Uncategorized

What Is Love?

Happy upcoming Valentines Day…from some interesting thinkers! This quick little video offers some interesting “nuggets.” It started me thinking about carrying variations of “love” forward into our day to day lives, just by following up with a simple question “how”?

Twitter Updates for 2010-01-16

• Do you have overwhelming anxiety? Then try a structured approachhttp://panicattackrecovery.com/overwhelming-anxiety.html #
• Informed by the media lately? http://optimumawareness.com/ #

Twitter Updates for 2010-01-01

• Pope's peace message focuses on environment – http://bit.ly/80mrzJ #cnn #

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-16

• http://bit.ly/sF2Dx via @addthis #

Be Honest With Yourself

One of my bosses when I worked in the banking industry was completely miserable towards and critical of me most of the time. She even withheld a job posting from me – which definitely would have been a promotion.

She could appear to be the nicest woman outside of work but not so when in the role of my boss. And yes I’ve had had many bosses I’ve liked, men and woman. This installment is not just about me simply venting, although that’s probably a part of it.

The truth of the matter is that one of the themes of this blog is becoming empowered. And, the more I think about it, this post definitely involves just that – especially, at this time, when looking ahead to 2009.

This example will illustrate how in my opinion you have to be in any job you do.

Let me explain.

Needless to say I did not enjoy working for this woman. Her negativity was a great motivation for me to go out looking for new work. I found a much better paying job with better pay, benefits and training.

Anyways I faired quite well in the end because I moved on a got a better job elsewhere.

What’s the point?

The crappy job caused me to look at other options. (A friend of my parents who worked well into his 70s and made a great living maintained that people should typically never settle in a certain job at any time – the antenna should always be out — I always agreed with this statement)

But there’s more…

Now it might have been that I was really passionate about the banking industry and would have put up with the torture from this woman and the extreme criticisms might have caused me to improve my skills and knowledge… However I was honest with myself and asked the question: Is this the industry one I really want to be in?

It was not.

So I moved on.

However, the point I’m making is don’t be afraid to trust your own inner guidance when it comes to your passion. I hated the work on so many levels and because I was honest with myself and took the appropriate action to correct for this I found a better job.

My advice is simple: you need to be honest with yourself and evaluate where you are currently and where they’d like to go. Never settle. Move on. Do not be afraid to leave a position.

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-15

• It's all a big fat lie — check it out: http://tinyurl.com/mzwta3 #

Welcome Back…the blog has been resurrected

We will never sell or share your email and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Hi, Matthew Wagner here.  I wanted to remind you that in addition to my blog, I also offer a free newsletter.

What’s it about?

Well, the premise of the newsletter is that you, or anyone for that matter, can become truly empowered.  That is, you can be a happy, creative, and informed individual, and accomplish great feats.

To be clear though: I’m not talking about the self-absorbed, feel-good psychology that is so prevalent in the modern self-help era.

Admittedly, the fundamentals of self-improvement can be helpful, but they are not enough, and the self-help, feel-good, pop psychology era is often so self-focused, it doesn’t translate into reality.

For example, some self-help approaches seem to suggest that you can simply think-away your problems, or simply ignore the atrocities in the world and they will go away.

While I think that anyone can lead a great life and be truly empowered, such a feat is not accomplished by ignoring reality.

Rather, while you have to address certain fundamental aspects of self-care and improvement – which is all discussed in this newsletter, this activity has to be balanced with a regard for the world in which you live (also discussed in this newsletter).

One has to be informed about the news and state of affairs in the world, but one has to learn how to analyze such news and information, and additionally trust his or her own common sense when formulating opinions – again, which is all possible and discussed within this newsletter.

The ambition of this newsletter is to produce reality-based-empowerment for you and the world.  Because once you become truly informed and empowered, you’ll naturally be drawn to make a meaningful contribution to others, and will have the means to do so.

We will never sell or share your email and you can unsubscribe at any time.

The Tom Thomson Mystery

For some people, the mystery of this title might be the question of who Tom Thomson is. For others it might be: was he murdered?

Tom Thomson was closely associated with the famous Canadian group of 7 artists which came to be known as the Group of Seven. Their art is great. It represents many aspects of the outdoors of Canada.

I have always been drawn to Thomson’s art. I just came across a newspaper article with handwriting on it indicating it dates back to January 1971.

This appears accurate as the article is talking about Judge William Little’s new book on the Thomson which was published in 1970: The Tom Thomson Mystery.

It’s neat how we are drawn to certain things. It’s neat how we find things throughout our life about topics of interest. I actually found this article just the other day. I’d never seen it before, but I own and have read books on Tom Thomson.

After looking at all the facts I have come to the opinion that he’s been murdered. I’ve thought about the abilities of forensic science but I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure.What I really enjoyed about Thomson’s qualities was that he was an introspective, peaceful, outdoorsman who enjoyed painting the outdoors, which for him was Canada’s.

I have some of his artwork in my home.If you’re interested in finding out more about him or the Group of Seven then I’d recommend checking out Amazon and doing a search on Tom Thomson or checking it out at your local library.

Anyone interested in this topic feel free to post a comment to the blog, just to say you are, of if you’ve got some suggestions as to how this mystery could be investigated, please post it to the blog.

One other thing: check out this video. You might have to click on the video twice for it to work.

IQ: Is it misleading?

In my day job I work with some highly intelligent people. They undoubtedly have high IQ. They have several degrees with precision focus of specialty. This post isn’t about putting these people on a pedestal; it’s about you.

Maybe you possess the same qualities of these people, maybe it seems you don’t. But the point is: it’s not about these qualities.

