Lakota Sioux Prayer

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin

All my relations

I honor you in this circle of life with me today
I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer....

To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.


To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.


To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.

To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.

To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.

To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you.

To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.

You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live. We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny. One, not more important than the other. One nation evolving from the other and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below. All of us a part of the Great Mystery.

Thank you for this Life.

How Should A Young Person Invest Time?

Taken from a Quora question, the text below is copy-pasted:

RyzVan Rashid, Love life and everything with it.

9.3k upvotes by Jorge Ferrando (Ph. D. in Economics from Sorbonne University),Sonia Chauhan (Corporate lawyer), Rick Johnson, (more)

(8k+ Upvotes in 7 days... I'm truly humbled. Thank you.)

When I was 22 years old, I spent time going out with my friends, talking to my girlfriend all the time, spending time smoking-up, and generally being an a$$. 

10 years later I discovered a secret that helped me achieve and learn more in 1 year than I had in all the previous 10 years. 

Here's the secret for you to apply this in your life and get results and success that you've never even dreamed possible. 

Invest your time in the following activities and you will gain more power, money, friends, love and affection. 

Your friends will look up to you for your courage to do the things that they've only just dreamed about, your family will look up to you and be proud of your many achievements.

 Your colleagues will become jealous of your stratospheric success. They will look towards you for advice on how to become successful like you. 

If you don't do these things, 10 years down the line you will wonder where all your time went, what you did wrong to become such a failure. 

Your friends will forget you as a has-been, and your family will treat you like that 'bum-sibling' they have. 

Here are 5 things you should invest your time in everyday to become a success.

But a WORD OF WARNING...

If you try doing these things at the same time you will fail. So pick one of the things mentioned below. 

Learn how to do it. Figure it out. Then spend 1 month to learn how to do this better. Practice it every day for 1 month before taking on anything else. 

After the 1 month is over this will have become your habit and you will be able to do it unconsciously. Then when you add another thing from the list below it won't seem very hard. 

Within the year you'll be doing each of these things unconsciously and will have developed an arsenal of habits that will support you for the rest of your life. 

The Power Of Creating Good Habits

The biggest secret that man has discovered over the last few decades is the power of habit. Once a habit is established it lasts for a life time. 

Developing a habit in the beginning seems hard, but once you master something and include it in your habits, this will be forgotten and you'll just do it easily. 

Think about tying your shoelaces. How do you do that? Do you loop each lace and then knot them, or do you loop one and then knot the other lace through the loop. 

Each of us ties our shoelaces differently. But once we get this, we'll tie them each time the same way, without even thinking about it. 

This is the power of habit. This is the first thing you should invest your time in. 

A habit is usually formed when you repeat something in the exact same manner everyday for at least 21 days. Some habits take longer, some shorter. 

So to average it out - invest 30 days to establish each habit. 

The 5 Most Powerful Habits That Anyone Can Learn

These 5 habits will support you throughout your life

Whether you decide to become an academic and do multiple Ph.Ds, or are an athlete looking to become professional.

Whether you are a mother looking to give your kids a better life, or a high powered business woman seeking venture capital investment. 

The habits are universal. 

1. Take Care Of Your Body

No matter what you do in your life, you will do it in your body. You cannot replace it, get a new one, or trade it in. This is your body and your will live in it.

It might not be the perfect body that you want, but this is the one you have. If you take care of it now - it will take care of you when you 60, 70 or 80 years old. 

The way to take care of your body is simple. Eat less & Exercise more. 

Spend 30 - 60 Minutes Each Day Exercising. 

This does not mean that you join a gym and start pumping weights. It means that you work every muscle in your body. 

Spend conscious time to move the muscles in your arms, back and legs. Take the time to join a gym and workout and use your muscles. Do this because most of us now spend more time sitting on couches than moving around. 

The human body was made to move around to do things. That's the first thing to take care of the body. Learn this habit first. 

Spend 30 - 60 minutes each day exercising. 

Eat Food That Is Fresh & Healthy

The next step to take care of your body is to eat well. Treat your body like a home. This is the home where you live. 

If you bring good things to this home the home will become nicer and you'll enjoy living in it. If you bring rotten stuff into this home the home will decay and you'll hate living there. 

So eat good stuff. Eat as much fresh fruits & vegetables as you can everyday. Include a fruit and vegetables in your diet. This will give you the energy that you need. 

Play A Sport That You Like Everyday

This is something that will help you relax your mind. That can get you moving physically and get you out of your head and present in the moment. 

Something that you do physically, like Tennis or Basketball. The benefit of these sports (or other sports) is that you get out of your head and get in the moment. 

