Tips for Happiness in Daily Life

Daily life can be made happier. It is a matter of choice. It is our attitude that makes us feel happy or unhappy. It is true, we meet all kinds of situations during the day, and some of them may not be conductive to happiness. We can choose to keep thinking about the unhappy events, and we can choose to refuse to think about them, and instead, relish the happy moments. All of us constantly go through various situations and circumstances, but we do not have to let them influence our reactions and feelings.

If we let outer events influence our moods, we become their slaves. We lose our freedom. We let our happiness be determined by outer forces. On the other hand, we can free ourselves from outer influences. We can choose to be happy, and we can do a lot to add happiness to our lives.

What is happiness? It is a feeling of inner peace and satisfaction. It is usually experienced when there are no worries, fears or obsessing thoughts, and this usually happens, when we do something we love to do or when we get, win, gain or achieve something that we value. It seems to be the outcome of positive events, but it actually comes from the inside, triggered by outer events.

For most people happiness seems fleeting, because they let changing outer circumstances affect it. One of the best ways to keep it, is by gaining inner peace through daily meditation. As the mind becomes more peaceful, it becomes easier to choose the happiness habit.

Here are a few tips for increasing happiness in daily life:

1) Endeavor to change the way you look at things. Always look at the bright side. The mind may drag you to think about negativity and difficulties. Don't let it. Look at the good and positive side of every situation.

2) Think of solutions, not problems.

3) Listen to relaxing, uplifting music.

4) Watch funny comedies that make you laugh.

5) Each day, devote some time to reading a few pages of an inspiring book or article.

6) Watch your thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, start thinking of pleasant things.

7) Always look at what you have done and not at what you haven't.

Sometimes you may begin the day with the desire to accomplish several objectives. At the end of the day you might feel frustrated and unhappy, because you haven't been able to do all of those things.

Look at what you have done, not at what you have not been able to do. You may have accomplished a lot during the day, and yet you let yourself become frustrated, because of some small things that you did not accomplish. You have spent all day successfully carrying out many plans, and instead of feeling happy and satisfied, you look at what was not accomplished and feel unhappy. It is unfair toward yourself.

8) Each day do something good for yourself. It can be something small, such buying a book, eating something you love, watching you favorite program on TV, going to a movie, or just having a stroll on the beach.

9) Each day do at least one act to make others happy. This can be a kind word, helping your colleagues, stopping your car at the crossroad to let people cross, giving your seat in a bus to someone else, or giving a small present to someone you love. The possibilities are infinite. When you make someone happy, you become happy, and then people try to make you happy.

10) Always expect happiness.

11) Do not envy people who are happy. On the contrary, be happy for their happiness.

12) Associate with happy people, and try to learn from them to be happy. Remember, happiness is contagious.

13) Do your best to stay detached, when things do not proceed as intended and desired. Detachment will help you stay calm and control your moods and reactions. Detachment is not indifference. It is the acceptance of the good and the bad and staying balanced. Detachment has much to do with inner peace, and inner peace is conductive to happiness.

14) Smile more often.

Tips in Life that Lead to Happiness

Are you truly happy? Do you even know what it means to be happy and what it takes to achieve happiness? These are important questions for anyone who is seeking happiness to ask themselves. I live my life to maintain my own happiness while trying my best to not cause unhappiness to anyone else.

If you want to be happy you need to understand that you can be happy and that you should be happy. Many people make the mistake of believing that they don’t deserve happiness and accept their unhappy state as their destiny. The truth of the matter is that happiness, like anything else in life, needs to be nurtured. The following are a few tips that I follow to create happiness in my life.

1. Understand what it is that will make you happy. Everyone has unique requirements for attaining happiness and what makes one person happy may be very different from what makes someone else happy. Revel in your individuality and do not worry about whether or not your desires are comparable to those of your peers.
2. Make a plan for attaining goals that you believe will make you happy. Your mood will very likely increase as your pursue your goal because you will feel better about yourself for going after something you value.
3. Surround yourself with happy people. It is easy to begin to think negatively when you are surrounded by people who think that way. Conversely, if you are around people who are happy their emotional state will be infectious.
4. When something goes wrong try to figure out a solution instead of wallowing in self pity. Truly happy people don’t allow set backs to affect their mood because they know that with a little thought they can turn the circumstances back to their favor.
5. Spend a few minutes each day thinking about the things that make you happy. These few minutes will give you the opportunity to focus on the positive things in your life and will lead you to continued happiness.
6. It’s also important to take some time each day to do something nice for yourself. Whether you treat yourself to lunch, take a long, relaxing bath or simply spend a few extra minutes on your appearance you will be subconsciously putting yourself in a better mood.
7. Finding the humor in situations can also lead to happiness. While there are times that require you to be serious, when it is appropriate, find a way to make light of a situation that would otherwise make you unhappy.
8. Maintaining your health is another way to achieve happiness. Being overweight or not eating nutritious foods can have a negative effect on your mood. Additionally, exercise has been known to release endorphins that give you a feeling of happiness.
9. Finally, it is important to understand that you deserve happiness. Those who believe that they are not worthy of happiness may subconsciously sabotage their efforts to achieve happiness. If necessary, tell yourself each day that you deserve to be happy and remind yourself what steps you will take to achieve the happiness you desire.

Happiness is hard to define but most people are aware of whether they are happy or not. Many people believe that happiness is a form of luck and that some people are destined to be happy while others are destined to be unhappy. I try to incorporate the tips above into my life and have had great success in achieving happiness. The tips in this article are small but meaningful steps that you can take each day to lead you to true happiness.

How do you define happiness?

Is there a way of defining happiness?
How do we know what happiness is? What I define as happiness might not be the same as you think of it.
For many people happiness lies in having a good amount of money and fame.
For others money is not that important. Many say that family comes first and money is a lower priority.

Well I have learned that Family does come first. I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.
With out my family and their love I will not be happy. I will survive but everyone need love.

How do you define happiness? What is happiness?

Listen What Your Heart Says

“What should I do with my life?”

How many times haven’t we heard that? How many times haven’t I thought that myself?

How do we know what is the right way or us to go?

If you are trapped in thoughts like; “ I don´t want to work here any longer”, “ I don´t like my job”, I´d rather be somewhere else”, then it´s time you do something about it.

Ask yourself the following questions: What was the best day at work you had in the last month? In the last two years? In the last five years?

If one of your answers are: “when I didn´t work” then maybe it´s about time you change your working environment. It´s time to do something you like to do.

Feeling unhappy at work means that you are not performing a good job. It’s not possible to give the best of you if you are not there with your heart.

“ But I can’t, I have no other talent or any other way to find an income”.

It´s about time you change the way you think about yourself. You can if you want to! Nothing is too big or too small. Focus.

You need to focus on what you want and not worry too much about how you will get there.

If you have a job you like you will feel energized, wanting to work. You will be full of ideas and you will feel you are doing a good job. If you are not happy that will not happen.

It’s never too late to change. The change should have happened a long time ago but you can still change it today. Think about what your heart tells you to do and go for it. No matter how impossible it seems.

Life With Happiness

The search for a complete and happy life is something that will likely never end. Everyday we search for answers and when we don’t find the answers we end up with more questions. Ask ten people about what they want to succeed in life and at least five will tell you “I want to be happy”.

