Monday, August 31, 2009

Happily Ever After

Happiness is an interesting topic. It seems we are always talking about the "pursuit" of it. That makes it seem very elusive. Or the "journey." But happiness is not a destination. Noone lives Happily ever after. Even the most happy people will experience moments of unhappiness. But I think Happiness is a habit.



I read a book about cultivating the habit of happiness and it is a guide to making the most of every situation, and looking for the good stuff. An optimist can always find something good in any event, and a pessimist can always find something negative in any event. Optimism is also considered a habit by Martin Seligman, in his book Learned Optimism.



But what is happiness? Is it an emotion? If so, all emotions are fleeting. They do not have a long life, unless we keep nourishing them.

Which emotion do you want to nourish in your own life? It is a choice. We have control over our thoughts. We can learn and practice optimism. If you need help with this contact your local hypnotist.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Angel Babies Book Review

I just read an amazing book by someone I know personally, Patricia McGivern. Patti is a hypnotist who has an office in Dunedin, FL. Her specialty is past life regression and she has written a book called, Angel Babies, Messages from Miscarried and Other Lost Babies. It is a very moving book about a very personal subject. It will definitely make you cry and may challenge your beliefs about the afterlife and reincarnation. It challenged my beliefs, and yet I have to accept the book as true, because I know Patti and I know she was writing from her own spiritual experiences. She also includes correspondence from other parents, psychics, authors and doctors.

Patti is an excellent writer and I'm glad she shared her spiritual experiences in this exceptional book! This book is definitely a gift to parents everywhere. Thank you, Patti!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Cheerfulness

Call me Mary Sunshine, I am in a good mood today and want to spread encouragement to everyone I encounter today!


So here is something repeated from an email I got today:


Your cheerfulness is a sparkling spring of joy that overflows into every neighboring mind and heart. What a priceless gift your cheerfulness is. You have the power to effect a positive change in your world and the people within it. Your cheerfulness will affect both you, the giver, as well as, the receiver. You can begin by being a giver of good cheer, and then, it will return to you multiplied (many times). Your cheerful attitude is reflected in your smile and in everything you say and do. You follow up every smile with positive uplifting words. Your words have a greater effect on people than you realize.
At times, in the past, we may have been so involved in our own lives that we spoke without considering the feelings of others. Realizing that this has happened in the past helps us in working to improve our communication. You take time to laugh deeply and share the deep laughs of others.
In James 1:19, our Bible states, "Know this, my beloved children. Let every human be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger." We back up our cheerfulness with a caring attitude that begins withlistening instead of talking. When we listen to others, we give a wonderful gift. We pay attention to what they're saying, but we are also alert to the feelings behind their words. If we "hear" loneliness or pain, we offer our cheerful countenance of friendship and offer words of support and encouragement. We ask God to guide our words and actions. Cheerfulness is a learned habit (!). The more we view our relationships with a cheerful attitude, the more solid, lifelong friendships are made manifest in our lives.

I can't take credit for this, I am not so knowledgeable about the Bible. This is from Chris Chenowith, Positive Christianity.

What's the difference between happiness and cheerfulness? I think a person can be cheerful even if they are not happy. And people can be happy without being cheerful. More to follow...

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Thought for today

I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time. - Anna Freud

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Hotmail Hijacked by Spyware!

After I told a friend of mine about the email-hacking event that happened just a little more than 24 hours ago, he recommended that I get a program to detect and eliminate spyware. I used Spyware Terminator, which is available as a free download, and it appears to have worked.

In addition to that, I changed my pasword and secret question from 2 different computers, twice. It was recommended I change them by MSN Live Support. They did not mention using another computer, but I was afraid if someone got my password from my home computer, then they would know if I changed it from the same computer.

I think this event has made me a lot more paranoid. I have always enjoyed email and Internet browsing, and recently, I discovered Twitter. Well, before I shut down my computer 2 nights ago, I tweeted and checked out some of my follower's pages and websites. Then I decided I needed to send an email to the members of the TBNGH, so I sent a group email notifying them of upcoming meetings. Then I shut off the computer and went to bed. In the morning I was horrified to find a bunch of messages in my inbox saying that delivery had failed to some of my recipients. It seems the unscrupulous fiend had sent at least 20 messages with about 250 illegally obtained addresses step by step from my email address book starting with A and getting to about J or K before reaching my maximum!

Needless to say I was shocked and horrified. And even more horrified when I started getting unpleasant messages from people on my list requesting that I lose their address and never send them junk like this again. Even my Uncle sent an inquiry as to what was the meaning of this?

You can see the message in the previous blog entry.

I am wondering how to apologize to the people on my list. I really feel bad. I am so outraged, I want to spam that guy who did this to me! I wish I knew the best way to do that, but I afraid that any electronic communication could be dangerous and I don't want to have my reputation compromised again. So I have taken every step possible that I know of to prevent a future recurrence of this. I have received a similar message from another online shopping marketing genius who hacked a friend's email address and sent almost incomprehensible messages. I replied to her, sending the original message and she said other people had gotten the same thing and it said it was from her. I have gotten that same message 3 times from her email address. Now I know how it happened.

Or maybe not. I have to link this with Twitter, so I will not be tweeting on a daily basis. I will probably post a tweet about this blog entry, but only after I have closed the browser that I opened hotmail with.

It's a shame. The Internet can be so much fun, especially the social networks. It's too bad there are sharks out there. All I can say is be careful!

And I apologize if you received this illegal and illiterate message saying it was from me.