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Many people equate happiness with the how much material wealth a person has, but material possessions alone do not provide happiness. In fact it is often the case that the more material possessions people have the less happy they are. This is because people have a built-in dissatisfaction with they have and own. People always want more. We always try to get more money, more power, or more comfort.

Unless we learn how to moderate these insatiable demands that we have built into our mental and physical make-up system and instead learn how to enjoy the moment as it goes by, unless we enjoy the passage of time, the activities we do as they occur instead of always wishing for more, we are going to be disillusioned and disappointed at the end of life.

Happiness does not come from owning material things, rather it comes from the everyday activities we do. Happiness comes from relishing the moment. It comes from living rather than from desiring to get something in the future.

What is being in the moment? Being in the moment is the feeling of complete involvement with what you are doing. It happens when you’re concentrating on achieving a goal and the feeling that you get when you have accomplished your goal.

I’m sure you’ve seen the happiness on the faces of children engrossed in play. You have probably seen the intensity on the faces of athletes when they’re trying to break a record, and I’m sure there have been times when you too have been carried away by a feeling of exhilaration, or profound enjoyment.

While Being in the moment varies from person to person, the general principles are uniform from young and old, male and female, rich and poor. Once you learn how being in the moment occurs and how it feels, you will enrich the quality of your life.

When you are in the moment, you’re doing an activity where the goals of the activity are clear, nothing is conflicting or confusing. In other words you know exactly what you have to do and you know without a doubt that what you are doing is getting you closer to your goal. You can measure you activity by actually seeing that your results are immediate. You know moment by moment how well you’re doing.

To be in the moment means doing activities that are enjoyable and that the challenges of the activity are matched with you own skills. In other words, what there is to do is in balance with what you can do. For example, playing chess, tennis, or a game of cards is much more enjoyable if your opponent is about at the same level of ability as you are.

When an activity has clear goals, immediate feedback, and matches challenges and skills, then you will have a feeling of focus or concentration on what you’re doing. When you are living in the moment, the duality of attention that we all have in every day life will disappear.

Most of the time we have this kind of split attention where we are thinking and we are doing it We are watching, monitoring what’s happening around us while we are doing something else. For example, suppose you’re having lunch with a friend or a colleague and he or she is talking to you. You are physically there but your mind is thinking about several other things. You hear the other person talking, but you’re not really focused on what he or she is saying. You have split attention.

When you’re in the moment, this split attention focuses and merges into a single kind of beam of concentrated focused attention. This is why, when you live in the moment you can accomplish so much more.

When you’re in the moment you are so effortlessly, spontaneously, and efficiently focused, you are not aware of any problems that are occurring around you in your everyday life. The every day frustrations are removed from your attention. You simply cannot attend to them.

For example, if you’re playing a competitive game of tennis, you cannot worry about your family life, about your income tax, about your boss, or about any of the things that in everyday life often intrude on your attention. This is what makes living in the moment such a great feeling. You’re operating in the present without worrying about the past or about the future, instead you’re completely concentrated on what you’re doing.

When you’re in the moment you feel in complete control of your actions, experience, and your life. Time seems to be transformed. I’m sure you’ve had times when hours get condensed into what seemed to be minutes. For example, you start a job in the morning and before you know it you say: “Oh maybe it’s time for lunch,” but actually it’s time for dinner because it’s not been just two hours, but eight hours than have passed.

Our life is made up of a series of never ending moments that just pass us by most of the time and we miss so much of what life has to offer we allow this to happen. Being in the moment allows you to have fun and enjoy life. When you learn to relish each moment and live life to it’s fullest you will realize the kind of happiness you’ve always dreamed of.

Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing. Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

If you are looking for the best deal on fridges and freezers buying on the world wide web will be an incredible method to make sure you conserve time & money. Don’t spend your time scanning all around countless high street businesses in search of the choicest deals – simply get to your laptop and log on and a whole new world of fridges is waiting for you online.

Then again, with so many on-line retailers how do you conceivably know which store might well make sure you conserve your cash on fridges whilst even so ensuring you find a high quality machine. As best practice if you buy your fridge from a retailer on the high-street then you certainly should not in reality have many significant concerns about securing your items from their website, furthermore, as folk all know you can often traditionally happen upon much better value prices on-line

Briefly looking at a comprehensive buyers guide is consistently a great place to start When you are looking for fridges – they are regularly packed with a wealth of information and also effectively raise issues you conceivably might well not have thought through on your own. These considerations include but are not limited to; power usage, additional features and total capacity amongst further things.

