"Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change of attitude." Katherine Mansfield, 1888-1923, Writer
He was the first guy I ever interviewed online at Writers FM...
... And by popular demand, HE'S BACK!
Yesterday, I spent my afternoon chatting with Nick, where I posed a whole bundle of questions that have flown into the station following our last interview.
The Canary Islands were originally named "Insula Canaria". That means the "Isle of Dogs" in Latin, after the large number of both domesticated and wild dogs that lived on the Spanish archipelago.
("Canis" means "dog" in Latin. Think canine.)
The islands were also full of these little yellow finch birds, which later became known as canaries.
So rather than the Canary Islands being named after the birds, the birds were actually named after the dogs that inhabited the islands.
I do not make this stuff up. Interesting, eh?
Happy Friday! :)
Tweety Pie was officially a canary bird. Honestly.
Today, I'd like to share a poem told to me by motivational speaker Shelby Collinge, who I interviewed for Self Dev Radio about a year ago...
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The Cookie Thief By Valerie Cox
A woman was waiting at an airport one night, With several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops. Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, Thinking, 'If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye.'
With each cookie she took, he took one too, When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, He took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other, She snatched it from him and thought... oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he's also rude, Why he didn't even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled, And sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, Then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair, The others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.
* * *
How many times in our lives, have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true ... was not?
Think about this poem as you move through the week. Intend to have an OPEN mind. Be ready for anything.
While teaching a class on General Semantics, Dr. Alfred Korzybski once pulled a beautiful trick on his students.
He said that he was hungry and couldn't wait any longer to eat, so he pulled out a box of biscuits from his desk.
He started muching away -- and then offered the munchies out to his class.
After his students had all spent a few minutes eating the biscuits, and were discussing just how good they were, the doctor pulled the wrapper off the box to reveal that they were in fact dog biscuits.
The legend goes that a few of the students vomited on the spot.
* * *
Doesn't that go to show the power of our language?
Those students were perfectly happy eating the biscuits when they believed they were for human consumption.
But when they thought they were made for dogs... "Whoah!!"
And so once again, I'd like to refer you to what I believe to be one of the most important posts ever made on this blog.
It's called "Ditch the Labels!" and you can find it here:
In earlier versions of the story, the shoes were made of different materials. The Chinese used golden threaded slippers. The Scottish used rushes. The French used squirrel fur.
None were quite so appalingly dismissive of health and safety regulations as to suggest GLASS slippers, even if works of fiction.
Hardly practical, love.
Snopes.com attempts to disprove this "myth," stating that the word vair was no longer in use at the time. Hogwash: It has been proven to be continuously in use until at least 1864.
Incidentally, earlier versions of Cinderella were slightly more gruesome than the Disney classic we know today. The medieval versions had the ugly sisters cutting off their toes to ensure their feet slipped inside the squirrel fur shoes... And the wicked stepmother was forced to dance to death in terribly hot boots, by way of punishment.
That medieval lot certainly had something about feet.
I just received the below e-mail from Chris Seaton, about today's post "What's Your Filter?"
He "took the challenge" -- and I thought you might be interested in the results.
Chris saw through his programming, and realized it was his labels that were tinting his experience of life.
Drop the labels and look what happens! :)
* * *
Hi Karl, This really fascinated me, so I have decided to try your little challenge, with the following results.
> Here's my little challenge for today.
> Firstly, recognize the things that affect you right now.
> What annoys you about other people? Who is frustrating you? Why?
I have a guy who works in the same building as me, and although I don't have many dealings with him, I have to confess that when I see him, or hear his annoying nasal voice, I immediately drop on the back foot. It is not that he has ever done anything nasty towards me, I just can't explain it. Normally I am very placid, and accept just about everybody for what they are, and get on well with them all. It is just HIM, who I will call Jerry (although his name is not Jerry)
> Secondly, consider that maybe -- just maybe -- this is simply a result of your filters and your programming.
> Are they really being rude, or is it just that you've been brought up to believe they're being rude?
No, Jerry is not being rude at all. He just never seems to smile, and always looks so down in the dumps and downright miserable. I just can't seem to relate to him at all, and vice versa.
> ("Me and the rest of the world, Karl, they WERE rude!" -- Of course! Accept that!)
> Thirdly, allow yourself to drop the labels behind the action.
So I am now asking myself, what is the label here? And as I think about Jerry, I start to wonder why I react this way. It is not anything in his face, or in his overall manner which bothers me. It is not his attitude. And after ten or so minutes quietly meditating and trying to find the answer, I find it. It is his nasal voice which sets me off. And then I chastise myself because I am actually discriminating here. Me, the guy who preaches about smiling to people with facial disfigurements, is discriminating against a guy just because he talks through his nose.