The rush of the moment will help your mind relax for a minute and focus on the right now instead of being stuck on analyzing the past or estimating the future. 

Additionally the competition will rejuvenate you. Competition in life is how we grow. The more competition we have the sharper, faster, better we become. 

Unfortunately in the current job environment that we work in - we can't get immediate feedback on competition. Most of the time at work we are working in teams where we need the team to succeed. But our personal success is often based on the failure of other members on the team. 

For e.g. You can't become the manager of your team - if everyone in your team also becomes the manager of your team. 

So taking up a sport will give you the immediate rush of competition, the instant feedback of success or failure and you will grow. 

Avoid Junk Food

Junk food as the name suggests is junk. It's useless, worthless for the body. It doesn't provide the nutrition that your body needs. 

If you feed your body with junk food, you will become lethargic, you will lose energy and over a period of time you will gain weight and lose health. 

Eat food that is free of preservatives, sugar, corn, syrup and overly loaded with salt and carbs. 

These sugar and carbs have an addictive effect on the body and will cause you to crave them more and more causing your body to become dependent on these foods. 

Good foods will make your body strong and healthy. Addictive foods will make your body lethargic and rotten. 

2. Take Care of Your Mind

We are living in a time when we do most of our work using our minds. We sit on desks and computers creating for people using our minds. 

Even if this isn't true for you, it is. If you are a construction worker who lays bricks, or a day care assistant who helps kids, this is true for you. 

Your mind is the one thing that controls your thoughts everyday and the thoughts that you think create the reality that you see around you. 

So take care of your mind. 

But how do you take care of your mind?

The mind like anything else is has the characteristics of a muscle. You use it, or lose it. And as long as you are using it, it will remain fit and healthy. The minutes you stop using it, it will decay and rust. 

So you keep this muscle active by doing the following. 

Read Every Day

There is no difference between the person who does not read the one who cannot read. Spend 30 minutes each morning and night reading. 

Read motivational books. Books about philosophy, economics, politics, literature. Read fiction. Read self-help books. Read about parenting, read about health. Read about science and technology. 

But read a book not a blog. 

A book has a very permanent nature. It is written with a lot of thought and research. It is the gist of an author's life experiences. So read a book everyday. 

This will keep your mind stimulated and open to ideas. You will get a number of ideas for each author that you can implement in your life. You will also get opinions from across the globe. 

Ideas that would not have reached you if you only spoke to the people you met everday. So read a book. Spend 30 minutes morning and night reading a book. 

Write Every Day 

The only way to bring your thoughts to reality is to write them down. If you don't write them down they will be lost to the electric impulses inside your brain. 

So write your thoughts down, write ideas that come to you, write your philosophy about life. 

Write ever day. This will help you clear your thought and formulate complete ideas. 

If you have a problem. Write it down. You will be able to come up with a solution better, once you've written down the problem. 

If you have a crush on someone. Write it down. Write down the things that you like about that person, how it makes you feel, what you would do for them. 

All these things when written down will help clarify your thoughts about love and life, about right and wrong. 

Writing will help identify truths about your thoughts and define how you think. As you progress in your writing, read about writing better. Then write better. 

The better you write, the better you will think. 

Develop Your Mind In Other Ways

The more neural connections your mind has the better it is. The faster it can do things. The better it can fight against disease in old age, like Alzheimers. 

You can create new neural connections in your mind by doing new things. The more 'new' things you try the more your brain will become developed. 

Even if you suck at something - the experience of doing it, learning the rule, trying it out will develop your mind. 

Listen to and watch things that will develop you mind. Instead of watching TV, watch TED Talks. 

Instead of listening to 'distressing' music, listen to sweet, kind music. Listen to Mozart, listen to Beethoven. 

Plan to learn a new skill every year. Pick up playing an instrument one year. Spend time learning this instrument like this will be something that you will play all your life. 

The next year learn to play a new sport. Something that you've never tried before. This will both help your muscles improve and improve your mind. 

Avoid Junk In You Mind

Just like your body needs good food to run, your mind needs good fuel to run. 

If you feed your mind with junk 'input' like mindless television, excessive drama, or constant news coverage whether TV or newspapers, your mind will become lethargic and fatigued. 

You will lose the will to do things, since your mind will associate doing things with depressing sad news. 

So avoid all news, whether TV or newspaper. Avoid junk TV like dramas on TV. Avoid excessive emotional drama on TV. This will give you space in your head to do things that will help build up your mind. 

So avoid junk food for your mind and give it the resources to build itself. 

3. Take Care Of Your Relationships

How do you get a friend, by being a friend. 

