John Robbins, author of “The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less,” wrote an eye-opening Huffington Post, “Being Fat In America,” which was the final nail in the coffin of my attachment to eating animal products.

Three days ago, after reading his article, I made the commitment to adopt a healthy, low-fat, plant-strong diet. In other words — yes, folks– I have become a vegan. Not because it might be perceived by some as a progressive thing to do, which it is. Not because I don’t like the idea of eating other creatures on the planet, which is true. READ MORE…

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It is only a matter of time before Gadhafi leaves Libya. History provides many examples of the United States destroying dictators they were once in bed with when it becomes their best interest to do so.

And yet Gadhafi stays. He wants to do battle as long as he can, long after the outcome of his removal had already been decided by other parties, racking up more casualties, costs and collateral damage in the process. Going quietly into the night doesn’t satisfy his angry, selfish ego.

It’s just like couples who divorce when their relationship goes sour. The decision has been made, divorce is a given, living happily ever after just ain’t going to happen.

But instead of accepting this and parting ways as amicably and reasonable as they can, acknowledging that there are no more cards to play in that hand, their angry, judgmental egos prevail and insist on doing battle day to day in their transactions with each other and, more specifically, in the courts, reaping tremendous amounts of emotional and financial havoc that oftentimes leaks all over their children who become custody pawns in their pathetic chess game to prove who can hurt the other more.

So what is the take-home message? Let bygones be bygones. When the relationship is clearly over, let it die a quiet death, let it rest in peace.

Move on. Count your blessings. Be grateful for whatever positive and loving memories you can still muster in your mind and make a healthy, humanistic transition into a new phase of your life. Ride off into the sunset with dignity and honor.

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The Law of Distraction isn’t complicated: The more distracted we are, the less effective we are with our work, our goals, our relationships and our physical well-being. The less attention we pay to details, the greater the potential for mistakes, accidents and inefficiency, all of which lead to less than optimal outcomes in our lives. Read the rest of this entry »

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After what has happened in Japan, anybody who says we shouldn’t put the brakes on our zest for nuclear energy is either a moron or beholden to special interests. This includes President Obama.

Thinking that an earthquake leading to a nuclear accident can happen here in California is not an overreaction, it is a logical conclusion.

Japan’s tragedy is our opportunity to ensure our safety. There is enough horror that happens in this world which is beyond our control. Best we pay attention to those things we create that portend our self-destruction.

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Negative thinking is our enemy. It dampens our enthusiasm and motivation. It contributes to indecision, inertia, procrastination and outright derailment of our goal-directed actions. It defeats us. It beats us. It creates the “bad luck” that we will later bemoan.

We are our own worst enemy when we indulge our negative thinking and tell ourselves, “It’s not going to work out…. I’m unlucky…. Something will go wrong…. Such and such will happen and I’m just going to be more miserable, so why bother?”

There are an endless number of negative messages in all shapes and sizes that discourage us from being proactive and going forth into the world. And now is as good a time as any to stop playing this losing hand, to stop giving these negative messages any power. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Enchantment” is a superior self-help book. There are trillions of books out there for people who want to get serious about their lives, about creating a business, a company, a presence, a successful future.

Guy, Kawasaki, former “chief evangelist of Apple,” co-founder of Alltop.com, a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures, and a prolific author, details how to change the world by changing your ability to interact with and inspire others to hop on your success bandwagon and ride it to the stars.

What impressed me most about this book is that it covers every angle, every aspect of growth and change, every aspect of influencing others from harnessing technology and social media to re-forming ourselves in the myriad ways that, when all put together, spell out accomplishment and success.

Some of the topics in his book include: “How to Achieve Likability,” “Create Win-Win Situations,” “Be a Mensch,” “Be a Hero,” “Set Yourself Up for Success,” “How To Overcome Resistance,” “Position Yourself,” “Catalyze Commitment and Consistency,” “How to Use Push Technology,” “Look Far into the Future,” “Know Your Limitations,” “Beware of Pseudo Salience, Data and Experts,” and “Underpromise, Overdeliver.” I could go on and on. This book does not waste words.

