Personal Development

Posted by Jerry Lopper

A Dublin, Ohio company has few rules for employees other than doing the job. Employees have unlimited vacation and sick days, flexible schedules, and an informal work environment without cubicles, walls, or corner offices for the bosses.

Reporter Amy Saunders of the Columbus Dispatch summarizes, "...they come to the office, behave responsibly and do their work. Really." Founder Jack Buchanan responds, "Why wouldn't they. They have a job to do."

Buchanan's ad agency fosters a culture of mutual respect. No one has been fired for abusing the company's policies, though they have if unable to fit into the relaxed, responsible culture.

"Companies have the myth that you can control people - you can't control them, but you can make them miserable," says Buchanan.

Hmm, quite a contrast from the environment depicted in the comic strip Dilbert, which many painfully see as accurate representations of their employers.

Posted by Jerry Lopper

If you're reading this you're experiencing what, in my mind, is a true wonder of the world - the Internet. There are many lists of the Wonders of the World, most being natural or man-made structures.

The Internet merits a "Wonder" rating for this one reason: it joins humanity as nothing has in the past, except for personal travels. Through our inter-communications with each other we're able to see that people in different countries, with different cultures, governments, and religious beliefs share with us the basic human desires, interests, fears, and joys.

The organizations of church and state are separatist by nature. They've divided us into us and them by highlighting differences. Sure, we're all different in many ways, but the ways that we're the same far outweigh our differences.

We can see that for ourselves once we communicate directly with another person. The Internet makes that ability a daily occurrence. This came home to me again due to a brief, but very enjoyable interchange of email with Susan, who resides in Australia.

In discussing this topic, Susan observed that the anonymity of our Internet exchanges allows us to assess a person based on what is said, the tone, the words chosen, etc. without the handicap of pre-judgments based on a person's skin color, weight, age, and citizenship.

Enjoy what you read on the Internet, evaluate informational content for yourself, and bless your ability to tap into a world-wide communication tool so easily.

Posted by Jerry Lopper

A study published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, and reported on by the Associated Press, indicates that a government recommended diet for lowering blood pressure prevents heart attack and stroke, even in those without high blood pressure.

Research begun in 1980, involving more than 88,000 healthy women analyzed their food choices and noted that those whose diets closely modeled the recommendations of DASH were 24 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack and 18 percent less likely to have a stroke.

DASH, for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension recommends a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and plant based protein, with limited amounts of total fat and saturated fat. The DASH food pyramid is a product of the FDA.

Though the study focused on women, Simmons College researcher Teresa Fung, the study's lead author suggested that men would probably get similar results.

Tonight's dinner: Spicy red beans and whole grain brown rice. Fruit for dessert!

Posted by Jerry Lopper

Lost your car keys again? Concerned because you went into a room purposefully, only to realize you have no idea what you went in to get? It's probably not Alzheimers or early stages of dementia, but lack of concentration.

This, according to Patricia Curtis in the March 2008 issue of Readers Digest. Curtis quotes Zaldy S. Tan, MD, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who says, "Forgetting these types of things is a sign of how busy we are. When we're not paying good attention, the memories we form aren't very robust, and we have a problem retrieving the information later."

As I described in a review of Dan Gilbert's, Stumbling on Happiness , Gilbert explains it this way. We compress the huge amount of data that we perceive in a given experience into a few critical components: the sensory highlights and associated emotions. Later, as we recall the event, our mind brings up the highlights and emotions and fills in the rest. That's right, we imagine what would have occurred to smooth out the few pieces of fact and form a complete story.

So our mental lapses may be nothing more than lack of focus and concentration. Whew!

Now where did I put that flash drive?

Posted by Jerry Lopper

**Notice**

The trial or beta test of this Life Balance E-course is now filled and has begun. If you are interested in a future offering of this course, email me.



Striking a good balance between work, family, friends, recreation, and all the other roles of life can be very challenging. It's no fun to be overwhelmed, over-worked, and facing the end of the day with no time for yourself.

The articles I've written on Life Balance are quite popular. Requests for the free Pillars of a Balanced Life Worksheet are also high.

But the Pillars Worksheet is just a start at gaining clarity on the balance, or lack of it, in life. And the articles are independent, generally found through search engines and inter-related only by internal links.

So I'm working on an E-course that will combine an initial balance assessment, lessons and exercises in implementing life balance ideas, explanation of the five fundamental building blocks of a balanced life, and describe the four skill sets needed to put it all together. A wrap-up evaluation is also planned, all of this delivered by email once each week for six or seven weeks.

I'm looking for a small group of people to trial the E-course. The trial group will receive the E-course free, but must agree to:

• Complete each lesson within one week,
• Participate in an end of course evaluation and feedback,
• Provide written feedback on the benefits and weaknesses of each lesson and the entire course,
• Submit a short paragraph describing reasons for participating.

All participants must be adults, 18 years of age or over. Participation by those with well balanced lives is desirable as well as those seeking greater life balance.

Send your request to participate to personaldevelopment@suite101.com.

