Kaleidoscope Relationships List

I received a message from Priscilla of Priscillamcintire.com introducing me to this list and was pleased to see myself among such a great list of personal development authors.  The idea behind promoting this list is to add personal connections to bloggers who deserve to be on this list since they use relationships in their blogging.  Well, I think that is really cool and am honored to be on the list.

From Prescilla’s Site:

No one achieves success without the help and support of other people. The book “Personal Development Kaleidoscope”, is a demonstration of the power of connection in action. The Kaleidoscope Relationships List began with only a list of the authors and their web-sites. These authors were eached asked to publish the list on their site, and to add 5-10 people who they feel use or have used the principles taught in this book effectively.

In order to increase the power of our relationships, we are asking those of you who have been added to the list to continue the process. Please post this list on your own site, then add people who you feel are effectively using the power of relationships to increase their own success, as well as, the success of others. Then email Priscilla at relationships@priscillamcintire.com

My Additions to the List

These are the people I communicate often with and definitely value the relationships with that I don’t yet see on the list.  I’ve already emailed each of your sites to Priscilla so I hope to see you added to the list.

Armen Shirvanian (Timeless Information)

Bunny (BunnyGotBlog)

Dragos Roua (dragosroua.com)

Steve Borgman (Success Factors)

Stephen (Balanced Existence)

Alik Levin (PracticeThis.com)

Arswino (Inspiration & Motivation Blog)

Ian (Quantum Learning)

Daphne (Joyful Days)

Lance (Jungle of Life)

Stephen (Rat Race Trap)

The List

Abu Aremu        Positive Self Talk Guide

Adam Kayce       Monk at Work

Adebola Oni      Naija Motivation

Al Ramsey         7pproductions.com

Alex Shalman     Practical Personal Development

Angela Lord at     Angelalord.com

Arthur Hung & Jason Fonceca     Spiritentient

Cheryl Ragsdale     That Girl Is Funny

Chris Cade Think without the box

Chris Marshall     Martial Development

CK Reyes           My Coaching Works

Cinderella S Kelley Kroh   The Krohs Nest

Cindie Wilding   Answers From Within

Corrinne Edwards  Personal Growth with Corinne Edwards

Craig Harper     Motivational Speaker – Craig Harper

Crystal Silver    CrystalSilver.com

Daniel Sitter       Idea Sellers

David Rogers     How to Have Great Self Confidence

David Zinger     David Zinger Associates

Dawn Edwards     Second Hand Roses

Dawna Jones      Management-Issues

Diane Brandon     Diane Brandon.com and Diane Brandon.net

Dr. Susan R. Meyer, Ed. D.   Life Work Cafe

Dr. Venerina Conti    VenerinaConti.com

El Baugher at Thesmilingspirit.com

Ellie Walsh at     Living the Law of Attraction

Frank Butterfield     Life Unfolding Beautifully and 68 Second Videos and Re/Transformation