I perceive myself as a superior quotemeister. When I first started tweeting a couple of years ago i gleaned some of the finest quotes out there to inspire and motivate others, to encourage them to think and challenge their presumptions and biases.

So it is no small thing when I tell you that the quotes Guy Kawasaki peppers throughout his book, which is packed full of massively valuable information guaranteed to advance your career and improve your life, are incredibly brilliant and powerful, possibly worth the price of the book all by themselves if taken to heart.

I leave you with one of his quotes I particularly enjoyed: “Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.” ~ Daniele Vare.

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Critical thinking is the ability to assess arguments and make objective evaluations such that poor decisions are avoided and positive outcomes are maximized. Listed below are some guidelines for critical thinking which, if implemented, will enable you to effectively navigate your life and increase your potential for success.

• Be precise. Define your terms. The more concretely you are able to identify and articulate the problem, the less likely your conclusions will be flawed.

• Carefully examine what is presented as facts. Avoid anecdotal evidence. Coming to a conclusion without carefully and meticulously scrutinizing the data can have catastrophic consequences.

• Be vigilant in regard to your assumptions and biases. Don’t fall into the trap of allowing any pre-conceived notions to form the basis of your arguments and assertions.

• Avoid being swayed by your emotions. Gut feelings and intuitions need to be taken into consideration but should not overshadow your objectivity.

• Don’t oversimplify. Avoid overarching generalizations.  Do not draw conclusions based on limited data.

• Consider other explanations. Although the principle of Occam’s Razor states that when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better, it’s best that you not arrive at any conclusions without thoroughly considering the alternatives.

• Avoid being stubborn and dogmatic. The most creative solutions often arise from an attitude of flexibility and open-mindedness.

(Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online degrees, and what it takes for adult students to succeed when studying for an online post-grad degree from home. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.)

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If we oppress our partners bad enough and long enough, eventually they will want to leave us and/or hurt us. Therefore:

• Best we not be dictators in our relationships.

• Best we not control and manipulate our partners for our self-interest without any regard for theirs.

• Best we listen to their concerns and address them as best we can.

• Best we attempt compromise and cooperation for the greatest good of all concerned rather than attempt subjugation and domination.

• Best we be fair, generous, nurturing and supportive rather than selfish, self-entitled and self-serving.

• Best we not take them for granted and assume they will put up with our arrogance and abuse.

• Best we make amends when we have been thoughtless, hurtful and unloving rather than defend our position, refuse to admit when we are wrong, refuse to apologize, and thereby compound the problem.

Bottom line: If we want enduring, satisfying relationships, we must replace our oppression with our compassion. Nothing less will suffice.

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Whether you’re studying to become a social worker, nutritionist or psychologist, or if you’re just stressed to the max yourself and looking for motivation from a supposed professional, you might be tempted to get sucked into the ever-booming self-help industry. And while there are lots of legitimate, caring experts who’ve developed sensible, effective plans for their clients, there are some surprising things about the industry you may not have realized. Here are 15 facts about the marketing strategies, profits and success of the industry.

