I have some exciting news and a very worthwhile cause to tell you about today. Three very wise and humble bloggers have come up with a formula for helping the afflicted in Darfur, a region in Western Sudan.

In case you are not aware of the situation, over the past five years, 200,000 civilians have died due to violence, malnutrition, and disease in Darfur and an additional 2.2 million people have been displaced. These three bloggers want to do something about it.

I was introduced to Mark Hayward by way of this article – Pardon me, is that an arrow in your head? – whilst I was training for the Kokoda trek. Mark served in Papua New Guinea in the Peace Corps as a volunteer and has many stories to tell of his two year stint there.

Mark has teamed up with fellow bloggers Leo Babauta from Zen Habits, Dan Clements from Escape-101 and Andrew Flusche in this unique launch of an online non-profit humanitarian organisation:

TrainforHumanity.org – getting fit + social media + blogging = social good.

The three pilot project athlete-bloggers, Mark Hayward, Dan Clements, and Leo Babauta are hoping to raise awareness for the current crisis in Darfur and funds for the organization Darfur Peace and Development. All three are training for endurance events of varying distances ranging from a triathlon to a marathon.

You can help by:

• Spreading the word of this project by blogging about it – they do have a sample post which you could copy and paste if you wish to or write it your way.

• Sponsoring one or all of these athletes is another way to help. Their aim is to raise $50,000 for the cause as they train for their respective endurance events.

• Displaying a Train for Humanity badge on your site to raise awareness like the one in my far right sidebar.

Please consider doing what you can to help these gentleman reach their goal whether it be by raising awareness or sponsoring them and THANK YOU for taking the time to read this post.

If you are into meditation or not, this event is not to be missed. Georgina Beament of the World of Love and Light has organised this Global Meditation Event to be held on 08/08/08 at 8:00am or 8:00pm wherever you are.

The idea is this:

All you need to do is focus on Love to yourself, the people in it and the world you live in. It’s really very simple.

It’s not essential for you to tune into the show… just being aware of the date and time and applying your thoughts is all that matters.

Love and Light
Georigna

A special broadcast will be held at the Law of Attraction radio show specifically for this however, it is not necessary to attend. Further details can be found on the Facebook event page here.

If you would like to help make a difference and send your healing thoughts to the world, mark this on your calendar. This is also nurturing for the self. Quiet time to think thoughts of love and healing will energise you and give a sense of gratitude.

Buddhists say positive energy can heal the world. Here is a short video for you.

Over the last few weeks this site has had some strange happenings going on and I am putting it down to my lack of attention to it. You can liken it to a car for example. If you don’t put petrol in it, it won’t go!! To my loyal readers, for this I apologise in not bringing you material that keeps you informed and growing within yourself. With the upgrade and migration to a new server, I encountered some technical issues which are now resolved so all is up and running and now and I am back to writing for you.

Good vs Bad

I would like to bring your attention to something that struck me the other day. I watched a movie (shock, horror) which made me think about the good and the bad that is in the world today. Without the bad, there would be no good. What I mean to say is that every action has a complimentary reaction so when we hear of natural disasters or terrorist acts, we think these are bad things, but without them, we would not see the acts of kindness of the human race either. Follow me for a moment here.

In 2001, we all remember the planes crashing into the twin towers on 9/11. It didn’t hit me until one week later because at the time, I was with my firstborn in a sleep centre learning how to get her to sleep without too much interference from me. She happened to wake about 2am and that particular night, her cot was in the conference room where the night duty nurse had the TV on. I was half awake and the chaos of that day was unfolding right in front of my eyes on the tube. It didn’t really sink in until I was back home and my fogginess had cleared.

The events of that tragic day had everybody (or so it seems, as that is what the MEDIA portrayed to us) against terrorists and focusing on what they could and would do about them. Much later came the stories of acts of human kindness and because of this, there was a major shift in consciousness around the globe. People were helping others because it seemed the right thing to do. Now I am not discounting the thousands of people who lost their lives due to those attacks, and may they rest in peace, I am simply saying that if something as big as 9/11 didn’t happen, we may not have come as far as we have with a shift in consciousness.