But what does that mean? What is happiness?

Before we can be happy or get to the point where we think we will be happy, we need to discover what it is we need. Do you need money, a new radio, the latest CD from your favorite artist, plastic surgery, lose ten kilos? Or what do you need?

A complete and happy life may never be achieved.

What? Will you never be completely happy?

No, you might not actually, because there will always be something you want to change. The rich want to get richer and the circle will never end.

Focus on what you got and set up a goal.

Instead of concentration on what you haven’t got focus on what you do have and appreciate that. You need to appreciate what you got before you can focus on getting more.

Think about something you want to achieve, I want to exercise everyday or make $100/hour. Then think about how you can achieve that but most think about if it will make you happy. To be able to get $100 you might have to work like crazy and in the end all the hours you put in won’t be worth more than $10/h. So maybe it’s better you start with a smaller goal and say you want to make $20/h and look at what you need to do in order to do that. When you have succeeded with that and are making your $20/h you can start thinking about how to get to $50/h.

It might not be possible to live a complete and happy life without any worries but with small steps you can come closer.

Less Email Stress

Email reading and replying can take up a lot of time, much more than you would like. I don't know about you but I haven't got time to wade through an ocean of emails every time I open my inbox so I need something to sort out the most important emails.

Too many times I have forgotten or replied late because I thought to myslef that I would reply later and then forgot about the email as new came in and the email got further and further down the list. And this is something you cannot do when you are rely on email to communicate with your clients as a WAHM! It also saves you a lot of time!

Now I am quite good at deleting posts but I have decided to get better. Here are some simple tips for you to sort your emails and make sure you don't forget an email. I favor Gmail so my tips are based on that.

* Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc, which email works best for you?
I have Gmail and love it! (Ok I am not happy about the latest upgrade as the email is very slow but besides that I wouldn't like to live without it) Take the time to check out the differnt options you have. i find that Gmail gives me more flexibility than other email accounts. I especially like that it will thread all replies to one email, giving you the option to collapse or expand the thread. This is especially good if you subscribe to groups and get email replies.

* Filter your emails.
I know hotmail also gives you the option to label your incoming emails but once again- I prefer gmail.

* Star or color your emails
This is a Gmail only option. Gmail will let you add a star to important emails or even put them in colors. I make sure I star every email I need to reply to and work my way up from the bottom to the top. As soon as I have replied I remove the star.

* Group your contacts.
Another great Gmail feature- group your emails or put them into categories. I haven't checked out Hotmail for this but I cannot recall seeing this on Hotmail.

* Daily cleaning is a must!
If you receive a lot of emails everyday this is especially important. Everyday I mark all the emails on the first page and only keep those really important. Doing this every day I reduce the amount of unnecessary emails.

* Where is that link now when I need it?
I keep many emails because they contain good links to different web pages and blogs. Gmail has an option that lets you search all your emails with key words. it is fast and accurate and you don't have to load page after page trying to find out which email the link came in.

These are the daily things that works for me, do you have more tips or want to tell about which email you use? Leave a comment!

How to respond to a Bad Performance Review

Initiate further Meetings to Clarify Review
Contact your boss to talk to him personally on the performance review. Not over phone or Email but a face to face meeting is recommended to initiate clarifications on the review. In this review try not to be on the defensive and do not let emotions overcome you.
Before this meeting take time to carefully analyze the performance review you have received and also research on company’s policies on how to respond to bad performance review. Often organizations have a comprehensive HR webpage on the intranet or don’t feel shy to contact the HR on tips on how to respond to the performance review.
It is very important to first acquaint yourself with the review policies and process, prepare a list of points on which you were assessed during the review and compare with the goals and expectations previously set for you for the year.
Preparing in advance will make this meeting more meaningful and successful. Just a random discussion might get you nowhere – prepare and present facts during this meeting. Don’t arrange for this session in a hurry, think about the time you need to prepare and research for the details and then suggest a time frame to your boss to discuss the performance review. Keep in mind that it should not be delayed for a long time. Ask your boss if he is on vacation in the coming days or not, if yes, then schedule this meeting before he leaves for one.
Make sure that the boss is not in a hurry to end this meeting and getting ready to attend another one.
It could be your one last chance to change the review in your favor, prepare well beforehand.

Discussing with your Boss
Use good communication skills during the discussion with your boss. Read more tips here: Are you Assertive or Timid at Work?

Paraphrase the Accusations
Miscommunication often results in a bad performance review, it could be on your part your boss’s or comments through other managers which have filtered in the wrong sense to your immediate supervisor. Spend time with your boss to clarify the accusations and also ask for specific instances where you have been accused of negligence or poor performance. If your boss has written in the review of delayed project submission or under performance, do ask him to pinpoint the dates or the projects he/she is referring to.

Follow-up on the Meeting
If you and your boss are reaching arbitration on re-evaluating the performance review, ask your boss to schedule a quick follow-up meeting within a week or so. If your boss has agreed to change the performance review based on the discussion and facts you have presented so far, use your best persuasion and negotiation skills requesting him/her to incorporate positive feedback.

Don’t think of Quitting on one Bad Performance Review
Bosses come and go. Teams dissolve and the company re-orgs. A bad review does not mean it is time for you to start looking for a new job. Analyze the situation and see if there are some valid points perhaps you can do your best to perform better next time. Else if there have been unjustified accusations that reaching out more to the manager and the HR could be a possible solution.
Just remember to be more proactive towards your career in future.

When to let it go
If you think you have been wrongfully accused and there is no way that your boss is ready to change or discuss the performance review, then think about the worst case scenario.
- What is the worst that can happen with such a performance review?
- What would happen if you just let it go?
If the answers do not bother you and you truly love your job, think about getting over it and trying to see the positive side – perhaps the others in your team have got worse reviews, maybe it is not you it your boss who just has to be a terrible critic at the workplace.
Discussing with your career coach or your colleagues in this issue is also a suggested step. Perhaps your co-workers have received bad reviews from this manager before and maybe it is his/her working style to see a better performance in employees (though not a good way for sure!). A second opinion and a second look might clarify things more than how you have been looking at it so far.

But definitely do not let it go just because you do not feel fighting back for what you deem unreasonable. Don’t let it go before a good discussion (not a fight!).
But be cautious of all consequences, if you cannot afford to be out of job or be in the bad books of management of HR re-think your steps towards the protest. It is a good idea to talk to your colleagues who have been in the company longer to find out if there were any actions taken against those who “revolted” against a bad performance review.

Essential Tips for a Successful Leader

No matter how many ideas are shared on good leadership skills, I believe a good leader is one who can respect, connect and also influence the people he/she leads. And of course how well you can articulate your thoughts and future actions to your team, good communication skills and good people connection are fundamental qualities of a good leader.

There's nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can't clearly articulate why we're doing what we're doing.
- James Kouzes and Barry Posner

Have you heard or read Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”? The speech is remarkable and what makes it truly remarkable was that Dr King was able to present the thoughts of millions together articulately and all the listeners had the same thought that day – “That is exactly what my dream is.” He appealed to the common man’s thoughts and dreams and he was able to emphasize this one thought effectively.
These are the elements of an impressive, persuasive, and influential speech.