Gamy Rachel     Mind Think Success

Gary Evans     Good To Feel Good

Gleb Reys        Personal Development Ideas

Gordie Rogers     Lifestyle Design 4U

Gregory Allen Butler     holistic-personal-development.com

Heather Bestel a little bit of me time

Henrik Edberg The Positivity Blog

Isabella Mori      MoriTherapy

Jacklyn Ker     Inspiring and Empowing Lives

Jeanette Maw     Good Vibe Coaching

Jeanne May        Goals and Aspirations

Jeff ‘Yoopersmith’ Smith    Shift-Your-Consciousness

Jennifer Mannion   JennyMannion.com

John Sadler      Bitesize Marketing NLP

Jonathan Fields    Awake At the Wheel

Jonathan Wells      Advanced Life Skills

Jordan Rosenfeld     Make a Scene

Judy Kinney      Dream and Flourish

Judy Martin       The Work/Life Monitor

Justin Wolsey Riggs     Easier Method

Kaya Singer     Awakening Business

Karen Putz     A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

Lexi Sundell     Energies of Creation

Liz Strauss     Successful Blog

Lori Painter at      Inspire2act

Lorraine Cohen     Powerfull Living

Lyman Reed     Free Personal Development Material

Lynn Solarczyk     Livingloa

Luciano Passuello     Litemind.com

M. Farouk Radwan     2knowmyself

Mel Kaye     Monday Morning Power

Melissa Goerke      Melissa Thinks Out Loud

Marelisa Fábrega     Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online

Meryl K. Evans     Meryl.net

Michele Woodward     Lifeframeworks.com

Michelle Vandepas     Conscious Destiny

Mike King Learn This

Mohammad Shafi’e     Ultimate Secrets of Success

Neil Sattin     NeilSattin.com and Natural Dog Blog

Patricia Schiavone     Thriving Together, AtoZEdit.com and Attracting The Best

Patricia Singleton     Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker

Phil Gerbyshak     PhilGerbyshak.com

Priscilla McIntire at    Personal Development Demands Success

Rachel Rofe at      Rachelrofe.com

Rahul Bhambhani    Take-20.com

Robert Henru       Reason4Smile

Robert Higginson    Robert Higginson

Robin Skeen     Robin?s Reflections

Rod Smith      Difficult Relationships

Sam Kotadia     MindSportLive.com

Scott Ginsberg     Hello, My Name Is Blog

Scott H Young    Scotthyoung.com

Sharani Robins     Sharani Girl on a Road

Sherri Joubert       Being The Change I Wish To see

Shauna Arthurs     Follow Your Path and Breathing Prosperity

Slade Roberson     Shift Your Spirits

Sonia Simone       Remarkable Communication

Steven Aitchison    Change Your Thoughts

Sugandi Iyer     Life Business Creations

Thea Westra     MyForwardsteps.com and TimeForMyLife.com

Tina Su     Think Simple Now

Todd Goldfarb     We The Change

Vincent Tan      Health Money Success
Vivienne Quek      Versa Creations

Zorka Hereford     Essential Life Skills

Zubli Zainordin     Your Wisdom of Total Happiness

Posted by Mike King under Life | 27 Comments »

Review: The Shadow Effect

with Debbie Ford

I received a free copy of The Shadow Effect to review and am actually having a tough time reviewing it. The Shadow Effect is about discovering and knowing the so called, “Shadows” in our lives which are the flaws, the bad actions, the painful things, the adversities we’ve faced which we avoid and try to keep secret from the world around us.  Some of these shadows are outlined and they include how we sabotage ourselves of our desires, our feelings, our egos and our persona’s we display.  All these things we hide and reject are buried inside us and we can’t keep them bottled up since it consumes so much energy to do so and it prevents us from allowing our brighter side to truly be revealed with our dark side together.

So, my first reaction was one of disappointment as I was really hoping for something with more of an impact to me and something that I could connect with.  However, that didn’t happen for a number of reasons.  First, the movie just seems to drag on saying the same thing without getting to many real discoveries and it has many old cliches which I found kept me out of the movie’s atmosphere over and over.  The movie presented a number of obvious biases as well.  There are certain media figures used as examples for the dark “shadows” while others are presented as great shining light examples.  I found these examples seemed to pinpoint and promote specific names with media clips while chastising others (I won’t even repeat the names used here) and that turned me off immediately.  It was completely unnecessary for the point in the movie.

Also, many of the examples are described with no real evidence or research, everything is presented as “probably” and “likely” this person that or that person must have done “this” at some time in their life.  These are not examples of the shadow in any way, it’s simply made up.  I could find those types of things in anyone’s life, especially if I am making assumptions about what they must have thought years and years ago which formed the so called shadow.  I found this just ridiculous.

