You make me feel

Do other people make you feel things? Do they make you feel happy or sad? I’m curious. How do they make you feel this way? Do they say, “Hey, here’s a tin of sadness.” Or maybe they say, “Ahh, you need a bucket of happiness. Hold on, I’ve got one here you can have.” Can you find happiness or sadness on the supermarket shelves, pre-packaged and ready to go? Shopaholics amongst you would argue that you could; however I would say you can’t. We often rely on other people to “make” us feel a certain way. We rely on them to do something, say something, be something in order for us to feel happy. If they don’t do what we are expecting them to, we get upset, sad and hurt. In short, we often attempt to control other people in order to control how we feel; that is, our emotions. And when we do this, we are setting ourselves up for failure, because we can’t control anyone else. We cannot force anyone to do anything or assume they will. There is just one person we control; ourselves. People don’t make us feel certain emotions. We choose to feel them. We decide to react in a certain way. We make assumptions about what people mean. We leap to conclusions. No one can give you a tin of unhappiness, or a bucket of joy. These things are not physical items that can be passed from person to person. They are intangible items that exist only in ourselves. In fact just the other day I was at a wedding. I told one of my friends how wonderful she looked and how much I liked her outfit. She leapt to the conclusion that I was being sarcastic and chose to be offended by what was a genuine compliment. Had I even been being sarcastic, she could have chosen to be complimented and replied with a, “I’m glad you like it” and felt better about herself. There was a guy I knew when I was younger. He was short, balding, spotty and he had been short changed in the looks department. Yet whenever we went out to bars, he’d wander up to any pretty woman and start talking to her. If she turned him down, he’d shrug his shoulders and continue. I don’t think it ever even occurred to him to feel bad about these rejections. He’d just smile and say, “Your loss” and move on to the next one. Believe it or not, each of you are in control of yourself and how you feel. You can choose to feel anyway you want. Right now, you could choose to feel happy; or I am sure you could choose to feel sad. Just by thinking about it, you could change how you feel. It’s almost magic isn’t it? So what about choosing how you feel when you are interacting with other people? The vast majority of people run on auto-pilot. They allow their body and mind to more or less get on with it, not worrying too much about the programs that are running or the condition of it. It doesn’t interfere with them too much so they allow it to get on with it. It’s like watching all the cars driving around a city and not realising there is someone inside controlling them. Most people have forgotten there is this “person” inside of them controlling them. If you choose, you can take back control of how you feel and stop relying on other people to meet certain conditions. When you go to the office and someone says, “Good Morning” to you, you can choose to grumble and mutter, “There’s nothing good about it.” Or, you can choose to reply in kind and say, “It’s a fantastic morning.” That is, you can choose to feel bad or choose to feel good. Which do you prefer? Realise that you are the only person who can make you feel anything and stop allowing the people around you to make you feel bad. Decide to feel good and enjoy yourself. If someone turns you down or rejects you, “It’s their loss” or something similar. If someone says insults you, “Poor thing, must be confused” or something similar. Decide to take back control of yourself and your life and to stop being on auto-pilot. Choose how you are going to feel instead of allowing other people to choose for you.

