INTERNET BACKLASH

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of online discussion of the benefits and disadvantages of being online and Social Media, and I figured I may as well put my two cents' worth in.

First of all, I was very impressed with the series of blog commentaries made by one of The New Yorker's top writers, George Packer, which you can link to in this article and also click on a podcast discussing the topic and go to the New York Times article that stirred him up in the first place.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/02/twitter-a-conversation.html

Then, just this morning, my dear friend, Dr. Mary Ann Somervill, sent me the following, which got me to thinking in a new way about this subject.

http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4016

I particularly liked this comment in the second paragraph of the second story, Be The Change:

We inhabit a world, he says, in which there are "no edges to our jobs" and "no limit to the potential information that can help us do our jobs better."

We all know that children need boundaries in order to feel safe and comfortable and thrive.

But we adults do too. And computers and the Internet have removed some of these traditional boundaries.

So, in a new world in which we have access to millions of new connections, we can use technology to be less connected. And in a new world filled with an overwhelming assortment of new conveniences, life can become more inconvenient. And it's all about "fuzziness", the lack of edges, not only to our jobs, but to every aspect of our lives.

In the past, this had been a challenge mainly for the suddenly rich. Such a person would find themselves flooded with so many more options and choices that choosing became a major activity. And those who didn't take this aspect of their new lives seriously ended up burnt out, dysfunctional, perhaps even addicted.

And now that we all are inundated with the riches of online life, we too are flooded and have to spend more time making selective decisions. And it can be a daunting task. A wonderful time to be alive, for sure, but not if we ignore the risks of becoming less human and much more fuzzy.

Oops, time to close this post, check my emails, order some books from Amazon.com, check my balance at Wells Fargo online, do my daily posts on Facebook and Twitter, and tune into a webinar.

Jerry

Speaking of choosing your input, you might find my latest post at my prosperity blog, www.MoneyloveBlog.com, interesting on the subject of Moneylove Mind Mix.

FAVORITE QUOTES--MAKE THEM YOUR OWN

So on one of my Google Searches on my name, I found two of many quotes of mine that appear frequently online--with a big and essential difference. Appearing on http://www.cashwithatrueconscience.com

No News Is Good News

by Ryan Biddulph

Today’s Headlines

From cnn.com ‘Man sought whose wife, 5 children killed’

‘Terror suspect: Phone call is being monitored’

‘State-run media: Yemeni military’

‘Ex-stripper says priest fathered child’

‘Stricter punishments for passengers behaving badly’

See why I don’t watch the news?

What Good Does The News Do You?

Consider this quote by Jerry Gillies from ‘The MoneyLove Manifesto’:

‘If it doesn’t bring me profit, pleasure, or knowledge, it isn’t worth doing.’

Does reading the news serve you? Try going a week without picking up a newspaper. See how ‘lost’ you’ll be. I’ve heard the ‘head in the sand’ argument. I’d rather have my head in the sand than inhaling toxic fumes. The news thrives on negativity. Fear sells. Stories must be tailored to hit the target audience. This is why positive articles are buried on the last page. The general public thrives on negativity. It gives them something to worry about. The news is mental junkfood. Cut it out of your diet. Any other former news junkies out there who’ve made the decision to go cold turkey?

and I also found this link http://inspired-spirit.blogspot.com/2010/01/you-will-recognize-your-own-path-when.html

The above is a site called Inspirational Quotes Explained, and featured the following:

You will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need” Jerry Gillies

I am sure you are aware of how your energy levels change, depending on what you are doing. Are you doing something you enjoy, your level of energy will be high and you will get a lot done. Are you doing something that you do not enjoy so much, both your energy level and productivity will be down. So, as you go about figuring out what your path is in this life, pay attention to what you REALLY enjoy doing.
I can guarantee you that your path is NOT to be doing something that you do not enjoy.
I am not sure where the imagination fits into this, but I will take a stab at it: When you are doing something that you enjoy, you are likely to come up with lots of ideas on how to improve what you are doing or how to reach your goal.

So what's my point? Well, right now if you search my name on Google, or Yahoo, or MSN, you will find thousands of mentions of dozens of quotes by me. And the same is true on Twitter. But just the quote itself appears. The above two examples are what I consider to be a more creative, effective, and interesting approach--to take a quote and expound and expand on it. A parrot can just repeat a single sentence, it doesn't take any real thought or imagination. But to give your own take on an inspiring idea is to make use of it, to absorb and process it, exercising your brain, and making it your own. And it doesn't have to be the ultimate in wisdom, perception, or analysis--just tell what it means to you and what in your life it relates to. Don't fall into the current trend of just being a repeating parrot--in other words, a birdbrain.