In life you are born with a very few people in your life. Your parents. Your siblings. Your grandparents if they are still alive. Your cousins if you are close to them. 

Every other relationship in your life you have to go out and create. You make friends along the way. Some of the good, some of them not so good. 

These friends that you make in your journey through life will become your support system. the people you meet everyday, from the grocer, to the kid working at Best Buy. 

Sure, at 24 you're probably thinking, 'who gives a f*&K about these people...' but down the line it is these people, these relationships that will matter most to you in your life. 

The way to take care of your relationships is as follows

Remember Birthdays & Anniversaries

Even if your friends tell you they don't celebrate birthdays. Even if your family become sullen when you call them for anniversaries. Remember them. 

Even though people say they don't care, everyone cares about their own special days. When you remember their birthday & anniversaries, they will remember your kindness. 

But it doesn't end there. Remember the special moments in their lives. If they had a kid, remember the date and call them, or write them a card on that occasion. 

Yes, even in the day of email, and text. A phonecall or a card have a HUGE impact than a Facebook message or text. Over the years your kindness for others in the form of remembering their special days will snowball and you will become a powerhouse. 

It good to know that some one cares about you - both for them and for you, when you are in trouble, or they are. 

Remember when they had hard times in their lives. If they were close to their grandparents and they recently passed away. Remember them on that day. Help your friends get over these moments. 

When you need them, when your loved ones leave you, your friends will be there to catch you before you fall. 

Forgive Them Before They Ask For Forgiveness

In the long scheme of life small things don't matter. It doesn't matter if your friend forgot to tell you first about their new job. Or they didn't tell you about the girl they were proposing to. 

Be a gentleman and forgive them in your heart even before they ask for forgiveness. Then let the incident go. They will realize you are a big hearted person and treat you like that. 

But when you do this - don't resent them after. Really forget the incident and forgive them. 

This is more for you, then for them. If you keep holding onto every single hurt that any one has done for you then your baggage will become so heavy you won't be able to go through the door. 

You'll be stuck inside your own head and no one will want to be around you. No one will want to trip on your baggage. 

But if you do forgive them and forget the incidents you will be free. Your carefree nature will be reflective in everything that you do and everyone will want to be around you. 

Avoid Emotional Vampires

No matter how good you are to people, occasionally there will be some who are vampires. They suck all the time and energy out of you. 

Sometimes you will encounter them at your workplace. Some of them will be your childhood friends, or even a member of your family. 

No matter what you do, you can't change them, you can't help them improve, you cannot guide them. 

So the best thing to do with people like this is to avoid them. Though it might hurt you in the beginning, but the best thing for you and them is to avoid them. 

You can be kind and make an excuse for not meeting them, but that will only last so long. So take the bigger step and let them know that they are an emotional strain on you - and you'd much rather hang out with more positive people. 

People who support your goals, your dreams, your aspiration. People who share your ambitions and values. These are the people who will really help you grow. 

The vampires will get hurt - but there is no better way to deal with them. The sooner you take care of them the better. 

Really dig deep and find out the people who bother you in your life like that and then stop meeting them and hanging out with them. 

CAUTION: If it turns out that everyone in your life seems to be a vampire you either need to change them all, or look inside yourself and change yourself. 

Most likely, the conclusion will be to change yourself and your attitude towards them. 

4. Take Care Of Your Finances

No matter how you grew up, in abundance or poverty, it is your duty to take care of your own finances. 

Even if you parents have taken care of them for you, even if you have a trust fund, even if you have an empty bank account. You are responsible for it. It is your responsibility to take care of your finances. 

If you take care of your finances starting today they will take care of you when you most need them. When you are old, or sick, or sending your kids to school, or helping a parent through sickness. Your finances will help you. 

If you don't take care of your finances you will end up in debt. Your shoulders will droop and your mind will be gripped by thoughts of money. You will end up living the life of an indebted servant, where you have to work to pay of your debts. 

But how do you take care of your finances

Get Positive Cashflow

To begin taking care of your finances you need to have more income than you spend. You need to have more money coming in to your bank account than you are spending. 

Most people don't learn this until after they get their 1st job or after they've maxed out their first credit card. 

As long as you have a positive cashflow you can get other things in your life a lot easier. If you don't have positive cashflow in your life spend the next year or two getting positive cashflow. 

Spend the next 15 minutes figuring out how much money you spend, include rent for the house you live in (or your contribution if you're living with parents), utilities, groceries, car, internet, other monthly expenses, insurance, and monthly spending on shopping & entertainment. 