Kouzes and Posner in their brilliantly inspirational book “The Leadership Challenge” articulate these thoughts so well. I quote them here, “Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech illustrates how the ability to exert an enlivening influence is rooted in fundamental values, cultural traditions, personal conviction, and a capacity to use words to create positive images of the future. To enlist others, leaders need to bring the vision to life. Leaders have to animate the vision and make manifest the purpose so that others can see it, hear it, touch it, feel it. In making the intangible vision tangible, leaders ignite constituents’ flames of passion.
And there is something else you can learn when you actually listen to King’s speech. What you’ll hear is an audience that was participating. The people in the crowd that day were clapping and shouting back, “Yes,” and “Oh, yes,” and “um-hmm,” and “Hear, hear.” They were fully engaged. It wasn’t a one way street. King was in a conversation with them about their lives and about their dreams. They could see the dream he was envisioning and they were affirming it. They were telling him with their shouts and nods and claps and responses, “You have heard me, and you are talking to me about what I long for. You are saying what I am feeling.” Their shouts and claps prove that Dr. King’s dream was not his dream alone. It was the people’s vision. It was a shared vision.”

Some Tips towards Successful Leadership
If you are in a leadership position in your company, can you recall when was the last time you truly connected with your team, not in team meetings but when your team was able to share with you their thoughts and ideas on a larger scale, towards the main vision of your company or towards their career enhancement goals?

• If you are not doing it frequently, perhaps it is time for a resolution - to make time to inspire and admire your team, spare time routinely to motivate your group but first get to know them.
• If you wish to be a good leader, think first about your role model, list the reasons why you admire him or her. Evaluate how you can emulate the qualities that you marvel at and use them in your daily leadership roles.
• Always put your team first; never hesitate to give your people the credit they deserve. Give them the best and in return they shall give you their best. Develop strong peoples skills and encourage two-way communication and you shall see exemplary results in all fields.
• Do not execute performance reviews as a task to be checked off your list at the end of the year. Involve two-way communication and frequent meetings to analyze your team's performance.

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.
- Peter Drucker

Career Questions that you must ask yourself this New Year

Is my work satisfying?
How do you feel getting up in the morning and getting ready for work? Are you excited to be at a place which sparks the creative you, a feeling that you could make a difference today?
Do you feel happy to be working where you are or where your career is headed?
If yes, you are in a great career and job. Give it your best and the best shall come to you. Be positively productive at work and be a team player – two essential ingredients to a successful profession.
If not, pause now and think what cold possibly make you happier at work or give you that enthused feeling to get up everyday and contribute your best to the world – everyday.

Is my family/personal life better because of my career or is it suffering because of excessive/stressful time at work?
Whatever one says that achieving a work-life balance is not possible in the 21st century, there it not much fulfillment at work if your family life suffers or you each evening you get home with a guilt feeling of not being there for your kids for most of the week.
If you feel something is missing and this career is not helping you enjoy your life at the fullest – pause – think and evaluate – there is always a way. Yes compromises and trade-offs would be there but evaluate your priorities first.
What truly makes you content and happier, and how you can contribute to your family’s happiness and satisfaction?

How are my Skills today and what am I doing to develop new ones everyday?
Have you recently taken a new course or class that hones your present skills or made an effort to acquire a new one? Have you enrolled at your company’s regular certification courses or plan on enrolling one for this year?
If the answer is in negative – it is time to pay heed to this essential career development step. Technology develops fast and old skills are getting older faster than ever before. Be proactive towards your career – evaluate how you see yourself rising to a higher position than you are today or just be ready to learn something new this year.

Am I spending time to take care of my health?
Is the stress at work taking a toll on you? Are you finding no time to walk outside and breathe the fresh air or just relax when your body feels like? Or just you have not time left after a days work to take care of how healthy your eating habits are or finding any time for the gym?
If the answer is no, then it is time to pause and scrutinize your routine.
How much significant is your work if you suffer a major ailment down the road just because of neglect towards your health?

Does my work make someone else’s life better somewhere?
Don’t just work for the sake of being there 9 to 5 or more or just for the money. Of course, if need be this is what you have to do, but pause for a minute take time to evaluate the bigger picture. Is your work making someone’s life better somewhere? Are you helping the society in some way? Does the bigger picture make sense when you fit the pieces together?
If yes, feel proud and happy that your work is valuable today and would matter to the world even if only a small part of it – but it matters.
If not – pause and think – could you do something either in your present work or something beyond that would make a difference to someone or to the world? If you can, you’ll be even prouder of yourself and everyday getting up for work would have an energizer effect on you, because you as a single soul can make a big difference somewhere – all you need to do is to find out how?

Great Quotes on Career and Life

Some food for thought as we begin a new year..

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of the goal-a commitment to excellence-that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
- Mario Andretti

Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.
- Vincent Van Gogh

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
-Thomas A. Edison

Life doesn't require that we be the best, only that we try our best.
- Jackson Brown

Chance can allow you to accomplish a goal every once in a while, but consistent achievement happens only if you love what you are doing.
- Bart Conner

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
- Samuel Johnson

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
- Booker T Washington

Plenty of men can do good work for a spurt and with immediate promotion in mind, but for promotion you want a man in whom good work has become a habit.
- Henry L. Doherty

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all
-Leo Rosten

Our talents are the gift that God gives to us... What we make of our talents is our gift back to God.
- Leo Buscaglia

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.
- Mary Ann Radmacher

Saying Goodbye to Work – The Right Way

When you know it is time to quit a job, know how to do it the right way. You will never regret a well planned action plan and some tips here would help you in making a smooth transition to your new job or career. Once you know how to plan your exit the right way, saying goodbye to work becomes easier and effective.

Informing your Boss
Your boss/supervisor must be the first one to know of your impending departure. He/she must not hear from someone else and be surprised about the news.
Request a meeting with your boss and discuss the scenarios of when would be the best time to quit. Usually the company policies require you to give a two week notice but because of project schedules and handover responsibilities it could be a mutual decision to extend the final date of quitting, try to be accommodative as must as possible. You are helping yourself build a better referral by doing so. A hasty decision and inflexibility might only damage your relations with the manager or team.
During this meeting it is a good idea to talk about a referral email or letter from your boss and also ask for his/her consent to be on the list of references in future.

Data Transfer from Office Computer
You might have done so even before announcing your quitting the job. But if not you must know that once you announce your quitting intentions any activity on the office computer could be monitored and might even be blocked because of some company policies.

Don’t be "keyboard-happy" in shooting off that Vindictive Email
Many quitting employees disgruntled by the supervisor’s attitude or not happy with the management have been known to impulsively send an email to all in the group (or even the whole company email list) listing why they hate their managers and what is wrong with the company.
Howsoever tempting it might be to send out a spiteful email full of accusations and negative emotions, it might only harm your future career prospects, if not immediately might be sometime in future. Send an Email to friends and co-workers informing them of the good times you have had working with them. If you are really frustrated with everything around, then it is better not to send out the goodbye email than sending a resentful one.

