Oprah: What I know for sure (about the economy)

By Polichicks on December 24, 2008 6:02 AM
http://www.polichicks.net/



Oprah's column in the holiday issue of O Magazine:

The economy is in flux, and so are we. For years I've noticed that the universe speaks to us in whispers. If we ignore the whispers, we get pebbles of warning. If we still don't pay attention, we get bricks of problems, and if we're really hardheaded, eventually the entire brick wall comes crashing down. This is a pattern I've seen repeated so often in every area of life that I know for sure when you don't pay attention to the pebbles, it's just a matter of time before the bricks show up.

Our nation's financial crisis is the brick wall that's going to force us to deal with the reality of what truly matters. And to face the spiritual crisis of figuring out who we are and who we choose to be.

Our spending and greed for material things that we think will define us have been forcibly put in check. We have a wake-up-call opportunity to get real and be real with others by finding ways to show love, give love, be love without spending a lot of money. It's a chance for us to look beneath the surface, into the culture of excessive more, more, more-ness that got us into this mess.

It will take more than a bailout to get us on the right track. We need a shift in the way we think about our lives. We may have to search deeply to recognize what matters. Sometimes when I ask people what it would take to make them happy, they don't know what to say. They forge an answer about family and friends, and yet their lives are about everything else.

Everything in life has meaning. The bigger the fall, the greater the lesson.

Barn's burnt down -

Now I can see the moon.

-Masahide (17th century poet)

Oprah

Utilizing Social Media in Your Organization

January 2, 2009

by stacistringer
http://stacistringer.wordpress.com

As the social media landscape expands, more organizations are taking advantage of the online tools available. There are thousands, and they are expanding as we speak. Anything from fundraiser support sites, to picture and video sharing to niche social networks that can expand your reach as an organization. One tool that I find very helpful is go2web20.net. This site provides an overview and ratings of thousands of Web 2.0 sites.

By taking the time to assess the social landscape in which your organization wishes to immerse in, you can identify key opinion leaders, the audience, and important topics in the conversation. Through assessing the conversation happening in different forms of social media you have the ability to pick and choose the right forum to your conversation. You must be picky when finding the right forum. There is no use having a conversation with people who don’t want to listen.

There are a few ways to find out what social media tools would be right for your organization to utilize in creating a presence online:

1. Research where your organization stands in all forms of mediums look on Facebook for support groups, on YouTube for videos, on twitter for organizations, competitors and supporters.

2. Listen to the Conversation Now that you’ve found forums with which your organization could fit into the conversation. Listen. See what others are saying about your product or service and assess the tone. If there is a negative tone, begin to strategist on how you can make negatives into a positive.

3. Narrow the Field Social media takes time. Don’t be too ambitious because if you begin to have a presence in a specific network and then become lazy and cannot keep up with it, you lose listeners and the point of getting involved in the social media sphere was to gain followers. Take a look at the possible tools you can utilize and assess their relativity to your goal. Then narrow the field.

4. Participate the hardest thing organizations will find is keeping up with all the forms of social media that are at its fingertips. Just because you are a part of Facebook or twitter doesn’t mean you’re actively participating in it. Make the effort, comment on blogs and message boards, tweet and reply to tweets participate in the social media and show a new audience that you’re doing everything in your means to make them a believer in your product or service.

Photo courtesy of Brian Solis

MY BEEF WITH HIP-HOP BEEFS

I saw this on Twitter and was really impressed with the thought behind this article and the way it was articulated. I wanted to share it with my readers.

Monica

http://askbroderic.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-beef-with-hip-hop-beefs-by-deric.html
Thursday, January 1, 2009

By: Deric Muhammad

(This opinion editorial appeared in a recent edition of The Final Call Newspaper) http://www.finalcall.com/

Hip-hop culture has officially gotten its passport. In every foreign country I have traveled to, I have seen the influence of hip-hop on its youth. I have seen break dancing in Japan, oversized fitted-caps in China, gold-toothed “grills” in Belize and graffiti in Thailand. No matter where you go on this planet, hip-hop will follow you. Hip-hop’s global impact is so strong that the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine adopted a hip-hop national anthem in protest to mass corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud in the 2004 presidential election. When I saw millions of Ukrainians singing a hip-hop fight song as a sign of their revolution, I knew that a serious responsibility came along with that.

