Friday, April 23, 2010

Integrity



Am I True to Myself?
By Edgar Guest
I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun,
And hate myself or things that I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am; 
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don’t want to look at myself and know
That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.
I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Heritage

With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. ~Michael Cibenko


Life's not always fair. Sometimes you can get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. ~Terri Guillemets


To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. ~Emily Dickinson


Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. ~Arthur Miller


He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

The Man and I were having a discussion last night and he said that 'life is cruel; nothing ever turns out the way you plan.' That made me think….is life REALLY cruel? How can we actually plan for unforeseen events? In my mind I think that life can be difficult however I think that the cruelty that comes upon us is sometimes a result of our own choices. I believe that everything happens for a reason and our perceptions and how we react is what makes or breaks us. Being a Social Psychology major this is what is taught over-and-over. Our character determines our actions, our circumstances just reveals our true character.

Life is fragile, no matter what none of us will make it out of this life alive. We have to ensure that we are living each day to the fullest and loving those around us as much as we can. I am a big fan of never leaving any good thing left unsaid because we just never know when we will cross over into eternity. I am reminded of a news story that I recently read about a doctor who had walked out of an exam room seconds before when he heard a loud noise inside. He opened the door and found that a rock had crashed through the ceiling and landed exactly where he had been standing moments earlier. Had he not moved then he would have been hit with this rock resulting in his death. We just never know when our Maker will call us home so we have to be prepared every second of every day BUT we cannot live our lives like doomsday is upon us. Smile, laugh, love and live each day to its fullest potential.  If I am given another day on this earth I want to hug my children a bit tighter, tell The Man how very important he is to me, love my family and friends in a way that makes them know how I feel about them. I do not want to cross over into eternity with my loved ones questioning how I felt about them.

Finally, I am reading the book The Same Kind of Different as Me and death is an ever present reality. The author’s wife looses her battle with colon cancer but the lives she touched are immeasurable. She lived her life serving others and giving away her love. I am much like her because I am not one who tries to take things from anyone, I am a giver. I don’t think about how others should love me I think about how I can share my love with others. Their actions do NOT determine MY reaction. I have to live with what I have done and as the author’s wife, she touched so many lives by living her life as such. Of course those whom we leave behind will have to deal with the collateral damage of loosing us but they will also be left with irreplaceable memories from the time we spent together.

IF today was YOUR last day how would you spend it? We leave behind our heritage; the rest is just a bonus.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Marketing

The world of online business is vital in today’s fast-paced world. Because the internet has opened the world to the business world we can target clients from Australia to Zimbabwe. At the same time, though, search engines can make the online world huge. If your website is buried among a huge pile of results you can miss potential visitors and ultimately sales. It is vital to build your website to cater to search engine results in order to gain business through this avenue.


By utilizing search engine optimization (or SEO) you will increase the chances that you’ll find new clients searching for specific products. What IS SEO? SEO is a process that increases the amount of visitors to your website through higher on search engine results. If your website ranks higher on the list of results then you increase your chances of obtaining visitors. It all sounds very complicated, and it can be, but by taking a few simple steps you can increase traffic to your website.

Neil Mason outlines some important points to consider in his article Search Engines by the Numbers. In this article, he outlines what search engines are best for each portion of the online business world. For example, Google sends much of its traffic to education sites whereas MSN sends more traffic to business and finance sites. This is important information when considering your website design. By building a different landing page for each search engine you can change the first impression of the visitor. If the visitor is taken in by the design they are more likely to explore your site. Take a few moments to read Mr. Mason’s article because it offers tips to ensure you rank high on the search engine result lists.

One more way to ensure you receive visitors from search engines is to build the proper key words into your website META tags. These key words ensure that visitors will pick-up your site when searching. Be sure to include misspellings and topics related to your products as well. Visitors might not know about your product but if they are searching for related items they might discover your offerings. Pete Blackshaw offers some great points in his article Defensive Branding 101: The Role of Search about search engine keywords.