Packing up your Personal Belongings
Pack up only what belongs to you, return all IT and other company property to the staff. It might happen that your colleagues might want to take that extra port or the extra keyboard hanging around on your shelves, refrain from doing so.
All company property is accountable by the IT department or other general supplies division. Ensure a proper handover and ask them if they have an online form that needs to be filled with the appropriate details filled in.

Some Tips for the Exit Interviews
Don’t agree to the exit interview date and time impulsively, also it is usually optional and not a compulsory procedure.
If you do want to provide some feedback on the company try to be as positive as possible and of course if you have some negative things to say about the manager be specific and do not blame the whole management. It could be because of one person or two that you have negative emotions, it is best to describe them tactfully but not put the blame on company management or culture. Think and plan before you speak up, but if there were some situations where your supervisor had made you uncomfortable either physically or emotionally and if this was one of the major reasons for quitting, do let the HR know. It will do no one good to stay quiet just to be in good books when more harm could come to the future employees under that particular supervisor.

Some good tips on exit interviews are on the CollegeRecruiter website.
Some often cited tips on quitting the right way:

• Don’t burn your bridges.


• Leave on good terms.


• Show a professional attitude. Whatever you do now will have reverberations in future – think before you act.

Face Your Real Fears to Reduce Anxiety

Anxiety is caused by avoiding real fears and other real feelings. Therefore when you start to face your real fears your anxiety diminishes.

Learn to tell the difference between a real fear and your irrational thoughts. Then you can stop scaring yourself with your irrational thoughts and deal with the real events, people and situations in your life.

When you know how to deal with reality, there is no anxiety. Best to approach anxiety from the source so you get permanent relaxation and solid self esteem.

To learn more about the difference between a real fear and your

Happiness is all a state of mind

We always want to be happy in our life. In the name of search for happiness we read various books, tips and consult with experts as if they give us happiness they already have with them. Definitely, these helps us little. But, actually happiness is a state of mind.

Most people believe that happiness develops automatically itself. However, in fact this is not correct psychologically and according to the researchs and most psychologists believe

that you will be happy if you feel you are happy. It is you who should make you happy and you can as well. By birth, some people are always happy and positive. They manage to turn any uneasy if happened in their life into happiness quickly and easily. Here, fortunately others can also practice at it like our daily exercise.

We take various medicine to kill the unhappy moments which gives us only short term relieve and cause many side effects in after long period of time. Rather, psychologically developed happiness remains for long period of time. You can do some practice or adopt some habits which helps you to be happy.

• Most people become unhappy when they are not able to do what they wanted to do. In such situation, we can remain happy if we are satisfied with what we get and where we reach. Everything in the past happened for certain reason. If we become unsatisfied and depressed , this brings us to even more mental and physical difficulties.
  


• Be satisfied with who you are and what you have got.Understand the reality of this world in everything.
  
  
• Whatever you may doing, do with your full focus and attention. If you can do interestingly and happily, nothing is boring to do.
  
  
• Do not make unnecessary and negative comparison with others. Such comparison will create feeling of unsatisfaction with your achievements and your life.
  
  
• Always think positive and feel that you will be happy tomorrow and your life will be interesting if only you are happy today.

How to choose rose of different color for different occasion

Roses is the obvious answer when it comes to the question of gifts in most cases. Roses make great idea, may it be a small or big occasion. It is necessary to know the meaning of different colors of rose. But unfortunately, many people don't have this knowledge. In some case, if the receiver know the meaning of the flower s/he is getting and sender gives the wrong flower, it may give bad impression of the sender on receiver.

The month of love, February; more accurately Valentine's day is coming soon. So, it is important to choose the right rose for that particular occasion. Here are some tips:

1. give red roses to show Love and respect.



2. Show appreciation or gratitude with pink roses.



3. share joy with yellow roses.

1. to say you understand, you're sympathetic or you are sorry if someone is ill, disappointed or bereaved, send light pink roses.



2. send a dozen white roses when you want to connote secrecy, innocence and/or purity.



3. to convey friendship, give pale roses of any color.



4. announce a new engagement by wiring two roses together to create a single stem ans use it as decoration for an engagement party or send it to the couple.



5. choose rose buds to recognise beauty, youth and innocence.



6. convey desire with coral and orange rose.

If the recipient doesn't know the significance of the roses' color, the sentiment expressed in an accompanying card will convey the color's meaning. If you remove the thorns, it means you care but remember that leaves are symbol of hope.

At last, choose carefully and enclose a note describing how and why you made your selection. Make your gift the most memorable they received by using appropriate color of rose.

Nothing can stop you from becoming winner if...

Helen Keller was deaf blind but she became successful author, activist and teacher and even first deaf blind person to graduate from college, famous football player Pele could not afford a proper football. So, he used to play a sock stuffed with newspaper, tied with a string during his early start.But, he is top footballer of the century now. Abraham Lincoln also faced many difficulties during his early life. Neil Armstrong knew that he may die on the way to the moon. Albert Einstein also failed some entrance during his school life and there are many such examples to note.

But, what thing did these people helped to become successful in their life despite of those difficulties and limitations? If you think carefully, reasons may be their inner desire that they should do what they wanted to do, their confidence that they can do the thing they are doing, not becoming hopeless after failure, regular hard work, positive thinking etc.

It is the person him/herself who can make him/her successful or not in life. Sometime different conditions and situations may effect you in negative way. But, all these are for short-time only.So, you will be the winner at last. If you've will power to be successful, you will never feel difficulties as difficulties because you'll have either developed or have strong belief that struggle and such difficulties, ups and downs are part of one's life. You should face them and overcome cleverly.

Fear and thinking of failure always interfere with your progress in life. These are things which will not have immediate effects

. But, they effect you slowly internally which you will not even feel in the beginning. But, when they have reached their maximum level of effect in you, you'll start to feel something strange. Sometime, these have effected you in such a maximum level that you'll have developed the habit of thinking of failure and fear in doing even small and simple things. So, now you can't do the thing which were easier for you to do sometime in the past. If Neil Armstrong had felt fear that he will die, he wouldn't have been the first human being to be o the surface of the moon.

Hardworking in correct way always pays anyone. Due to their hard work, Write brother became first persons to fly in the sky. If you work hard, there is 100% possibility that you will be successful. On the other hand, if you do not work hard but only expect of the result, you'll get nothing. It is difficult for all of us to work hard in the beginning but after working hard for many time, we will have developed the mentality that we should work hard to be successful.

Time is the greatest thing. But thinking time the greatest thing we always can't wait for the time. Because time never waits for anyone. You should know the value of time. Utilize the time you have and do even a single small work in right time. Never keep the thing that you have to do today for tomorrow. If you always leave your work for tomorrow or future, this will become your habit and at last you can't do anything of them.

Positive thinking about your life, what you are doing, other people etc. helps you to create such an environment in mind that always serves and supports you. This will make your attitude, behaviour positive, build your confidence and self-esteem. Most importantly, positivity helps you to to be mentally fit and this in turn makes you mentally and physically fit. Only healthy person can do the thing s/he wanted to do easily.

So, be positive, fearless, hopeful and industrious to be the winner and successful in life.

Resolutions for Happy and Positive life

We all want to be happy and live a positive life. Here below are something you should remember as resolutions in your life.