Jerry

FROM MONEYLOVE--ANOTHER PROSPERITY TALE

In the preceding post, we look at the trade-offs one has to make in some life situations. The story reminded me of one, with a similar moral, that I had in Moneylove. Interestingly enough, both stories are set on a boat, though I think I prefer the fisherman fable as it provides more elaborate detail. I like it so much, in fact, that I am seriously considering putting it in the revised and annotated edition of Moneylove right after the earlier story. Here then, is that story:

The well-known literary agent Paul Reynolds tells of a boat trip he took at the age of twenty-one. He met an elderly, distinguished-looking gentleman on the boat.

The older man asked him what his aspirations in life were, and Paul responded, "To make as much money as possible."

To this the elderly gentleman replied, "Oh, I can tell you how to make a lot of money."

Paul said, "Tell me."

And the man said, "All you have to do is find a town somewhere in America that is growing. There are plenty of them. Find a job in that town, any job. And immediately start investing 10 percent of your earnings in real estate in that town. In thirty or forty years, you'll be guaranteed a fortune!"

Well, that sounded pretty simple, so Paul asked the man, "Did you do it?"

And the man responded, "No. It wasn't worth it."

That story appears in the chapter entitled Worklove and is used to illustrate the importance of doing work you love, work you can be passionate about, work that brings its own reward in the simple doing of it. Anything else is never worth it.

Jerry

PROSPERITY WISDOM IN A GREAT MODERN FABLE

One of my Facebook friends, Paul Sutherland, passed this story on as a FB post, and I really like it and think it has an important message for all of us.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"Then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty or twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral is: Know where you're going in life ... you may already be there.

Jerry

For a lot more on prosperity and my Moneylove philosophy, check out my other blog at www.MoneyloveBlog.com

ARE WE HAVING PUN YET?

Well, some people love puns and some people hate them. I sort of fall in between--there are some that just make me groan, and others that make me appreciate the wit and the cleverness behind them. As a sometimes gagwriter for several magazine cartoonists, I have even resorted to the comic form. I think I mentioned in an earlier post one of my biggest successes in this area of expression. It was when I worked at the all-news radio station, KYW in Philadelphia. We newsmen had to write our own headlines and then they had to be approved by the editor. We tried to get all sorts of silly headlines past the editor, and one that did receive approval to go on the air was the one I wrote on the occasion of the death of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam. I wrote:

"There is sadness in the Ho house tonight."

Though approved by the editor, I did not actually use it on my broadcast. I remember the colleague who laughed the loudest was Andrea Mitchell, who went on to fame and fortune and marriage to Alan Greenspan.

Another pun I wrote was for a stand-up act I tried out at the world's first comedy club, The Improvisation in New York. It was: "There's a new book out that's sure to become a classic--it is composed of charts showing sexual assaults throughout the U.S., and is titled, The Graphs Of Rape."

So I got this group of puns this morning from Rupa Cousins, and if you haven't seen them, you might get a chuckle or two:

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blown-a-part.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet

writes inverse.

(Just tried for the umpteenth time to line the above pun up, but it just wants to have its own way with its own margins, so I give up. Maybe the ghost of a dead poet is having fun with me.)

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .

I think my favorite is "non-prophet organization."

And what are you doing to bring more fun into your life this new year

and new decade?

Jerry

On a more serious note, check out my prosperity blog at www.MoneyloveBlog.com

WHAT GOOD STUFF EMBARRASSES YOU?

Well, as usual, I often go meandering off on a tangent when observing something that evokes totally different responses in most other people--it's one of those things I most enjoy about my strange and wonderful mind, and sometimes even my weird, warped sense of humor.

For example, I looked at the following video posted on Facebook by my old friend Andy Santosha Milberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAQrsA3m8Bg&feature=player_embedded

So what we have here is a film about an activist trying to make a statement, and the reaction of the audience he is trying to reach. And what I think about is how embarrassing it would be if this was a friend of mine doing this and I happened to be with him. In that moment, it would not be about my appreciating his courage and his passion, but about my discomfort. I think we all secretly admire people who are willing to put themselves out there, even to make possible fools of themselves, or to confront authority and the status quo in ways we might not have the chutzpah to do. It's almost embarrassing just to watch the video. I kept waiting for something terrible to happen--his arrest, someone taking a baseball bat to him and his megaphone, or a more usual YouTube conclusion, a dog walking up and peeing on him in the middle of his statement. Maybe deep down we almost want this kind of performance to end badly, thus justifying our own unwillingess to stand up and shout out what we feel and believe. I even had the flash of a thought that some of the disciples of Jesus may have been embarrassed when he insisted on talking to large crowds of people about very provocative subjects.

