Forward Steps Blog

Image via WikipediaDo you feel something stirring deep in your soul, in your bones… calling you to live your life in new ways? Are you experiencing a growing sense of a global family and the interconnectedness of life? Listen to the powerful audio “We Believe” and then join them in taking the pledge to follow the Seven Principles of Grace:

1. Slow down and listen
We believe that we are vast, ancient and wise beings who are at essence already enlightened, awake, connected. We believe that Grace is our natural state and that in the deep recesses of our heart we remember. We commit to stopping long enough to listen to the soul’s call, really hear it. And to having the courage to follow it and to trust that we are being guided to give our greatest contribution and experience our most sublime joy.

2. Live on the pulse of Life
We believe that as humanity, we have forgotten our connection to our essential divinity (Grace) and oneness and that this disconnection is the source of most of our individual and global problems. We believe that by relaxing out of our armor of beliefs/tightness of being and by surrendering open to Grace, we become more powerful, alive, joyful and at peace. We surrender to the natural, infinitely intelligent flow of life, allowing it to return us to the ocean of eternal Being-ness.

3. Bring the Love
We believe that humanity is being called to make a quantum leap in our evolution. Living our lives as acts of love opens doors to power and grace. We commit to having our very presence uplift our environment, honoring every person that we meet. We do this from a place of strength and joy by doing the things that feed and rejuvenate our spirits. We recognize the power of this love by exemplars like Gandhi, King, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and countless others. And, we celebrate its awakening in the hearts of people all over the world.

4. Forgive, let go, move on… to new life
We believe that by courageously facing, surrendering and healing the “lies and wounding of culture” in our conscious and subconscious minds we accelerate our awakening and re-connection to the fabric of creation. We fiercely commit to the journey of conscious evolution. Every grain of our societal beliefs lovingly becomes grist for the mill of our growth. By examining why we believe what we do, we can make conscious, more life-affirming choices and create real sustainable change in our lives and the world.

5. Awaken to the natural abundance of the Universe
We believe that we live in a vast, fertile universe of infinite abundance and possibility, that we have plenty, we are enough and can manifest lives of Destiny. We also believe that the true embodiment of this belief leads to responsible and sustainable abundance for us all. When we align our lives with it, we prosper naturally and gracefully- synchronicity increases and we are guided to our greatest Good. We commit to freeing ourselves from the trance of scarcity. We welcome the incredible journey of healing that it brings and with it joy beyond our most sacred dreams.

6. Honor and respect all life
We believe that all life is interconnected. As humanity, we cannot fulfill our highest potential until we can honor every person and thing on the planet. We commit to lifting those living in abject poverty or ravished by disease or hunger. They too, are our people. We commit to healing the wounds of separation we call race, creed, color or national origin, and open to the heart of every being- the soul of the individual, always and in all ways. We believe that Nature has profound wisdom, that animals are our brethren and trees, our friends. We commit to honoring all of life, our collective journey, our ancestors, and our future generations.

7. Welcome the wisdom and grace of the emergent Divine Feminine
We believe that a new consciousness is awakening that brings balance, beauty and wisdom to a world weary from long over-heated masculine drive. We believe that She is awakening in the hearts and minds of men and women all over the planet. And that those who feel her stirring are awakening to themselves anew and finding creative solutions to the “problems” that plaque humanity. We open to the connection, healthy sensuality, deep inner fulfillment and joy that she brings.

By Marla Durden at Profound Harvest

Mark W. Shead works as a consultant using technology to solve business problems, and he brings you a fantastically resourceful blog at Productivity501.

Productivity501 is a site dedicated to bringing you regular tips and tricks to help increase your personal productivity. This site focuses on original content so the publication schedule is a little slower than other blogs out there. Generally Mark tries to have at least one new article each week, but the focus is on posting when he has something that will benefit his readers.

I’m particularly directing you to the money section of his blog, and finance related articles, because that of course, is the main topic of this blog.

Good management of your finances can have one of the biggest impacts on your productivity because it determines how efficiently you convert your time into money, then into the things you need.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m really looking forward to the next couple of weeks. I have my ‘little’ sister coming over to stay from Sydney. It’s amazing that we haven’t seen each other since dad died, five and a half years ago. During her stay, Greg is going to Melbourne for a couple of weeks, to see his 87 year old mum. So it’s a real family time for the both of us.