The miraculous conversion

The recent bloodbath among online content peddlers and digital media proselytisers can be traced to two deadly sins. The first was to assume that traffic equals sales. In other words, that a miraculous conversion will spontaneously occur among the hordes of visitors to a web site. It was taken as an article of faith that a certain percentage of this mass will inevitably and nigh hypnotically reach for their bulging pocketbooks and purchase content, however packaged. Moreover, ad revenues (more reasonably) were assumed to be closely correlated with "eyeballs". This myth led to an obsession with counters, page hits, impressions, unique visitors, statistics and demographics. It failed, however, to take into account the dwindling efficacy of what Seth Godin, in his brilliant essay ("Unleashing the IdeaVirus"), calls "Interruption Marketing" - ads, banners, spam and fliers. It also ignored, at its peril, the ethos of free content and open source prevalent among the Internet opinion leaders, movers and shapers. These two neglected aspects of Internet hype and culture led to the trouncing of erstwhile promising web media companies while their business models were exposed as wishful thinking. The second mistake was to exclusively cater to the needs of a highly idiosyncratic group of people (Silicone Valley geeks and nerds). The assumption that the USA (let alone the rest of the world) is Silicone Valley writ large proved to be calamitous to the industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, evolutionary biologists like Richard Dawkins and Rupert Sheldrake developed models of cultural evolution. Dawkins' "meme" is a cultural element (like a behaviour or an idea) passed from one individual to another and from one generation to another not through biological - genetic means - but by imitation. Sheldrake added the notion of contagion - "morphic resonance" - which causes behaviour patterns to suddenly emerged in whole populations. Physicists talked about sudden "phase transitions", the emergent results of a critical mass reached. A latter day thinker, Michael Gladwell, called it the "tipping point". Seth Godin invented the concept of an "ideavirus" and an attendant marketing terminology. In a nutshell, he says, to use his own summation: "Marketing by interrupting people isn't cost-effective anymore. You can't afford to seek out people and send them unwanted marketing, in large groups and hope that some will send you money. Instead the future belongs to marketers who establish a foundation and process where interested people can market to each other. Ignite consumer networks and then get out of the way and let them talk." This is sound advice with a shaky conclusion. The conversion from exposure to a marketing message (even from peers within a consumer network) - to an actual sale is a convoluted, multi-layered, highly complex process. It is not a "black box", better left unattended to. It is the same deadly sin all over again - the belief in a miraculous conversion. And it is highly US-centric. People in other parts of the world interact entirely differently. You can get them to visit and you get them to talk and you can get them to excite others. But to get them to buy - is a whole different ballgame. Dots had better begin to study its rules.

Solar power becoming americas choice

Solar power is the power extracted from the sun’s energy, which is the sunlight. As the sun provides us sunlight for free, solar power itself too is a renewable, clean and environment friendly source of energy. With rising concerns about depleting fossil fuels and rise in air pollution, the use of solar power as an alternative source of energy is fast gaining popularity. By harnessing and using solar power at home, it is possible to cut down the cost of power bills and extensive use can even make one totally independent in terms of power requirement. This is mainly because sunlight is available for free almost round the year and the best part is that solar panels and other such solar equipments require little maintenance. But now, one million dollar question arises - that is why, in spite of so many benefits, are people using solar power only sparingly? The answer to this question lies in the fact that the solar powers are largely inefficient. To counter this problem, bigger panels have to be installed and this makes using them cumbersome. Also, some people prefer not to mess with the aesthetic beauty of their houses. Also, the solar panels do not come very cheaply. Moreover, there is the inherent problem of unable to work at night and providing very little power during cloudy days. With the depletion of fossil fuels, the scientific community has been urged to understand the urgent need to consider upgrading of existing solar panel technology. Now, with continued research and development in those areas, the solar power systems have undergone drastic changes. They have figured out how to make cheaper solar panels and also improve their efficiency. One of the major milestones achieved in the solar power technology is the invention of photovoltaic cells. They have gone a long way to reducing the size and increasing the efficiency of the solar panels. In a solar panel, the photovoltaic cells are placed on a steel substrate. Each cell is capable of capturing various spectrums of sunlight. The solar photovoltaic panels have overlapped layering of the cells which makes them an efficient source of producing power. The new solar photovoltaic panels use amorphous silicon thin alloy technology. This solar photovoltaic panel based on the new technology is not that bulky and can be easily placed on the roof of houses. It is many times more efficient than a regular solar panel. Moreover, they don’t look that bad and can be easily implemented without affecting the overall looks of a building. Another milestone in the road of solar technology is the invention of photovoltaic shingles. They are basically nothing but solar panels which are modified and made into shingles. Photovoltaic shingles can be used as a convenient and aesthetic substitute for large and bulky solar panels. They are implemented in the roofs of houses as normal shingles. They are usually black colored and have the appearance of normal shingles. And they serve the dual purposes of adoring your house as well as harnessing solar power and converting it into electricity for your use. Moreover, they save you the cost of buying extra shingles. In a nutshell, they are good looking solar panels. Experts have said that the technology of using photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic shingles is a major breakthrough in the harnessing of solar power. Research is going on for further development in the solar power technology and you can expect even smaller and more efficient solar power systems made available in the near future.

