As much as we hear a spiritual evolution is at hand, in many ways we still live in a very physical, down and dirty world. It can feel like you are competing in a 10K with a bum leg.
Whether you are kissing up to your boss or negotiating with your creditors, this is simply not the life you imagined for yourself. The truth is when people tell you how good life is, sometimes you just want to slap them.
You understand the concept of having a positive attitude— you are not a moron. But the reality is you have another mortgage payment due, and not enough money in the bank. Okay, let’s all agree, this sucks. You have people counting on you—you wife, you son, your ex-wife, your mutt, your IRS agent, your Mom, etc, etc.
Now that we are on the same page (facing the reality that life is not fair) what can you do about it? Here are five practical things you can do to ease the pain:
1. Write. If you’ve never gotten in the habits on putting your thoughts on paper, start now. Keep a pad and pen next to your nightstand, next to your coffee pot, in your bathroom, on your kitchen counter, and on your coffee table.
When you have a predominate feeling, write it down. Pissed off? Write it down. Feeling blue? Write it down. Feeling anxious? Write it down. What were you thinking about when this feeling came up? What part of your body did it come from? What does it make you feel like doing? Write it down.
2. Visualize. Let’s say you just had a passing thought of how your ex-wife screamed at you two days ago (in front of your son). Okay, you have her picture in your mind, and your son is there next to you, wincing on cue—like father, like son. Change the face of your ex-wife. Put in Santa’s face instead. He got the white beard, the big ruby cheeks, the bright red hat with the puffy ball—the whole shebang.
Instead of your ex’s sweet raspy voice, you hear Santa joyfully ask you and your son what would make you happy. Santa says, “You name it, you got!” Cut to you and your boy—excited with anticipation.
3. Breathe. Once you have wiggled your way to a happier state of mind, breathe. Breathe deeply three or four times. Focus on you’re the breath coming in and your tummy rising. Breathe out, focusing on your body decompressing. Allow you breath to get to a normal, even place so that it feels balanced. Notice an energy moving from inside you, and experience the sensation it brings.
4. Meditate. Allow whatever thoughts you have to be there. If Santa is still there, that’s great. If your ex-wife reappeared, so be it. Don’t judge the blips of flashing thoughts, simply observe them as if you were on the bleachers at a football game. Know that you have no control over what happens on the field in front of you. Begin to see that there are really no good or bad actions, only different ones. Enjoy the variety and contrast-it makes for an enjoyable game.
5. Practice this new perspective in the real world. By this time you have your eyes open, and there is no Santa, and no ex-wife in front of you. Your thoughts are still moving in and out of your consciousness, but you do not feel controlled by them. Your problems have not disappeared but you start to look at them in a new way. You do not allow yourself to become emotionally reactive to events that take place. You tackle your problems objectively, like a surgeon removing cancerous matter from an open body.
Your dispassionate focus allows your mind to be clear of unnecessary, disparaging thoughts and emotions. Through this clear lens, problems become challenges, and challenges become opportunities for learning. When a so-called problem now arises, you welcome it. Wisdom is one step closer.
The steps listed above may seem a bit simplistic. They are in a way, but what makes them challenging is that they need to be done consistently, every day, throughout the day. There are no easy answers, and no quick fixes to dealing with chaotic events.
A life of greater ease is open to those who possess wisdom and patience — it’s a good thing you were created with these wonderful qualities. Remember that you are made from divine energy, pure source, our inner source. All you have to do is be open, and let it flow.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Lingerie Mainstream
When Leslie Wexner got into the underwear business nearly 30 years ago, there was a great divide. American women wore Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, or Jockey, pragmatic panties bought in packs of three at mass retailers. Department store lingerie was dowdy, referred to as “foundation garments,” and the fancier items were saved for special occasions, like one’s honeymoon. More modern unmentionables—lacy thongs and padded push-up bras—were available alongside feathered boas and provocative pirate costumes at Frederick’s of Hollywood.
Then Wexner, the founder of The Limited, purchased Victoria’s Secret, a small San Francisco chain headed into bankruptcy, and lifted lingerie out of the red-light district, launched it onto the runway, and landed it right into the underwear drawers of mainstream America. With prime-time fashion shows, sexy TV ads, steamy catalogs, and a presence in nearly every shopping mall in America, the company “made intimate apparel front and center,” says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market-research company in Port Washington, N.Y. Wexner “took the secret out of Victoria’s Secret.” (Cohen also credits Wexner with the “whale tail”—underwear peeking out of the pants—and other fashion phenomena: “He made it a trend; all of a sudden women wanted people to see what they were wearing [underneath], and innerwear became outerwear.”)
Over the past 28 years, by making sexy lingerie affordable, accessible, and acceptable, Columbus, Ohio-based Victoria’s Secret has created a middle ground in intimate apparel. The company woke up a sleepy category, one that took in $10.75 billion in 2009, double what it was when Wexner started. Retail experts say Victoria’s Secret has made department stores more aggressive and fashion-forward. Additionally, it has opened the doors wider for smaller brands like Hanky Panky and Josie Natori, and allowed bigger brands like American Eagle Outfitters, Chico’s, and Abercrombie & Fitch to carry their own lingerie lines. Even practical panties are sexier and more relevant. Jockey and Hanes now both sell thongs. “This is now a category with much greater diversity,” says Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail in New York. Other players “have been forced in a positive way to become more competitive.”