Do not choose to consistently go with the lowest price – uncommonly commonly the first cost you note on a web-site will not include VAT or home delivery fees furthermore, once you reach the payment point in the process you conceivably will be paying a great deal more than you first imagined.

What date do you need it by? Not all on-line shops guarantee rapid home delivery and if your original fridge has just broken down you possibly might not desire to wait five weeks for your brand new one. So constantly find out what your estimated home delivery date will be. Replacing fridges needn’t be a chore here.

Be sure to find out the returns policy – fridges are a tricky item to buy; sometimes they appear great in the showroom or on a website but once you get it to your home you come to the realisation it does not match your home at all. Therefore, you should always be careful.

Following tips help you to learn a software in lesser time and in an efficient manner:

1. After installing a software package, look for any README file in the installed folder. Besides company and product details, it may give an overview of features, usages and limitations of the software.

2. Next run the software and have a feel of the look of the software.
Identify the different parts of its main screen.

3. Look for the information shown in the TITLE-BAR of the main screen.
Usually, it shows the product name. If the application is SDI (Single Document Interface like Notepad) or MDI (Multiple Document Interface like MS Word) then title-bar will also contain name of the opened file. Similarly, there may be STATUS-BAR at the bottom that shows the operation being performed.

4. Then comes the main MENU-BAR. Most of the GUI based software have common menu-items. So its better to learn once-for-all. Some of the common menu-items are:

FILE, EDIT, VIEW, TOOLS, WINDOWS, HELP.

Each of these names are intuitive itself.

-The FILE menu will have operations NEW, OPEN, SAVE, SAVE AS, PAGE SETUP, PRINT,CLOSE and EXIT.

-Similarly, EDIT menu contains editing operations like CUT, COPY, PASTE, FIND AND REPLACE.

-The VIEW menu helps in controlling the view of the software GUI. You can switch on-off various toolbars.

-The TOOLS menu usually have options to customize the software you like and also other supporting functionalities like Read-Aloud function in a word processor package.

-The HELP menu may contain GETTING STARTED tutorial, detailed indexed and searchable help and ofcourse, a popup dialog-box that shows information about the software. It may also contain a link to website of the product.

5. Once acquainted with different menu and their menu-items, look at each menu again to find shortcuts to them. For example, Alt+F will take you to File menu. Some common shortcuts are:

Ctrl+N – New
Ctrl+O – Open

Ctrl+S – Save
Ctrl+Shift+S – Save As

Ctrl+P – Print
Ctrl+X – Cut

Ctrl+C – Copy

Ctrl+V – Paste
Ctrl+F – Find

6. Next have a look on various tool-bars that are present below menu-bars. They provide a visual shortcut to the desired operation. Examples are a paper folder on top right corner for NEW, an opened folder for OPEN, a scissor for CUT, two papers for COPY, a paper on clamp-pad for PASTE, floppy icon for SAVE and printer ICON for PRINT. A book or question mark icon represents HELP.

7. If the package is a development tool then start with the sample applications provided with it. It will help you understand what functionality level the package can provide. Also, you may need not start your application from scratch; it can be dervied from one of the sample application (provided source code is available).

8. Mostly, the menu-item name will tell its functionality. Even if it does then also try each operation available in the package.

9. You can master a software with its usage and little study. The best place for getting some help is the in-built help provided in the package itself.

10. Remember Internet is always there to solve your problem. Use a search-engine with appropriate phrase to get the best material available as solution to your query. You can visit my website: http://www.geocities.com/zainvi_sf for Tips and Tricks for various softwares, programming langauages and links to ther useful material available on the Internet.

Syed Feroz Zainvi has obtained M.Tech. (Comp Sc & Engg) degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (INDIA). His areas of interests are distributed computing, computer graphics and Internet Technologies. Currently, he is involved in Software Project Planning, Development and Management. His other interests include writing for magazines and contributing utility softwares on Magazine’s CDs. He also have flair for teaching computer science with new teaching methodologies.

Top 10 ways to find SYNERGY in your life

1. PLUG IN. Identify what gives you ENERGY in your life. Make a list of at least 5 things that give you energy. What do you love to do? What do you find yourself naturally attracted to? Know what these are, because they are your “fuel” and keep you charged.

2. CLEAN HOUSE. What is the clutter that is slowing you down? What are you tolerating? What are the “cob webs & dust” that cloud your understanding of a clear life?