I was very disappointed to hear about the recent death of a London up-and-coming rap artist, Ikye Nmezu, who was beaten with a brick by a rival artist over a back-and-forth exchange of lyrics via YouTube. The victim, only 16 years old, was poorly treated by two hospitals and died two weeks later due to a brain abscess. One cannot help but speculate that these two young brothers were emulating what they see in American hip-hop culture, called BEEF. Just as hip-hop’s musical, cultural and fashionable influence has penetrated the borders of foreign countries, so has its shortcomings.

As a product of the hip-hop generation I, along with the rest of us, have enjoyed the competitive lyrical battles between rival artists. Competition fueled creativity and great music was made. When LL Cool J battled Kool Moe Dee, it was a watershed moment in hip-hop. Unfortunately rappers began to bring issues of a more personal nature into the art form. This type of beef helped create the East Coast vs. West Coast beef and the atmosphere that led to the deaths of Tupac and Biggie.

A historic meeting at The Honorable Minister Farrakhan’s home in Chicago squashed the East Coast vs. West Coast beef bringing artists from both coasts to a table of reconciliation. Artists started traveling bi-coastal again and things seemed to normalize. After a brief lull, hip hop beefs returned more commercialized than ever. New rap artist looking to become famous felt they needed to attack another rapper in order to make a name for themselves. Beef, now, has become a part of the promotional aspect of the business of hip-hop. It is supported by record labels and executives whose main concern is their bottom line.

It is impossible to work hard to attain a certain measure of success in the rap industry without becoming the target of others that are not as successful. But, when R&B singers began crooning against one another, I knew that it was time for BEEF to have a dignified funeral. It has become another way of exploiting the gifts and talents of our performers and facilitating the division that has historically led to our subjugation. Beef creates controversies that are good for record sales creating capital that the artist hardly sees. It is White-owned record labels who have profited the most while the artists must ride in bullet-proof cars.

Violent episodes at hip-hop award shows perpetuates the savage image of the young Black male that has been peddled through the mass media. Earlier this year Houston rapper Trae says he physically attacked rapper Mike Jones, because he was tired of him “fronting” like he was the mayor of Houston. More recently the entourages of rappers T.I. and Shawty Lo squared off at the Dirty Awards in Atlanta. Images of these brothers being whisked away in handcuffs went worldwide. What is sad is that someone could possibly end up hurt or dead. He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.

I brought up the aforementioned incident in London to accentuate a point. Black youth in America are in a global position of leadership whether we like it or not. Youth all across the world want to walk, talk, dress, rap and act like young brothers and sisters in America. Rap artists in America have more influence than the government over the youth in some countries. Hip-hop is potentially one of the most powerful cultural art forms in the history of man. But if we continue to allow buffoonery like so-called beef to make a mockery of our culture, we will lose our opportunity to use it as a global force for serious change.

The meteoric rise of President-elect Barack Obama has placed the Black man and woman in America in the seat of leadership in the eyes of the world. Last month I traveled to China and people kept calling me “Obama.” Through his election, they were given a different image of the Black man in America. Their hope in him represents their hope in us all. The hip-hop community must now grow into this responsibility. But in order for us to grow up, we must put away childish things. Beefing with one another over who rhymes the best or over who is really from a certain neighborhood is a childish thing that hip-hop has gotten too old for. Will somebody please write a eulogy for hip-hop beef? It has outlived its usefulness and become a destructive force.

If there is any beef among artists, it should be with the record execs who craft the draconian recording contracts that keep great artists in debt. Who beefs publicly with Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records or Lyor Cohen of Warner Music Group and others who control the artist’s purse strings?