Wexner, 73, is an unlikely candidate to upend the American underwear industry. He’s quiet and reflective, and he dresses conservatively. (In the early days building his business, he says, he was frequently thought to be the company attorney.) He’s been on a quest to find the “purpose of life” since his mid-30s, which may have contributed to his emerging as one of his generation’s most generous philanthropists. (He gave $250 million to set up the Ohio Higher Education Trust in the early ’90s.) He sells sexy underthings to young women and has talked in the past about the “moral compass” that guides him.
Perhaps most unusual is that Wexner never wanted to go into retail. He spent his childhood watching his parents run a clothing store, named Leslie’s after him, and he was turned off by how they worked 80-hour weeks and barely scratched out a living. “Growing up I knew you were supposed to have a profession,” he said in 2003, “and something that was better than being a shopkeeper, which is what my parents were. I didn’t want to go into the retail business. I hated it.”
Wexner enrolled in law school, only to find that he wasn’t creatively stimulated enough, so he spent study breaks drawing designs for stores and storefronts. (“Some people made erotic drawings or wrote their girlfriend’s name,” he has said. “I did stores.”) He soon dropped out and began pitching in at his parents’ store, where he discovered that the business profited most by selling skirts, sweaters, shirts, and blouses—typical sportswear separates—not by selling dresses and coats, as his father believed.
It was the entrepreneurial epiphany for a store that Wexner, then 26, wanted to call Leslie’s Limited and refocus to sell women’s sportswear separates. Wexner had been an entrepreneur since he was 9 (early for-profit ventures include cutting grass, shoveling snow, and selling stationery, T-shirts, and toys), but the months before the opening of The Limited in 1963 were harrowing. He had recurring nightmares and was diagnosed with an ulcer. Wexner, as his parents had, invested inordinate hours, working from 7 a.m. to midnight, washing the store’s windows and doing his own bookkeeping. But it was his idea that paid off the most. Women wanted separates and appreciated a new, more modern way of buying clothing. Wexner opened another five stores in the following years and took the business public in 1969. Ten years later, he had 300 Limited stores and began to demonstrate an appetite for acquisitions, buying and growing brands like Lane Bryant.
Then Wexner, the founder of The Limited, purchased Victoria’s Secret, a small San Francisco chain headed into bankruptcy, and lifted lingerie out of the red-light district, launched it onto the runway, and landed it right into the underwear drawers of mainstream America. With prime-time fashion shows, sexy TV ads, steamy catalogs, and a presence in nearly every shopping mall in America, the company “made intimate apparel front and center,” says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market-research company in Port Washington, N.Y. Wexner “took the secret out of Victoria’s Secret.” (Cohen also credits Wexner with the “whale tail”—underwear peeking out of the pants—and other fashion phenomena: “He made it a trend; all of a sudden women wanted people to see what they were wearing [underneath], and innerwear became outerwear.”)
Over the past 28 years, by making sexy lingerie affordable, accessible, and acceptable, Columbus, Ohio-based Victoria’s Secret has created a middle ground in intimate apparel. The company woke up a sleepy category, one that took in $10.75 billion in 2009, double what it was when Wexner started. Retail experts say Victoria’s Secret has made department stores more aggressive and fashion-forward. Additionally, it has opened the doors wider for smaller brands like Hanky Panky and Josie Natori, and allowed bigger brands like American Eagle Outfitters, Chico’s, and Abercrombie & Fitch to carry their own lingerie lines. Even practical panties are sexier and more relevant. Jockey and Hanes now both sell thongs. “This is now a category with much greater diversity,” says Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail in New York. Other players “have been forced in a positive way to become more competitive.”
Wexner, 73, is an unlikely candidate to upend the American underwear industry. He’s quiet and reflective, and he dresses conservatively. (In the early days building his business, he says, he was frequently thought to be the company attorney.) He’s been on a quest to find the “purpose of life” since his mid-30s, which may have contributed to his emerging as one of his generation’s most generous philanthropists. (He gave $250 million to set up the Ohio Higher Education Trust in the early ’90s.) He sells sexy underthings to young women and has talked in the past about the “moral compass” that guides him.
Perhaps most unusual is that Wexner never wanted to go into retail. He spent his childhood watching his parents run a clothing store, named Leslie’s after him, and he was turned off by how they worked 80-hour weeks and barely scratched out a living. “Growing up I knew you were supposed to have a profession,” he said in 2003, “and something that was better than being a shopkeeper, which is what my parents were. I didn’t want to go into the retail business. I hated it.”
Wexner enrolled in law school, only to find that he wasn’t creatively stimulated enough, so he spent study breaks drawing designs for stores and storefronts. (“Some people made erotic drawings or wrote their girlfriend’s name,” he has said. “I did stores.”) He soon dropped out and began pitching in at his parents’ store, where he discovered that the business profited most by selling skirts, sweaters, shirts, and blouses—typical sportswear separates—not by selling dresses and coats, as his father believed.