• If you try to buy happiness with money, it may not be long-lasting or hurt you. So, let happiness develop automatically in you. Have good relation with your friends, family members, help others and ask for help with others as well in your trouble, do what you are doing with positive mentality, then happiness will develop itself in you.
  
  


• Always remember that time is the greatest thing. Do not be hopeless, depressed if you are in trouble today. Hope for the best because life goes continuously until your heart stops beating. Tomorrow definitely will bring good moments, joy and happiness for you.
  
  
• Never judge a person from his/her outer appearance, physical structure, wealth, situation today s/he is in. Try to read and understand what is written in their inner heart.
  
  
• Say Hi, Hello or shake hand with your friends or relatives when you meet them. Even if you can't do these things give them your good smile. Make your relatives and friends feel that you LOVE them.
  
  
• Try to control your words while speaking. People may forget what you did them physically, but they never will forget how you made them feel either in positive or negative way.
  
  
• Do not boasts of yourself too much being selfish and egocentric person and make other let down.
  
  
• Give too much time for improving yourself. So that you will not have time to criticise others.
  
  
• Always look at the positive part of everything and be confident with your decisions and what you are doing.
  
  
• Never let your mind be vacant. Learn something you are interested. Your vacant mind will be attacked by dangerous ghost called Alzheimer's. This does not mean you think negative things to keep your mind occupied.
  
  
• Take care of your health. If it is good, maintain it forever. If it is not good and unstable, take a immediate action without a delay of second to improve.

Being optimistic: easy solution for great problems

In this post, I am talking how optimism can help us to fight with great problems, diseases rather than medicine.

Researches have shown that optimists have more stable cardiovascular system, more responsive immune system and less of a normal response to stress compared to pessimists. So, it is time to be optimistic to get rid of illness, pessimism, tension, anxiety, frustration, stress etc.

For pessimists even a very small problem escalates into a dreadful disaster and they are more vulnerable to cardio diseases compared to optimists. Pessimists lose hope and start losing their chance of survival. Then they fall to a low emotional state and their defeatist psychology leave a bad impact upon them resulting in switching off of their bodies, which cause the lose of positive response to therapy.

Optimistic attitude helps to boost up the emotional strength, body immunity, improve health. Hence body continues with greater immunity power. Optimism brings happiness, relaxation and lessen stress and tension. All the time, drugs are not necessary; at times, belief in recovery becomes more effective than medicine. If one's morale is high with optimistic attitudes, s/he can feel at ease to overwhelm a problem even if it is a bigger or tougher.

So, cheer up, be happy and optimistic, so smile. Handle negative strong emotions with weapon of optimism. Forget yesterday if it is not important to remember again and be positive about tomorrow even if it is hard for you today. Observe your life as half filled glass.

Thanks for visiting! If you like this post and want to get future updates, please Subscribe to Positive and Successful Life Style tips or get latest update of this blog directly in your Inbox by entering your email address below:

How to turn negative thought into positive

Our personality, lifestyle, whether we become successful or unsuccessful, can do or not what we wanted to do etc. all depends on how we think, how we take life or our perspective towards life and everything we do or deal with. If we take or think our life or everything we do in negative way, then the result definitely will be negative and our life will be worthless and such person only will be unnecessary weight for the earth. This is not the way to live. On the other hand, if we think positively, take life in assertive way we can do whatever we wanted to do and our life will be successful. We can do many things for our self and for others who shares this earth with us as well.

By birth, we all are borned to think positive, live successful life and not be less than any human being in this world. But, after birth due to different situations, circumstances we have to think many things in many ways. Someday we are student, the other day teachers. Due to limited source and increasing number of population in many countries, competition is very high. In such situation, some people become depressed and think negatively when they re unable to compete with others. . In some case, even very small incident may force some people to think negatively. In this post, I am going to tell on how to turn negative thought into positive with a small incident which made one of my friend depressed and started to think negative but after some discussion with me, some other friends he turned his thoughts into positive. Let me start with that incident:

My friend David( name changed) have been using his bike for the past five years. About three weeks ago Blue book of his bike was taken by police saying there was no record file in Ministry of Transportation on licence of his bike.He was surprised by action of police which never before. Then, he didn't go to college, stayed alone in the home without talking to anyone. He didn't tell this to his parent because he was frightened and started to think what will happen next? What if he have to stay in jail or pay money and have to do process for next file and so on.

After five days, we were surprised not to see our regular friends for five days and went to visit him at his home. He was staying in his room alone and everything was here and there in his room and his face was dark. We asked him why he didn't come to college and what happened? Initially, he refused to tell and said nothing happened. We knew something had happened. But, after many request he told everything. This is very interesting why such small incident made this guy to be in this situation. We then told him not to behave in that way and many tips to solve that problem and change his way of taking such situations. It was so fun and and memorable that day for me. We discussed many things to tackle such situations and turn negative thought into positive one. It was so cold as well. So, we drank five cups coffee by each. I am summarizing that tips here so that it will help others as well.

1. Think positive
   In David's case though he said above questions such as what will happen next etc. were negative, I thin they are not negative totally. It is his believe that he was thinking negative was actually negative. This believe directed him to think more negative ideas.So, never believe that you are thinking negative after some problem. Rather, be assertive and feel that you will solve the problem easily and positively.




2. Find the main cause of the problem
   There is no reason David to be frightened. If there is no record file, that is mistake of Transportation Ministry. Blue book is his prove that he is not guilt because he got the blue book after doing many processes in Ministry. His blue book shows that there should be file ad he had done everything he should have done before receving the blue book. So, if you think that you are thinking negative, stop this and find out what caused you to think negative. If there is nothing, then why to think negative?




3. Do not be frightened
   In some cases, our worry, fear leads us to think and behave in negative way. Such fear, worry only makes the situation even worse. So, do not be frightened and worried.




4. Think in opposite way
   If you think you don't want to live, think why do other people take medicine, visit doctors and why all these medicines, hospitals, doctors are for? Their life is important for them. That is because they want to live more. So, is your life very important for you as well.
   If you think you can never pass the exam, take this in this way. Even great scientists and philosophers failed in their life. But, due to their courage, internal belief that they will and should pass exam or any test or do what they wanted to do made them become successful in their life.

You are the greatest source of everything

There are some people who thinks more the things they don't have than the thing they have. Actually, these are people who are unhappy about their life or everything in general. Such people always looks upon dark side of everything and only care about the things such as ability, habit that they don't have. This totally interferes with their personal development and they can't do anything notable. But, those who are happy and successful cares more about the quality or thing they have most often than that they don't have.

We all are borned with our own many special skills which in many case differ from person to person. Happy and successful persons are able to coin these skills carefully than worrying about what they don't have. It is also true that we all don't have same capacity and skill. That is why this diversity in the world. It is our job to find out these special thing we have. We can't imagine the existence of this world for even one day if we all worry about the things that we don't have.

Comparing oneself negatively with others also creates unhappy and unsatisfied feeling. This makes one unsatisfied with one's life or what one is doing. In such condition it will be hard for us to think about what we have to do next.

On the other hand, if one is happy and care about of what one have, it is sure that s/he will have positive thinking, have confidence. The more confidence we have the more probability that we'd be successful in everything we are doing. Such confidence, positivity makes us easier to develop some skills that we don't have.