Rappers can’t allow themselves to be like slaves divided and pitted against one another for the benefit of the slave-master. An artist who beefs with his brother for the sake of the furtherance of his career is no better than those who we criticized as sell-outs in the generations before us.

Hip-hop artists must unify or die. The world is watching.

Posted by JUST-US at 6:33 PM
Labels: editorial

5 Habits of Truly Happy People

The best-selling authors of Happy For No Reason share the secrets of true happiness.

By Marci Shimoff with Carol Kline

From www.jhj.com



Let the Joy Shine Through

A number of years ago, after decades of hard work, I finally had everything I thought I wanted. My first book became a number one New York Times bestseller. I met and married Sergio, my Italian Prince Charming, and we bought a lovely house. I had every reason to be happy. And I was happy about the things in my life. But I wasn't really happy inside.

Looking around, I saw that some of the happiest people I knew weren't the ones who "had it all." Some had health challenges. Others didn't have a dime. What was their secret? I was determined to find out.

I threw myself into the study of happiness, consulting experts and scientific research. I also found and interviewed 100 people whose happiness isn't dependent on external circumstances. I call them the Happy 100. It's not that they are always euphoric -- they may have sadness, fear, anger, or pain.

But they still experience the underlying peace and well-being that's the essence of true happiness, where you bring happiness to your experiences, rather than trying to extract happiness from them. I call this state Happy for No Reason.

I came away from my interviews with clear evidence that happy people live their lives differently. Some of the Happy 100 were simply born with happy dispositions. But most learned to be happy by thinking and living in a particular way.

In fact, I found 21 "happiness habits" that all these deeply happy people share.

Our habits do affect our happiness, and neuroscientists have recently discovered why. Habitual thoughts and behaviors create specific neural pathways in the wiring in our brains, the way water flowing downhill creates a groove in the earth. When we think or behave a certain way over and over, the neural pathway is strengthened and the groove becomes deeper. Unhappy people tend to have more negative neural pathways -- their minds are literally stuck in a rut.

Scientists used to think these neural pathways were set in stone. But new research shows that when you repeatedly think, feel, and act in a different way, the brain actually rewires itself. This means you can change your happiness set point.

Leading brain researcher Richard Davidson, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, "Based on what we know about the plasticity of the brain, we can think of happiness as a skill no different from learning to play a musical instrument...it is possible to train our minds to be happy."

When acquiring a new skill, it pays to learn from the pros. Here are five key things I've learned from the Happy 100.


1. Don't Believe Everything You Think

According to medical experts, we have an average of 60,000 thoughts a day -- about one thought per second during every waking hour. And of those 60,000 thoughts, 95 percent are the same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. What's worse is that for the average person, the vast majority of those habitual thoughts are negative.

Not surprisingly, when your mind is swarming with these automatic negative thoughts, it has a profound physiological effect. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health, among others, have found that having negative thoughts can stimulate the areas of the brain involved in depression and anxiety.

But here's an important fact: Our thoughts aren't always true.

I can remember the time many years ago I first made this discovery. I was well into giving a presentation to 450 people packed into a hotel ballroom, and I was bombing big-time. How was I so sure? Because the man in the third row was letting me know in no uncertain terms. He sat rigidly, arms crossed. My stomach churned. He hated me!

After my talk the man made a beeline for the stage. I braced myself for his scathing critique. Instead, he thrust out his hand. "That talk changed my life," he said.

I almost fell over -- he hadn't hated me at all! It was my own negative thoughts that had been freaking me out. Moreover, I had managed to tune out the 449 people who'd been laughing, smiling, and nodding so I could focus exclusively on the one guy I thought -- wrongly -- didn't like what I was saying.

Psychologists call this our "negativity bias." For adaptive reasons, we humans have an inborn tendency to register negative thoughts, feelings, and experiences more deeply than positive ones. Our caveman ancestors were the Nervous Nellies and Fearful Franks of the tribe -- and consequently the ones who avoided the saber-toothed tigers long enough to pass on their genes.