I think the points being made about how our thoughts and emotions can cause later problems in our lives when they are not dealt with are great but the movie talks only about how rejecting these feelings is a problem without providing any really guidance to in fact deal with them instead.  The movie tries to drive you into your own mind of suppressed emotions and does nothing but stir those up and talk as if this “shadow” can be resolved to then “let our light in our awareness” to begin processing them.  Those are the words in the movie, not mine.  That really doesn’t mean anything to me and I’m not sure how it can help anyone.  I realize there are lessons to be learned in any dark experience and that they can lead to being a better person.  The way this is outlined as the shadow with dark and light seems off base to me.  The movie references a few spiritual aspects in terms of the shadow and this is where I really disconnected.  I can’t connect to something that is describes so strongly as spiritual yet they refuse to say anything about right and wrong, or good and evil, or God for that matter.  They use light and dark instead.  It’s just a way of hiding what the shadow really is if you ask me, which contradicts the whole point of the movie. The whole movie is based on revealing those hidden truths inside ourselves that we hide from the rest of the world. The light and brilliance of hope, grace and love by God versus the dark, evil, and tempting ways of Satan.  It seemed to me they want the viewer to feel like they have exposed something great and that there is a “divine recipe”, while they don’t even bring God into the picture of dealing with these types of evils inside of us.  The movie goes into some great points on forgiveness and how it is required to move forward to shield our spirits but I just can’t believe God again, was left out of this.  Sorry, forgiveness is not in ourselves, it’s by the grace of God and his Son, Jesus.  They dared not touch any of this subject in “The Shadow Effect” though, its all left quite universal.

Another area I absolutely disagree with were the points about how you can’t hate something that you don’t deeply desire yourself.  The movie says that anything you show that you hate or detest in others is really because you deeply desire it yourself.  This is ridiculous!  I can hate evil, murder and other horrific things without that desire or even a glimmer of desire inside me.  There isn’t a perfect balance of the so called “light and dark” in every person, like the movie claims.  These balances might exist in the universe, but they certainly shifts inside individual cultures, generations, amongst turmoil and absolutely in individuals.  Can people change? Yes. Does it require outside help and intervention?  Yes.  I’ll put my faith for that in God, not myself thanks.

The movie ends without giving you any tools to change, instead its feels like an infomercial for enticing you to buy the interactive DVDs and attend “The Shadow Effect” seminar processes.  There are many inspirational messages about light and references for brilliance and happiness and while the movie is motivational, it’s not something I feel can make any lasting change for someone.  It still requires more of the process (whatever that is) to allow any change to occur.  The movie reminds me very mush like, “The Secret” for its repetitive strong message without really telling you how or what is necessary to make any the movie’s promise actually happen.  Personally, I’d say not to bother with this movie, as it just doesn’t give any real things to learn or change from.  I haven’t read the book but if its anything like this movie, I’ll save myself the time and avoid it as well.

I’d encourage you to still go check out the trailer and decide for yourself.  I truly watched this movie with an open mind and wanted to learn what was so transformational, but I personally didn’t see that and the style in which the movie teased with no real actions disappointed me throughout.

Posted by Mike King under Life | 7 Comments »

Top Articles and Favorite Posts

Armen (at Timeless Information) inspired me to build my own 100 lists ( 100 ways to be a leader and 100 Ways to Simplify Your Life and Mind ).  A few people have continued with the trend. Here were some new ones and a few I came across while browsing.

• 85 Ways to Motivate Yourself by Arswino.
• Not continued from the 100 lists, but this is a great one as well.  88 Important Truths I’ve Learned About Life
• 100 Clevel Ways to Change Your Habits and Improve Your Life – I found this stumbling and even though its not new, its a great article.
• 100 Ways to Birth your Entrepreneurial Dream at Divine Purpose Unleashed
• 100 Ways to Improve Your Blog and 100 Ways to Live a Better Life by Dragos

A few additional articles I’ve come across and really enjoyed are here:

• Sharpen Your Conversation Skills by Brian Tracy
• How to Achieve the Impossible
• The productivity magazine is a superb free resource and issue #3 is now out.
• 11 Traits of Highly Creative People

I don’t normally include videos in my content or much of my stumbling but I watched this advertisement and it is truly an amazing one.

Posted by Mike King under Life | 10 Comments »

After Armen’s list of 100, my own 100 Ways to be a better leader and now several readers creating their own lists of 100 topics, I thought I would continue this trend and build one more on 100 ways simplify your life and mind. I’ve written a couple articles before on this topic and I’ve kept a few items from those articles on my list here, but most of this is new and it is really a useful way to find things to start doing. As with any of these 100 lists, obviously you can’t do all of these things (I certainly don’t) but you can pick some items on the list and start with them to simplify things in your life. I’d love for you to comment and add your own items or why not create your own list of 100 items, link back to these if they have inspired you and challenge your own readers to do the same and keep these lists going!