By doing your research and targeting online visitors through search engines you will be opening up new worlds for your business. Before the internet we were limited to customers in our area but since its inception the internet has opened a whole new world of customers for your business. Take the time to do your research and plan your website to ensure you are making the most of this audience.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Love



The Most Beautiful...Perfect Storm
by Donna Ballard Carter


Like raindrops that slowly drip down
Glass windowpanes
Baby, your words fall on me
Steadily...
Like the gentle drops
Of a fresh spring rain.
They wash over me
And cascade over me
Like tropical waterfalls,
Taking me over the edge
I find myself completely free-falling
And yet...
I am unafraid to fall.
Your words flow through me
Like Poetry...
Baby, I can hear your voice
In my sleep,
You come into my mind
And enter into my thoughts
Some nights I find...
That I can't even sleep a wink.
With the softest touch
And the sweetest caress
Somehow...you stop the hands
Of distance, space, and time;
I'm amazed by your love
Because I know
That a Good Man
Is so very hard to find.
Together we listen to the sound
Of the rain
As we make love...
All night long
Rhythymically our bodies sway,
Gliding in motion in unison
And like eagles we fly...
Into the early Morn.
A symphony of music plays
As we lay...
From midnight until dawn,
Until at last...
You rain your drops of love
Down on me
Totally covering me,
Drenching my body
With The Most Beautiful...
Perfect Storm!

~Venus~
Copyright @2010



Thursday, April 15, 2010

Hands


I have had some issues with writers block recently and I have been praying for some inspiration.  I kept getting 'hands' as my answer and today I know why.  My beautiful friend has a newsletter titled W.I.N.E. (Women In Need of Empowerment) and I received the April 2010 issue today.....it made me understand why I had been given that word.  It isn't that I do not appreciate the blessings in my life I have been job searching and my frustration is growing because all that I have found is a substitute position at a Christian School.  I guess that I just need to be patient and wait.  I hope that her newsletter blesses your life as much as it did/does mine.

Read on.....

Welcome to W.I.N.E. your inspirational e-newsletter. Thank you for continuing to support us through your donations and prayers. It is because of supporters like you that we are able to Keep W.I.N.E. Flowing.


By now, we have all heard many inspiring truths from the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to what was inside the countless Easter Eggs found by young people. W.I.N.E. is taking a nontraditional approach to our publications this month. Instead, what I would like to present to you is the question: What's in Your Hand?

Why is it so easy to fixate on what we do not have versus working with what we got? If given the opportunity we can make an extensive list of deficiencies. One way for life to have meaning is for us to recognize and appreciate what we already have. During the early 1990's my husband and I were living overseas, far away from family and friends. We were a young couple, newly married and still discovering the challenges of married life. One evening as I was preparing a meal and suddenly realized we were out of bread; literally, we had no dough in the house or in our pockets if you get my meaning.

What is amazing is the time and energy I spent murmuring over what we did not have. With most meals, I never ate bread, but this day I was hysterical to the point of crying out to God that we had no bread. By the time my husband got home, I had twisted myself into an internal knot. He changed and joined me in the kitchen complimenting me on the meal I had prepared. Meanwhile, I raved on and on about there being no bread. My husband began opening the cabinets and moving things around. Finally, I sat down in despair, mentally listing all the things we did not have. After a moment or two, I lifted my head to see him holding a box of Bisquick.

By now, I am so frenzied, I say to myself, "This man is crazy, he's holding a box of Bisquick up at me and smiling." So, I humor him by asking what in the world did he expect me to do with that. He laughed and said, "You've been crying that we have no bread and here I stand holding bread in my hand." I just wanted to scream until I come to myself realizing if you have a bit of ready mixed flour you can make a bit of bread. Of course, my husband ended up baking the bread to go with our meal while I sat pouting that we still had no sliced bread. In the end, the biscuits were far better than any store bought bread on that day.