It was the entrepreneurial epiphany for a store that Wexner, then 26, wanted to call Leslie’s Limited and refocus to sell women’s sportswear separates. Wexner had been an entrepreneur since he was 9 (early for-profit ventures include cutting grass, shoveling snow, and selling stationery, T-shirts, and toys), but the months before the opening of The Limited in 1963 were harrowing. He had recurring nightmares and was diagnosed with an ulcer. Wexner, as his parents had, invested inordinate hours, working from 7 a.m. to midnight, washing the store’s windows and doing his own bookkeeping. But it was his idea that paid off the most. Women wanted separates and appreciated a new, more modern way of buying clothing. Wexner opened another five stores in the following years and took the business public in 1969. Ten years later, he had 300 Limited stores and began to demonstrate an appetite for acquisitions, buying and growing brands like Lane Bryant.
Avoiding An Office Paper Nightmare!
Until I started working as a professional organizer I had no idea that spaces could get like this. Sure, I’d find myself frustrated by a pile of paper from time to time, but paper never took over my space.
So, how does it get this far along? What causes this kind of chaos? Here are some possible answers.
1. Paper comes in at a rate that is faster than the rate at which it is processed.
2. There is no system for processing and storing the paper.
3. Decisions about what to do with papers are postponed and papers land in undifferentiated piles.
4. The person is not being selective about what papers to keep and what to throw away.
5. The person is not devoting enough time to managing the paper flow.
How could this person turn this paper challenge around?
1. Commit time to complete an initial organization (sorting, purging and filing) of the papers in the space. Then plan to make time at least once a week to process incoming papers and file papers that are worthy of being kept.
2. Reduce the volume of paper coming in by sorting mail over the recycling bin or trash, keeping only those papers that require an action or filing. In other words, don’t let the junk mail make it into your home office!
3. Reduce the volume of paper coming in by leaving church bulletins at church, and getting rid of papers and handouts given to you at conferences, workshops, and at meetings with financial planners and insurance agents that you know you’ll never reference BEFORE you enter your office.
4. Reduce the volume of paper coming in by reducing magazine and journal subscriptions to just those that actually get read from cover to cover every month.
5. Get rid of magazines and journals monthly by creating deadlines for how long they will be kept and recycling or throwing them out when they reach that deadline.
6. Reduce the volume of paper by becoming much more selective about what to keep and what to get rid of. Keep only those papers and publications that are needed for current actions or are most likely to be referenced at a later date. The only paper worth keeping is paper you WILL use!
7. Set up a filing system for paper storage so paper can be easily accessed when needed.
8. On the desk, keep only papers that require an action. Those papers can be separated into actions that must occur immediately and those that can occur later. Those that must occur immediately should be most accessible.
9. Store papers and publications that are considered “reading” in a location away from the desk top. A tray on a shelf, in a basket near a chair where you’re likely to read, or in a briefcase to read on a plane or in a doctor’s office are good locations for papers that are optional reading. Optional reading means, if they don’t get read, there will be no significant consequences other than not benefitting from the information they contain. Reading should not be mixed with papers that require an action.
10. When you encounter paper that does not require action or filing and you are uncertain what to do with it, place it in a tray or file that is off the desk. Label that file “Possibilities.” Consider this the location for papers that you don’t know what to do with at the moment. By giving those papers their own location, they won’t stop you in your tracks and become the bud of an undifferentiated pile on your desk. The better organized you become, the easier it will be to discern what to do with those papers. In the meantime, those puzzling papers will be grouped together, available but not blocking progress. Periodically look through those papers when you add new papers. You’ll find that given a little time you’ll know what to do with them–most likely toss them!
So, how does it get this far along? What causes this kind of chaos? Here are some possible answers.
1. Paper comes in at a rate that is faster than the rate at which it is processed.
2. There is no system for processing and storing the paper.
3. Decisions about what to do with papers are postponed and papers land in undifferentiated piles.
4. The person is not being selective about what papers to keep and what to throw away.
5. The person is not devoting enough time to managing the paper flow.
How could this person turn this paper challenge around?
1. Commit time to complete an initial organization (sorting, purging and filing) of the papers in the space. Then plan to make time at least once a week to process incoming papers and file papers that are worthy of being kept.
2. Reduce the volume of paper coming in by sorting mail over the recycling bin or trash, keeping only those papers that require an action or filing. In other words, don’t let the junk mail make it into your home office!
3. Reduce the volume of paper coming in by leaving church bulletins at church, and getting rid of papers and handouts given to you at conferences, workshops, and at meetings with financial planners and insurance agents that you know you’ll never reference BEFORE you enter your office.
4. Reduce the volume of paper coming in by reducing magazine and journal subscriptions to just those that actually get read from cover to cover every month.
5. Get rid of magazines and journals monthly by creating deadlines for how long they will be kept and recycling or throwing them out when they reach that deadline.
6. Reduce the volume of paper by becoming much more selective about what to keep and what to get rid of. Keep only those papers and publications that are needed for current actions or are most likely to be referenced at a later date. The only paper worth keeping is paper you WILL use!
7. Set up a filing system for paper storage so paper can be easily accessed when needed.
8. On the desk, keep only papers that require an action. Those papers can be separated into actions that must occur immediately and those that can occur later. Those that must occur immediately should be most accessible.