Once you have your expenses take them out of your income. If you have no income - then you have a negative cashflow. Do whatever you can, teach other people, pick up a 2nd job, mow lawns. Whatever you have to do to get this to positive cash flow. 

What do you do after you have positive cashflows?

Pay Yourself First

Every cent you earn will be spent by other people for you. The government will want its cut in the form of taxes. The bank will ask for the mortgage payment, insurance, car payments... and so on. Until you don't have anything left in your account. 

So before this happens, pay yourself first. 

Get into a retirement scheme where they take 5 - 10% from your salary and put it into a gratuity and provident fund. Then when you get your salary, take another 5 - 10% and put them into another account. 

This account is your retirement account - also known as F*&K You money.  This is the money that will give you the balls to say F*&K you to anyone you want to. 

Because you have this money sitting in your account - you won't become a slave to anyone, no one will control you. 

But a word of warning... You can't just get a small amount and then stop. This is a lifetime practice. You have to keep adding to this account. Until it become big enough that you can invest this into assets that make money for you. 

This is money that you only spend on assets that make money. Like a house you put up for rent, or government bonds, or dividend funds, or buying a profitable business etc. 

Financial Sinkholes To Avoid

If anything sounds too good to be true - it probably is. 

A few things to avoid when you're taking care of your finances. 

The Stock Market - Most people will tell you to invest in it - but don't. Only invest in a S&P Index Fund at best if you really want to. Even though some friend of yours will tell you they have a big 'tip' on a stock that could make you millions - don't invest. 

Business Opportunity - If someone tells you that you can make a million dollars in 3 years by investing a small amount of money, or any other such scheme - don't listen to them. Shut the door, bang the phone, kick them out. If it's a friend - stop meeting him again. 

Lottery Schemes - If you ever hear that you've just won a cruise, or are tempted to buy a lottery ticket, or that you will earn X number of points. Run away - don't walk, run away. 

Credit Cards - Yes, even the lovely credit cards. These are probably the worst things invented since the dawn of time. Credit cards don't increase your spending power - they just make it seem that your spending power has increased. You still have to pay for what you bought, plus interest. 

A better alternative is to save for what you want - then when you have the cash then go buy the thing that you wanted to buy. 

This has 3 benefits

1) The thing will in all likelihood be cheaper by the time you've saved for it

2) There will be a newer shinier model that you can now buy based on the money you saved. 

3) You will realize that you didn't want it in the first place anyway and were buying it on an impulse. 

These sinkholes mentioned are all just ways to get a single $1 out of you. Don't give them the dollar. It represents a part of you, of your life. You might think what's the big deal about a dollar, but a dollar properly invested can become the greatest fortune in the world. 

Read the story about how the Native Americans sold Manhattan for a $1, and how much that dollar would be worth today invested properly. Hint: It is worth more than the value of all the buildings, land, and businesses in those buildings on Manhattan - put together. 

5. Take Care Of Your Communication

The biggest problems in the world arise because of mis-communication. People mis-understand each other. 

Spouses fight because they don't understand what was being said. 

Employees get fired because of a communication error. 

Friends fight because of something that was mis-understood. 

Communication errors cause major problems in relationships between friends, employees, board members and even countries. 

So take care of your communication. Become a communication master. Become some one who can communicate clearly and effectively. Not just in your speaking, but in your writing, in your thoughts. 

But how do you improve your communication?

Communicate At The 6th Grade Level

Yes, at the 6th grade level. This is one of the most important thing you can do for your communication. If you can explain things to a 10 year old you can explain them to anyone. 

You might think that most 'educated' people will get turned off by this. But the truth is even most educated people think at the 6th grade level. When they are reading research papers, or grading Ph.D thesis will they get into the 'educated' mind and think this is stupid. 

Just by communicating at this level, your communication will be understood every time. Your kids will understand you, your parents will listen to you, your employers will 'get' you. 

In fact by communicating at this level every one around you will think you are wise that you are able to explain complex ideas in the simplest of manner. 

Learn The Vocabulary Of Whatever You Are Doing

By learning the vocabulary of what you are doing you will learn faster. You will be understood quicker. Your responses will be on point.

Every profession, sport, online forum, clique, had a different vocabulary. The faster you learn this vocabulary and use it in your conversations the quicker you will rise. 

If you play tennis, learn every thing that the pros are saying. Learn their meaning and then when you talk to your friends at tennis using the vocabulary will enhance your game. 

The same applies to your profession. The sooner you learn the vocabulary of the profession the faster you will progress. But this isn't a technique, use it to enhance your overall vocabulary. 

Putting It All To Work For You

These habits when put in to action will enhance your life profoundly. 

