‘helpful advice’ they are offered to become more confident actually damages what little confidence they already have. They know that they just cannot do. They cannot take the actions they are told the ’should’ take and so they end up feeling even worse about themselves as they feel a failure before they even start.

I suggest that there is a way to develop confidence, which is not scary for even a very shy person.

It is a two-step process:

Step 1: Encouragement – learn how to encourage yourself and reward yourself. Step 2: Stretch not strain – stretch your current limits, don’t strain them.

Lets look at what these steps means:

1) Encouragement – Learn how to encourage yourself and reward yourself.

There is ‘nothing succeeds like success’ as the old saying goes. In order to develop greater confidence we must be wiling to acknowledge any success we have no matter how small.

Most people do the opposite of that. They keep comparing themselves to some absolute ideal and putting themselves down when they don’t match up to it. Self-blame erodes and destroys confidence it does not help to build it. To develop confidence, stop self-blame. That will in itself make a huge difference.

Look at the meaning of the word ‘encourage’. When we encourage ourselves we say ‘Well done’. We tell ourselves that we did good. The dictionary defines ‘encourage’ like this: ‘To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence;’

Did you get that? Do you see what that definition is telling us? It tells us that to ‘en-courage’ is to actually ‘make courage’ and to ‘make confidence’. In other words when we encourage ourselves we make ourselves more courageous and more confident.

Self Encouragement is the secret key to self confidence. (Hey – you didn’t even have to buy a book to find out!)

Say you managed to say ‘hello’ to someone we would have been too shy to say hello to before. It is important to seize on that and tell yourself ‘Well done’. This helps inspire you to greater confidence. What you must not do is give yourself a hard time for not living up to extreme expectations; such as being down on yourself for not being able to sweep the person of their feet with a few words – like what happens in movies. Your life is not a movie – not yet anyway.

You can even reward yourself with a small treat of something you like such as an ice-cream or something (but don’t pig out though) when you have a breakthrough.

Step 2: Stretch not strain – stretch your current limits, don’t strain them.

This means working with the life you already have and taking small steps forward. Think about any particular social skill you would like to develop and practice on easy targets.

For example: Say you want to be better at giving compliments. Practice on people you already know (but no more than one compliment each time you meet someone). Don’t save it all up till you meet some babe or hunk that you are really into. Develop your skills (i.e. your compliment muscles) well before then you will be able to handle the babe/hunk with natural ease.

Give compliments to your mum, sister or brother, friends or colleagues. Notice the friendly old lady at the grocery store queue with the nice jacket and tell her how good it looks. Notice things you admire about people you like and gradually start to tell them.

To begin with only do this with people that you have little or no investment in how they respond. If this feels to scary to do one particular person then pick a less scary target and try it out on them. Once you get used to the idea you will do it with more and more ease till you can do it with just about anyone.

Whatever level you are at in being confident Self Encouragement will help. If you confidence is normally pretty good, but you have hit a low patch then encouraging yourself will turn it around.

Simple arithmetic shows that you can’t make something positive by adding something negative to it. Likewise you can’t become a better person by being negative about yourself. Give up any form of self-blame and start encouraging yourself and see all sorts of ‘problems’ and ‘issues’ you had just melt away. Don’t worry your therapist will find another client!

You can use Self Encouragement to boost your ability to develop any social skill be it; making eye contact, telling jokes or finding the love of your life.

Have you spotted the key yet? The secret key to self-confidence is Self Encouragement. Practice Self Encouragement and watch your self-confidence – and your life – blossom.

One day I was training for my championship fight I had coming up. I was running around the edge of thee lake, the water just seemed to calm my nerves and made the fight seem not so important.

I just finished my fifth trip around the man made lake and I could not believe what this man who was fishing was doing, every time I passed him he would throw back the biggest fish he would catch and I looked at amazement in his cooler of ice, they were all fish about five inches?

I thought to myself how strange in five trips around the lake this had thrown back what sure looked like worth keeping, I mean 10 to 12 inches very different from the five-inch ones he was keeping. Well I kept passing him, time aftertime he would through back the big one, and keep the littlest one. I was about to go crazy, I mean how many angler would throw back the big ones and keep the little ones? I thought to myself this person lost his mind!

Finally after four hours of passing this guy by watching him throw back all the big ones and put the ones from five inches and under in his bucket of ice.

Hey there I said, how you doing today? He said fine and man I am killing them, look in my bucket! Yeah you really are killing them, now I was busting out of seems to ask him what and the hell our you doing?

Finally, I could take it no more; the more he said that we were having his best day ever. I said hey I have just wanted to ask you one question. Go-ahead partner asked me anything you want. I have been passing you for the last four hours and I have seen you throw all the biggest fish back? I am a boxer not a fisherman but all my friends keep all the big ones and throw the little ones back and you are doing the exact opposite, why and the hell arte you throwing the big ones back?

