Glen Of Scotland

Planting trees

The Disney movie Earth did really well at the box office, as a result Disney is planting 2.7 million trees in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. This is a rainforest going through some challenges so this will really help.

While the tree planting promotion is over, the movie is still playing at your local movie theater and it's well worth watching, stunning cinematography and a movie for the whole family especially on the big screen.  

Good Movie

If you are like me and are behind on your movies, I think you will enjoy Marley and me. The movies is based on the book by John Grogan, who kept me entertained in Florida with his newspaper column.

It's a good family movie, more so if you have or had a dog, enough there to trigger your emotions and leave the movie feeling good.

Unconditional love at it's best.

New Movie

There is a new movie out, direct to dvd starring Dr. Wayne Dyer. It's called Ambition to Meaning, you can preview the trailer here. You can also watch the whole movie online for just $4.95.

If you have children

If you have children or even if you don't then you should find this video and inspiration. It's from the UK, a 13 year old boy Andrew Johnston who is on the talent show singing, he gets bullied at school as he is different. His response is to keep singing, see how the audience and judges react, good stuff. Click here if it doesn't show below.

Television Event

The ABC television channel has an hour long show devoted to Randy Pausch tomorrow night at 10pm. This is the professor who has dying from cancer and has inspired many people. It's interesting that he has lived longer than the doctors said he would so far.

The lessons from Randy are:

Always have fun
Dream Big
Ask for what you want
Dare to take a risk
Look for the best in everybody
Make time for what matters
Let kids be themselves

What's not to like about that, should be a good show.

Happy Easter

You may have seen this video before, it's Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University,who gave a condensed version of his last lecture on the Oprah show. What makes it different is that he is dying, he has terminal cancer and I'm sure you will find his message uplifting. Click here to view the short version.

New Movie

There is a new movie coming out in April, it's called the Moses Code and you can preview the trailer and read more about it here. This movie has many good spiritual teachers and will focus more on forgiveness and love as opposed the  secret version without Abraham which was more about the material.

It is being released a little differently, in as much as it will be shown in peoples homes (they are looking for more hosts)and other gathering places though I would expect the dvd to be released fairly quickly.

Hopefully we will see more movies like this in the future, do what you can to support them as the financial success will encourage  others to be involved.

Super Nanny

Some of you may have already seen this television show, it's on ABC on Wednesday nights. It's another reality show in which the English Nanny comes to the rescue of troubled families with children. While you may not agree with her methods, she does get results.

What is interesting to watch especially in the beginning of the show, is the body language and tone from the parents. In this phase the parents are at their wits end and very frustrated as well as a few other emotions. Even if you don't have children watch the beginning segments as the same tone and body language is occurring in stressed out relationships without kids.

The show illustrates how love, attention, patience can change things, keep in mind this is television so a week long filming period is condensed into 38 minutes. Naturally the worst examples are shown, you will see enough to get the idea.

What would it be like if the television camera and crew were to show up and film in your house? How would you come across? What would you like to change?

Excerpt

This is an excerpt from the Dream Manager book mentioned yesterday:

"Dreams are invisible, but powerful. Think for a moment of electricity, You cannot see it, but it keeps everything going. Invisible, but powerful! If, for a moment, you doubt the power of electricity, consider what would happen if you stuck your finger into an electrical outlet. You would quickly be reminded of its power. Should you doubt that electricity keeps everything going, may I suggest that you turn off the electricity at your office tomorrow! I think you will find that little if anything gets done and most of your employees will go home for the day.

So it is with dreams. They are invisible, but powerful. You cannot see them, but they keep everything going."

Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly

Being Followed

It felt like everywhere I turned there it was, I was being followed. I had enough unread books around and didn't feel the need to add to the pile. Until it was there again, so I bought it and started reading it and I couldn't put it down.

The book is called "The Dream Manager" by Matthew Kelly and is available in bookstores for $20 or amazon for $14. If you have lost or forgotten your dreams this will inspire you to dream again, it is that good.

The book is a fable about a janitorial company that is experiencing a high turnover of employees, you will read how they create a dream manager to help the employees and managers, how this increased profitability and reduced employee turnover. You will read about the changes in the lives of everyone and their families and I don't think you will be able to put it down.

Heart warming movie

If you have a couple of hours available then consider going to see the movie "August Rush". It's a movie of hope, faith and will bring you a smile and open your heart. The clip of the movie can be viewed here, you will notice on the website and in the movie the following quote "The music is everywhere. All you have to do is listen"

Interesting Feedback

I know there were a number of people tuned into Kitchen nightmares last week and I received interesting feedback! Some could see what I was explaining about how people get caught up in frustration etc and as a result cannot see the solutions right in front of them.