As stated, I have the pleasure of working with the above mentioned persons. I can tell you that some of these people seemingly don’t have common sense about the basis tasks of completing paperwork. Some of them when attempting to make a decision can’t do so. They continue to contact everyone they can think of and attempt to pass the burden of making the decision to someone else (if that person accepts it). Probably so they can then turn around later, if critized, and state: “that person told me to”; “I trusted that person’s judgment”, etc.

However because of their high IQ and education, even when they demonstrate deficiencies, they do not appear to present the same picture of incompetence.

I could go on about these people but, as I said, this post isn’t really about them.

The real point here is the contrast I’m going to make and its implications.

The people with high IQ and education do not usually expect themselves to be completely proficient in all areas. HOWEVER the people with seemingly low IQ, little education or some other perceived impairment do. They seem to have an underlying need to belittle themselves about the tasks in which they don’t appear to have the necessary competence to complete.

We all have deficiencies. Let me repeat: we all have deficiencies.

All of the above mentioned persons do. We’re human. It doesn’t mean we’re overall incompetent though.

Most importantly though: If the people who belittle themselves about possible deficiencies stopped doing so, were true to themselves, and did what they were good at, they’d move past this belittling process.

Now this is definitely easier said than done; however, those who do move past the belittling process move forward to be the great people of our world. I’m not saying they are necessarily receiving special recognition from others. BUT they know from within that they are not in fact incompetent or impaired and they are living the live they wish and doing the things they are good at.

We are all good at doing certain things; some things receive greater recognition from others; however, the people who really “get it” and follow their own guidance about how to live their life instead of belittling themselves about deficiencies have something much greater than any IQ, education, or any other external recognition will provide.

Attitude Doesn’t Affect Cancer Survival

I came across this headline today while checking the health news headlines. I like to keep abreast of the latest developments. It’s quite an alarming finding that was talked about by the website WebMD.

The study was said to have followed 1000 patients with head and neck cancer and when they controlled for all variables found that positive outlook had no bearing on improved lifespan.

I felt it to be of utmost importance to address a couple of points, considering how deflating this could be to anyone diagnosed with a serious illness or anyone who knows someone diagnosed with cancer, or really anyone in general.

Here are some points to ponder:

If the same study showed that 1000 patients were able to extend their lifespan with a positive attitude would it have been considered as influential and definite by as many? I think not.

Usually when a comprehensive study is done the implications are restricted to the findings. In other words, technically this study might have indicated there is not benefit from a positive attitude on head and neck cancer but this study did not test the influence of a positive attitude on other diseases.

I’m just saying that usually people are cautious when interpreting findings, but, for instance one expert commented that “The idea that we can control illness and death with our minds appeals to our deepest yearnings, but it just isn’t so.”

Again if a comprehensive study showed favourable findings with respect to cancer survival rates and people started saying it meant that the mind can help the body, I’m sure many experts would articulately comment that the study only looked at head and neck cancer and we cannot discuss the affect of attitude on other illnesses. Yet when people make sweeping statements like the above no one corrects them.

Anyone who has studied mind and body interactions knows that it takes more than a positive outlook to influence health. What good is a positive outlook if you don’t really believe it (at a deep level) How does this study control for that? In other words there are many people that consider themselves to have a positive demeanor, but deep down many may have doubts about the efficacy of a positive attitude on their health. Are they going to be able to account for this in the study?

Have you known people who lead such healthy life styles and appear to have such a positive outlook but yet get very sick? Just because one does everything that it considered “healthy” doesn’t mean they are really positive – at a deep level that is.

For instance I’ve known many people who exercise, eat healthy and appear to have a positive attitude and some of them get sick while others, who don’t appear to lead what’s considered a healthy lifestyle, don’t get sick. Many of the so called healthy people are not that healthy underneath because many might be so rigid in their approach that they are stressed at a deep level.

There is certainly nothing wrong with leading a healthy lifestyle – of course – actually I highly recommend doing so, but if we ignore the basic level of our inner emotions we are not truly healthy.

I do believe that if we can look at this study with the right interpretation it can lead us in the right direction.

What can we learn from this?

I have been personally researching the mind body interaction for many years, surveying many of the leading thinkers in the field. I have come to my own opinion after reviewing an abundance of information available on this topic.

In order to be truly healthy it takes more than a positive attitude, rather it takes a positive outlook at the very basic level of our being as humans. Simply put, we need to really be happy. That is the most important. Many of you have heard the word vibration. Vibration acknowledges the fact that everything in the universe is made up of energy, which vibrates.

When we are in a healthy state we are in a healthy vibration and the opposite is true when we are in a negative vibration. When we are truly at a level of healthy vibration, we not only have a positive outlook, but we can be positive at the core. It is my assertion that maintaining this true level of vibration allows us to be truly healthy and can certainly influence our health for the better.

Closing comments

I am not attempting to discount the physical either. If one has an illness I don’t think there is any harm in getting help from traditional medicine. This is really a topic for another day but suffice to say that I think one has to acknowledge the physical and the spiritual side of things. If we think of being truly healthy at our core, would we not welcome the help of traditional medicine? We would be open to helping ourselves.

On one last note, the study mentions that people often blame themselves for not having a positive attitude when they become sick. This might be true, but I think I’ve gotten my point across that it is most important to have a healthy vibration than merely have a positive attitude. I do agree that people should not blame themselves when they become sick. Rather they should become as proactive as they can to address the points I’ve mentioned and welcome all the help they can receive. It’s not about being right; it’s about being truly healthy.

Let me know what you think…do you know of relevant cases? Have a similar opinion or a different one? Post a comment below.  I’d love to hear from you.

- Matthew