The next great adventure

Some people dream death will be the next great adventure.  Where we go and what we do is not something many human beings know much about.  The desire to discuss it doesn't imply we should rush that transition.  People of different belief systems have different ideas about how to commemorate the life of a deceased friend or loved one. Some people will celebrate and others will mourn the loss.  Still others, would like no memory to be created in any shape or form.

One of the ways people can determine how well they know each other and themselves while alive is to ask people close to them to guess what they would like in an obituary, on an epitaph, in terms of a funeral or burial. These subjects aren't necessarily morbid, especially with the practicality of pre-paid funeral packages becoming increasingly popular in some countries.  In fact, the nature and depth of discussion may reveal how much or how little you really know about someone.  This realisation may prompt you to deepen relationships in the time you have.

It's interesting to notice the nature of feelings evoked inside you by the subject of such a discussion.  Do you fear bringing the topic up at all? Might you think discussing it would invite death to happen prematurely? Other people assume the practical side and early preparation makes sense.  Yet, how well do you think you know people you care about? Would your choices to commemorate their life be what these people really want? It may be good to discuss it early.   

Change your focus

If you start making excuses for why you aren't doing things you wish to do, then what you're really saying is that you don't have the necessary confidence in your resourcefulness.  Why not take time to concentrate on developing ingenuity instead?

Whenever you exert effort to explain what you're not doing, you're taking energy away from what you could be doing.  if you value your time, then you'll learn to rethink your priorities.  After all, if you're serious about moving toward certain things, then you only stop yourself.

In order to evolve into what you feel destined to do, it will be necessary to leave what you know behind.  The key is to learn to examine your thoughts, emotions and mindset and learn to understand why these are the platforms that catapult you forward or drag you backwards.

Have you ever thought that many of the people who are considered the most successful have actually experienced some of the most difficult and gut-wrenching life phases? The reason they can become so motivated and inspired is because they have proven they can overcome their obstacles.  They realize that controlling their thoughts and emotions is key to moving ahead.

Positive thinking is a frame of mind which Anthony Robbins promotes in his seminars, foundation projects and other pursuits.  Why is it do you think he has become so financially-successful and so many people seek his guidance?

As a child, he learned how to deal with being abandoned by his father.  Anthony knew what it was like to feel hungry.  He suffered through poverty, adult obesity, low- esteem, living the life of an adulterer and the hardship of divorce.  During his early career, he had a business partner who stole huge sums of money from his growing business.  He experienced uncertainty and chose in court and in front of crowds.  He desired to turn his life around for the better.  He intended positive change and invited that in. 

People like Anthony Robbins remind us that we all have choices.  Our life view begins with how we perceive ourselves and our potential. We can change our focus.  We can learn to udnerstand our emotions and decide with certainty that we will survive difficulties and learn meanignful lessons.  Each of us may crave significance.  We have the power to create this feeling inside ourselves before anyone else will value us.  We define love and can exert efforts to grow and enrich thelives of others.  As we encourage and help others, we also promote lasting connections that strengthen outselves from within more than we realize.  This is our inner power to transform.

Live like a fictional character?

Some readers live vicariously through the lives of fictional characters, and become avid followers of particular authors' works. You may choose to read a book series based on characters whose adventures continue in different places and circumstances. How do your dreams and ideas about life evolve based on creating a friendship with such characters?

Some readers even identify closely with the experiences and lessons of characters. What about your frame of mind? As you read more titles in a series, do you consider how the author works? What does the author change? How does the author and the protagonist keep drawing readers? Consider these central characters found in series of books. How do you relate to them (or others)?

1) James Bond (author: Ian Flemming)
2) Dirk Pitt (author: Clive Cussler)
3) Harry Potter (author: J.K. Rowling)
4) Miss Jane Marple (author: Agatha Christie)
5) Mma Ramotswe (author: Alexander McCall Smith)
6) Kat Scarpetta (author: Patricia Cromwell)
7) The Hardy Boys (author: Franklin W. Dixon)
8) Sherlock Holmes (author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
9) Indiana Jones (author: Rob Macgregor)
10) Lara Croft (author: Mike Resnick)
11) Judy Bolton (author: Margaret Sutton)
12) John Terrence Clark (author: Tom Clancy)
13) Rama (author: Arthur C. Clarke)
14) Lemony Snickett (author: Daniel Handler)
15) Anne of Green Gables (author: Lucy Maud Montgomery)

To believe or not to believe

The idea of believing in guardian angels is reassuring in the midst of life's unfolding events.  It can be so tempting to give into reasons for discouragement and despair, to permit negative feelings to control your mind.  Yet, its not necessary.  More and more people are realizing another way.  This is how each person can positively change the world, one person and one step at a time.