I still don’t fully understand why it happened and I guess I never will because I cannot be those terrorists that made it so. What I can do though is be grateful that the human race can come together in times like these and give a helping hand.

Acts of Kindness

Now I have just described an event of mammoth proportions but it doesn’t take such an event for human kindness to shine through. Maybe you helped an elderly person cross the street, or maybe you cuddled a child who was hurt in an accident. It could be that you telephoned your wife/husband just to say “I love you” or even to take your mum shopping, or letting your niece write a post on your blog, lol! Whatever the case, I know each of you has this capability and if you wouldn’t mind sharing some thoughts on this, I am looking to write an ebook to be released when I get back from the Kokoda trek in which I will include a section about Acts of Kindness where I can feature what you share here.

PS. My niece who wrote the post prior to this has now set up her own blog at Michalea Is Me and I look forward to seeing what she does with it.

To Our Success

Hello to all ( : Ange left her laptop open so I decided to sneak a post in before she noticed.

My name’s Michaela. I am Ange’s niece, 14 years young. There’s really not much to write, mainly because I don’t really know what my auntie does on here. But I’m going to say this, Ange is the craziest aunt I have. Meaning crazy in a good way. She loves her family and friends and cares deeply about what’s going on around her. For that, I love and admirer her.

I don’t find her on the adventurous scale, and I somehow don’t think The Kakoda Trail was such a good choice of adventure for her, but I know she’ll survive it ( : I think one of the most caring things she has done in the past is ‘FREE HUGS DAY MELBOURNE’.

She has a strong mind and always has her own opinion. If you dislike well trust me, you’re missing out.

I think I’m done on here. Thanks for reading about my auntie Ange ( : Much love to all, especially the one this is about.

xxx

Have you ever felt like you were the only person in the whole universe with a challenge? You may have noticed that I have been absent from Buzzing with Ange a bit lately. To tell you the truth, I lost my creativity and didn’t want to bring you half-baked articles just to keep updating. Instead, I have been meandering along another path away from my laptop and that is the one of further study for my NLP (Neuro-Linguistic-Programming) Master Practitioner along with training for the Kokoda Trek!

Aside from that, we, that is my family, have recently found out that my dad needs to have open heart surgery and as I type this, he has been hospitalised due to a series of recurring minor heart attacks and we are waiting to hear when he will be able to have the procedure done. Needless to say, it has put us all on standby wondering what the outcome will be.

Through all this, I have learned something about myself and that is that I am not the super emotionally strong person I thought I was. Does this mean that I have failed? No, not at all! In fact, what is has done is made me aware of the vulnerabilities that we as humans all have and that is that when someone close to us that we love faces a life threatening challenge, we start asking the questions why. After all, my dad is a very fit man and at the age of 78, he walks 60 kms per week!

The thing is to not ask why, but rather, how do we adapt to make this experience go as smoothly as possible while maintaining a positive outlook so as to keep my dad’s spirits up and help him as best we can through this challenge?


This Is How We Grow

While being empathic to his reality, I think the best thing I can do is spend time with him and ask questions so that I can learn as much as I can about him… I’m sure there are many things that I do not know about my dad and at the same time, tell him how I feel about him. Use the time to really bond and I think I am sounding like this is the end for him, and I’m sure it isn’t, but what an opportunity to get even closer than I was before! My point is that sometimes we leave things unsaid and then have regrets that we shoulda coulda woulda done this that and the other. I have heard it too many times before and I would rather not be left in that situation so speak now before it is too late.

This way of thinking can apply to anyone in our lives who we may be needing to discuss things with. What I mean is to not let emotions hold you back from speaking up about something or clearing the air if need be. I’m thinking in particular about forgiveness and emotional intelligence which goes a long way towards your personal development. Being consciously aware of our reactions to particular people or circumstances and coming to an agreement with ourselves or others, helps us keep things in perspective and not make up stories about it… after all, your reality will differ from the next person’s reality. We all have a different view of life and whatever your beliefs, it is the right one for you. Remember though that holding onto negative thoughts you have without either writing them down or talking about them with someone, will only make you the victim so please, if you have something to say then say it.