The majority of the feedback was about Gordon Ramsey, some felt him to be arrogant, potty mouthed, and guilty of using force and humiliation. By focusing on that, those people missed the point of watching the show or the points I was suggesting to focus on. This led to a lot of support and sympathy for the subject in the show Sebastian, this is normal when people perceive someone getting bullied. 

This does not help in anyway the subject, in fact it further emboldens them that they are right and no need to change their money losing ways. Having compassion and a loving heart is a good thing, sympathy and pity is not. I’m not endorsing the emotional methods used by Ramsey in the show, force in the long term has a low success rate. You have to keep in mind this show is on television and is heavily edited and to keep it on the air the show needs ratings and that behavior seemingly brings in ratings.

What are you not seeing or missing in everyday life by focusing attention on a dominant or controversial figure?

Kitchen Nightmares 3

The owners and even the staff cannot see what is going on or have given up on fixing it, they have all this stagnant negativity, hopelessness, lost faith, frustration etc and the literally cannot see what is right in front of them. You can see this in the video, these are for the most part bright people who cannot see or are paralyzed emotionally.

It's like when you lose your keys and you look time and time again and then when you feel better they are in the spot you searched 10 times before.

The solution is to feel better, step by step, day by day and to shift away in your mind from the negativity, making it smaller instead of bigger and asking for help when you need it. It can save you a fortune in the long run.

The beginning of the tv show is harsh, it's real and similar things go on everyday in all environments, it doesn't have to be this way. There is a better way and that's why I choose to work with people in guiding them to a better place.

Kitchen Nightmares 2

The first part of the show is focused on Chef Ramsey eating the food from the menu and also filming the operation. In most episodes you can see unmotivated or downtrodden the owner or managers are, how they have tried everything and still losing money. Observe how this flow of energy flows down to the serving staff and kitchen staff and other employees, some of whom think they are doing a good job.

Then observe what they cannot see going on, even though it's going on right under their noses, how paralysis creeps in. Observe customers being served cold or uncooked food on a regular basis, slow service, chaos, not to mention what is found in the kitchens.

How could the owners not see this? How could they not take action before it got to this point?

Kitchen Nightmares

The best teaching example I have seen so far to illustrate what it looks like when people get caught up in the stagnant negativity and what it looks like and what they miss is a television show called Kitchen Nightmares it's on the Fox network on Wednesday nights. You can also watch the episodes for free at the Fox website click here.

The show is about restaurants that are on their last legs, they are losing money, the owners are in despair and it's been going on for a while. Along comes Scottish Chef Gordon Ramsey and the Fox team and they film what's going on, Gordon's suggestions, renovation of the restaurant and menu and a reopening all of which takes place in real time in a week and on tv time in 40 minutes.

Obviously they show the extremes and highlight the drama as much as possible, if you cut through that you see the real benefit here. The lessons here can be applied in any business or house hold or relationship.

Book Excerpt cont

I've met many people who think their spouse is the reason they can't get along in their marriage. Or they're sure that it's their coworker's fault, but the fact is they have a civil war raging on the inside. They don't like their looks, they don't like where they are in life, they're upset because they haven't broken a bad habit, and that poison spills over into other relationships.
Understand, that you can't give away what you don't have. If you don't love yourself, you are not going to be able to love others. If you're at strife inside, feeling angry or insecure about yourself, feeling unattractive, feeling condemned , then that's all you have to give away.

Joel Osteen - Become a Better You - in bookstores now

Book Excerpt

This is an excerpt from the new Joel Osteen book " Become a Better You"

One of the worst things you could do is to go through life being against yourself. This is a major problem today. Many people have a war going on against themselves. They don"t really like who they are. "Well, I'm slow, I'm undisciplined, I'm unattractive, and I'm not as smart as other people." They focus on their weaknesses, not realizing that this negative introspection is a root cause of many of their difficulties. They can't get along in relationships, they're insecure, they don't enjoy their life, and it's largely because they are not at peace with who they are.
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." Notice the prerequisite to loving others is to love yourself. If you don't have a healthy respect for who you are, and if you don't learn to accept your faults and all, you will never be able to properly love other people. Unfortunately, self-loathing detroys many relationships nowadays.

More tomorrow

New Book

Joel Osteen has his new book out today, Become a Better You, it's available everywhere. Amazon is offering it at a 45% discount. This is a book that you will hear a lot about in the next few months, as soon as my copy arrives I will give you more information.

Through his weekly television broadcasts he reaches over 7 million people a week, he is a Pastor with a difference and his simple message of hope, encouragement and coaching people to a better feeling place resonates very strongly with me.

Naturally his message does not sit well with the traditional preachers, so you really have to ask which feels better to you. Visit his website and watch some of the interviews on there and see for yourself.