You won't feel it when you turn 23, or even when you are 24. But as you progress as you spend more and more time in this, your results will multiply and compound. 

Each day that you spend doing these activities your results will increase ten fold. 

By the time you turn 30 you will have more friends who love you, more employers who want to hire you, and more energy than you can imagine possible. 

But on top of that because your life is built around a number of activities, not just your job, you will be more fulfilled and happier in life. 

I know even starting at 27 yrs old and implementing these in my life - by the time I turned 33 the results I was getting was more than I'd ever imagined. 

It still amazes me the way my life keeps changing every 6 months to a year. 

Every year. The results will speak for themselves when you apply these. 

P.S. Originally written for the question How should a 22-year-old invest time?but it applies more so here.

Green Fleet Bicycle Shop

     Less than one week until school begins for this fall semester. Because I am continuing to work a midnight shift at the hospital, this semester is going to be difficult. I'd love to load up a full 12+ hours and burn through the remaining courses I need to move forward, however, I would then have zero hours to sleep during the day before having to work a full night. Resilience and motivation to build myself further is what will be getting me through the end of this year. That and the strong woman I have been with for over a year.

     The past year, Megan has been talking about getting bicycles on which to ride the town. When she was still living on West End and Blakemore there were so many awesome places to where we could have biked. Our rides to cool places from our new location will just be a bit longer with faster traffic.

     Yesterday, we finally got the chance to find the perfect bike. We went to a really cool bicycle shop in Music Row called Green Fleet Bicycle Shop. It is located on Edgehill Avenue between 16th Ave and Villa Place. Austin Bauman, the owner, greeted us and was very helpful in helping Megan and me choose a really awesome bike. He asked the right questions to guide us towards the perfect fit and style.

Megan ended up with a cool white Jamis Commuter 1 Step-Over

I bought navy Jamis Commuter 1.

Seems the Jamis build is exactly what we need: a good old American made bike!

     Green Fleet provides bike rentals, new builds, tunes, repairs, and adjustments to commuters and racing bikes. They do two bike tours of Nashville several times a week. The Signature City Tour is about two and a half hours and rides through Germantown, Marathon Village and The Gulch. The Downtown Highlights Tour is an hour and a half and cruises through the cool and historic sites of downtown Nashville. From their site: highlights include the Symphony Center, the Ryman, Public Square, Fort Nashboro, a smelly alley (or two - trust us they are historic), and all of our advice on the best restaurants and music venues.

We've got a great fall ahead of us with cool weather and great brand new bikes to ride through all the red, orange and yellow fall leaves.

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Productivity: What are the best day-to-day time-saving hacks? Answer 1

Marius Ursache

5.4k upvotes

I've been testing and adjusting various productivity techniques for the past five years, read lots of books (most of them repeating) and here's some of my findings:

It's not about time. It's about energy.

We try to squeeze as many hours in one work day, to be "productive", but in the end everything depends less on time, and more on your focus, motivation and overall well-being (all of them linked directly with energy levels).

I've recently talked about my productivity techniques obsessions in an internal presentation at Grapefruit, and the resulting presentation is on Slideshare:

slideshare.net

Productivity porn

Some of the key findings:

