Simplicity With Money Works!

Some people say we are in a recession and some people say we are headed towards a depression. However, no matter where the economy ends up, unfortunately, most people are living the "American dream" paycheck to paycheck and that has created problems for many. With downsizing, reengineering, economic slowdown and everything else wrong with the economy, wouldn't it be nice to have a life of simplicity?

What is simplicity? Webster's Dictionary defines simplicity as "freedom from complexity, absence of luxury, or a simple state of quality." Most American's lives have become very complex, because they have given themselves a false sense of security by not using common sense to manage and spend their money.

Simplicity is a way of thinking and doing things--it's a way of life!

It doesn't matter how much money you make or do not make. Simplicity is a way to improve the quality of your life while making headway toward your financial goals. So how do you move towards simplicity? Simplicity is getting back to the basics of what's important in life. For example:

* spending quality time with your family, kids, and friends

* watching a good comedy eating popcorn at home

* lying in bed reading a good book

* having a quiet picnic in the park

* walking on the beach

* going to a free concert on the waterfront

* having time to hug your child

* setting aside time to just "think"

* letting people know you love them, and

* taking some time for you

That's right, simplicity is FREE--it doesn't cost you a penny! Simplicity says bigger isn't always better, newer isn't always nicer, and more isn't always more desirable. It's being content with the little pleasures in life. The Bible says Godliness with contentment is much gain. Simplicity is a hidden treasure that can determine the way you think, spend, and respect your money!

Debt is the opposite of simplicity! Debt causes a lot of pain, stress, sleepless nights, and can ruin the best of relationships. Debt says live a materialistic life, have expensive do-dads you can't afford to maintain, work 60 hours per week, live paycheck to paycheck, have no time for your spouse or kids, have a car payment as high as a mortgage, and have a closet full of designer clothes you can't afford to clean.

Simplicity says get the house, car, clothes, or bike I can afford, start to save for the future, stop trying to impress family and friends, and be willing to make small sacrifices in order to have a better financial future. Simplicity allows you to stop, look, and listen to your mind, heart, and spirit. It gets rid of the clutter in your life and replaces it with personal and financial freedom.

Today you have a choice? You can choose the complex life that debt affords you or choose to go back to the simplicities of life that brings freedom. I've chosen freedom, will you?

Blogging is "hot" right? And yet there are so many online businesses today being ruined because of the blog.

Whatever article you read, whichever website or forum you visit, you will read or hear about the benefits of setting up a blog and its advantages over using traditional static websites.

And, I gotta tell you, "I'm one of those proponents!"

But what I see all too often is bloggers sabotaging their online business because of their mindset about blogs and blogging.

You see, I believe there is a general consensus amongst marketers new to the Internet that if something is inexpensive, if something is said to be easier, then it means that it doesn't have to be "worked." And then the other side of the coin is that if "I have paid thousands of dollars to get my site built then the "workings" are surely included!"

So whether people have gone through the process of setting up a simple blog or spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to have an all singing and all dancing blog built for them, they then feel they can do very little to market it, only to be surprised and disappointed later on that no one is visiting their blog, no one is signing up to their newsletter or blog updates and certainly no one is buying their products and services or clicking their AdSense ads.

But it's not all doom and gloom ... The great thing about blog marketing is that by mixing some solid business principles with a few marketing strategies, you can get back on track to get more traffic, build your list, sell more products and attract more clients and, this can all happen in a relatively short period of time.

Here is 1 principle and 3 simple strategies that you can apply to your blog marketing and promotion efforts today that will start bringing you traffic and building your readership in a matter of weeks, if not days...

First, here is the principle:

"You Have To Start Thinking Of Building An Online Business And Not Of Building A Blog."

If you think in terms of building a blog, this is where you'll stop.

If you think of building a business, you'll be attracted to business ideas that will help you promote and market your blog and, attract the RIGHT kind of clients.

What you want to avoid is falling into the trap of creating "form over substance." In other words, the strategies you apply, must be grounded and backed up by principles and, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the writer, said that if you try to apply methods but ignore principles, you are sure to have trouble.

So with that basic principle of "thinking" business building, let me cover 3 strategies that will help endorse the principle so you start making money with your blog:

1) Theme your blog. You cannot be all things to all people since you'll end up serving no one. So the first thing you need to do, is decide "what" your blog is going to be about, "who" it will help and, ask yourself "why" people need your information.

This will help you narrow your niche before you even start spending your precious time on writing elevator speeches and thinking of the perfect strap line.

What you now need to do is go into the admin area of you blog and, since I use WordPress, I will use this as an example ... you need to ensure that both the "Weblog Title" and the "Tagline" of your blog reflect what your blog is about.

And ensure they BOTH include your site's overall keyword or key phrase. So, if your blog is about Dog Training, but your domain name is CruftsRUs.com (a made up name), instead of using the domain name in your blog title as so many bloggers do, you could write "Dog Training With Crufts" or something creative that grabs the eye of your human readers but also attracts the search engine spiders.

Now, when the search engines come to crawl your blog, this is the first thing they will see ... a title that reflects the keywords or phrase that people are searching for online.