9. Store papers and publications that are considered “reading” in a location away from the desk top. A tray on a shelf, in a basket near a chair where you’re likely to read, or in a briefcase to read on a plane or in a doctor’s office are good locations for papers that are optional reading. Optional reading means, if they don’t get read, there will be no significant consequences other than not benefitting from the information they contain. Reading should not be mixed with papers that require an action.
10. When you encounter paper that does not require action or filing and you are uncertain what to do with it, place it in a tray or file that is off the desk. Label that file “Possibilities.” Consider this the location for papers that you don’t know what to do with at the moment. By giving those papers their own location, they won’t stop you in your tracks and become the bud of an undifferentiated pile on your desk. The better organized you become, the easier it will be to discern what to do with those papers. In the meantime, those puzzling papers will be grouped together, available but not blocking progress. Periodically look through those papers when you add new papers. You’ll find that given a little time you’ll know what to do with them–most likely toss them!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Edison
Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications. His advanced work in these fields was an outgrowth of his early career as a telegraph operator. Edison originated the concept and implementation of electric-power generation and distribution to homes, businesses, and factories – a crucial development in the modern industrialized world. His first power station was on Manhattan Island, New York.
Early life
Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (1804–1896, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, Canada) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871). He considered himself to be of Dutch ancestry. In school, the young Edison's mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him "addled". This ended Edison's three months of official schooling. Edison recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint." His mother homeschooled him. Much of his education came from reading R.G. Parker's School of Natural Philosophy and The Cooper Union. Edison developed hearing problems at an early age. The cause of his deafness has been attributed to a bout of scarlet fever during childhood and recurring untreated middle ear infections. Around the middle of his career Edison attributed the hearing impairment to being struck on the ears by a train conductor when his chemical laboratory in a boxcar caught fire and he was thrown off the train in Smiths Creek, Michigan, along with his apparatus and chemicals. In his later years he modified the story to say the injury occurred when the conductor, in helping him onto a moving train, lifted him by the ears. Edison's family was forced to move to Port Huron, Michigan, when the railroad bypassed Milan in 1854, but his life there was bittersweet. He sold candy and newspapers on trains running from Port Huron to Detroit, and he sold vegetables to supplement his income. This began Edison's long streak of entrepreneurial ventures as he discovered his talents as a businessman. These talents eventually led him to found 14 companies, including General Electric, which is still in existence and is the largest publicly traded company in the world.
Beginning his career
Thomas Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention which first gained him fame was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected by the public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," New Jersey, where he lived. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder and had poor sound quality. The tinfoil recordings could be replayed only a few times. In the 1880s, a redesigned model using wax-coated cardboard cylinders was produced by Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter. This was one reason that Thomas Edison continued work on his own "Perfected Phonograph."
Honors and awards given to Edison
The President of the Third French Republic, Jules Grévy, on the recommendation of his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire and with the presentations of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs Louis Cochery, designated Edison with the distinction of an 'Officeer of the Legion of Honour' (Légion d'honneur) by decree on November 10, 1881；In 1983, the United States Congress, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 140 (Public Law 97—198), designated February 11, Edison's birthday, as National Inventor's Day.
In 1887, Edison won the Matteucci Medal. In 1890, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Edison was ranked thirty-fifth on Michael H. Hart's 1978 book The 100, a list of the most influential figures in history. Life magazine (USA), in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the "100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years", noting that the light bulb he promoted "lit up the world". In the 2005 television series The Greatest American, he was voted by viewers as the fifteenth-greatest.
Early life
Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (1804–1896, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, Canada) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871). He considered himself to be of Dutch ancestry. In school, the young Edison's mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him "addled". This ended Edison's three months of official schooling. Edison recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint." His mother homeschooled him. Much of his education came from reading R.G. Parker's School of Natural Philosophy and The Cooper Union. Edison developed hearing problems at an early age. The cause of his deafness has been attributed to a bout of scarlet fever during childhood and recurring untreated middle ear infections. Around the middle of his career Edison attributed the hearing impairment to being struck on the ears by a train conductor when his chemical laboratory in a boxcar caught fire and he was thrown off the train in Smiths Creek, Michigan, along with his apparatus and chemicals. In his later years he modified the story to say the injury occurred when the conductor, in helping him onto a moving train, lifted him by the ears. Edison's family was forced to move to Port Huron, Michigan, when the railroad bypassed Milan in 1854, but his life there was bittersweet. He sold candy and newspapers on trains running from Port Huron to Detroit, and he sold vegetables to supplement his income. This began Edison's long streak of entrepreneurial ventures as he discovered his talents as a businessman. These talents eventually led him to found 14 companies, including General Electric, which is still in existence and is the largest publicly traded company in the world.
Beginning his career
Thomas Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey, with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention which first gained him fame was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected by the public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park," New Jersey, where he lived. His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder and had poor sound quality. The tinfoil recordings could be replayed only a few times. In the 1880s, a redesigned model using wax-coated cardboard cylinders was produced by Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter. This was one reason that Thomas Edison continued work on his own "Perfected Phonograph."