1. Decide what's important because in 5 years, 80% of what you do today will not turn into anything. It's just busywork, no useful outcome.
2. Sleep, food and exercise can help you triple your outcome, because they increase focus, motivation and energy levels.
3. The 2-minute rule: if you can do something (like replying to an email, or a house chore) in 2 minutes, do it now. Planning it for later, remembering it, doing it in the future will take 5 minutes or more.
4. The 5-minute rule: the biggest cure against procrastination is to set your goal not to finish a scary big hairy task, but to just work 5 minutes on it. You'll find out that most times it continues well beyond the 5 minutes, as you enter a flow state.
5. Seinfeld's productivity chain: if you want to be good at something, do it every day. Including on Christmas, Easter and Judgement Day. No exceptions.
6. Tiny habits (Tiny Habits w/ Dr. BJ Fogg), highly linked with the 5-minute rule, helps you create good habits quickly. It works, I tested it.
7. Your memory sucks. Get everything out of your head, even if you're a genius. Write it down in a notebook, put it in your todo-list app, on your phone, talk to Siri, I don't care.
8. As few tools as possible. I've tested most of the todo managers and finally stayed with Cultured Code's Things app and Google Calendar (iCal is ok, but Google Calendar integrates well with Gmail, my default client). It doesn't matter what you use (pen & paper are fine) if you understand the next rule.
9. Routine beats tools. You need discipline, and this means for me two things: I plan my day first thing in the morning, and I write a short daily log every day. This helps me stay sane, prioritize well, scrap useless tasks, and do what matters. This saves me hours.
10. Pomodoros. That's timeboxing—for 30 minutes do only the task at hand. Nothing else: no phones, email, talking to people, Facebook, running out of the building in case of fire. Nothing else.
11. Always wear your headphones. You don't have to listen to music, but it will discourage people to approach you.
12. Email scheduling and inbox zero. Don't read your email first thing in the day, don't read it in the evening (it ruined many evenings for me), and try to do it only 3 times a day: at 11am, 2pm and 5pm. And your email inbox is not a todo list. Clear it: every message should be an actionable task (link it from the todo app), a reference document (send to Evernote or archive), or should be deleted now.
13. Same thing for phone calls. Don't be always available. I always keep my phone on silent, and return calls in batches.
14. Batch small tasks. Like mail, phones, Facebook etc. 
15. MI3. Most important three tasks (or the alternative 1 must - 3 should - 5 could). Start with the most important first thing in the morning.
16. Willpower is limited. Don't think that willpower will help you when you get in trouble. Make important decisions in the morning and automate everything possible (delegate, batch etc.). US presidents don't have to choose their menu or suit color everyday—otherwise their willpower will be depleted at that late hour when they should push (or not push) the red button).
17. The most powerful thing. Always ask yourself what is the most powerful thing you can do right now. Then apply rule #4.
18. Ship often. Don't polish it too much—as they say in the startup world, "if you're not ashamed of your product, you've launched too late'!
19. Pressure can do wonders. Use rewards or social commitment. We've recently done this with the new Grapefruit website. The previous one took 2.5 years to launch. The new one took 2.5 days and we did it over one hackathon weekend (+Monday).
20. Scheduled procrastination. Your brain needs some rest, and sometimes that new episode from Arrow can do wonders that the smartest TED talk won't.
21. Delete. Say No. Ignore. Don't commit to schedules. I love the last one, it's from Marc Andreessen, because it allows him to meet whomever he wants on the spot. A lot of people will hate you for this, but you'll have time to do relevant stuff. Do you think you'll regret that in 20 years, or doing something for someone you don't really care about, just to be superficially appreciated.
22. Fake incompetence. It's a diplomatic way to apply the previous rule.

That's it for now. My procrastination break is over, I'm going back to work.

Avatar - Last Airbender's 7 Chakras

A reddit user, Madhatter69, typed this out from the guru's teachings. It sums the 7 chakras up really well. Remember, you must open each one in order and if you find one difficult, you must not proceed until you have fully opened it. This means you have work to do within that energy pool.

Chakras are pools of spiraling energy in our bodies. There are seven chakras that go up the body. Each pool of energy has a purpose, and can be blocked by a specific kind of emotional mark. Be warned: opening the chakras is an intense experience, and once you begin this process, you can not stop until all seven are open.

• The first chakra is the Earth chakra, located at the base of the spine. It deals with survival, and is blocked by fear.

What are you most afraid of? Let your fears become clear to you. You are concerned about your survival, but you must surrender those fears. Let your fears flow down the creek.

• Next is the Water chakra. This chakra deals with pleasure and is blocked by guilt.

Look at all the guilt that burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for? Now accept the reality that these things happened. But do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself.

• Third is the Fire chakra, located in the stomach. This chakra deals with willpower, and is blocked byshame.

What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest disappointments in yourself? You will never find balance if you deny this part of your life.

• The fourth chakra is located in the Heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief.

Lay all your grief out in front of you. Love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. A love of your lost ones has not left this world, it is still inside of your heart; and it is reborn in a form of new love. Let it flow through you.

• The fifth in the chain is the Sound chakra, located in the throat. It deals with the truth, and is blocked bylies, the ones we tell ourselves.

You can not lie about your own nature. You must accept yourself as you are.

• The sixth pool of energy is the Light chakra, located in the center of the forehead. It deals with insight, and is blocked by illusion.

The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same. We are all one people, but we live as if divided. We are all connected, and everything is connected. Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one; four parts of the same whole. Even metal is just a part of earth that has been purified and refined.

• The final chakra is Thought chakra and is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment.

Once you open this chakra, you will be able to go in the state of mind where you will have complete control and awareness of all your actions. Meditate on what attaches you to this world. Now, let all of those attachments go, let them flow down the river; forgotten. You must learn to let go, otherwise you won’t be able to let the pure cosmic energy flow in from the Universe.

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Learning A New Language - Python

One of the most frequent topics of advice on challenging your mind is developing new skills. Not only does adding skills to your set create a better resume, it also gives you important value. Learning a programming language is a start to exercising your mind. It is also a great way to set the groundwork for a side venture or even a main venture.