I know you are saying what a silly matter to get bent out of shape over. However, the example in this story is a mirror for you. If you look closely, you will see yourself doing the same thing over something just as minuscule. All we needed was in our hands; we just had to extend ourselves a bit more than we were accustomed to doing.

What has God placed in your hand and are you using it to the full? He placed a box of Bisquick in our hands and that bread represented hope to us. Hope that everything would turn out well while we were learning the survival skills of early-married life. Hope in God that He is our source for all we need. I encourage you today to stop and take a closer look at your own gifts, your own talents, your own opportunities and begin the transition of being transformed out of a place of necessity to a place of abundance.

Participate in a five-day online devotional by clicking on What's in Your Hand so that you too can walk with a transformed outlook on what you already have.

Abiding,

Jackie O.

Founder, W.I.N.E.

Be sure to visit Jackie's site to read back issues and to explore the great things that she has to offer:  http://stayonthevine.com/

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Assistant

Running a small business alone can be difficult but that is what entrepreneurship is all about, right? Well, yes and no. I am sure that when your business idea was stuck inside your mind you never dreamed that you would be overloaded with so many phone calls to return, emails in your inbox not to mention the mountains of paperwork or bank statements to reconcile. How do you get it all done without help? Could you ask your spouse or a friend for help? Sure, but if they have a regular full-time job then their time is limited too. How can you accomplish the administrative duties AND continue to launch new products or services? The answer to that question is…..you can hire an assistant!

You might think that hiring an assistant is out of the question but think about this, if you had someone to delegate some of those arduous daily tasks how much time would you have for marketing, launching a new product line or spending quality time with important clients (or even family)? These are important things to consider if you want your business to grow. If you’re spending time on a mountain of administrative-like tasks then you will not have time for more important things like growing your company—which is why you are working for yourself in the first place, right?

You-see, the thought of hiring an assistant never occurred to me until I received an email from Alexandra Brown (the EZine Queen). She is the owner of a very successful business and still has time for vacations--not yearly but quarterly! How does SHE do it all and relax too? She has a virtual assistant (or VA) whom she freelances administrative tasks to while she uses her time to grow and market her business. This makes sense to me because these tasks need to be done but they can pile up so quickly stealing valuable time away from other more important things.

I visited the AssistU (http://www.assistu.com) website to learn more about this service and it seems like a reasonable thing to consider. A side note here: I think this is a wonderful opportunity for those who are gifted with administrative skills and want to work from home. If you own a business and want to explore this further their website also has a link to help you find an assistant who will fit your needs. Another website dedicated to VA’s is the International Virtual Assistants Association (http://www.ivaa.org/), a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about this growing career opportunity.

Alexandra has a step-by-step guide (www.ezinequeen.com/assistanttele.htm) to help you to select the best VA for you and your business.

Lastly, my disclaimer: I am not trying to promote these businesses, my hope is that these links will help you in your endeavors.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Home



A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.  - Benjamin Franklin

A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.  - Anonymous
I am a big fan of ensuring that our home is taken care of.  I am unemployed so being at home IS my job.  I have always made it a point to ensure that our ethos is a place of comfort and safety but I think that now it is even more important.  I think that home is more than just a place where you lay your head, it is a place of safety and love.  I think that love is much better this time around because I have found my perfect match.  I think that reality is much better than any dream that I have ever had.  I want our blended family together under one roof because I think that building relationships is what life is about.   I know that this can be challenging sometimes but with the right skills I think that we can all blend into one cohesive unit.
Growing up my grandmother made sure that all of our needs were met.  She made sure that we felt loved and safe but at the same time when we were not doing what we were supposed to do she disciplined us accordingly.  The one thing that she always gave us was her time.  Time is something that you MUST give in order to build great relationships.  Time is the one thing that you can never retrieve but it IS the one thing that everyone appreciates.  Take time today to appreciate those people in your life.  Take the time to tell them good things everyday.  My motto is to never leave any good thing left unsaid.  Build those bridges and cultivate rich relationships in your life today!
I’d love to hear some stores about what makes your living space a home.  Share your comments!