Honors and awards given to Edison
The President of the Third French Republic, Jules Grévy, on the recommendation of his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire and with the presentations of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs Louis Cochery, designated Edison with the distinction of an 'Officeer of the Legion of Honour' (Légion d'honneur) by decree on November 10, 1881；In 1983, the United States Congress, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 140 (Public Law 97—198), designated February 11, Edison's birthday, as National Inventor's Day.
In 1887, Edison won the Matteucci Medal. In 1890, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Edison was ranked thirty-fifth on Michael H. Hart's 1978 book The 100, a list of the most influential figures in history. Life magazine (USA), in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the "100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years", noting that the light bulb he promoted "lit up the world". In the 2005 television series The Greatest American, he was voted by viewers as the fifteenth-greatest.
John Wooden
John Wooden died last Friday at the age of ninety-nine. He was one of the greatest twentieth-century Americans in sports. He was an excellent college basketball player. He led Purdue University to a national championship in nineteen thirty-two. After college he was a high school coach. He also taught English for nine years.
But where he really made his mark was at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was head coach of men's basketball for twenty-seven years.
His teams won a record ten national championships. These included seven in a row during the late nineteen sixties and early seventies. The Bruins have won just one other championship since then.
An announcer described him in nineteen seventy-five after his final championship victory, which was also his final game.
ANNOUNCER: "As Wooden enters the playing court, he receives a standing ovation from an overflow crowd and true to the Wooden tradition, on the outside everything appears calm."
He coached famous players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, known then as Lew Alcindor, and Bill Walton.
Several years ago, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke at a ceremony honoring John Wooden. He said many top athletes worry they will be exploited for their skills by their coach.
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR: "That never, ever had a possibility of happening in my experience at U.C.L.A. because of this man here. He really wanted myself and all of us who participated in the program to get our degrees and learn what it meant to be a good citizen, and to be good parents and husbands and responsible human beings. And that was the most important thing for him."
John Wooden was praised for how he taught the basics of the game, like passing, defense and moving without the ball. But he also offered life lessons as a speaker and author. His books included the self-improvement guide "Pyramid of Success."
At a speaking event when he was already in his nineties, he explained that his father had taught him a few things about success.
JOHN WOODEN: "I was raised on a small farm in southern Indiana and Dad tried to teach me and my brothers that you should never try to be better than someone else. Always learn from others and never cease trying to be the best you could be. That's under your control."
Those words later helped him with his own definition of success.
JOHN WOODEN: "Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction and knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable. I believe that is true. If you make the effort to do the best of what you are capable, trying to improve the situation that exists for you, I think that is success and I do not think others can judge that."
His wife of fifty-three years, Nell, died in nineteen eighty-five.
At U.C.L.A. the man known simply as "Coach" had a record of six hundred twenty wins and one hundred forty-seven losses. Current coach Ben Howland calls John Wooden "the greatest coach in the history of basketball."
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, with reporting by Nico Colombant and Jim Stevenson. You can read and listen to our reports at en8848.com. I'm Jim Tedder.
But where he really made his mark was at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was head coach of men's basketball for twenty-seven years.
His teams won a record ten national championships. These included seven in a row during the late nineteen sixties and early seventies. The Bruins have won just one other championship since then.
An announcer described him in nineteen seventy-five after his final championship victory, which was also his final game.
ANNOUNCER: "As Wooden enters the playing court, he receives a standing ovation from an overflow crowd and true to the Wooden tradition, on the outside everything appears calm."
He coached famous players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, known then as Lew Alcindor, and Bill Walton.
Several years ago, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke at a ceremony honoring John Wooden. He said many top athletes worry they will be exploited for their skills by their coach.
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR: "That never, ever had a possibility of happening in my experience at U.C.L.A. because of this man here. He really wanted myself and all of us who participated in the program to get our degrees and learn what it meant to be a good citizen, and to be good parents and husbands and responsible human beings. And that was the most important thing for him."
John Wooden was praised for how he taught the basics of the game, like passing, defense and moving without the ball. But he also offered life lessons as a speaker and author. His books included the self-improvement guide "Pyramid of Success."
At a speaking event when he was already in his nineties, he explained that his father had taught him a few things about success.
JOHN WOODEN: "I was raised on a small farm in southern Indiana and Dad tried to teach me and my brothers that you should never try to be better than someone else. Always learn from others and never cease trying to be the best you could be. That's under your control."
Those words later helped him with his own definition of success.
JOHN WOODEN: "Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction and knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable. I believe that is true. If you make the effort to do the best of what you are capable, trying to improve the situation that exists for you, I think that is success and I do not think others can judge that."
His wife of fifty-three years, Nell, died in nineteen eighty-five.
At U.C.L.A. the man known simply as "Coach" had a record of six hundred twenty wins and one hundred forty-seven losses. Current coach Ben Howland calls John Wooden "the greatest coach in the history of basketball."
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, with reporting by Nico Colombant and Jim Stevenson. You can read and listen to our reports at en8848.com. I'm Jim Tedder.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Surprising Uses for Cucumbers
It recently came to my attention that my life would be easier and less stressful if I carried a cucumber with me everywhere I go. Cucumbers can provide travelers with a quick fix for a number of common inconveniences, and I’ve compiled a cucumber travel guide below to give you more details. So, the next time you’re working on your travel gear list or thinking about what travel gear you need to buy when you land, don’t write off the cucumber!