From the list of programming languages that are available on Code Academy, Python stood out to me as it is a "powerful language used by sites like Youtube and Dropbox." I clicked through the content list and found that I would be learning quite a bit! It was going to be a good challenge to push myself through, but being interested in how computers, software, and websites work, I knew I had the motivation and background to make it work.

I  have over 35% of the course completed and am excited to sit and code each day to learn new things like creating string literals, using the keyword 'print'. I created a pig latin translator, a vacation cost calculator, and a tip calculator. I learned how functions work, how I can import math functions, such as square().

In the next few lessons, I am going to be learning to create a simplified version of the game Battleship!

There are several other things to come in the future on Code Academy for me in terms of learning languages. I do not think Python will be the only language I attempt to master.


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Discovering A Passion Through Experimentation

     Before today, I used words like "I need to find..." or "I am trying to figure out..." and "I am just waiting for..." to describe my quest for my passions. The biggest waste of time to finding my passion has been my inaction towards actually discovering them.
     I have made a list of my interests, taken a few college courses outside the regular scope of interests, and scoured on-line blogs and articles devoted to the study of finding passions out of which to create a career.
     Top performers create great examples of the correct, for them, pathways to finding passion and making a career out of it. The best advice one can take for discovering a passion is to TRY EVERYTHING. Our parents were correct in asking how we knew we did not like something without trying it. Damn you broccoli. That question is more of a step in the right direction to finding and creating a career we can be proud of, support our families with, and progress as people.
     This week, I will be looking at the list and the research I have collected since beginning my search for passions to determine which to start with. My list consists of welding, personal training or fitness coaching, writing in order to become published by any publishing house, and programming.
     I began learning the programming language of Python earlier this week as part of the programming passion. Stay tuned on a progress report on Python later this weekend.

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Changing Up Your Adult Life, Or Taking Steps To Further Your Life Resume

Do you remember that one time when something meant so much to you that your body became excited en masse? You could feel the ripples of energy through your arms and legs. The need to throw your excitement around was so intense.

Do you remember when your summers were too short and your friends were merely extensions of you, your group inseparable?

Do you remember when everything in your life was bright and new, and the excitement and anxiety of what was the come always present? When nothing stood in your way and every obstacle looked like a foam wall instead of one made of bricks?

Those things are still true. Obstacles are still made of foam. The summers are still too short, in fact, the years are now shorter and still shrinking.

Adult life can feel like degeneration instead of growth. The excitement and outlook of childhood disappeared at some point on the way to your dreams. Maybe your projected path became covered by dirt, hidden from view. Maybe the bushes and trees overgrew that forest trail were exploring and your life is now moving down a different and unexpected path. Maybe now every day is bleeding into the next. You've been checking things off the To-Do list at work day in and day out. You've come to know the traffic to and from work. That spot in front of the computer or TV at home has the strongest magnetic force aimed at your butt.

Your life doesn't have to be the sleep-wake cycle of a patch of grass. You can change that. Opportunities are inviting you to approach and take their hand. Take a deep breath and evaluate where you are right now. Where are you reading these words? What were you thinking about before you began this post? What will you do after you've read this?

Well? Where would you like to be in life? Make a list of things you would like to try, interests you would like to explore further, jobs you would like to hold in the future. What steps do you need to take to get there? What is one thing you can do right now, today, to forward your goal?

If you would like a soundboard, let's talk.
If you would like a motivator, I'm in your corner.
If you need help researching or writing that resume, send me a message and let us get to work.

Your time is continuously moving forward, why shouldn't you?

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MH17, Gaza, ISIS, and Passions

I discuss the fatal flight of MH17, the conflict between Gaza and Israel, a small bit on ISIS and talk about a series on finding my passion. Leave a comment and see me on Twitter, Facebook, G+ and Spotify.

MH17

     Since Thursday, a large pile of information has been gathered on flight Malaysia Airlines flight 17 Amsterdam - Kuala Lumper after it crashed in a field close to the Ukraine's eastern border with the Ukraine. Aerospace regulations were restricted in certain areas because of the conflict in the Ukraine, however flight MH17 was in the commercial lane of flight at 33,000 feet.

     Surface-to-air missiles can not be fired at a plane above 31,000 feet, therefore the missile that was fired must have come from a sophisticated system that requires high training. That the plane was targeted by radar, locked-on by the missile guidance system, then fired upon, is believed to be the process undergone deliberatly by pro-Russian separatists.