3. BE AUTHENTIC. Get in-line with your HEART & SOUL; the part that “authentically” represents you. Who you are. What you stand for. Your purpose for being on earth. The gift you have to share. List these key passions (characteristics, traits, natural God-given gifts/talents that you want to share with the world.)

4. LIVE YOUR VALUES. What is important to you about life? What is important to you about living? These are the things that if you honor them in your life, everything is good. If you are not, we get out of rhythm, anxious, frustrated, upset, etc. What are you true values?

5. SEE THE VISION. Establish your personal VISION. Where do you hope to be in 5 years. What do you hope is read in your obituary? You have one life to live. What are you going to do with it?

6. PLAN A DIRECTION. How are you going to get there? What stages and steps will get you there or look back from the future and assess how you got there.

7. AIM PRECISLY. Determine & define your FOCUS. Make it measurable. Identify what is distracting you. How can you overcome the obstacles? Visualize your target.

8. CULTIVATE CHANGE. Evaluate your current position. What is not working? What would serve you better if it were different? What shifts need to be made?

9. MAKE IT HAPPEN. Do something. Commit to the plan and take action. Tell others about it. Find a way to be held accountable. Every day take a step toward the goal.

10. AFFIRM DAILY. Make habits that reinforce the ideas and habits you want to cultivate in your life. Tape the statement to your mirror, on the dash of your car, etc. Whatever you need to be most reminded of and encouraged to focus on, write it and post it. Make a routine reading these, so they become part of your subconscious memory.

Refinancing your house involves a sizeable upfront cost. Fortunately,
those initial fees can turn into a real savings for you if you secure
lower rates. You can also add more money to your budget by reducing your
payments. And finally, you can put your equity to good use by
consolidating high interest bills or investing in your future by paying for
college or home repairs.

1. Save Money With Lower Rates

For most people planning to refinance, the goal is to save money with
reduced rates. This may mean converting your original mortgage to a
fixed or adjustable rate home loan. With fixed rates, you get security of a
steady rate and monthly payment. Adjustable rates can be lower, but can
change as the market rates rise and fall.

To get the most out of refinancing, you usually need to stay in your
home for at least seven years. In some cases, you can break even on
closing costs sooner, especially if you selected a no fee loan.

2. Increase Cash Flow With Lower Payments

Reducing monthly payments is another reason to refinance. Lower rates
can push down your monthly mortgage bill, but so can extending your loan
period. In the long run, lengthening your loan term will cost more in
interest, but it can save your budget.

Another way to temporarily reduce your payments is to select an
interest only loan. For a year or two, you can just make small interest
payments on your mortgage, allowing you to save money. This makes sense for
those who plan in a year to sell or see a dramatic increase in their
income.

3. Put Equity To Good Use By Cashing Out

For most people, they are house rich, but cash poor. By pulling out
your equity during refinancing, you can use your equity to consolidate
bills or pay for college or home repairs. Eliminating your high interest
credit card debt will help out your monthly budget. Investing in your
future will pay off in future dividends.

To really understand the cash benefit of refinancing, request a loan
quote from a lender. Then analyze your monthly and interest savings with
a mortgage calculator. From these numbers, you can decide if
refinancing is worth it.

View our recommended mortgage refinance lenders online.

Also, check out our recommended online home equity line of credit lenders, or view our recommended sources for a one time free credit report.

It is certainly easy to see why Hawaii destination weddings are among the most consistently popular, and why invitations to attend these destination weddings are among the most coveted.

Whether you are planning your own wedding or the wedding of a friend or family member, you could certainly do worse than getting married on the beaches of Hawaii.

Hiring A Wedding Planner Or Consultant

In fact Hawaii destination weddings are so incredibly popular that there are entire companies dedicated to booking these great destination weddings and making them come off without a hitch.

If you are so inclined, you can hire a wedding consultant who specializes in Hawaii destination weddings, and he or she will take care of every detail, from the largest to the minutest.

The wedding planner can take care of booking the hotel or resort, booking the flights, renting the reception hall, catering the food, ordering the wedding cake, ordering the flowers and even sending out the invitations.

Planning Your Hawaii Destination Wedding Yourself

Of course it is not necessary to hire a wedding planner to have a perfect Hawaii destination wedding.

In fact many brides can and do plan their own Hawaii destination weddings, but it is important to remember that there is plenty of work involved in planning such a wedding.