And then I remember way back when and how my former colleague, psychologist Carole Altman, would put herself out there and often embarrass me--but at the same time thrill, awaken, and inspire me. One time we were on a late evening flight, and she got up and introduced herself to the other passengers and within a few minutes had some of them sitting in the middle of the aisle in an impromptu encounter group. In her company, I never knew when she would approach a stranger and tell or ask them something outrageous. And it almost always worked in terms of creating a great experience, even for me, the innocent and somewhat embarrassed bystander. I've had the thought that if I could somehow get over whatever inhibitions prevent me from doing the kinds of things she did, or the man in the video is doing, I would create a lot more of what I want in my life. In her company, whatever I was experiencing, an airplane ride, a meal in a restaurant, a party, even running one of our old Together Circle workshops together, would be richer, fuller, more fun, and just uncomfortable enough to make a difference.

The same is true of a few other friends of mine I can reflect on, who put themselves out there in a dynamic way. Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hansen, Pam Lontos--all powerful speakers and motivators in whose company I have sometimes felt embarrassed or discomforted, and then amazed at the rewarding results they produce by this behavior.

So one suggestion I have for myself and you, as I think about all this, is to, sometime in the next month, put ourselves out there in some way that is uncomfortable and risky. Ask someone something you want to know but have never had the nerve to ask. Approach someone about something you have avoided for fear of rejection. Do something that is totally out of your comfort zone. It can be simple. It can even be silly. How about announcing, in a crowded elevator, "I want to thank you all for riding with me on my elevator." C'mon, use your imaginations.

Jerry

Don't forget to check out my other blog at www.MoneyloveBlog.com

SO HOW'S YOUR NEW MILLENNIUM GOING SO FAR?

There are things that the first ten days of this new year can tell you about how the entire year is going to turn out, at least if you keep doing what you've been doing. First off, I have been suggesting that it might be useful to consider this second decade of The New Millennium as the real beginning of that epoch. And, yes, that's the first time I've ever used epoch in a sentence. I used it and then went and checked Merriam-Webster:

1 a : an event or a time marked by an event that begins a new period or development b : a memorable event or date
2 a : an extended period of time usually characterized by a distinctive development or by a memorable series of events b : a division of geologic time less than a period and greater than an age
3 : an instant of time or a date selected as a point of reference (as in astronomy)

Well, I think the beginning of 2010 qualifies. And really, who decides these things? We do with our human invention, the calendar. And whether or not you want to imagine it as a do over of The New Millennium, it is still a marker, a milestone, a chance for a fresh start, a reawakening, a new perspective. And if you choose to ignore that whole idea of new beginnings in a new year, then that too says something about you and your willingness to take the opportunity for serious change in your life.

So has anything momentous happened in my first ten days of the new year? Not really, nor was I expecting it. I see this as a time for preparation. In fact, I am giving myself the first ninety days of 2010 to get ready for the next phase of my life. Part of it has begun with my first prosperity coaching sessions. And a series of meetings this week with an entrepreneur who has hired me as a consultant for his new coaching center on the East coast. And I am in the final stages of readiness to launch my new monthly Moneylove Audio Club. And I am applying The Law of Attraction, or at least my interpretation of it. Which doesn't mean I am lying on a tropical beach and thinking positive thoughts and having positive expectations.

Oh, the positive thoughts and expectations are there, but they are accompanied by positive action--a part many proponents and teachers of this concept leave out. And if I don't get the results I want, I won't beat myself up for not having the right thoughts--I will just consider that I am still in the learning phase of how to do all this. I expect to be in that learning phase all of my life--though definitely with a continuum of movement and progress along the way.

So here might be the questions to ask yourself at this point in time, already into the new year, but not fully immersed in it yet:

1. "What so far distinguishes 2010 and what I am doing from my 2009?"

2. "Do I have a sense of momentum--that I am moving toward something good in my life?"

3. "Have I made a commitment to have this year turn out better or different than last year?"

4. "Am I waiting for something to happen, or working to make something happen in my life?"

This last question has to do with whether you are a practitioner of Metaphysical Welfare, in which you are just thinking good thoughts about what you would like to attract into your life--or more a proponent of Metaphysical Workfare, in which you accompany those thoughts with appropriate action to manifest what you want in your life. There's no doubt that what you think has much to do with what you create and attract into your life, but only if good thoughts are joined with good actions in a synergistic tag team.

If you are in a cabin in the woods in the middle of New England in the middle of winter and you would like to stay warm, you can relax and visualize symbols of heat and warmth enveloping you--a warm sunswept beach, a sauna or hot tub, a high tech space heater. And you might even feel the warmth--it might bring a smile of contentment to your face in the midst of the bitter cold. And they might find you a day or week later with that smile still frozen on your dead face. But if you get off your butt and go out and gather some wood to put in your wood burning stove, your metaphysical efforts will be accompanied by physical success.

I fully expect 2010 to be the beginning of some amazing positive events in my life, and I do use visualization and affirmations and subliminal tapes and motivational tapes and surround myself with positive people. But all of that is merely to set the tone for the positive results of my positive actions.

Jerry

This blog is my very personal journal. It's often aligned with, but very different from my other blog, which is focused on prosperity and ways of manifesting more money and success in one's life. You might want to check that one out at www.MoneyloveBlog.com