1. Feeling tired? Cucumbers offer the perfect combination of B vitamins and carbohydrates to give you a natural afternoon lift that will last way longer than coffee, energy bars, or energy drinks. Plus, they’re way cheaper than a Starbucks latte (perfect for the frugal traveler).
2. Want to look hot in your bathing suit? If you’re going somewhere warm and know that you’ll be lounging by the pool or beach in your suit, rub a few cucumber slices along spots of cellulite on your skin to make the cellulite less visible. Cucumbers have a photochemical makeup that causes collagen in your skin to tighten, so it’s not only good for cellulite, but also for reducing eye puffiness and wrinkles. Forget luxury body creams; cucumbers are where it’s at for travel gear that’s sure to preserve your beauty while you’re on the go.
3. Sunburned? If you or your kids get scorched by the sun, rub some cucumber on the burn. It’s just as good as aloe and essential for any warm-weather traveler.
4. Party animal with a hangover? If that spring-break vacation, business meeting over cocktails, or carefree vacation lifestyle caused you to drink a little more than usual, grab a cucumber. If you eat just a few slices before going to bed, your hangover and headache will be gone in the morning! Why? The balance of sugar, B vitamins, and electrolytes in cucumbers replaces the nutrients your body lost and keeps you feeling good as new.
5. Snack attack? If a snack attack hits you in the afternoon and you’re still kicking yourself for consuming too many “I’m on vacation I can have another” desserts (or if you just want to satisfy your hunger because you’re on the go), cucumbers are the perfect solution. In fact, European trappers, traders, and explorers have used cukes for ages to fight off starvation.
6. Looking shabby on a business trip? Spiff up your shoes with a cucumber. Just rub a fresh slice over your shoe, and the chemicals will have the same effect as shoe polish and even repel water.
7. Bad breath? Fear not. If you place a cucumber slice against the roof of your mouth for thirty seconds, you can eliminate stinky breath instantly. Perfect after a meal on the go (can anyone say garlic?) for overnight travelers that wake up with plane breath. Gross.
8. Kids with crayons? Did your kids decide to decorate the hotel walls in crayon? Good thing you can erase the markings using the outside of a cucumber. Works well on pens and markers, too.
1. Feeling tired? Cucumbers offer the perfect combination of B vitamins and carbohydrates to give you a natural afternoon lift that will last way longer than coffee, energy bars, or energy drinks. Plus, they’re way cheaper than a Starbucks latte (perfect for the frugal traveler).
2. Want to look hot in your bathing suit? If you’re going somewhere warm and know that you’ll be lounging by the pool or beach in your suit, rub a few cucumber slices along spots of cellulite on your skin to make the cellulite less visible. Cucumbers have a photochemical makeup that causes collagen in your skin to tighten, so it’s not only good for cellulite, but also for reducing eye puffiness and wrinkles. Forget luxury body creams; cucumbers are where it’s at for travel gear that’s sure to preserve your beauty while you’re on the go.
3. Sunburned? If you or your kids get scorched by the sun, rub some cucumber on the burn. It’s just as good as aloe and essential for any warm-weather traveler.
4. Party animal with a hangover? If that spring-break vacation, business meeting over cocktails, or carefree vacation lifestyle caused you to drink a little more than usual, grab a cucumber. If you eat just a few slices before going to bed, your hangover and headache will be gone in the morning! Why? The balance of sugar, B vitamins, and electrolytes in cucumbers replaces the nutrients your body lost and keeps you feeling good as new.
5. Snack attack? If a snack attack hits you in the afternoon and you’re still kicking yourself for consuming too many “I’m on vacation I can have another” desserts (or if you just want to satisfy your hunger because you’re on the go), cucumbers are the perfect solution. In fact, European trappers, traders, and explorers have used cukes for ages to fight off starvation.
6. Looking shabby on a business trip? Spiff up your shoes with a cucumber. Just rub a fresh slice over your shoe, and the chemicals will have the same effect as shoe polish and even repel water.
7. Bad breath? Fear not. If you place a cucumber slice against the roof of your mouth for thirty seconds, you can eliminate stinky breath instantly. Perfect after a meal on the go (can anyone say garlic?) for overnight travelers that wake up with plane breath. Gross.
8. Kids with crayons? Did your kids decide to decorate the hotel walls in crayon? Good thing you can erase the markings using the outside of a cucumber. Works well on pens and markers, too.
Tips for Lasting Happiness
Many of us believe that we will achieve happiness only through great effort, and we spend a lifetime seeking it. But unending joy is actually closer to us than our own skin, and there’s nothing we have to do or get or be to experience it. All we have to do is stop driving it away. And the principal way in which we drive happiness away is with “if/then” thinking—believing, “If this happens, then I will be happy.” The truth is, you have everything it takes to be happy right now.
Here are ten tips that will help you change your thinking about happiness and open wellsprings of motivation, resilience, and joy you never knew existed.