Simplify Your Actions

1. Start everyday with your most important task, leaving other ones undone
2. Do what you said you will do first
3. Say no when you are already committed and asked to take on more
4. Ask others for help whenever you need it
5. Finish things completely, don’t leave it only to have to come back again and again
6. Pick one thing at a time to do and focus on it
7. Make the most time for your passions and purposeful work
8. Leave spare time for yourself unscheduled and uncommitted
9. Prioritize your todo list
10. Keep one todo list and keep it short (only the most important things should be on it at any time)
11. Take time to be in solitude
12. Take time to pray and meditate
13. Make wasteful actions (like TVwatching or pointless internet surfing) more difficult to do to help avoid them.
14. Find and eliminate other wasteful actions in your life
15. Develop habits and daily routines to practise important actions
16. Read every single day
17. Plan your week and all major tasks for that week
18. Review your accomplishments each week
19. Be grateful for what you have, what you can do, and for everything in your life
20. Turn off your cell phone
21. Turn off all notifications on your computer from IM, email or other popups
22. Eat simple meals and don’t cook things that don’t need to be cooked
23. Eat less, which lets you also prepare less and cleanup less and store less
24. Automate any bills, payments, and money transactions that you can
25. Ignore distractions from media
26. Commute by bicycle or public transit instead of the busy freeway
27. Use commuting time wisely by reading or listening to books
28. Consider a career or job change to reduce stress
29. Find and maintain routines for day to day things

Simplify Your Stuff

30. Get rid of clothes you no longer wear or have worn in 6 months
31. Sell or give away household items you rarely / never use
32. Eliminate 2 things for every one new thing you acquire
33. Lend things out to friends often and don’t ask for it back if you don’t need it
34. Buy less stuff by only buying basic needs
35. Move to a smaller house or living space and get rid of all extra stuff
36. Give away books when you are done with them and let someone else enjoy them
37. Give up some electronic gadgets and do without them
38. Engage in simple hobbies that don’t require a lot of stuff (music, art, perhaps writing?)
39. De-clutter your living space and don’t keep any trinkets or excessive decorations
40. Consider going more green since this requires reducing things that consume power / energy
41. Get rid of your televisions or at least reduce the time you spend watching
42. Get rid of other media distractions in your life
43. Put a sign on your door/mailbox asking not to receive any flyers or unsolicited mail
44. Don’t carry all your credit or debit cards, just a small amount of cash for emergency
45. Downsize your vehicles or sell one
46. Clear out all clutter and extra stuff from your vehicle
47. Spend a weekend and pretend you are going to move, then clean out and get rid of everything you don’t need
48. Have a place for everything and keep it organized in place
49. Label, simplify and organize your file systems (both physical and electronic)
50. Consolidate your email accounts, bank accounts, RSS feeds and others
51. Recycle and reuse as much as possible
52. Give to those who have less than you
53. Volunteer your time for service to others
54. Keep a vegetable garden
55. Grow some plants and flowers
56. Enjoy nature’s company

Simplify Your Relationships

57. Be honest with others (it will help avoid complex issues and conflict)
58. Treat everyone with respect, not just your close friends or relationship
59. Treat everyone fairly, don’t complicate things with favoritism
60. Trust others without them having to earn it first
61. Accept people for who they are and don’t expect them to change
62. Compare yourself only to yourself from the past, no one else
63. Learn to say, “No”
64. Ask your friends and family for things they are looking for, and give them any items you can do without that you have
65. Keep all your contacts and address book items in one place
66. Involve your whole family with simplifying your life
67. Tell your friends about what you want to achieve by simplifying
68. Pick some of the actions above and do them with a friend
69. Focus on activities for doing things instead of buying
70. Spend less time with the “negatrons” around you and more time with positive people
71. Apologize quickly for any hurtful actions
72. Spend time in private with a significant other each week
73. Go for walks and have time to just talk with your friends and family (you don’t always need to be doing anything)
74. Make a gift for someone else instead of buying one
75. Write a personal thank you note or letter to a friend
76. Call someone you care for with no reason other than to tell them you were thinking of them and wish them a wonderful day
77. Walk away from all gosip and don’t participate in those conversations
78. Put family meals at home first and don’t let work get in the way
79. Stay completely disconnected from work on weekends and vacations
80. Listen to others and stop talking so much yourself