During the week, Greg and I went to see the Martin Scorsese film about the Rolling Stones, called Shine A Light. We went to a La Premiere screening and this film truly was an experience, not just a movie. Make time and take the opportunity to go see it on the big screen. If you want to see and feel purpose, commitment and excellence, in action, then you must go see this film! Performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York, the movie was better than being there, live.

I’m writing this just moments after a most amazing thunderstorm here in Perth, Western Australia. I jumped up from my seat a few times! Would you like to experience just a teensy bit of what we just had? Just follow this link and turn up the volume, to maximum. However, the rain on that audio is very quiet, compared to our torrential downpour, and you also miss out on the fabulous lightning show. Right now, everything is perfectly still. Incredible!

Image via WikipediaA common mistake I see performance oriented people make is not taking break when they need it. Taking a break is like changing the oil on your car, it is a basic need and your performance will suffer if you decide to just “press on through”.
Let’s say you normally operate at 70% to 90% of your potential, but when you get burned out, your capability drops to 20% to 30%. Simply trying to spend more time at your reduced effectiveness just doesn’t make sense. You will be far better off to take some time off and come back at your normal 70% to 90%.
You need breaks on different levels. You need daily breaks like taking time off for lunch, weekly breaks like taking time off on the weekends, and seasonal breaks like going on a week vacation a few times each year. I also feel like you need sabbatical style breaks where you take at least a month or so off every few years to do something different. If you don’t give yourself these periods to revive, your creativity will suffer and you will be working with a handicap.

Source: www.productivity501.com

Your mental state has a powerful effect on our physical state.

SouthWest Airlines has a mission statement that says “People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it.” Ask yourself often, “What would you do if you won the lottery tomorrow and could do anything you wanted?”, and explore all your responses to that question, then take action.

I can’t understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I’m frightened of old ones…John Cage

What new patterns of action do you need to put into motion?

Book Rapper differs from other book summaries in their Action Plans, which are just that – plans to spark action. They have chosen a handful of the most important ideas from the book and translated them into actionable steps.

Book Rapper’s RAPs are like book summaries on steroids. Geoff McDonald tracks the hot trends through books, dig out the key ideas and present them visually with do-able actions for you to implement. At Geoff’s Book Rapper blog, you can keep up with the latest.

A Book Rapper Review is a one-page summary of the book similar to other summaries. It will enable you to read the key ideas of the book on a single page in about 5 minutes.

Book Rapper differs from other book summaries in their Action Plans, which are just that – plans to spark action.

They have chosen a handful of the most important ideas from the book and translated them into actionable steps. Whilst the ideas they create are sourced from the book being studied, the author of that book may not recognize them because they are
Book Rapper’s own interpretation.

Their focus is to highlight the key idea and provide actions that you can implement straight away. In contrast, most other book summaries do not have action plans for you to implement the ideas.

Book Rapper has three rules for selecting a book:

1. Impact: The impact the key idea of the book is predicted to make on business. In some cases, several books are read before they are selected as suitable or not.

2. Currency: Book Rapper want the book to be current and fresh and generally only consider books published in the past 12-18 months.

3. Relevance: The ideas in the book must be applicable to all businesses, from solopreneurs to not-for-profit organizations and multi-national companies.

Most book summary services are exactly that, summaries. They take the key ideas of the book and condense the information into fewer pages.

A Book Rapper Review is a one-page summary of the book similar to other summaries. It will enable you to read the key ideas of the book on a single page in about 5 minutes.

Book Rapper differs from other book summaries in their Action Plans, which are just that – plans to spark action.

They have chosen a handful of the most important ideas from the book and translated them into actionable steps. Whilst the ideas they create are sourced from the book being studied, the author of that book may not recognize them because they are
Book Rapper’s own interpretation.

Their focus is to highlight the key idea and provide actions that you can implement straight away. In contrast, most other book summaries do not have action plans for you to implement the ideas.

Book Rapper has three rules for selecting a book:

1. Impact: The impact the key idea of the book is predicted to make on business. In some cases, several books are read before they are selected as suitable or not.

2. Currency: Book Rapper want the book to be current and fresh and generally only consider books published in the past 12-18 months.

3. Relevance: The ideas in the book must be applicable to all businesses, from solopreneurs to not-for-profit organizations and multi-national companies.

At the Book Rapper blog, you can keep up with the latest.