Saturday, April 10, 2010

Education

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. -William Butler Yeats

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom. -George Washington Carver

Education, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. -Ambrose Bierce



Even though my girls and I ended our homeschooling career a few years ago I still get nostalgic for those times.  We built a great relational foundation and we added some wonderful memories to the vault.  When the girls and I were out in the middle of the day on a weekday we would often get those looks.  You know the ones, the why are your children NOT in school, looks.  If we were asked or happen to offer the information that we were a homeschool family we would get the occasional comment, “I could NEVER do THAT,” or “I could not stand to be with my children 24/7” statement.  I normally responded with a nod or some snappy comment but in my mind I am thinking, “Well, then why DID you have children if you cannot stand their company?”  I miss having my kids around all day but I still have that passion for education and homeschooling.
I didn’t set out to be a homeschooler when I had children; I actually researched good schools in the area where we lived before I made the decision to keep them at home.  Homeschooling was a word NOT in my vocabulary because I thought because I barely made it through my own public education that I was not qualified to teach the girls alone.  Then we met a family who had schooled their girls at home for many years and the children were so bright and thoughtful, it made me think that the concept was not so far-fetched after all but I was not ready to take the plunge yet.  
God has a way of working things in our lives and this was a time when He definitely got my attention!  I went to the good school to pick-up my daughter for an appointment but when I arrived I could not get into the school.  I knocked and banged on the doors until finally, someone let me in.  When I inquired about the locked doors they said that there had been a shooting in the parking lot just hours earlier.  I was in shock and disbelief that THIS could happen so close to a school full of children under the age of 10!  Needless to say, I heard other horror stories about this school and that’s when the decision was made to pull my oldest daughter out and keep her home.
We might have begun our homeschool journey because we feared the worst but over the course of our homeschooling years the reasoning changed.  Our journey took us so much closer to God and one-another that it was hard watching my children taken away on a yellow school bus every day.  The picture of the perfect homeschooling family is one where the children are smiling and coloring while mother reads aloud but the reality of it is, we had bad days.  Days when the hot water heater was not working, laundry was piled to the ceiling, the dog ran away or when one of the girls is picking on another made it challenging but we made it through.  I tried to seizea the challenging moments and make them opportunities for them to see God’s grace and provision for our family.  Yes, the hot water heater is not working BUT we live in our own home, in a very safe city and on a very quiet street.   
We did have formal studies but those are an added benefit to spending time with my girls.  I did get frustrated when my youngest daughter keeps asking, “What sound does that letter make?” or I have to explain how to do the algebra problem over and over again to my oldest daughter but God was trying to mold and shape me into someone that was a likeness of His own image.  I taught my girls at home for many reasons and the one thing that I miss the most is the closeness that we shared.  Those relationships have remained but they have changed.  It has been a transition and learning experience for me but at the same time it has not been altogether bad.  I miss them during the day but it taught me to take every free opportunity we have together now.  I treasure the moments with those that I love more than ever now.  I guess that as the seasons of life change we just have to learn to adapt and try to see the good things no matter what might come our way.



Friday, April 9, 2010

Organized

When working from home things can get muddled and mixed in such a way that it makes your work environment cluttered. If your work space is out of order it can lead to lost and unproductive hours spent searching for lost files or information. By taking a few steps and a little time to ensure you have a work environment that you can live with can help you keep your office in order and your work days clutter-free.

Before you begin this arduous task be sure to set-aside a place where you can work in a quiet, undisturbed environment. That can be easier said than done when you have little-ones running around but it is an important place to start. If you cannot accomplish your work without being disturbed this can lead to distractions and eventually frustration. Along with a quiet work environment be sure that your office is in a location where you will enjoy spending time. If you stick yourself in a dark corner then you will not enjoy your environment and eventually move to the dining room table. Another important point is to ensure that your family knows where you’ll be working and that this space will be your “office.”