     As said in the video linked below, not many have been following the conflict in the Ukraine. Now, this horrific act on civilians brings the conflict into the international community's eyes. The video is graphic. There are bodies laying about the wreckage and along the fields and grass.

NSWF Exclusive VICE News Footage of MH17 Aftermath: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 60)

A woman describes the event. "They [the bodies] were flying towards me. That is my house over there (points in the distance). Then they flipped over above me and started falling."

It makes me feel pretty sick in the stomach when people involved in combat drag others into their fighting. Hell, it makes me feel sick when combat is taking place! It seems to me provocation of war is the main goal for this terrorist attack. It remains to be seen what the U.S. will do in response once the international investigation takes place.

GAZA

     Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system was working over time this week. Following 10 days of air strikes, Israel finally moved ground troops into Gaza. The death toll is now above 300. The growing concern is the continued inclusion of civilians in the fighting, where full families have been killed by rockets.

The terrorist organization, Hamas, was founded to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation and to establish an Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip according to the 1988 Hamas Charter. The origin of the conflict is something covered extensively by Noam Chomsky in his book http://www.amazon.com/Middle-East-Illusions-Reflections-Nationhood/dp/0742529770. Summed up almost too succinctly, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an issue since the late 1960s over the borders in Israel and who lays claim to the land.

"US President Barack Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, underlining his support for Israel's right to defend itself against Palestinian militants but warning against escalation in Gaza.

President Obama said "no nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders" but called on Israel's military to conduct its operation "in a way that minimises civilian casualties."

Mr Netanyahu has warned of a "significant expansion" of the offensive but Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, said Israel would "pay a high price" for the invasion."

     Hamas created a tunnel system across the Gaza border into Israeli in order to kidnap and attack Israelis. The ground offensive began on Thursday by Israeli Defense Forces is said to close the tunnels and stop the rocket fire into Israel.

ISIS

    As you can see from the map above, ISIS, or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, dominate many towns throughout northern Iraq. ISIS moved into Iraq earlier this year with a goal to capture Mosul, a larger city holding the largest oil refinery in the country. 

     This article discusses the Iraqi Christian population, which is surprisingly larger than I thought. More on ISIS later. We're still waiting to see where they will attempt to push next.

Passions

     I was reading an article earlier this week that was discussing something that has been on my mind fairly often. We are told that we need to find our passion and focus on making our career out of it. Well, what about those of us that have more difficulty than most? It is impossible to write down a list of every interest or hobby one has, stare at the page, and extract the idea of your passion and career off the page.

     Here is a better way of going about the passion search that I will be testing in the coming year: I created a list of things I would like to try. Before the end of this year, I commit to scheduling, attempting, researching and making moves towards each of the things on my list. I am hoping that all of them give me that spidey-sense of interest and spark a passion that I can turn into a career, but I will be happy if just one causes a reaction. I'll be documenting my activities and attempts in a series of posts here for you. Stay tuned for that. As a teaser here are a few of those things: welding, flying an aeroplane, personal trainer / wellness coach, Big Brothers Big Sisters, guitar, and I might even plug in my keyboard for some practice.

The following is a daily posting by Leon Calafiore from the Facebook group Big Book Of Magic.

Leon Calafiore

Saturday, 19 July 2014 at 10:11

e Moon, Al Thurayya/Alzoraya, good for career support, general good luck, and to help or hinder judicial matters, moving the 4th Mansion of the Moon, Al Deberan / Aldeberan, good for playing the margins, shaking things up, around 9:00 P.M.

Hours of the Day begin with Saturn at 5:40 A.M., and last 73.5 minutes. Planetary Hours of the Night commence with Mercury at 8:23 P.M., lasting 46.5 minutes, Sun in Cancer, Mercury in Planetary Cancer, Venus in Cancer, Mars in Libra, Jupiter in Leo, Saturn retrograde Scorpio.

With the Sun square Mars today, it’s much easier to focus on oneself rather than others. While there might not be much soul-searching involved, there is a whole lot of what makes me happy, without a concern for others. This is enforced by the Moon then squaring Jupiter. As the early evening has the Moon sextile to Venus, Neptune and Mercury, not only with there be this eruption of self-concrn, it will seem to many that the whole universe revolves around their whims. I expect this will all get a bit tedious (expect for the individual concerned). I can already hear the arguments. You may wake up tomorrow and wonder why you made that big ticket purchase today. It’s easy to fall in love with a house, car, boat, or some such extravagance. For heaven’s sake, stay away from Cartiers. Magickally, people should be feeling pretty lucky, with this wind of self-importance at one’s back, and so, you may be able to have some unexpected (but certainly deserved) fortune drawn your way.