A Fox News poll has determined more than nine in 10 Americans (91%) believe in God and almost as many believe in heaven (87%). In addition, 84% say they believe in miracles and 79% in angels.  This high percentage reflects a general hopefulness about positive things that aren't very easily explained.  Why would people prefer to believe in positive unknowns rather than negative unknowns? Increasing numbers of people are learning the power of attraction to invite and intend what may appear to be Divine intervention.  To behave as if positive events unfold can bring them.

In terms of the dark side, about three-quarters of Americans (74%) say they believe in hell and two-thirds in the devil (67 %).  At the same time, the above figures reveal that more people choose to believe in having friends in Higher places.  If people believe in both positive and negative myths or ideas, then the positive seems to become more of a pre-occupation. Would you consider this to be a symptom of a trend in increasing faith in spirituality? Does this touch on the popular Secret?

How can you choose not to believe in angels? What reasons would you have to believe or not to believe in things you cannot see?

Oil crisis

Do you dream of your life remaining as it is? A large part of planet Earth has come to depend on fossil fuels, for everything from synthetic clothing and shoes, paints and plastics to gas for heat and motor transportation.  An increasing controversy is linked to the actual quantity of remaining oil reserves.  How long we can continue living as we do before they're depleated? What would happen to life as we know it as we run out of oil?

Conventional experts suggest we have 30 years.  A large group of experts think we only have three.  Are we about to hit the oil crisis? Some experts believe by 2010, people will be shocked by oil prices.  Are they simply doomsday naysayers? Many practising petroleum industry professionals in big oil companies are in this camp. They fear the growing Asian petroleum product markets and the voracious demand that could become greater than modern levels western consumption.

Exxon Mobil (ESSO) is the largest oil company in the world. They employ over 20,000 scientists to investigate and follow the level of oil resources.  Exxon experts believe we have we have lots of time to develop alternatives (up to 60 years).  All oil fields make their way toward peak oil, but Exxon claims improving technology would supposedly enable the extraction of additional billions of barrels of oil.

How have we allowed our lives to become so dependent on cheap oil?  It takes 6 barrels of oil to bring one cow to market.  Can you begin to speculate on the amount of oil that is used daily to bring products to diverse international markets? The amount is astonishing.  Consider shipping, air freight, trucking, trains and other means of transport. Who stops to think that oil is a finite resource?

For a more personal approach, do you take what you eat and do in your life for granted? People in leading financial institutions and growing numberrs of retirees all assume they can continue to invest into oil in stock markets into the 21st century.  How many people are already thinking outside that box? Would you be one of them? Shouldn't we plan ahead differently to avoid real crisis?

I received a 12 minute Internet video about the imminent depleating of oil.  According to this international research piece, the world uses ~84 million barrels per day. The biggest find in the recent past was back in the 1970s in the north sea.  Most finds these days don't produce more than 50 million barrels (total). The big question is when will we reach half depleation in the world (half oil)?

The US reached peak oil in 1971, the UK (with its North Sea oil) in 1999 and Australia peaked in 2000.  Other places are less easy to pinpoint.  The Middle East provides 1/4 of the world's oil and refuse to permit other people in to verify how much oil they have.  In the 1980s, some places in the Middle East quoted figures that doubled, and other places published the same figures as if oil reserves hadn't depleated.  investigate the current state of reserves is unknown.

This is when  People don't understand the underlying causes of increasing oil prices.  You can slow the decline, but you can't stop it.  Can you imagine of people lining up for days to fill your tank? What about the people who suddenly wouldn't be able to heat their houses? Nobody can think of alternative fuel for airplanes. Its all about how we can get in an alternative infrastructure in place after the crisis hits.  Countries have plans for terrorist attacks and environmental crises, but where is the plan to assist societies to compensate adequately in their lives for peak oil? Consider what you can do to change your lifestyle to plan ahead.