It is by no means impossible to plan your own Hawaii destination weddings but it is important to start planning as early as possible, perhaps as soon as your fiancé has popped the question.

Ask the Important Questions To Ensure That Nothing Is Forgotten On Your Wedding Day

When choosing a proper resort for the wedding, it is important to ask plenty of questions, and to determine if the management of the resort has sufficient experience in planning Hawaii destination weddings.

It is also important to find out what aspects of the wedding they will be taking care of, and which parts will still be your responsibility.

For instance, some resorts will take care of every aspect of the wedding, from the cake and the caterer to the invitations, while others will provide only the setting for the wedding and perhaps the food. When it comes to Hawaii destination weddings, it is vital to determine who is responsible for what, and to plan accordingly.

Shaunta Pleasant is a professional writer and editor on wedding topics. Visit my site to learn more about planning the perfect wedding at
http://www.best-wedding-plan.com/hawaii_destination_weddings.html

What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m sure you were asked this question at least once when you were a youngster. When asked the question, did you have an answer at the ready, or did you need a few minutes to think about it? We all had dreams of becoming something great, like a fireman, a teacher, or a rock star, just to name a few. Well, how did you do? Maybe you never aspired to be what you set out to be or said that you would become. But then again, things change. The older we get, our tastes change, our view of the world changes, even our goals change.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned during my career path is to do something you love to do. Why is this important? I feel that if you enjoy what you make a living at, you end up being happy in more ways than one. Life itself becomes much more interesting and fun. You find yourself speaking passionately to others about your work. The experiences you have along the way become much more rewarding, and enrich your life in many ways. You meet fascinating people. I know people who have turned favorite hobbies into small businesses, and have succeeded. Sure, they may have had to sacrifice a steady paycheck for their happiness, but not one of them either turned back or gave up. Their passion carried them through to success.

While no job or business is perfect, the important thing is to enjoy it, even learn from it. If you are unhappy in your current situation, why not take steps now to change it? Somewhere out there is a job or business that is perfect for you. If you are already there, I applaud you. If not, realize that it may take some time to figure out what you really want to do, and even more time to actually get there. That’s all right! I can tell you from experience that finding and doing what you love is absolutely worth it, every step of the way. All of the research, training, and hands-on experience has made me a stronger, happier person. Feeling in charge of my own destiny…well, there just is no greater feeling.

Do what you love, and love what you do, whatever that may be. You’ll be happier for it, trust me. I promise you will never look back.

© 2006 Cynthia Morse, Virtually At Your Service. All rights reserved.

You’re welcome to reprint this story. If you do, please include this reference: Cynthia Morse, CAP is a Virtual Assistant, and the owner of Virtually At Your Service, www.virtuallyatyourservice.biz.
She offers top-notch administrative support to small business owners and other busy professionals from her home office, allowing them the time to focus on what they love and do best. Sign up at virtuallyatyourservice.typepad.com/virtualbizconnection/ to receive updates to her blog “Virtual Biz Connection” for weekly tips and resources benefiting small business owners.

It has been said that everyone has something to give. Something that can be shared with their fellow human beings over and over again. Something whose supply is never depleated, but constantly replenished as it is given away.

And it costs nothing to give.

What could that be? Remember that you must phrase your answer in the form of a question.

I hope you all got it. It’s as simple as falling off a log.

It is a SMILE.

Did you know there are fewer facial muscles used with less energy expended in the formation of a smile than there is in the forcing of a frown?

A warm, sincere smile, genuinely shared almost always results in the spontaneous eruption of more smiles in it’s immediate surroundings.

Once given, smiles can travel for miles and miles without significant interruption.

And smiles con even be passed along while sight unseen, through the sharing of heart-felt thoughts and wishes by various media.

A smile is a very powerful tool with a very powerful effect. Realize fully that power within you. Realize fully the force for good that you hold within you that you may share at will as often and generously as you choose.

The choice is yours. And you often receive in return more than you could ever hope to give!