Life without plastic in thailand

I was a soldier stationed in Bangkok, Thailand back in the early 1970's. Not always having a bunch of money, I used to eat food from the local street vendors. Most of my meals were served wrapped in either a banana leaf or yesterday's newspaper. Some meals were even served off of unclassified military paperwork that was recovered from the rubbish. Nowadays, everywhere in Thailand the vast majority of street vendors serve food and drink in plastic bags. McDonalds has nothing on this fast food experience. Whatever you order, be it a rice or noodle dish, is scooped up into a plastic bag and then sealed with a rubber band. This also includes soups and drinks. Smaller bags of sauces and spices are also provided. You can even get fresh sliced fruit to go in a small bag with a skewer to stab each sweet morsel. Shopping on the streets, markets, and malls will also expose you to bags and bags of plastic. It doesn’t matter what the size of the item, it will go in a plastic bag. I have had numerous occasions where I acquired a large plastic bag to hold a variety of articles and each successive purchase resulted in a small plastic bag being put into the larger. Despite my objections that the smaller plastic bag was not required, I was turned away with a confused look and a smile. Needles to say, after a day or two in Thailand, you tend to acquire a pile of plastic bags. I do manage to use a couple of them for dirty laundry or to keep items separated, but most of the plastic goes straight into the trash. I really don’t know what the Thai people would do today without plastic bags. If the tree-hugging environmentalists ever came to Thailand, they wouldn’t know what to do. Where would they put their sticky rice and beef jerky? How would vendors sell coke to go? How would the bootleg software and DVDs be distributed? How would I get my bowl of Thai soup home? Would they be able to revert back to banana leaves and yesterday's newspapers? I don’t think that the Thai people could live without plastic bags. And any attempt o stop the usage would result in disastrous results.

Tips on how to handle abusive relationships

A Relationship is a very valuable aspect in our life. It must be unique and something to be enjoyed by everyone. We all dream of having a very healthy relationship especially with our friends, family members and loved ones. It is a relationship wherein we enjoy each others company. We do things together like watching a basketball game or sometimes with the company of some friends. We are honest about our feelings with each other. There is mutual respect and sincerity between the two of us. It means we pay attention to each others opinion or thoughts. Always trying to reach out to each other to strengthen the bonds of the relationship. On the other hand, to have an unhealthy or abusive relationship is to experience the exact opposite when we are having a healthy relationship. We usually feel bad about ourselves. We do not verbalize our feelings. We take each other for granted. It could be in the form of hurting the other person verbally, abusing the person physically, emotional abuse and sexual abuse. Sometimes, both of them will be violent or be abusive to each other. There are situations wherein only one is abusive to the other. Most often, the abusive relationship does not happen immediately only after sometime. That will be the manifestation of the real self of the person you promised to live with. If we are experiencing an abusive relationship, then how are we to get out from such relationship? First and foremost, we need to talk to somebody we could trust, like for example our parents, a friend , guardian, counselor, teacher or a doctor. We should relate to them that we are having an unhealthy relationship and what the other person did so as to abuse us. If we are afraid to tell our parents, then we should approach somebody whom we trust to help us in telling our parents, to the counselor, security of the school, and even the police about the abuse. And we will be able to escape such relationship. In leaving an abusive relationship, sometimes it is too risky to do so. There is a necessity for us to make a plan for our safety so that everything will be done smoothly. It will surely not be difficult and safer if we will have a plan. These are the tips for our safety plan. • Do not be ashamed to tell your situation to somebody you trust. • Mention directly to the person abusing you that you do not want to see him or her in order that they will not be able to touch you. Do it when your guardian or parents are present. • If you are injured, go for treatment from your doctor or the hospital. • Record in a diary when the date of abuse happened. • Contact should be avoided with the person. • Do not walk alone. Be with your friends. • In case of emergency, look for a safer place like the police station. • Always bring your cellphone, phone cards and money. • In case the person is following you, do not hesitate to call 911. • Always have the domestic violence hotline numbers. Most of the times, it would happen that the various abuses we mentioned are done inside our very own home, we feel bad about this kind of situation. In other words, our home can no longer guarantee our safety and security with the other members of the family. Sexual abuse is committed right at the doorstep of our home. Child abuse is also done when a person assigned to take care of the child fails to do so. There are times when the child is physically hurt out of jealousy. And what ever happens, the parents and health caregivers must be prepared to protect and take care of the child.