> Let go of giving it a name. It was just an experience. And let go of wanting it to happen again. (Paradoxically, we often want the things we think we don't. So letting go of wanting it to happen is a great way of releasing on that worry.)
And I made a special journey just after lunch today just to lay this ghost. I went outside to where he sits when the weather is good during his lunch break, and I just chatted to him about football, mainly Chelsea, and guess what? I found him to be affable, even quite humerous. I think he enjoyed the short conversation, I certainly did. Thanks to your little exercise, I have discovered that I was somehow associating my irrational disliike of a person's voice with the fact that he must therefore be a bad, miserable, unsociable guy. How stupid is that?
Last week, I headed out into a nearby city to have dinner with friends.
During the evening, I bumped into an old associate.
I won't give his name, but let's just say he's one of the "street cred" guys that I don't normally get along with too well. One of those people I view as a bit vain, a bit too much hard work, someone to whom image is everything.
The guy came up to me during the evening and made a special attempt to talk with me. I responded... And we began chatting quite normally.
Then, mid-way through our conversation, he just walked away.
"Ehh?" I thought.
What on earth would cause somebody to do that?
Is it me? Am I a bad conversationalist? Was I somehow not quite street cred enough? Did I do something wrong?
It really made me think.
Later that evening, I retold the whole story to a very close friend of mine, someone who knows this individual.
"I know exactly what you mean!" came his words. "He does that all the time. I think he gets a bit nervous when he can't follow a conversation through."
Oh, I thought. Maybe it wasn't me then.
But my friend continued...
"I'll tell you what DID annoy me however..." - and he went on to describe one gentleman who'd been talking to us both about "brown-nosing" his way up the corporate ladder, something I hadn't found the least bit annoying.
And then I realized... How absolutely EVERYONE viewed EVERYTHING through their own filters.
I thought Mr Street Cred was being completely rude. My friend didn't.
My friend thought our brown-nosing associate was being annoying. I didn't.
Two different people. Two totally different experiences.
Why didn't we both experience the same?
Because our filters changed what we saw!
I saw Mr Street Cred as being rude, because I'm personally quite unsure of that "street cred" side in myself. Inside, I don't think I quite cut it.
And my friend saw the associate as being an ass, as he'd experienced the unfair side of brown-nosing, career climbers in the past.
To me, it was an interesting revelation.
What if EVERYTHING you're seeing right now is really just an experience?
What if every single thought and opinion is just a result of our filters and our programming?
Consider the possibility that maybe every single annoyance, every action of your filter, is an OPPORTUNITY to recognize and DEVELOP a new part of yourself...
Let me ask... Are YOU living as prisoner to your thoughts?
I certainly am!
But at least when we recognize that, we get an opportunity to let go of it - and realize that maybe it's not about you anymore, maybe it's not as black-and-white as you see it.
Here's my little challenge for today.
Firstly, recognize the things that affect you right now.
What annoys you about other people? Who is frustrating you? Why?
Secondly, consider that maybe -- just maybe -- this is simply a result of your filters and your programming.
Are they really being rude, or is it just that you've been brought up to believe they're being rude?
("Me and the rest of the world, Karl, they WERE rude!" -- Of course! Accept that!)
Thirdly, allow yourself to drop the labels behind the action.
Let go of giving it a name. It was just an experience. And let go of wanting it to happen again. (Paradoxically, we often want the things we think we don't. So letting go of wanting it to happen is a great way of releasing on that worry.)
They said the number one fear behind everything...
... Is the fear of DEATH.
Does it scare you?
Here's a little personal growth tip that might help some people.
Before doing anything you're afraid of, tell yourself...
The worst that can happen is... that I die.
And if you can LET GO of that fear, you suddenly unleash a real inner sense of freedom that reminds you that ANYTHING is possible.
The worst thing that can happen is that you'll die!
It's the ultimate fear behind everything.
You want people to like you... else you won't get their approval, you'll be rejected from society, you'll not be able to earn a living or eat and you'll DIE. You want to get a partner, otherwise you'll end up lonely without anyone to help you and you'll DIE. You want to earn lots of money, otherwise you'll feel humiliated that you haven't reached your goals in life, you'll crumble down, and you'll DIE.
Or however it works for you. Either way...
The FEAR of DEATH is behind EVERY OTHER FEAR.
And once you can release on that fear -- accept it, then let it pass by -- you can begin enjoying an even fuller life than before.
The technique might work for you, and it might not. But it's a fantastic method - and so remember to give it a shot.
The next time you're CONSIDERING doing something positive, but you're a little nervous... consider that the worst that could happen is that you'll DIE.
A couple of weekends ago, I spent my time visiting Conwy in North Wales - and today, I'd like to share a few of my pictures.
Conwy is a fantastic walled town in Caernarfonshire, in the upper parts of Wales. One of it's big attractions is Conwy Castle itself, built by Edward I back in the 1200's.