I know I am not the first person to be faced with this situation and I won’t be the last. So, I am not looking for sympathy here, rather, I would like to ask what are some of the things you may have tried in a similar situation which worked for you and your family to get you through a time like this?

This is a fiery and inspiring talk in Maui. I nailed their feet to the floor and lifted their hearts to the sky. By Joe Vitale. Videotaped at Unity Church of Maui.

In this video, Joe talks about a miracle. Two years earlier, Joe had heard about a very unusual therapist in Hawaii by the name of Dr Len who is regarded as a grandfatherly shaman. Listen to his incredible story as Joe explains how Dr Len miraculously healed a whole ward of dangerous mental patients without even seeing them!

Dr Joe Vitale, also known as Mr Fire, is a Spiritual Marketer amongst other things. Can those two words be used together? Well Joe has and actually, he has a book published called Spiritual Marketing… A Proven 5-Step Formula for Easily Creating Wealth from the Inside Out. In fact, there are way too many books by Joe for me to list here. This one is freely available on the Internet and I wanted to pass this along to you.

What are your thoughts about this method of healing? Have you heard of the Ho’oponopono healing which Dr Len uses?

In my last post I talked about being an adrenalin junkie which made me stop and think about what I was actually saying. Through attending many personal development seminars and training with NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), I have learned that whatever you say you are, you are. This is not something new to me, and there are times when I do use the wrong language. I should know better you would think… well, I am human after all

Since then, I have had a paradigm shift. I had a dream last night that I was bird hopping along the ground not being able to make out the tops of trees, but instead, all I could see was the grass stalks and some twigs and leaves. When I flew up into the sky I could then make everything out. I could see the trees in relation to the ground and the grass. I could even make out a valley and a body of water. Things seemed much clearer from up above. I noticed that the higher I flew, the more of the landscape I could see. Even the approaching clouds threatening a change in the weather.

Why am I telling you this. I am telling you this because from a distance, I could see the whole picture and not just what was down on the ground level. There are times when all you can see is what’s right in front of you. All the menial tasks that must be done on a daily basis. These tasks are just as important as the big ones. I have read that the art of successful living calls on the ability to pull back and see the big picture… take time out to re-focus.

There are some spiritual disciplines that favor retreats to be able to reconnect with your Higher Self or Spirit, whichever you would like to call it. This is also another form of nurturing your emotional intelligence. If you can take the time off and make it to such a retreat, fantastic! If you are limited with your time because maybe you work on your own or you have family commitments that you cannot pull away from at the drop of a hat, there are other ways of re-connecting and grounding yourself.

Here is a list that may give you some ideas:

1. Take one day off and make it a vision quest where you carry one question in your mind – What do I do next? Let it simmer while you walk, meditate, swim or just stare into space!
2. Take one hour to sit in amongst nature – be it a park, the beach, or even your backyard – and just shut everything out. Don’t think about a thing.
3. Go and have a full body massage and DO NOT talk through the process. I say this because when I worked in the beauty industry and clients would come in for a massage, there were ones who tended to talk throughout the whole hour. Not very relaxing and they missed the point of having the massage… although, some would come just to vent their troubles.
4. Run yourself a nice, deep bubble bath and burn essential oils with candles around the bathroom. The citrus oils are uplifting while peppermint and rosemary are invigorating.

Pulling back and regaining your focus is a must to be able to function at your highest potential. If while you are working and you seem to be procrastinating, notice this and ask yourself this question: What can I do in the next 20 minutes that will take me in the direction I want to go. It could be writing a letter, making a phone-call, paying a bill, joining a gym or even enlisting the help of a coach. It will different for each of you depending on what your goals are. Think of it as writing an outline of a novel and not the whole book.

These are some guidelines to consider.

• Think big.
• Think small.
• Learn to go back and forth easily between your points of focus.
• If you dream too much, you may get lost in unproductive tasks.
• If you are run off your feet with details and other’s demands, you are in danger of losing focus on the big picture.

My goal is to follow and stick to these guidelines so that I may become someone whose bigger dreams drive and inspire others. Let me know how I am doing from time to time.