He looked at me as if I was a starch raving lunatic and said; do you see that fire over there? I replied yes why? You see that frying pan. Sure, what does that have to do with anything? You see my frying pan is only five inches, so I have to throw all the ones over five inches back cause they won’t fit in my pan, I hate to throw all the big ones back just as much as you do but that is the biggest pan I have.

Now before you pass judgment on this man, how many times in your life have you had that great big idea? I mean that million dollar idea, or the idea that would actually save hundreds of life’s maybe even millions life’s and you said to God hey that’s to big a plan for me! What you are really says is Hey God I only have a five-inch pan.

Please don’t send me any fish over five inches because I can’t see myself with a big huge pan. He was all along running around you wondering when you would ask for his help and the only reason he gave you those big ideas is that he knew you could handle it!

So the next time you catch a big fish, don’t throw it back, and tell God you only have a small pan, because you + God = Enough, so catch that big fish and step up to the plate and expect the biggest pan you can hold. Cause if we are to have a fish fry, then we certainly want to feed everyone we are supposed to!

This information by leading Spanish Mortgage broker, International Mortgage Solutions.

Many UK and Northern European citizens are finding the idea of buying abroad more attractive and achievable. Because these properties offer a good level of capital growth, lower airfares and low European interest rates have made buying in countries like Spain more attractive. Spain offers short air time, excellent sunshine and plenty of growth. Buying in Spain may have gotten some bad press, but it can be safe if you follow some basic rules. Here is your basic buyers guide for purchasing real estate in Spain:

• Arrange your finances first.
• Take expert legal advice before you sign on any dotted lines.
• Avoid overstretching yourself financially.
• Be prepared for time deadlines to be stretched.
• Do not commit yourself to a private purchase contract until you have the funding that you need.
• Be prepared for the Spanish purchase process, which is different in Spain than in the UK and elsewhere.
• Fully understand the way taxes are accrued based on the specific ownership structure that you choose.
• Do not allow anything to convince you to take action that you would not consider doing otherwise.
• Work with a lawyer independent of the sales agent that you are working with. You need an unbiased party to help make sure that your best interest is being considered at all times.

Before you make any purchases, it would be wise for you to approach the situation with a list of questions that your lawyer in Spain should have answered for you. There have been a lot of situations where buyers from abroad do not get the results they seek because they asked the wrong questions or did not ask questions at all before hand. Before you sign on any dotted line, then, you should consider the following questions and any others that you need answers for

1. Is the entire sum of this Spanish purchase legally registered?
2. Is the land that the purchase sits on registered as urbanized or rustic? What are the implications of purchasing on land that turns out to be rustic?
3. What costs will have to be accounted for, including standard legal costs and tax costs?
4. Are there any licenses in place, such as building licenses or first licenses of occupancy?
5. Is there a 10year building warranty in place, if the building is less than ten years old?
6. Is this purchase being bought direct or as part of a cessation of contract? What are the implications based on the structure of the purchase?
7. Will there be any under declaration in this purchase?
8. Are there any additional costs that you will be responsible for, like capital gains, inheritance, wealth taxes or income taxes?
9. Do any deposits need to be paid? At what point in the process are they considered nonrefundable?
10. What lawyer costs and other legal fees will need to be paid?

Wherever you go, there you are. This is the title of a fantastic book by Jon Kabat Zinn. Often when going through a difficult time, some think about making a major change, a change of a job or residence. Will this really help? Of course if you are being abused or harassed, such action may be in order. But for the most part, if we change nothing about ourselves, we merely take what is inside of us wherever we wander.

In therpy, I have seen individuals who have literally taken geographics, making a major change out of the their city or state. What most discovered was that initially, the change was fun and exciting. But after a period of time, after the “newness” wore off they still saw people as they had seen them before. If they felt taken advantage of, they still felt that way. If they had low self-esteem, they felt the same way.

Is there an answer to this problem? Work on yourself first. In 12-step programs, we say no major changes for a year. That is because people need to see who they really are without their addiction. And it takes about a year to detox your system and to find out who you really are emotionally. And any other problems can certainly cloud our emotions as well.

Taking some time to clearly focus and see what the real issues are, is very important. A quick change without any forethought is often merely an escape from reality.

And remember, happiness is an inside job.!

Karlynn Baker is originally from Los Angeles, but moved to Arizona to receive her Master of Science Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling with a specialty in addictions. Karlynn owns The Employee Assistance Program, of Tucson, Inc.
Mental health services are offered to companies under contract and the sessions for their employees are confidential and free.

Karlynn shares a positive message every morning on KSAZ 580 AM, entitled “A Thoughtful Moment.” She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona and a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. She enjoys life with her husband, David, her three daughters, and two adorable grandsons.