We're hardwired for negativity: If you get 10 compliments and one criticism, what do you remember? But we can tinker with the wiring. The happy 100 are skeptical of their negative thoughts and have learned not to let false alarms hijack their happiness.


2. Notice The Happy Things in Your Life -- No Matter How Small

One evening a Cherokee elder told his grandson about the battle that goes on inside people's heads. He said, "My son, the battle is between the two 'wolves' that live inside us all. One is unhappiness. It is fear, worry, anger, jealousy, sorrow, self-pity, resentment, and inferiority. The other is happiness. It is joy, love, hope, serenity, kindness, generosity, truth, and compassion."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Because of our negativity bias, we often feed the wrong wolf. To be happier, you need to even up the score. The happy 100 make a point of noticing everything good that happens to them: any positive thought they have, anything they see, feel, taste, hear, or smell that brings them pleasure. This intention activates the reticular activating system (RAS), a group of cells at the base of the brain stem that's responsible for turning on your memory system and allowing it to bring anything important to your attention. Have you ever bought a car and then suddenly started noticing the same make of car everywhere? It's the RAS at work. Now you can purposefully use it to be happier.

When you decide to look for the positive, your RAS makes sure that's what you see. One member of the happy 100 told me she made this into a game, giving out "awards" in her mind for the good things she noticed throughout the day: the best-behaved dog award; the most-courteous driver award. Once you notice something positive, take a few moments to savor it -- making a habit of feeding happiness, as the Cherokee grandfather might say.


3. Choose the Happier Thought

The next time you're faced with a challenging situation that gives rise to negative thoughts and bad feelings, find an equally true thought about the situation that makes you feel better -- and lean into it. This doesn't mean deny the negative -- just pay more attention to the positive part of the truth. The classic measure of optimism, seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty, is the perfect example of leaning into the equally true but happier thought. The happy 100 are a glass-half-full bunch.

Here's a real-life example: Have you ever been on a deadline and thought, I can't get this done in time? The next time you are having a negative, self-defeating thought like that, search your mind for positive thoughts that are equally true, like I always manage to get things done. I can ask for help. The more I relax, the more the ideas flow through me. Lean into these thoughts and you'll find yourself feeling better.


4. Tend to Your Relationships

Scores of studies have demonstrated that having good social relationships is one of the strongest predictors of happiness. I found that although the happy 100 vary in the number of relationships they have, each relationship is a healthy one that supports their happiness.

For women, relationships may be even more important. Though men and women both release adrenaline and cortisol when under stress, scientists found in a landmark UCLA study that women's brains also release oxytocin, the bonding hormone. This is why women who are going through a rough time often want to have a good, long yak-fest with a close girlfriend. The more women engage in bonding activities, the more oxytocin they release, producing a calming influence and further lowering their stress. So the next time you're upset or feeling stressed, don't say you don't have time for friends and family. This is when you need them the most!

The best way to keep relationships happy, healthy, and supportive can be summed up in one word: appreciation. "One of the most important things a person can do to raise his or her happiness level is to acknowledge those around them," says Judith W. Umlas, author of The Power of Acknowledgment. "According to a recent Gallup Management Journal article, when someone is acknowledged, dopamine is released -- a neurochemical that's directly linked to being happy!" When we demonstrate our appreciation for the support we receive from others, it reinforces that behavior and deepens our connection to them.


5. Find Passion and Purpose

One day an old woman walked up to a building site where three men were laying bricks. She asked the first man what he was doing. "Can't you see?" he replied. "I'm laying bricks, this is what I do all day -- I just lay bricks." She then asked the second man what he was doing. He replied, "I'm a bricklayer and I'm doing my work. I take pride in my craft, and I'm happy that what I do here feeds my family." Walking up to the third man, she could see his eyes were full of joy. When she posed the same question, he replied with great enthusiasm, "Oh, I'm building the most beautiful cathedral in the whole world."

Like the third bricklayer, the happy 100 bring a sense of purpose to any activity.