Change Your Thoughts and You Can Change the World

I would like to leave you with this video that shows how your thoughts can change your focus and in turn, change the world as you see it. Enjoy!

Following on from my last post about Forgiveness and Emotional Intelligence, I had some rather interesting responses which prompted me to write this one. We are close to the end of the year which is a time for reflection for most of us, and in looking back, there may be some aspects of your life that you wish to work on so that you can move forward to 2008 with your sights set clearly on your goals and what you really want to achieve.

Here’s a short summary of that post:

• The only person that suffers from NOT forgiving the wrong-doer or forgiving yourself, is YOU.
• The practice of forgiveness is a simple process which can be done on a daily basis (as long as you are willing to let go of the thing that holds you back.)
• Forgiveness is an integral part of your Personal Development as without it, you cannot learn and move on with mastering your Emotional Intelligence.

Forgive and Forget

An interesting thought that came up in the responses from my friend George, is that as a child, he always heard the saying as it goes…

Forgive, but don’t Forget. It has it’s sense. Sometimes forgive AND forget is also a good idea as you clear out lot’s of stuff.

However, I feel that sometimes NOT forgetting in certain cases is a wise decision just so you don’t get caught a second or even a tenth time by the same story. Sort of like headlights that help you avoid big rocks in the road.

This is interesting because more often than not, we make up our own story about how someone treated us. Something I learned at the Landmark Forum is that we tend to, as humans do, drag the past around with us. Just imagine carrying around a suitcase everywhere we went.

I take George’s comment this way. By practicing forgiveness, it will certainly make you a stronger person. By not forgetting and using it as a warning to not get caught up again in that kind of a circumstance, it is useful. It reminds us NOT TO GO THERE AGAIN.

So to forgive and forget can give us freedom to go on and live a happy and fulfilling life. Create your day with your intentions clearly embedded in your mind before you even get out of bed. Practice forgiveness a little each day… the process gets easier the more you do and remember that attitude of gratitude leads to a life of abundance.

Dedicated to Success.

Making a contribution to others is a great experience. Just last night, my partner was reading through some of my older posts. He doesn’t get much time to read my blog and so he thought he would make the effort.

I was out with the girls for dinner so he was left to his own devices, and he must have been missing me to do some reading. I received a text from him later into the night to say that what I wrote was really inspiring … and that’s coming from a man who normally reads the NBA news and results!

Today, I want to give you this inspiring story of life to pay it forward to your friends. Live your life and do the things you love before it’s too late. Show your enthusiasm for life so that others will be touched by what you do. Create your day from the moment you wake up and say I’m having a great day! The rest will follow.

I will leave you to enjoy this.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be given the odds that your life may not last as long as you would want it too? What would you do to help someone who was given an expiry date by their doctor? It’s funny how when you get introduced to people through social networking, new friendships are borne and today I would like to tell you about one of those friendships. You know that I am always out to help a cause I feel is worthy… and besides, the lovely Tinu tagged me for this meme.

About one month ago, I came across Marty Weintraub over at Aim Clear who recently wrote a very endearing post telling us how he had been diagnosed with stage 3b Lymphoma. As he said, even today, to hear those words is like an eerie insight as to what it’s like to receive the heartbreaking Lymphoma diagnosis. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what those words would sound like to me. Marty is now in recovery with “first partial remission” and a good prognosis for long term survival and wants his friends to highlight an upcoming event to help raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Internet Marketers of New York

I would like to bring to your attention this event which will be held in NY on Monday, 15th October 2007. It is being held the evening before the SMX Social Media which is a two-day show where marketers will learn to harness the power of consumer engagement. If you happen to be in the area, it would be great of you to support the event by attending. You can find all the details here at http://www.im-ny.org/events.html

If you are not in the vicinity, there are other ways to help if you feel a need to do so. One of those ways is to write about the event in you own blog and pass on the awareness so that the news reaches as many people as possible. For this purpose, I will be tagging Sandra, Chris, Jim and Emma, Yogi, and Karla.

Raise awareness anyway you can and let’s make a difference to the those who suffer with this kind of dis-ease.

May You Be Blessed

Ange