I already have said that we don't have all skills or habits that other have. Sometime we need these skills and have to develop them in ourself as well. In such case some people become worried thinking that they don't have that particular skill. This harms that person's present ability as well. Here, what is wise and better to think is to find out the ways to develop that skills about do the work. It may take time but we can sure develop that skill.

So, it is up to us either to live thinking only what we don't have or spending more time on caring about what we have. To be happy, successful it is necessary to think and live with what we have rather than what we don't have.

Important tips on How to build your confidence Part-1

For the past few weeks, I received many emails from my valuable readers commenting about my blog and some of them requesting me to write on different topics, one of which was confidence. How can I upset my readers. So in this post, I am writing about how to build confidence using some techniques which we can do ourselves. But remember this takes some time, dedication, patience and regular practice and anyone can benefit. How less or more confidence build in you totally depends on yourself.

Confidence to do a work generally means strong feeling from the inner part of your heart and mind that you can do that work easily and you do not even think of any failure or unsuccess while doing that work. If you've confidence, then you can do anything easily than you thought before doing that work or any action. What I think is thinking that you can do what you are doing or going to do, having positive looking to that action and believing that you are confident to do what you are going to do is 50% of that work already done. This concept is quite unbelievable and unacceptable for the beginners but it is true for who have done. Now, let me give you some tips on how to build confidence:

• Do not make unnecessary comparison with others. Understand the fact that this world is very much diverse in different aspects and you are different and unique from others in thousands of ways. So why to be worried thinking for example that you couldn't become pilot as your close competitor friend? You may have ability to draw good picture, sing very well and many more. What would be situation of this world if everyone of this world worried thinking one doesn't have the ability, quality or thing that the others have? Rather try to find out what special ability or quality you have that other don't and follow and work accordingly.
  We all are given many special qualities by God. Only our defect is either inability or careless to find those qualities. One fact that we have to keep in mind is why some of our ancestors or those people who lived in past history were scientists, others doctors, singers and many more? Why did they all not become only scientists, or doctors or singers? Because they had different qualities, abilities of their own. So be a person of your own.
  
  
• Even a very good runner who used to be always first in past can not become first if s/he have thinking that s/he will not be winner.This simple thinking weakens his muscle and whole body, inner power, confidence and finally results turns same one thought before in the beginning. In such case your belief about what you are doing and who you are play as much role as your skills, your way of doing that work. Positive thinking that you will win and should win makes you confident to do that work.

Lessons from Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa

Let me introduce Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first if you don't know. They are the persons who climbed Mt. Everest for the first time in May 29, 1953.Hillary is from New Zealand and Sherpa from Nepal. Mt. Everest(8848 m) is the highest peak in the world which lies in Nepal.

Today more than thousand mountaineers from around the world climb Everest every year. You might not know following things from climbing success of two climbers.

• Their target was to be the first to be on the top of the highest peak in the world. But they didn't know how to go to the top. Only they knew was that they should be on the top one day. However, they themselves searched the way up there. Similarly to be successful in our life, we should set a goal and try ourselves even if you are trying for the first time. Whether you become succeed for not, totally depend upon you.
  
  
• Climbing that complicated, high peak where weather condition was not sure because you don't know when it rains, snows.even if it is good in the morning, within a minute it may snow heavily. So that work was great risky. Greatest risk being with their life. But they were not afraid. Great achievements and deeds contain risk. But we should have to be straightforward to our goal.
  
  
• They were positive about their goal that the could climb that peak. So be positive about your goal. Being positive is directly proportional to the possibility of achievement of our goal.
  
  
• Other climbers had also tried to climb but why Hillary and Sherpa became successful? Because the two changed their way and idea according to the various situation there on their journey.
  
  
• Sir Edmund Hillary came in Nepal from New Zealand to climb Everest because he wanted to do something new. We have to think new ideas every time positively to be successful.

How to avoid regret

Regret is present feeling of unhappy, loss, disappointment for an act you did in the past. A certain amount of positive regret is healthy and if you do correctly, you and your life may get surprise. But, if your regret turns small problem into bigger one, then this becomes unhealthy for you and it may lead you into some mental and psychological diseases such as depression. Here is some tips on how to get rid of regret.

• Always look everything positively. Develop positive attitude and behaviour in you. Your outlook on everything will be mapped in the same way in your mind and all output or result definitely will be positive, no doubt.
  
  
• Try to understand the reality of the world and everything. You have to face many bad as well as good events. Enjoy your good events and never be unhappy for bad events. That is also part of your life. Consider your life as a journey from the place where you are living currently or from Antarctica to the Mt. Everest. You will have to travel by different means such as plane, ship, bus, train etc. or you even may have to walk on your own foot, climb high hills, mountains, plain fields.You even may have to fight different types of environmental situation and so on.
  If you feel regret that you didn't visited some particular place on your journey, plan a trip there now.
  
  
• Before doing anything or making a decision, figure out possible difficulties and take necessary action to minimise that difficulties in time. This helps you from future regret and it may much easier for you to do that work than you thought before.
  
  
• Don't have any doubt , negative thinking on your decision once made. Be positive, happy, confident and do what you are doing to do confidently thinking that you will be successful.
  
  
• Rather than thinking that you didn't have a chance to say something, try to focus on good moments you had with that person in someones demise.
  
  
• If you made a mistake or missed a deadline, accept what you have now and if there is anything you can do to correct it, do as soon as possible. In spite of regretting about your mistake, try to learn lesson from that and do not repeat the same mistake again. You will not get anything by regretting negatively about your past action or decision except depression, weakness etc.
  
  
• Enjoy your every moment of life with full happiness. Your life is not for living with regret, being unhappy, disappointed, unsatisfied.So, be happy and let other as well to be happy.

Made mistake but don't know what to do?

Have you finished your work or still uncompleted but unfortunately you have made a mistake while doing that work? And you are worried what to do now? Then

Every human being makes mistake that may be small or big at some stage of his/her life. We are not machine.We are free to think each and every moment. If you are frightened, worried, become mentally helpless, then that mistake even may effect your whole life. Here below are some tips you can do after if you have made mistake.

• Try to take control of your emotions and thinking. Take a long breath and release slowly and make yourself mentally fresh.
  
  
• You can go to some open, fresh place and drink cold water and try to engage yourself with the beauty and scenes of nature. As much as possible, forget all the mistake at this time.
  
  
• Now after you are refreshed, think where and how you've made that mistake without any hurry. Look for if there is anything you can do to correct the mistake. If there is no possibility of correcting the mistake, then promise yourself not to repeat the same mistake again.
  
  
• Time and your life are great things. It is human nature to make mistake sometime.What you can do is to focus all your attention to the work or thing that you are doing at this moment.
  
  
• You won't gain anything by regretting about the past mistake negatively except mental pressure, hopeless. So learn lesson from that mistake.

How to start each day positively?

As we know morning shows the day, whether we remain positive and happy throughout the day also depends on whether we are happy or not in the morning. If one is happy and without any tension in the morning, there is no doubt s/he become stressed during the day in most cases. Opposite of this is definitely true.