CreateSpace is a DBA of On-Demand Publishing LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. Originally founded as CustomFlix Labs, Inc. in 2002, and acquired by Amazon.com, Inc. in 2005. Their mission is to profitably connect their members to their worldwide audience.

CreateSpace provides inventory-free, physical distribution of Books, CD and DVDs on Demand, as well as video downloads through Amazon Unbox. They manufacture physical products when customers order so no pre-built inventory is needed. Through their service, you can sell DVDs, CDs, and books,for a fraction of the cost of traditional manufacturing, while maintaining more control over your materials.

You can make your books, music and video available to millions of customers by selling on Amazon.com, the CreateSpace Shop, and on your own website with a customized eStore.

Adding a new title to CreateSpace is free. This includes getting your title set up in our system and the creation of a personalized E-Store for you to use to promote sales. If you want to send in a videotape master for your DVD, additional fees apply.
Using CreateSpace is easy! Just send your source materials and some simple graphics. Once they have your disc or book ready, they create your customized E-Store. You send a list price for the title, and they determine the selling price. When customers order a copy they charge their card, duplicate the title and ship it to them. CreateSpace then sends you royalty payments on a monthly basis.

Image by Keithius via FlickrThe mind is a very fertile ground. Anything you plant in it can easily bear fruits in one’s actions, words, and life in general. So, when positive things were planted, you reap positive fruits, vis a vis negative things will produce negativism.
Hence, in personal development and effectiveness, positive subliminal messages are very powerful aids. They accelerate the learning curve and self-esteem enhancements.
These effective tools can easily be used especially when encrypted in CD’s or any other recording device. Frequent listening will condition the mind to a positive end. It will also rid it of negative subconscious programming that is a major deterrent factor towards accomplishing your personal goals.
When you are frequently exposed to positive subliminal messages, the result will easily manifest in (1) better emotional well being, (2) positive outlooks, (3) good dispositions, and (4) renewed zest for life. In addition, you gain more (5) confidence to focus on the more important aspects of your personal goals with gusto.

Source: www.my-sense-and-sensibility.com

You can have a purposeful life that brings you a sense of fulfillment.

It is up to you to look for that, and to then take the steps toward creating a designed life experience, and toward fulfilling your life’s purpose. Begin by starting at the end. At the end of your life, what is the footprint that you wish to leave behind? What will you be proud of and what are the personal victories that you will have achieved, over yourself?

I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a ‘transformer’ in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage and faith to be a transforming leader…Steven R. Covey

Where could you show leadership, and be a change catalyst?

You can have a purposeful life that brings you a sense of fulfillment. You have a Destiny. No matter how difficult your circumstances are now, there is always a path to your dreams – from wherever you are to something greater! Receive your free Life Purpose Packet at The Roar From Within site.

It was the year 1930 in Southern California.

A young gentleman named Peter Kelder was taking a leisurely stroll, when a sudden shower broke out. He ran for cover to a nearby Travelers Club.

There, randomly, he sat at the table of a retired British army officer, known as Colonel Bradford.

The Colonel was a wrinkled, stooping man in his late sixties, drained of physical energy, unable to walk without the help of a strong cane.

Yet despite their differences, the pair soon became friends – and regularly met to discuss the Colonel’s many varied travels.

Of all of his topics, Colonel Bradford preferred to talk about India.

In particular, one story attracted him more than any other…

In almost every Indian district he’d visited, he’d been told about an ancient monastery deep in the heart of Tibet, where Lamas had discovered “The Fountain of Youth.”

Peter Kelder later wrote of this place: “Old men had visited and mysteriously regained health and strength, vigor and virility shortly after entering a certain monastery; but where this particular place was none seemed exactly to know.”

Colonel Bradford decided to leave – and find that monastery for himself.

The Colonel occasionally wrote to Kelder with updates of his progress. He eventually reported that he had found the monastery. But then the scent ran dry, and Kelder heard nothing more.

Until four years later, when Colonel Bradford stepped into his office…

… COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED.

His hair was a rich brown once again. His complexion was smooth and fresh. He no longer walked with a stoop. He was energetic, and strong, and virile, and HAPPY.

Asked how old he looked, most people guessed 38.

HE WAS 72.

The secret, he said, was all down to FIVE RITUALS he uncovered inside that lost Tibetan monastery, deep in the Himalayan Mountains…

Want to know more?