An industry blueprint to stocks and shares

In this day and age, a lot of things have changed from how they used to be, which can be new and exciting for most. Because of the large size of the stock market, beginner investors appear to feel overwhelmed as to where to even activate investing their money. To most people, the stock market presents a messy web of options but does not reveal the highway map of clarity to guide their way along way in their investment adventure. The key to investing in the stock market is to become as educated as it is possible so that you know exactly what is taking place at all times. This helps people to make plausible and sound decisions about their money, thus, dropping the stress involved with investing. The usual person, when beginning to entertain the idea of investing in the stock market, falls into one of two categories. Class one is the gambler who feels that investing is definitely a form of betting and no question what they do, they are certain that they will drop money slightly than make money. It seems that this opinion of investing in stocks is either formed from friends and family that have been baffled by the stock market or private experience and lost money. If someone has personally made losses in the stock market, it is pretty evident that they were not educated enough at the time of their investment in the stock market. Therefore, they must become educated as to what exactly the stock market is as well as how its system works in order to become a successful investor. Class two, on the other hand, represents the “go-getter” investor, which is an individual who knows that they should invest into the stock market for the safety of their monetary future, but they have absolutely no idea where to begin. The “go-getters” lean towards avoiding their monetary decisions and leave it up to professionals; therefore, they are powerless to justify why they own a certain stock. A usual “go-getter” operates in blind faith, as one stock goes up in value, they more than likely will hold it. The “go-getter” is in poorer shape than the gambler in that they will invest like everyone else and then wonder why they receive an unsatisfactory or devastating outcome. This just proves that the typical person should become thoroughly educated about the stock market as well as stocks before investment takes place. Essential to every economy is business...businesses that started out as small operations that have grown to become money making giants, raising capital by promoting stock in them to people who want to invest to make their futures financially secure. As small businesses start to grow, one of the supreme obstacles is generating enough money in order to develop into a superior operation. Businesses either scrounge the money in the form of a offer from a bank or venture capitalist, or someone that will invest money into a business in which they feel they will receive a high rate of return, or a reap from their investment into a business, in order to create the currency to expand. The most common choice for a business to gain money for the view of expansion is to take out a loan; however, there is no agreement that a bank will offer money to any given business. What we have explored up to now is the most important information you need to know. Now, let’s dig a little deeper. In this case, business owners roam to the stock market for help in the form of issuing stocks. Firm owners relinquish a tiny fraction of control over their business and in reciprocation; the stock market provides that business money that does not have to be salaried back, in order to guarantee expansion. As an added bonus, the business is permitted to “go public,” a saying that means a brand is selling stocks for itself for the first time, so that business owners no longer are required to borrow money from banks because they can merely use their own stocks for getting monies to use for expansion. Thus, as the business grows and sells their stocks to people, the better chance a sponsor has on gaining a return on their investment as opposed to a loss. As an investor, it is to your advantage to efficiently study each and every business in which you propose to hold stocks. The more facts you know about any certain business, the easier it is to make a plausible decision as to whether you should hold stocks or want a different business in which to work with. Try searching for a particular keyword from the title of this article on your search engine and you are sure to find a wealth of knowledge.

To buy a fat pig

What does buying a fat pig have to do with your business? Stick with me and all will be revealed. Does your business have a tactical and a strategic way to go to market? Let's go down to Mr. Hoover's butcher shop to see how it's done. Mr. Hoover has been selling bacon and other pig products for years. That's pretty tactical, but can result in a good continuing income stream. A lot of customers come in week after week to buy their bacon and ham and pork loin, after all. But Mr. Hoover wants to develop another income stream. What, he wonders, if he could get people to buy the whole pig ahead of time. And, maybe, he also could get customers to pay for a pig on the installment plan. Then, Mr. Hoover could afford to buy more pigs basically for nothing. Customers would be paying for the upkeep. And, Mr. Hoover could even own a stud pig that he "rents" to other pig farmers. Yet another income stream. Sweet! My tactical tool - or bacon - is email newsletters and marketing programs aimed at customer retention and loyalty. Once I'm in the door with email, I can develop a client relationship that later allows me to sell the whole pig. I designed my business this way from the start so I'd have a continuing income stream. Then, I could concentrate on what I really like to do: selling myself as a strategic partner who can help a business develop its positioning statement, fully define its audiences and develop and implement a more comprehensive communications program that has bottom line impact. That's my fat pig. Have you thought about your business that way? What's your fat pig?