Before you run to your nearest office supply store for all the latest organizing tools and bins, take a few days to de-clutter first. Go through those stacks of papers and rid yourself of outdated materials before trying to organizing them. Look at things that you have in your home to help you too. You can use plastic containers and Make this organization system work for you because if the system is too difficult for you to follow then you’ll end up a cluttered mess again.

Then, think ‘work zones’--place things where you will need them most and they can be easily utilized during your day. Organize in a way that makes things easy to find and use rather than places to store your things. Think of your work day and how things might flow and place things accordingly. Find places for your things where they are convenient to use and try not to make your organization system easy. When creating a filing system, ensure that is easy for you to use. If you can, go paperless when it is possible to cut down on the paper and filing!

Taking time to make your office a space that is inviting will ensure that your work is done efficiently and without wasted time. The most important thing to remember is when you begin organizing your space ensure that you use a system that you can live with otherwise you will find yourself under mountains of papers again. Another important thing to remember is to set-aside time to work and family because they are the reason you are working anyway!


Other Resources:
Organizing Your Home Office For Success : Expert Strategies That Can Work for You
Organizing from the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life
Home Office Design : Everything You Need to Know About Planning, Organizing, and Furnishing Your Work Space
Organizing Your Home Office for Success
Everyday Cheapskate's Greatest Tips: 500 Simple Strategies For Smart Living (Debt-Proof Living (Paperback))
Organizing from the Inside Out, second edition: The Foolproof System For Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life

Internet Resources:
http://www.womensmedia.com/new/organizing-home-office.shtml
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol47/organize.htm
http://ct.monster.com/articles/organizehomeoffice/
http://www.getorganizednow.com/
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/c/ec/12.htm
Do you have one of these? I am considering purchasing one and just want some reviews and/or opinions. Please leave your comment!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Strength


Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength. –Frances de Sales

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith. --Mary Manin Morrissey

I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time. --Anna Freud

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. -- Lao Tzu

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman. --Anais Nin


How do you define strength? Is it the presence of power? The absence of fear? What about mental power? Is it reserved solely for physical fortitude? Would you define strength as courage? I think that strength is all of these but (to me) it is the ability to stand firm and resilient in crisis but also in a time of peace. Strength is the essence of character when integrity stands as the pillar of virtue. Strength speaks to the character, the heart of a person and illuminates the power within. Strength is not something that is given but something that is built over time through challenging situations. As we build our outer muscles by stressing them and breaking them down we also build mental fortitude through trials and tests. Being strong is more than just having the power to resist something but rather the moral fortitude to withstand the challenges that we are faced with. I do not think of strength in a negative light but rather something that is a positive quality.

Now my next question is what gives you strength? Is it courage? Is it motivation to influence others? Is it simply being stubborn? How about an outside influencer such as a relationship? Do you look outside yourself for strength? In the quote by Anna Ford (above) she suggests that strength comes from within. I believe that fear is the biggest resistance one has against strength. When we are fearful then we block forward progress and allow ourselves to get distracted.

I started thinking about all of this when I began to contemplate what I want to do when I graduate. My life has hung on ‘almost’ for the last several years and now I am finally seeing the finish line ahead of me. I have just a few classes and then I am finished with both degrees which made me fear that I would not know what direction to take when I am done. The job market is awful right now so finding a job has been a huge challenge but at the same time it has given me some new insights about what I want to do. I know where my heart is and I know what I want to do but combining the two in a difficult job market is not something that I wanted to face. I think that I have made the decision for my future and I will move forward into a graduate program but it is not in an area that I thought I would ever consider. Why the change? Well there have been some huge changes in my life that brought me to a crossroads and helped me through the decision making process. I thank God for the pressing and I thank Him, also, for the huge blessings that I have been given. Now I just have to follow His leading into the new phase of life. More to follow….stay tuned!

NEW WEBSITE!!

I finally did it, I have my OWN domain and website.  This blog will remain open but I will be moving content over to the new website and add...