Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyes

This is a beautiful message about music and living.
Click here to watch

Open a Roth IRA if you don't have one...

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Do you have a Roth IRA? Click here for information on why, where and how to open a Roth IRA.

Ever going to buy another car? WATCH THIS VIDEO, read this article..

I came across a great video with some tips on buying a new car,"How to buy a new car without getting screwed". These principles can be applied to the purchase of a NEW CAR TO YOU (doesn't have to be a brand new car). This video comes from a great site, "Get Rich Slowly".

One of my clients called me from a dealership and I told him to go home and watch this video, among a few other assignments. He ended up saving approximately $4,000 on a car due to what he picked up from the video. Watch it... share it with others...

Finally, here is a link to an article atwww.freemoneyfinance.com
that walks you through how to buy a car using the web.

Financial security.. have an emergency fund

Mint.com's blog has some excellent personal finance information. I especially appreciate its simplicity.

When I was 22 and selected my own health insurance (self-employed), I thought, "well, I never get sick so..." I did not consider that I could have an accident. I blew my knee out playing soccer and ended up having ACL reconstruction surgery. Based on the insurance I had, I still spent approximately $10,000 in total.

Daily Om.. simple reminders..

I love daily om. I subscribe to their daily emails. I read about hugging trees in a post once. At first, I thought, well this is silly, but I read the whole thing and it made sense to me to at least try it out. I told my friend bloopity when we were walking along the river in Philly.. she had read the same posting. We hugged trees for the next hour. It was a truly spiritual and special exercise.

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Everyday Courage

(Written July, 2005)

What is "everyday courage"?

I think a lot about courage and fear. Lately I have been thinking about all the times we exhibit courage but we don't recognize ourselves for it. I think that the reason we don't recognize it is because we are clouded by judgement. We feel that we should show that courage. On top of that, whatever we showed courage in "didn't take a lot of courage anyways." I feel strongly that courage is courage. It is impossible to argue size or amount of courageousness in others without comparing it to our own fears and courage. Therefore courage is courage and we are the only ones who know whether we are exhibiting courage or not. I also feel that when we exhibit courage, our courage grows, even if we do not experience the initial desired result. In our hearts, we feel a strong sense of pride in our courageousness. We exhibit courage in all kinds of ways every single day. We do not give ourselves credit or recognition of these victories over our fears. I feel that several times daily we approach a crossroads of courage and fear. The path we choose gains strength. The choice for courage in seemingly insignificant situations offers us the opportunity to build our courage muscle for future greater challenges. I believe that recognizing and exhibiting "everyday courage" leads us forcefully in the direction of living our ideal life.

Why do we need to be courageous anyways? What are we afraid of?

We know who we really are but we do not allow ourselves to consciously see it always.
We are afraid to acknowledge who we "really are." We are afraid to be who we "really are."

Why would we not want to see who we "really are?"

We are afraid that who we really are, is not who we feel we need to be to recieve love. In my case, "If I am myself in this situation then... _____ won't love me, I won't get a raise, I will get fired, my assistants will quit, I will not get promoted, I will not be successful, my parents won't be satisfied, etc." So at the expense of our own happiness we reject who we really are to "follow the rules" and beliefs that have been instilled in us through family and culture.

To keep from finding out who we really are, or remembering who we really are, we stop questioning. We stop questioning because we do not want to hear or see the answers. My mentor/life coach asked me about two years ago, "who really knows you?" I had been popular, well liked, a member of many sports teams, a successful businesswoman at a young age, my cell phone directory was full, and to the outside world I had tons of friends and a loving family. I immediately started crying. There were parts of me I was not ready to acknowledge or see. I knew they were there. So I knew deep down who I was...but NO ONE else did.

For the past three years I have been on a Journey of self-discovery and growth. When I turned 27 a month ago I wished for courage: courage to be myself and to help others be themselves. Everyday since then my objective is to have the courage to be me. I will share some of my personal stories, experiences, challenges, and triumphs, in hopes that it could inspire you to exhibit "everyday courage" to be you. In addition, I would be inspired to hear your stories and to share them on my page.