Naturally due to many hours of sleep, we are in less stress, in happy mood and energetic in the morning. Cool and fresh outside environment also helps to be fresh at the start of the day. But, due to various reasons such as tension, stress, unable to control the emotion etc., some people's mood turn into bad and as a result of this, their whole day becomes less useful and they can't do what they are doing completely or may feel difficulties in doing their work. If this continues for many days, suc

h people feel stressed in doing everything and due to stress ad difficulties with their work, they get depressed with their life. This is not the way to live. Each day nature gives us brind new, fresh day with bright sky and new warm sun. So, it is also important for us to start our own day in a positive manner. So that we remain happy all the day long and make out life happy. This is not a difficult job if we know how to do and tried our self.

Here is what you can do:

• On a special note, make a list of things that inspire you, For example, you can write your favorite inspirational quotes- at least five. Or, you can have a book with story that inspires you to do something in your life. You can collect and write as many such things as you can. Then, each day after having morning bath, look at these things or read them. Try to feel what is there in yourself. Add many things or incidents that may be small or to the note and I am sure, you start your day positively. Do not forget to name this note The Positive Note of Your name.
  Richgrad had seven motivational quotes to start the day!
  



• Everyday after you get up, feel that you are happy and think everything that comes in your mind positively. Forget the argument you had yesterday with your neighbor, mistake you made, word of scold you heard, fear thinking what your boss will say because you were absent yesterday or didn't complete the task given by him or her.If you need to work on these things, do it in positive way.



• Try to control your emotion as well. I have seen many people saying I try to be happy in the morning but aren't able to do that. This is their inability to control their emotion. Feeling that I am stressed, not enjoying my life, can't do what I am doing etc. are some bad emotions or thinking that leads you to negativity. It takes time for one to minimise such emotions. But, slowly we can do this by regular practice and our inner will that we should kick out these emotions and will be able to do that.



• If you maintained your mood happy and fresh till 9 or 10 am, then generally your whole day will be good and balanced.



• Regular exercise, yoga, meditation etc. also help us to be happy in the morning.

How to get up early in the morning?

At what time do you get up in the morning? Before 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock or after 7 o'clock? Different person get up at different time. But, for a particular person this time do not changes lot with time. Because it is like human behaviour or habit. If someone gets up at 6 am one day, in most cases it is sure that s/he will get up at 6 am or around 6 am the next day. In this article I am giving important tips on how to get up early in the morning.

For some people who work late the previous night, it will be hard to get up early the next day. But, there are such people for whom even if they went to bed at 9 pm previous night, it will be hard for them to get up before 9 am the next day if s/he usually used to get up

at 9 am the others day. This is because it is his/her habit of getting up at 9 am in the morning. If such people get up before this time, they may feel bored and lazy throughout the whole day. Because I already said getting up is our habit, we can change this slowly with time. It is like changing our other habits and behaviours. It doesn't need much effort, money and consulting experts frequently. We can try this technique on our own and get rid of getting up late in the morning. Before giving these tips, let me remind you of this incident related to getting up late in the morning:

During first year of my college study, I used to share room with other three friends who were studying in the same college. We had mo

rning class to attend then. One of my friends used to attend only 15 classes in a month though we did 25 classes regularly because he used to get up late in the morning. He would have attended only 7-8 classes if he were living alone. Always before going to bed, he used to say he would make new history by getting up at 4:00 am the next day and set up alarm. But, the next day his usual action was to switch off alarm and sleep till 8:30 am.Due to this habit , he changed his class to day shift next year. This gave him some physiological pressure as well. I was also shocked by his problem. Then I thought some ideas and let him to practice them everyday throughout that whole year. I am going to note those ideas we practiced successfully here:

• It is difficult to get up at 4:00 am in the morning if you usually get up at 9 am. I again say it is our habit. We can't change our any habit from east to west in a single or two days. What you have to do is to decrease the time you get up by certain limit. If you get up at 9 am usually, try to get up the next day at 8:45 am, the next second day at 8:30 am and decrease the time in similar manner. I am here talking about decreasing the time by 15 minutes each day. If you can't decrease by 15 minutes a day, try to decrease by 5 minutes a day or 30 minutes a week. My friend decreased the time he gets up by 10 minutes each day.




• It will be hard to do above technique initially on your own without help. So, either set up alarm at what time you are going to get up or if you live with your friends as we used to do or in family, ask other members of family or your friend who you know gets up earlier than you to wake you up at the time when you thought to get up. During first 2 or 3 months, our neighbor and sometime we ourselves used to wake my friend up.




• Getting up early in the morning is possible only if you have much or required amount of sleep the previous night for many people. So, if you want to get up early in the morning, it is necessary for you to go to bed early.




• Make mentality that you should get up early for yourself. Because this makes you fit and will not lose your work as our friend missed his morning classes. After waking up, so not feel lazy and bored.




• After getting up it is better and healthy yo go out for jugging, walking or running. You can also play the game you like and can afford.

So much to appreciate

Hennessy has made the world’s most expensive cognac, the Beauty of the Century, a work of art to reinforce its reputation as a serious arbiter of cognac and culture. What better place to appreciate it than in a world heritage site in China.

A MOUNTAIN that has never been conquered, an old city that’s possibly the best preserved in all of China, villages where ancient traditions are alive among the minority ethnic groups, where one can find the only living pictographic language of the world. These are the precious peaches that have compelled the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to declare it a world heritage site in 1998, the Banyan Tree to open a resort and men such as filmmaker Zhang Yimou and companies like Hennessy to come to Lijiang.

Lijiang, in the northwestern Yunnan plateau of China, was the latest destination for Hennessy’s Appreciation Journeys, which have taken cognoscenti, top clients and the press, to unique cultural destinations such as Udaipur and Mandalay.

The Hennessy Appreciation Journeys are designed as the ultimate celebration of timeless beauty, heritage and culture, said its managing director for Asia Pacific, Mark Bedingham, adding that these traits are appreciated by Hennessy as they reflect the brand.

And fittingly, it was in this unique place that the super-premium cognac, Methusalem, was showcased and a new, innovative straw to extract cognac introduced at a gala dinner capping the two-day Timeless Lijiang Appreciation Journey.

The Journey, which coincided with the global centenary birthday celebration of visionary leader Kilian Hennessy, was the perfect occasion to reveal the most prestigious of Hennessy blend, the Beauté du Siècle, or Beauty of the Century, created to mark the achievement of a remarkable man. Presented in an extraordinary case – an original piece of art – it is now the most expensive cognac in the world.

Tagged at 150,000 euros (RM720,000), not many men will get to taste the glory of this fortified wine. But the gathered crowd drank deeply of its outward beauty, which was clear for all to see, a pure and sparkling jewel with modern aesthetics, its amber glass hinting at the precious drops within, the taste of which we could only imagine.

As a generous show of commitment to the preservation of heritage and nature, the company donated the limited-edition wine to be auctioned off in support of The Nature Conservancy’s Lijiang Project which works to maintain and preserve the beauty and historic culture of Lijiang.

The gala dinner, held at the Banyan Tree Resort, featured a beautifully presented Chinese and Western fusion menu using the fine produce of the region, including its many varieties of wild and cultivated mushrooms, paired with Hennessy cognacs, which has been beautifully described as a liquor of fire ripened by the sun’s warmth.