Bob Curtis has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and has been writing about the elements of relationships for a number of years. He is the manager of the Essential Sunshine Association, a new website for positive relationship development at http://www.essun.blogspot.com

The Supreme Court ruled that if an employer seeks to rely on that defense. A lawyer from Lelystad won from a advocate in Orlando Florida Twenty-eight of those 55 employees sued under the ADEA claiming Knolls illegally fired them because of their age. The Supreme Court then agreed to hear the case and eventually reversed the Second Circuit and reinstated the jurys finding that Knolls policy unlawfully discriminated because of age. At the trial a jury found Knolls had violated the ADEA because its layoff procedure had a disparate impact based on age. It has the burden to prove that its decision was based on a reasonable factor other than age. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit initially affirmed the jurys findings but after the United States Supreme Court asked it to reconsider the Second Circuit reversed itself and ruled in favor of Knolls. For example it would not be illegal to consider criteria for a particular role in a movie that has a disparate impact on age if the part calls for someone of a particular age. In other words the ADEA permits employers to discriminate based on age considering age is legitimately necessary under the circumstances. In reaching its conclusion that the employer has the burden to prove the reasonable factors other than age defense the Supreme Court looked at another provision of the ADEA the bona fide occupational qualification defense. The company had its supervisors rate their subordinates based on their performance flexibility and critical skills. In that case Meacham versus Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory the Supreme Court interpreted a provision of the ADEA that permits an employer to take an adverse employment action against an employee. The BFOQ defense states that it is not unlawful for an employer to take adverse employment actions otherwise prohibited by the ADEA where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business. The Supreme Court has previously recognized that the employer has the burden to establish the BFOQ affirmative defense. Specifically the jury found that although the plaintiffs did not prove that Knolls intentionally discriminated against them they did prove that Knolls method of deciding who to lay off disproportionately harmed older workers. Thirty of the 16 salaried employees the company laid off were at least 62 years old. Knolls totaled those scores and gave the employees additional points based on their years of service. It then used those totals to decide who to lay off. In Meacham Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory was planning to lay off a number of employees. Even if the employment action is otherwise prohibited by the ADEA. As long as the adverse action is based on reasonable factors other than age.

First a little story about buying investment property.

My wife and I stayed at a motel in Tucson for a week one winter. Our bill was for twice what it should have been, but since I already paid the correct amount in cash, I thought nothing of it. During our stay, we noticed that the lobby and swimming pool were unheated, and passed it off as frugality. A year later, however, when I read a news story about a new owner struggling to make the motel work, I realized what was really going on.

To prepare the motel for sale, the owner had been using the two most basic ways to inflate the appraised value: decrease expenses and increase reported income. Stopping repairs, turning down the heat, and quietly adding $100 in income to the books every day, might have increased the net income for the year by $45,000 more. With a .08 capitalization rate, that means the appraisal would come in $562,000 higher than it should have. Imagine the the poor guy who overpaid!

To avoid a mistake like this when buying investment property, you need to watch for tricks like these. You also need to understand the basics of appraising income property.

Valuation of income properties start with the capitalization rate, or “cap rate.” When investors in an area expect a return of 8% on assets, the cap rate is .08. The net income before debt service is divided by this to arrive at the value of a property. This is expleained further in another article, but the primary point to remember is that every dollar of extra income shown will increase the appraised value by $12.50 with a cap rate of .08 (Or, for example, by $10, if the cap rate is .10).

Avoid Dirty Tricks When Buying Investment Property

When sellers of income properties increase the net income by honest means, the property should sell for more. However, there are many dishonest ways, both legal and fraudulent, that are sometimes used. Sellers of houses may cover foundation cracks with plaster, but the tricks used by sellers of income properties aren’t about appearance. These tricks are about income and expenses.

One way income can be inflated, is by showing you the “pro forma,” or projected income, instead of the actual rents collected. Demand the actual figures, and check to see that none of the apartments listed as occupied are actually vacant. See if any of the income is from one time events, like the sale of something.

The income from vending machines is a gray area. Many smart investors subtract this from the net income before applying the cap rate, then add back the value of the machines themselves. For example, if laundry machines make $6,000, that would add $75,000 to the appraised value (.08 cap rate), if you included it. However, since they are easily replaceable, adding the $10,000 replacement cost instead makes more sense.

The other important tricks sellers play involve hiding expenses. These can include paying for repairs off the books, or just avoiding necessary repairs for a year. This can dramatically increase the net income, meaning you pay more for the property. It also means you have less income than expected, and deferred maintenance to catch up on.

Ask for an accounting of all expenditures. If a number in an expense category is suspicious, replace it with your own best guess. Then re-figure the net income.

Look at each of the following, verifying the figures as much as possible, and substituting your own guesses if they are too suspect: vacancy rates, advertising, cleaning, maintenance, repairs, management fees, supplies, taxes, insurance, utilities, commissions, legal fees and any other expenses. Do your homework, and avoid seller’s tricks when buying investment property.

Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn more, get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com