2) Write regular "quality" blog posts and ensure you've activated your Pinging or Update Services in your blog admin area.

This is where many bloggers trip up. They want a blog, but only want to add a blog post every two months because they just don't have time to blog ... and believe me, I've fallen into the same trap. But if you understand how blogs work, I think it will help you understand just how important it is to update your blog on a regular basis.

For a quick overview on how blogs work, you can go to my article entitled How Blogs Work.

In my view, if you don't have time to blog - especially if your blog is your main marketing tool - what you are essentially saying is that you don't have time to build your business.

3) Comment on other people's blogs.

It takes just a few minutes to make a comment on other people's blog posts, but ensure you write something of value and not just "great article ... thanks!"

If you write something of value, you will get people clicking on the link that will take them to your blog and, in some instances you'll get backlinks to your blog which, Google loves. And you never know, you may even gain some new clients from this relatively simple exercise.

By implementing these simple strategies and, thinking in terms of business building you no longer have to let your blog ruin your online business.

You'll also notice a significant difference in your blog traffic over days, weeks and months which will then put you in the advantageous position of being able to monetize your blog traffic.

Trish Jones, aka The Blogging Queen, will take you by the hand and and show you the exact steps necessary to build, market and attract more clients with your blog. Find out more by visiting http://www.theblognetreporter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trish_A_Jones

What is Meditation - How to Meditate

Meditation is a group of mental training techniques .You can use meditation to improve mental health and capacities, and also to help improve the physical health. Some of these techniques are very simple, so you can learn them from a book or an article; others require guidance by a qualified meditation teacher.

WHAT IS MEDITATION

Most techniques called meditation include these components:

1. You sit or lie in a relaxed position.

2. You breathe regularly. You breathe in deep enough to get enough oxygen. When you breathe out, you relax your muscles so that your lungs are well emptied, but without straining.

3. You stop thinking about everyday problems and matters.

4. You concentrate your thoughts upon some sound, some word you repeat, some image, some abstract concept or some feeling. Your whole attention should be pointed at the object you have chosen to concentrate upon.

5. If some foreign thoughts creep in, you just stop this foreign thought, and go back to the object of meditation.

The different meditation techniques differ according to the degree of concentration, and how foreign thoughts are handled. By some techniques, the objective is to concentrate so intensely that no foreign thoughts occur at all.

In other techniques, the concentration is more relaxed so that foreign thoughts easily pop up. When these foreign thoughts are discovered, one stops these and goes back to the pure meditation in a relaxed manner. Thoughts coming up, will often be about things you have forgotten or suppressed, and allow you to rediscover hidden memory material. This rediscovery will have a psychotherapeutic effect.

THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION

Meditation has the following effects:

1. Meditation will give you rest and recreation.

2. You learn to relax.

3. You learn to concentrate better on problem solving.

4. Meditation often has a good effect upon the blood pressure.

5. Meditation has beneficial effects upon inner body processes, like circulation, respiration and digestion.

6. Regular meditation will have a psychotherapeutically effect.

7. Regular meditation will facilitate the immune system.

8. Meditation is usually pleacent.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION

Hypnosis may have some of the same relaxing and psychotherapeutic effects as meditation. However, when you meditate you are in control yourself; by hypnosis you let some other person or some mechanical device control you. Also hypnosis will not have a training effect upon the ability to concentrate.

A SIMPLE FORM OF MEDITATION

Here is a simple form of meditation:

1. Sit in a good chair in a comfortable position.

2. Relax all your muscles as well as you can.

3. Stop thinking about anything, or at least try not to think about anything.

4. Breath out, relaxing all the muscles in your breathing apparatus.

5. Repeat the following in 10 - 20 minutes:

-- Breath in so deep that you feel you get enough oxygen.

-- Breath out, relaxing your chest and diaphragm completely.

-- Every time you breathe out, think the word "one" or another simple word inside yourself. You should think the word in a prolonged manner, and so that you hear it inside you, but you should try to avoid using your mouth or voice.

6. If foreign thoughts come in, just stop these thoughts in a relaxed manner, and keep on concentrating upon the breathing and the word you repeat.

As you proceed through this meditation, you should feel steadily more relaxed in your mind and body, feel that you breathe steadily more effectively, and that the blood circulation throughout your body gets more efficient. You may also feel an increasing mental pleasure throughout the meditation.

THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION UPON DISEASES

As any kind of training, meditation may be exaggerated so that you get tired and worn out. Therefore you should not meditate so long or so concentrated that you feel tired or mentally emptied.

Meditation may sometimes give problems for people suffering from mental diseases, epilepsy, serious heart problems or neurological diseases. On the other hand, meditation may be of help in the treatment of these and other conditions.

People suffering from such conditions should check out what effects the different kinds of meditation have on their own kind of health problems, before beginning to practise meditation, and be cautious if they choose to begin to meditate. It may be wise to learn meditation from an experienced teacher, psychologist or health worker that use meditation as a treatment module for the actual disease.

http://www.panteraconsulting.com/salg2.htm