But more interesting to me is the fact that Conwy is a walled town, meaning it's entirely enclosed within a wall -- a little like York.
You can actually walk up and almost all the way around the wall, as I did....
And hide in it's many little caves, just for fun...
But you must remember, dear American readers -- as I've explained before, although Wales is in the United Kingdom, it's actually a different country to England.
That means all of the signs are in two languages: English and Welsh...
And after walking the wall and eating the finest fish and chips in the world, what's to do next?
Pound-for-pound, Conwy has more ghosts than any other town in the UK -- and I think, when staring at the castle, I might have just seen a few.
That's all from me.
If you're heading around Wales any time soon, try stopping by Conwy. It's small, it's friendly - and within a couple of hours, you'll feel you've lived there all your life.
One quote that has stuck with me, though I can't remember the author, is: "Be nice. Everybody's having a rough time."
Isn't that the truth?
In fact, I bet you've got more than your own fair share on your plate at the moment, right?
Of course you have! :)
But why not still make a little change in the world?
Keep an eye out for those that look low today. And either be extra nice to them, or give them a genuine compliment on something you think they're probably self-conscious about.
If you're like me, you'll find yourself randomly pondering questions such as...
How do I open a bottle of champagne with a sword?
How can you rip a phonebook in half?
How do I keep my balance on a galloping horse?
All of which, I'm sure you'll agree, are quite life's little mysteries.
Well - not anymore.
If you've not discovered wikiHow yet, then check it out at www.wikihow.com. You'll find answers to all of these questions and many more - and today, I'm republishing their tip on curing hiccups.
Enjoy! :)
* * *
How to Cure Hiccups...
Drink Entire Glass of Water While Blocking Both Ears and Nose!
1. Fill to the brim a glass of water.
2. With your thumbs, plug your ears.
3. With your index fingers, plug your nostrils (squeeze to close)
4. With both ears and nostrils plugged, use your remaining free fingers to grasp the glass and raise it to your mouth.
5. Drink the entire glass of water without releasing ears or nostrils.
6. YOU MUST FINISH THE ENTIRE GLASS OF WATER without releasing ears or nostrils!
7. Once empty, gently place the glass on the table and SLOWLY unplug ears and nostrils and take a first breath.
8. Hiccups are gone!
9. IMPORTANT: PLEASE AVOID ATTEMPTING THIS CURE IN THE PRESENCE OF people who will make fun of you and try to make you laugh. DO IT ALONE THE FIRST TIMES and you’ll soon be able to suggest it to your friends and other “unbelievers”.
Yes, paraskevidekatriaphobia. It's incredibly common, you know. It's a condition that will cost businesses throughout the globe between $800-900 million today alone.
What is it?
It's the fear of TODAY... Friday the 13th! :)
Honestly. And that fear is international.
In the UK, a British Medical Journal report recently found that significantly fewer individuals will decide to drive today -- and many will simply stay at home. Yet the probability of being admitted to hospital due to a vehicle accident will rise 50%!
In the US, it's said that 8% of Americans (that's 21 million!) are severely affected by the phobia -- and many simply won't eat out, or settle business deals today. Indeed, almost all American hotels replace floor 13 with floor 12b.
But where did "Friday 13th" as a superstition come from?
Well, it's hard to say.
The number 13 and the "sixth day," Friday, have long been considered bad luck -- however it appears the two were never really paired together until the 1900s.
One popular modern day explanation -- thanks to Dan Brown and his dastardly Da Vinci Code -- is that it was on Friday October 13th 1307 when the Knights Templar were simultaneously arrested in France, on order of King Philip IV.
However, there's a much more likely explanation...
Perhaps the most generally accepted explanation is a little more religious.
It's all connected back to the Last Supper, at which the "thirteenth guest" was Judas -- the great betrayer. And then, of course, there was the crucifixion of Jesus himself -- which occured on a Friday.
And in the 1900s, one smart alec brought these two together -- to create paraskevidekatriaphobia!
This is the first Friday 13th this year, and there's one more coming in July. In 2008, there is just one Friday 13th in June, whilst 2009 brings us a whopping three. (Three is the maximum any one year can statistically have. The minimum is one.)
Also, statistically, the 13th day of any month is actually slightly more likely to be a Friday than any other day of the year. No kidding.
But it's not all doom and gloom.
In Greece and certain Spanish cultures, Tuesday the 13th is considered the unlucky day -- not Friday.
And remember that Friday the 13th is also a time for celebration. It was the birth-day of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, radio presenter Sara Cox... oh, and Fidel Castro.
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you're heading."
Where are you heading right now?
What direction are your habits taking you in?
And if you could change them -- if it was really easy and took absolutely no effort -- then how would you change what you're doing right now?