Simplify your Thoughts

81. Be content with life for health, love and happiness instead of with belongings
82. Keep less goals and plans (focus on just 2 or 3 at a time)
83. Exercise often as this clears the mind and keeps you healthy longer through life
84. Make time to do what you love and to provide relief from stress
85.Make a list of all your simple pleasures in life and pick an item from it to do every day.
86. Evaluate new things by asking “Will this help to simplify my life?”
87. Let go of perfectionism
88. Find what calms you and visualize it to reduce stress
89. Be positive and look for the best in things
90. Be anxious for nothing and live more in the moment
91. Let go of things from the past
92. Face and get over your fears
93. Always look for ways to improve oneself
94. Note and express gratitude
95. Know and stick to your limits for commitments
96. Seek knowledge only to apply it as wisdom
97. Look for and express love to yourself and others
98. Choose to be happy and at peace with yourself
99. All that you express, comes back to you, so think and express what you want for yourself
100. Seek and love God and He will provide, you need not worry about anything else

Posted by Mike King under Life | 43 Comments »

Favorite Picks Recently

Here are a few of my favorite items I’m either been sent or have come across in my browsing and reading online in the last little while.  Not as big of list as usual, I’ll admit.  Its due to much less reading lately online and work with other things, either way, here are some gems I’ve come across, I hope you enjoy em!

• How Giving Changes Everything at ZenHabits
• I made another list of top 50 productivity blogs over at EvenCarmichael
• An interesting series of 5 articles over at BunnyGotBlog called, Advertising Towards Dummies
• A 2 part article that is most interesting on Thinking Traps
• An excellent 3 part series on Comparing Ourselves to Others
• 33 Things You Should Stop Doing to Double Your Productivity
• Five Essential Pre-Interview Strategies for Job Seekers
• 100 Inspirational Blog Posts for Personal Change
• First Comes the Fear Then the Blessing – I love this examination as it lets us look at what creates the fear and also what benefits we could have if that fear is eliminated
• Top productivity and personal development blogs
• If you don’t already know about David Zinger and the employment engagement network, check out some of his top reading list blogs and join the network!
• An excellent article on valueless leadership with a discussion well worth reading.

Carnivals

And as usual, I continue to publish some content to blog carnivals for promotion and to expose to and read from other bloggers.  Here are a few of the ones I’ve used recently:

• Carnival of Inspiration and Motivation at Positive and Successful Lifestyle Tips
• The June 7th Leadership Development Carnival
• Blog Carnival of Personal Power for 31 May 2009

Posted by Mike King under Life | 11 Comments »

Favorite Picks Recently

Here are a few of my favorite items I’m either been sent or have come across in my browsing and reading online in the last little while.  Not as big of list as usual, I’ll admit.  Its due to much less reading lately online and work with other things, either way, here are some gems I’ve come across, I hope you enjoy em!

• 100 Clever Ways to Change Your Habits and Improve Your Life
• Top 10 Thinking Traps Exposed — How to Foolproof Your Mind, Part I
• Dragos – 7 Ages of a Business
• The Master List of Free Language Learning Resources

Online Graphics and Paint Application

I’m just so impressed with these online tools I have to share them with you as well.  They are three online paint and image applications that allow you to create and manipulate photos and other images in your browser.  They have many features of commercial applications but these ones are free, run from anywhere and don’t require any installation.  Definitely worth having a book mark for, check em out!!

• pixlr
• Aviary
• SumoPaint

Blog Carnivals

And as usual, I continue to publish some content in blog carnivals and have continued to see other great resources at them for related topics and good sources of personal development and leadership content.  Here are a few I’ve either participated in or found that I enjoy recently.

• Carnival of Family Life: In Praise of Mom Edition
• Carnival of Personal Development – Final Edition

Posted by Mike King under Life | 4 Comments »