Posted by Jerry Lopper

I'm intrigued by the human mind and soul. Oh, the body is pretty interesting, too. But mind and soul always interest me. Both are so powerful, mysterious, and deeply hidden from view. Yet we accomplish who we are by routinely using the forces and capabilities of mind and soul.

What intrigues me the most is learning to use mind and soul for better living. The research out of positive psychology indicates that there is much each of us can do, and do easily, to have happier, more fulfilling lives.

My articles based on positive psychology information are among the most popular at Personal Development. So when the opportunity came to join the newly formed International Positive Psychology Association, I jumped on it. I look forward to bringing the latest thoughts from positive psychology research to everyone working to be the best they can be.

Posted by Jerry Lopper

I'm a do-it-yourselfer first class. My first inclination when something is broken is to fix it. This goes for household appliances, cars, electrical, and plumbing problems. Even people problems aren't immune from my tinkering and fixing nature.

So when it comes to finding application software to do a job, I favor F-R-E-E open source solutions. I've found there are many excellent open source products available for the do-it-yourselfer. Open source is the term used for software that is non-proprietary and freely shared. Open source code is documented and made available to anyone wanting to use it as is or modify it for their own purposes.

Generally, open source products are free, although some developers charge for installation, customization, and ongoing support. Some open source programs are backed by active and helpful support forums, but many are one-person operations, severely limiting the availability of timely advice.

Watch for reviews on several excellent open source application programs that are applicable to the small business owner, web designer, pod caster, and mass communicator.

Amaya Open Source Web Page Editor

Free Email Autoresponder Review

Posted by Jerry Lopper

There's nothing quite as relaxing and entertaining as a good fictional who-done-it. I was recently introduced to Brian Haig, author of several legal thrillers. Brian's main character, Sean Drummond, is an ace lawyer in the Army's JAG unit. JAG, for Judge Advocate General, is the oldest legal firm in the US, established in 1775 by George Washington as the legal arm of the Army.

Drummond has a secret past in Army Special Operations, one of those invisible units that do the dirty work behind enemy lines. Now he's a JAG lawyer, with a flair for getting assigned to clients (that's how the Army does it) that don't seem to have a prayer of acquittal for charges of nasty things like murder, rape, and espionage.

Drummond also has a flair for digging deeply, persistently, and obnoxiously until he solves the conspiracy/frame up/murder and wins the case. He's an A-1 lawyer, investigator, detective, and wise-guy.

But there are lots of legal and detective thrillers in the fiction market. What caught my undivided attention and readership is that Haig's Sean Drummond is funny; not just heh-heh, or giggle-funny, but out and out laugh-until-you-cry funny.

Brian Haig knows the inner workings of the Army. A West Point graduate and career strategist, he was a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the inner circle of military planning. Politics and the military are in his blood. He's the son of Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State.

He now has six books published, his latest being Man in the Middle, published in 2007. His next book is targeted for early 2009. I can't wait!

Posted by Jerry Lopper

Relationships are such a fundamental component of our lives. How we interact with others, our reactions to their swings of mood, their acceptance and support of us, or lack of it, all this and more provides richness to our experiences of life. And yes, some problems and frustrations, too.

I notice the insights some authors have on the relationships portrayed in their books. Anne Perry, for one, often explores relationships very deeply with her characters.

In Shoulder the Sky, her character Joseph was in a life threatening situation, set adrift in the Atlantic in a small boat after a confrontation with a German U boat. "He began to think of all the things that mattered most...his family, the people he loved who formed the frame of his life within which everything else took meaning. What was laughter or beauty or understanding if there was no one with whom to share it? What was achievement alone?"

In At Some Disputed Barricade, her character, Mason, reflecting on his love for Judith, though they were so different. "She was part of his dreams, of the quiet places inside him that fed his strength, the things for which he struggled and climbed to his feet when he fell, the thing that gave the journey a purpose , a distinction, a place to belong."

Author Beth Nonte Russell, in Forever Lily, describes the difference between facing a life event alone or with someone. Paraphrased, she said a good event was twice as good when shared with someone, and a bad event only half as bad.

I've observed that it's much more enjoyable to share an Hawaiian sunset with a loved one than to observe it alone. And the pain of a personal loss is measurably reduced when two or more share it.

Posted by Jerry Lopper

A friend told this story of her son and his girlfriend. On Valentines Day the girl presented her boyfriend with a personally written greeting, listing the nice things they had done together, the memories they'd made, and how much they all meant to her. This was a heartfelt and emotional gift filled with her love.

In return, and apparently while driving, the boy presented his gift--a hastily purchased stuffed bear bearing a heart-shaped Valentine. The girlfriend, seeing a commercial gift with little thought behind it and no expression of personal feelings, promptly lowered the car window and tossed out the gift.

It should not surprise us to learn that this relationship did not last much longer.

If you're faced with Valentine's Day fast approaching and no gift in hand, keep in mind that the best gifts are given from the heart. It's not the size, cost, or uniqueness of the gift that will determine whether it will have a place in your recipient's heart, but the size of unique thought that goes into the gift.

Grand words from Hallmark are fine, but an outpouring of feelings is better, no matter how it's worded. For personal messages of love that you can put in your own words, read Unique Valentine Gift Ideas.