1. Women are the new target audience: All right, maybe this little fact isn’t totally surprising. But the intensity with which the industry prowls for female consumers — and virtually ignores male consumers — is still remarkable. If you count prophets like Oprah as major promoters of the self-help industry — and you should — many American women have become insatiable when it comes to New Age spiritualism, snapping up books like Eat, Pray Love and all kinds of products designed to make them look and feel beautiful.
2. Americans spent $11 billion on self-help in 2008: Despite — or even as a cause of — the recession, the self-help industry’s profits continue to swell. Marketdata Enterprises released an $11 billion estimate for what Americans spent on self-help books, coaching and similar products and services in 2008 alone.
3. We’ve renounced ownership of ourselves: Steve Salerno investigates the self-help industry in his book Sham and concludes that many followers have renounced ownership of themselves by giving in to the hype. It’s as if we’ve given up on the idea that we can control anything about ourselves, and that all of our shortcomings can be justified, that we’re all victims. Some coaches and self-help leaders prey on this perception, he argues.
4. “Self-Help” dates back to 1859: The term self-help may have been coined in its modern form in 1859, when a Scottish social reformer published the first self-improvement book titled, “Self-Help.” But the idea has been around much, much longer. Many ancient cultures in India, Greece, Rome and East Asia created better living guides and touted principles designed to improve ourselves, from the Stoics to Proverbs and beyond.
5. Infomericals pull in the largest sales volume: The most profitable sector in the self-help industry is infomercials — yep, you’re not the only one watching those fitness or wellness spots late at night.
6. Most self-help guides ignore environmental factors: One critique of the industry is that many self-help guides ignore or minimize the effect that environmental factors may have on a person’s well-being or their “shortcomings.” A background of abuse or another social influence may be partly to blame for a weight problem, and can’t be solved by simply loving yourself more becoming a more forgiving person in general.
7. Materialism trumps spiritualism: All the talk about spiritualism is nice to hear on TV or to read in a self-help book, but as Joshunda Saunders and Diana Barnes-Brown pointed out to Alternet.org, materialism is often at the root of any “secrets” to a better life. “Materialism and dependency masked as empowerment, with evangelical zeal” is what people like Oprah are really promoting, they argue, as new beauty and weight management products are thrown at us buy gurus and experts.
8. It’s taking over the sports industry, too: Self-help isn’t just for softies crying in their apartments, alone. It’s hitting the sports industry, as parents are hiring private coaches to shock their young athletes-to-be into better players. Tim Keown writes for ESPN The Magazine, “the self-help industry is selling an idea as much as a product: Practice might not make perfect, but you’ve got a better chance if you have the right program, the right trainer and the right accessories.”
9. Over 13 million relationship self-help books were sold in 2007: Yes, someone is buying those ridiculously titled self-help books you laugh at to your friends. In fact, 13.5 million relationship self-help books were sold in 2007.
10. Around 18,000 life coaches work in the U.S.: CNN reported in 2007 that the International Coach Federation (ICF) acknowledged over 12,000 members worldwide. According to the ICF’s website, over 18,000 members work today.
11. Women buy stupidly titled self-help books: As we noted above, 13.5 million self-help books were sold in 2007, even those without a catchy or cool title. Everything from Women Who Love Too Much to Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them sell awesomely well.
12. But men rarely buy them: The same Forbes article notes that publishing houses and marketing firms don’t even bother coming up with products or books that cater to men — they simply won’t buy them.
13. There is no oversight board for life coaching: A 2002 USA Today article reported that there is no real oversight board for life coaches, and no set guidelines for coaching. There still doesn’t seem to be any restricting or accountability board, and coaches are not required to be certified. Coaches who do claim to be certified have most likely attended independent training schools like this one.
14. TV is helping the industry flourish: When you watch TV, you may not realize that a bulk of primetime programming is all fueling the self-help industry. Shows like Intervention, Hoarders, The Biggest Loser, What Not to Wear, Made and others bank on pointing out what’s wrong with people and then trying to help them — and hopefully convincing you that you need help, too.
15. Life coaching may be a more profitable angle for mental health professionals: As mental health professionals aim to stay competitive — many are turning to life coaching services. It requires no extra training or certification but has the power to draw in new clients who are attracted to the “life coach” marketing angle.

- Written by Carl Andrews: http://www.onlinecollegesanduniversities.net/blog/2011/15-surprising-facts-about-the-self-help-industry/

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So many people are amused and entertained by Charlie Sheen.

The man is likely bipolar, manic, with psychotic features (in addition to his diagnosis of substance abuse), is on the brink of a mental breakdown, and has a high probability as time goes on for violence towards self or others.

Best we all stop supporting the media circus which feeds his grandiosity and reinforces his impaired insight and judgment.

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