Bringing a sense of passion to mundane activities will boost your happiness, but so will taking the time to find your true passions. Think about what activities most absorb you and analyze what it is about those activities that makes you happy. For example, my dad loved being a dentist. When he retired, he realized it wasn't about the teeth -- it was doing intricate work that made dentistry so absorbing to him. So he took up needlepoint, loved it, and ended up winning awards for his art!

The happy 100 (and my dad would have qualified for membership) incorporate passion into their daily lives, whether at work or at home.

So what about me, the ever-searching one who managed to have lots of reasons to be happy but still needed something more? By using the tools and techniques I learned from the Happy 100, I've been able to move from a D+ to an A on the happiness scale. Now, when life tosses my boat around, I return to an even keel more easily; I don't capsize anymore. I'm still on the journey, but I'm living proof that these steps can move you in the right direction, and that anyone can become Happy for No Reason.



From Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff with Carol Kline. Copyright 2008. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., NY.

Originally published in Ladies' Home Journal, May 2008.
shim

© Copyright 2009 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Skin-sational!

By Erica Metzger
www.jhj.com

See what a difference a day (or a week or a month) makes to your skin once you know what really works.


Get a Glow in One Day

The sun, hormones, past breakouts, medications -- they can all overactivate your pigment cells and lead to a dull, blotchy complexion

Makeup artist Laura Geller suggests applying a light layer of foundation, one with medium coverage and brightening pigments, all over your face. "The goal isn't to cover your skin with a makeup mask," she cautions. Afterward, dab opaque concealer on the most obvious flaws and set with powder.


Get a Glow in One Week

In your 20s, your skin turns over every 28 days, supplying you with fresh, smooth cells. Since this process slows with age, help shed any buildup and speed cell turnover with daily exfoliation. And make SPF 30 part of your daily routine; it will keep spots from darkening and even prevent new ones from forming.


Get a Glow in One Month

Boost results with ingredients that fade and block new pigment formation, like hydroquinone (an FDA-approved bleaching agent), kojic acid, licorice extract, and vitamin C. They'll brighten skin noticeably in a month, but to fully lighten pigment, you'll need three to six months, says dermatologist Audrey Kunin.


Look Younger in One Day

A lifetime of smiling and frowning, along with sun exposure, depletes collagen and leads to lines and sagging.

Moisturizing does more than just ease dry patches. It actually improves the look of your skin by temporarily plumping it, offering instant results. Similarly low maintenance: primers that fill in deeper creases to give your skin a smoother, less-lined appearance. They prep for makeup, too.

Look Younger in One Week

Serums formulated with anti-aging peptides and antioxidants help wake up lazy collagen-producing cells. (Top with moisturizer if needed.) Amp up results by asking your doctor for a prescription retinoid, an FDA-approved vitamin-A derivative used to stimulate collagen production and decrease its breakdown.


Look Younger in One Month

Adopting healthy skin habits -- namely exfoliating and moisturizing -- will improve your skin considerably. Eliminating skin saboteurs will also return your youthful glow. Smoking is a major cause of lines, of course, but even little actions like frequently rubbing your eyes contribute to lines, too.


Keep It Clear in One Day

Absolutely resist picking at the blemish, says dermatologist Jeanine Downie, as that only makes it worse. Instead, cover the area with a concealer that contains antibacterial and anti-inflammatory ingredients, such as salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. They calm and treat the infection while hiding it from the world and yourself.


Keep It Clear in One Week

"The pimple you see today actually began to form several weeks ago," says dermatologist Dennis Gross, who recommends a nightly acne treatment as a preventive. Dr. Kunin suggests a balancing mask a week before your menstrual cycle begins. Also try products with gentle drying agents such as sulfur and clay.


Keep It Clear in One Month

A kit that gently unclogs pores and reduces oil, bacteria, and inflammation is ideal. if you have severe breakouts, scarring, or cysts, you'll likely need prescription-strength retinoids, such as Retin-A, antibiotics, or even birth control pills. A dermatologist can help you determine the best regimen.