More opportunities for cultural and artistic appreciations were embraced that evening, including a fireworks display and a haunting song and dance performance by Chinese-Mongolian chanteuse Sa Ding Ding, whose classical Chinese songs display an edgy, contemporary beat combined with a shamanic Tibetan vibe.

While it cannot claim a history that is almost 1,000 years old, Hennessy is certainly a venerated company with a history that goes back a respectable 250 years.

According to Bernard Peillon, president of the House of Hennessy, nature and tradition, two elements that abound in Lijiang, are also values true to the Hennessy brand.

“We started in the vineyard, so we have respect for nature and the product, and at 250 years old, we have a deep sense of tradition.

“At the same time, we are from a region (the banks of the Charente) that is facing the sea which makes us open to different influences. It also imbues in us a mission to go as far as possible, said Peillon, who cited Kilian Hennessy as a living testimony to the spirit of Hennessy.

For Kilian's 100th year, the House of Hennessy wanted to present him with the best creation.

“The idea of time – 1907, the year he was born – was an interesting starting point. We dug deep into his cellar to put together the ultimate blend, to create a window to the past,” added Peillon.

On the taste of the Beauté du Siècle, he shared that it has incredible complexity. To him, it's “perfection” which “happens when everything combines on many dimensions into something harmonious.”

Hennessy, he said, is not just a cognac, but stands for a certain lifestyle and emotion. The Journeys, which are aligned to Hennessy values, allow people to live the ideology and add an emotional element to how they feel about it.

“Hennessy is a brand; it has a physical presence. We look at it and ask ourselves how we can put another facet on this diamond. If you take care of it, it becomes like a magnet; it will attract,” Peillon said.

So how does he go about attracting a younger target for the classic drink?

“It is true that traditional brands like Hennessy can get stuck, frozen in time. I am sensitive to contemporary art and have always been involved with creativity. Creating a musical platform for the brand will target the younger groups and inject Hennessy with a new energy,” he said.

Peillon sees his role as that of a conductor preparing the House to be a stronger company when he leaves in 15 years than what he has inherited.

“I am part of a line, I’m not only into the immediacy of managing the business, but assume a double dimension – to be totally of my time, yet create something for the future. It’s easy to be caught in the current mood, but because of the long term dimension, you need to know where to move. My background is totally international; my vision is to continue building the brand around the world.”

He stresses on the importance of having strong core values, which are like pegs in the ground. “Our core values are set in stone; strong brands like Hennessy exist because they have a set of core values acting like cement across time and cultures – the reason why Hennessy today is a leader in the cognac business, and a very healthy company with the strong financial support of the LVMH group.”

And which is his favourite Hennessy?

Peillon said good-naturedly that that is like asking him to name which of his six children he favours. “You relate to each one differently at different times; your feelings at that moment depends on whether the two of you click or not at that point in time.”

But he did concede that he liked the XO for “its accessibility”.

“I can drink it whenever I feel like it,” he explained.

And how does he like it?

“With ice cubes. It reveals the aromas in a beautiful way.”

Of love and life

SUPPLI is a manga where you seriously consider the possibility that the publisher may have made a mistake. The manga is rated “M” (mature) but has absolutely nothing explicit, violent or even remotely sexual in nature (well, at least for this volume). In fact, it contains less explicit material than some supposedly tamer stuff such as the dark, gothic shojo manga Godchild, and even Paradise Kiss. However, I still would not recommend this manga for readers younger than 16 because it deals with more mature issues.

Suppli revolves around 27-year-old Minami Fuuji, an ambitious and driven advertising executive. Her story is one of love lost and love found anew, of ambition versus love, of life and coping with it. When her boyfriend of seven years leaves her, she finds herself shutting out everyone and everything in her life except for her career. She throws herself into her work, forgetting about her heart.

When an opportunity for love comes knocking, she is torn between her past hurt and her future happiness. Will she finally open her heart? Or will she shut it out?

These questions and more are slowly answered in this rather confusing though very involving manga. The plot takes off and builds up in a painstakingly slow way. Half of the manga’s story meanders around Minami and her job and the people around her. The reader is left pretty much in the dark about the point of the whole manga until it begins to pick up somewhere through the later half.

When it does, however, the story takes on a whole new depth. The characters begin to flesh out and the conflict becomes evident. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself liking the story for how it depicts the real situations one may face in life (job conflicts and relationship problems among them).

The artwork is a different matter altogether. It is neither good n

or bad, and very clumsily executed. Proportions are rather off at some parts, and although the artwork is somewhat reminiscent of Ai Yazawa’s in Paradise Kiss, it fails to meet the same detail and uniqueness. The only plus point of the artwork is that it is certainly different from your typical shojo manga.

I did, however, adore Minami as a lead character. She is very real, with all her flaws, misgivings and doubts. She makes mistakes and faces disappointments. She has quirks and little oddities which make her seem that much more human.

So, despite the clumsy, so-so artwork and slow-paced plot, I rather liked Suppli. And given that I enjoy manga with real characters in real-life situations, I will surely look forward to Vol.2.

Budgeting in Six Easy Steps

Creating and sticking to a personal budget is a vital part of personal financial planning.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Washington offers an easy, six-step method for arriving at a budget you can live with:

Step 1
Determine your monthly income. Take into consideration your payroll deductions (health insurance or other group benefits, income taxes, union dues, pension) and other sources of income.

Add together all income, less deductions. On a piece of paper record the resulting figure as "value a."

Step 2
List your "fixed" and "variable" monthly expenses, such as housing, utilities, food and transportation. Remember to allocate funds for clothing, medical care, child care, personal expenses, recreation and emergencies/repairs.

Break down your annual, semi-annual and quarterly expenses (taxes, insurance) into a monthly figure that can be put aside and withdrawn when these bills become due. Example: car insurance that is $150 every six months needs $25 per month set aside. You will earn interest on these funds and will have no problems meeting all other expenses in the months these become payable.

Remember not to duplicate expenses that may already be deducted from your paycheck.

Add all of your expenses - this is "value b."

Step 3
The next step is to find your "discretionary income" by subtracting your total expenses (b) from your total net income (a). Write this number down on a piece of paper as "value c."

Step 4
List all unsecured debts (credit cards etc.), the monthly payments and the balances. If you don't know your exact debt amount, now is the time to determine it.

Record your monthly total as "value d" and continue with the next step.

Step 5
Some of your discretionary income is committed to the installment debt listed above. Step 5 is to determine if you have any remaining discretionary income after making these installment payments by subtracting your total monthly payments to creditors (d) from your discretionary income (c).

If this figure is a negative number, you are not ready for Step 6 - Setting Goals. Consult a personal financial counsellor and work on getting this figure into the positive numbers.

Step 6
It is now time to establish short and long-term goals. Make a list of these goals, using these examples to help you get started.

• Long Term - real estate purchases, future education, retirement
• Short Term - home improvements, new car, travel
• Other Desired Investments - stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds
  

Once you have made a list, determine how much you need to save monthly by dividing the amount of money required to meet each goal by the number of months that you have available to save for it.

Success Quotes-5

William Lloyd Garrison:

The success of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers.

William Lyon Phelps:

This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him.

William M. Winans:

Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down.

William Menninger:

Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity.

William Saroyan:

Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.

Winston Churchill:

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.