And why not just DO IT?
Here's a thought that might make it easier.
Maybe all of the chains that are holding you back right now are really completely in your mind. Maybe they don't exist at all. Maybe it's just an imaginary thought.
Just for the moment, let go of all of your thoughts and labels.
Touch the essence of true freedom. And then check the direction you're heading in again.
You've seen him on the Discovery Channel. And if you've even a passing interest in science, you're sure to have read one of his dozen books on everything from time travel to parallel universes.
And now, on Self Dev Radio, Fred has taken time out of his busy speaking schedule to chat with me LIVE about the real world of quantum physics.
Now, these days, the self-development world uses quantum physics to explain everything!
But do your thoughts REALLY create your reality?
Fred actually surprised me with his answers. I was expecting something altogether more "airy-fairy." His responses however were much more down to earth -- and it appears he DOESN'T necessarily believe in the principles behind either of the two movies he starred in.
Want to change your life?
Fred will tell you how to do it. But it might not be quite the way you think.
If you're reading this by e-mail, YOU have just contributed over 2.50 GBP (that's $5!) to help save the lives of starving, abused and homeless dogs and cats.
Each day, my newsletter is syndicated in the Self-Development Newsletter, and many individuals visit directly.
But my DIRECT subscribers really matter the most.
They're the people that signup directly at the www.karlblog.com site.
Currently, 571 individuals receive my messages each day...
And so this week, for EVERY SUBSCRIBER, I've personally donated over 2.50 GBP of my own money to purchase essentials for poorly abused, neglected, and near-death cats and dogs in the north east of England.
I'm talking about animals that would be PUT DOWN within DAYS... If they're not helped out.
Today, you might've just saved a life.
To ensure the cats and dogs received ALL of the benefit, myself and my family literally went down to the pet stores ourselves -- where we cleared the shelves buying almost 1500 GBP (that's $3000) worth of essential food, AND plenty of extra treats and toys to make life more enjoyable.
We delivered everything to three local charities on Saturday -- and the animals are already feeling the benefit.
Now, that must be the easiest Random Act of Kindness yet! :)
Want to help spread the magic a little further?
Please pass details of this blog onto a friend -- and let's increase the number of Random Acts of Kindness in the world!
Or considering paying your $5 forward...
* * *
And now... a few fun pictures!
I never quite realized just how much 1500 GBP ($3000) of dog and cat food actually was!
Here are my parents, and my sister Jo, working hard to organize supplies!
And just in case you thought I didn't do anything...
Unfortunately, our own boxer dog Jack, got a little carrier-bagged away!
He thought he'd reached Doggie Heaven when all that food came trundling down the driveway...
However, despite his attempted getaway, he was soon repremanded.
Well, you saw the video Friday Factoid yesterday, where I explained the meaning behind the word codswallop...
Now WIN the Codd bottle itself!
It's a cheesy competition, partly in celebration of the new course from Nick Daws - How to Win Contests - and it's EASY to win.
Just complete the following tie-breaker:
"I love reading Karl's Blog because..."
Humorous entries and slick ditties please. Send them to me at karl@karlmoore.com and make sure you put the phrase "Karl Moore Competition" in the subject line so that it gets past the spam filter.
I'll choose a winner last thing on Monday April 9th!
In today's Friday Factoid, I'm on location in at the Betws-y-Coed waterfalls, where I have all the answers!
Simply click the play button to watch the video. If you're reading this by e-mail, visit the site at www.karlblog.com to view my first video blog entry!
If you get one of these, make sure you tell me about it! Who knows how quickly these can spread around the world...
Also... Marie-Louise Cook has been in touch from Personal Success magazine. Apparently the publication is going to do a profile on me! Wow :o
I've done a number of interviews before, but never really focusing on the self-development side. I'm extremely grateful for whoever put me forward for that ;)
How many times have you gone to a party, thinking it was going to be terrible...
... And it was?
How many times have you gotten out of bed, with the sun shining, and decided it's going to be a great day...
... And it was?
It's no coincidence.
The simple fact is that...
Intention sets direction.
If you decide something will be a particular way, all of the "programming" in your mind changes to make it so. If you have an intention of enjoying yourself, your mind will use that "program" to help see the world.
So, here's a challenge.
For the next couple of days, do EVERYTHING with INTENTION.
Let me repeat that one more time.
Over the next couple of days, do EVERYTHING with INTENTION.
When you wake up, have the intention of having a great day. When you arrive home, have an intention of making your partner feel loved. When you go to that party, have an intention of having a great time.
See what happens.
I'm betting that your intention will set your direction.
It's not rocket science.
As Lester Levenson used to say... "Don't believe a word I say. Take it for checking!"
Try it out for yourself. Take it for checking. See if it works for you.