Accept What Is and Learn from It
Life is a university that you never graduate from. Accept that whatever happens to you, no matter how terrible, is there to teach you. Your job is to learn and do what you have to. It is not so difficult to move on if you focus on learning the lesson, rather than on lamenting your misfortune. It also does not mean you are callous or heartless. On the contrary, you will become much more caring and empathetic when you are not wallowing in your misery.
Don’t Label Anything That Happens as “Bad”
Look back at your life a year or two ago. Can you recall anything that happened to you that at the time you thought was terrible? Can you see now that it was not as bad as you supposed—and may actually have turned out to be good? Say your boss fired you and you got a severance package you thought was bad … but then the company went bankrupt and your former colleagues lost their jobs and got no severance—and didn’t even get reimbursed for their business expenses. You never really know if anything that happens to you is bad, but labeling it as such increases the probability that you will experience it that way. Don’t do it.
Define What You Do by Its Purpose
What do you say when someone asks you what you do? If you define it in functional terms, like “I teach mathematics to middle-school students,” then you either are burned out or will be soon. If your response is “I help our leaders of tomorrow appreciate the beauty of mathematics and show them the flights of lofty imagination that enabled great scientists to formulate breathtaking theorems,” then each day is a blast. What is the ultimate good to society of what you do? That’s what you should pour your emotional energy into.
Commit Intensely and Joyfully to Everything You Do
Do you feel bored and stuck in a rut? Is work drudgery? If so, you are spending far too much time bemoaning your fate and how the universe is not cooperating with your desires. Be present with and in your current situation. You will discover that there is more there than meets the eye. There are nuances that you were never aware of until you gave them the benefit of your full attention. When you do this, you have no time to be bored, and, paradoxically, your work will transform itself in ways you could never have conceived of, and will propel you to greater fulfillment.
You Can Create Miracles—So Do It
Let’s say you’re all dressed up, it starts raining, and you don’t have an umbrella. A cab pulls up right where you are to discharge a passenger, and you take it. Do you describe what happened as a “coincidence”? If so, you have blown a powerful tool for bringing all manner of good into your life. Instead, recognize that what happened was a “miracle” and celebrate it as such. You allowed it to happen. The more you celebrate such “miracles,” the more they will appear in your life. Maybe you will not be able to make a specific miracle happen—such as the 4:15 p.m. train’s coming ten minutes late just so you can catch it—but you will be able to live a life in which a steady stream of such miracles enriches your experience.
Remember That Like Attracts Like
Do you know someone who is constantly complaining? Who finds fault with people and things all the time? Who sucks your energy and leaves you feeling drained? Do you want to hang around with him or her? Odds are, sooner or later you will want to move on. Now think about what kind of feelings you evoke in others. Consciously be sensitive to others and try to elevate their level of consciousness. Don’t do this by being preachy and telling them that they “should” do this or that; do it by raising your own level of energy and recognizing what’s best in others. As you become imbued with this habit, the most marvelous, upbeat people will float into your life and elevate you even further.
Being Is More Important Than Doing
A man I know wanted desperately to become a CEO and was ready to do what it took. Family was a distraction, and he resented the demands they placed on him. He attended his daughter’s soccer games but spent most of the time making phone calls and replying to messages on his BlackBerry. He thought he was being a good father, until he overheard his daughter on the phone, telling a friend, “My dad doesn’t care about me—he just wants others to think he is a caring father. He sat through the whole game playing with his phone and didn’t even notice I scored a goal.” Who you are being will always show through sooner or later. Remember this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying.”
Bounce Back Like a Daruma Doll
A daruma doll in Japanese Buddhist tradition has no arms or legs and is heavily weighted. Knock it over, and it springs right back; you cannot keep it down. Keep that as a vision. As long as you are in the human predicament, stuff will happen to you. You cannot prevent getting knocked down, but you can get right back up again. And you do this by accepting what is and asking, “Where do I go from here?” No complaints, no wailing, just a willingness to learn what can be learned, and a readiness to then do what must be done.
Change Your Focus to Serving Others
Notice when you believe you are the center of the universe. No matter what happens, you think only in terms of what impact it has on you. But living predominantly in a “me-centered” world guarantees that you will experience dejection, anxiety, boredom, and all the other things that make life unhappy. By contrast, think consciously about being of service to others, and your life will flower.
A professor who used to bemoan the “stupidity” of the students in his class decided to change his self-centered focus. He started being grateful to them because they worked as waitresses and bartenders to pay the tuition that paid his salary that maintained his family. He began to see it as his task to get students to appreciate the beauty in his field, not theirs to provide him with intellectual stimulation. This led him to pay more attention to the design of his lectures. He won several teaching honors and was eventually offered a more rewarding position.
Let It Go
Watch a baby drinking his milk contentedly, then take his bottle away. His face gets red, he screams, and there is no doubt that he is angry. Now give him his bottle back. In seconds he is back to his contented, gurgling self. He experiences his anger, but then he lets it go! Our problem is that we don’t let things go. We harbor resentments, slights, memories, and mental junk from years or decades. Drop that mess. Let it go. That, by itself, leaves room for joy to manifest.
Here are ten tips that will help you change your thinking about happiness and open wellsprings of motivation, resilience, and joy you never knew existed.
Accept What Is and Learn from It
Life is a university that you never graduate from. Accept that whatever happens to you, no matter how terrible, is there to teach you. Your job is to learn and do what you have to. It is not so difficult to move on if you focus on learning the lesson, rather than on lamenting your misfortune. It also does not mean you are callous or heartless. On the contrary, you will become much more caring and empathetic when you are not wallowing in your misery.
Don’t Label Anything That Happens as “Bad”
Look back at your life a year or two ago. Can you recall anything that happened to you that at the time you thought was terrible? Can you see now that it was not as bad as you supposed—and may actually have turned out to be good? Say your boss fired you and you got a severance package you thought was bad … but then the company went bankrupt and your former colleagues lost their jobs and got no severance—and didn’t even get reimbursed for their business expenses. You never really know if anything that happens to you is bad, but labeling it as such increases the probability that you will experience it that way. Don’t do it.
Define What You Do by Its Purpose
What do you say when someone asks you what you do? If you define it in functional terms, like “I teach mathematics to middle-school students,” then you either are burned out or will be soon. If your response is “I help our leaders of tomorrow appreciate the beauty of mathematics and show them the flights of lofty imagination that enabled great scientists to formulate breathtaking theorems,” then each day is a blast. What is the ultimate good to society of what you do? That’s what you should pour your emotional energy into.
Commit Intensely and Joyfully to Everything You Do
Do you feel bored and stuck in a rut? Is work drudgery? If so, you are spending far too much time bemoaning your fate and how the universe is not cooperating with your desires. Be present with and in your current situation. You will discover that there is more there than meets the eye. There are nuances that you were never aware of until you gave them the benefit of your full attention. When you do this, you have no time to be bored, and, paradoxically, your work will transform itself in ways you could never have conceived of, and will propel you to greater fulfillment.
You Can Create Miracles—So Do It
Let’s say you’re all dressed up, it starts raining, and you don’t have an umbrella. A cab pulls up right where you are to discharge a passenger, and you take it. Do you describe what happened as a “coincidence”? If so, you have blown a powerful tool for bringing all manner of good into your life. Instead, recognize that what happened was a “miracle” and celebrate it as such. You allowed it to happen. The more you celebrate such “miracles,” the more they will appear in your life. Maybe you will not be able to make a specific miracle happen—such as the 4:15 p.m. train’s coming ten minutes late just so you can catch it—but you will be able to live a life in which a steady stream of such miracles enriches your experience.
Remember That Like Attracts Like
Do you know someone who is constantly complaining? Who finds fault with people and things all the time? Who sucks your energy and leaves you feeling drained? Do you want to hang around with him or her? Odds are, sooner or later you will want to move on. Now think about what kind of feelings you evoke in others. Consciously be sensitive to others and try to elevate their level of consciousness. Don’t do this by being preachy and telling them that they “should” do this or that; do it by raising your own level of energy and recognizing what’s best in others. As you become imbued with this habit, the most marvelous, upbeat people will float into your life and elevate you even further.
Being Is More Important Than Doing
A man I know wanted desperately to become a CEO and was ready to do what it took. Family was a distraction, and he resented the demands they placed on him. He attended his daughter’s soccer games but spent most of the time making phone calls and replying to messages on his BlackBerry. He thought he was being a good father, until he overheard his daughter on the phone, telling a friend, “My dad doesn’t care about me—he just wants others to think he is a caring father. He sat through the whole game playing with his phone and didn’t even notice I scored a goal.” Who you are being will always show through sooner or later. Remember this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying.”
Bounce Back Like a Daruma Doll
A daruma doll in Japanese Buddhist tradition has no arms or legs and is heavily weighted. Knock it over, and it springs right back; you cannot keep it down. Keep that as a vision. As long as you are in the human predicament, stuff will happen to you. You cannot prevent getting knocked down, but you can get right back up again. And you do this by accepting what is and asking, “Where do I go from here?” No complaints, no wailing, just a willingness to learn what can be learned, and a readiness to then do what must be done.
Change Your Focus to Serving Others
Notice when you believe you are the center of the universe. No matter what happens, you think only in terms of what impact it has on you. But living predominantly in a “me-centered” world guarantees that you will experience dejection, anxiety, boredom, and all the other things that make life unhappy. By contrast, think consciously about being of service to others, and your life will flower.
A professor who used to bemoan the “stupidity” of the students in his class decided to change his self-centered focus. He started being grateful to them because they worked as waitresses and bartenders to pay the tuition that paid his salary that maintained his family. He began to see it as his task to get students to appreciate the beauty in his field, not theirs to provide him with intellectual stimulation. This led him to pay more attention to the design of his lectures. He won several teaching honors and was eventually offered a more rewarding position.
Let It Go
Watch a baby drinking his milk contentedly, then take his bottle away. His face gets red, he screams, and there is no doubt that he is angry. Now give him his bottle back. In seconds he is back to his contented, gurgling self. He experiences his anger, but then he lets it go! Our problem is that we don’t let things go. We harbor resentments, slights, memories, and mental junk from years or decades. Drop that mess. Let it go. That, by itself, leaves room for joy to manifest.
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