en*light Life

·         Are you willing to challenge yourself and work at your goal? (i.e., do you really want to change?)

·         Are you willing to accept, love, and nurture you whole self – independent of weight loss?

·         What does being fit and healthy feel like to you?

·         What experiences or feelings emerge when you fail to take care of your health?

·         Do you want to feel freedom? (what obstacles/challenges prevent you from a healthy lifestyle?) 

These questions are followed by ways to integrate your answers into a healthy lifestyle, and give you tools in which to rely on when struggling with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In addition to the questions above, Low also walks the reader through some exercises that help you identify the things that add joy and passion to your life; as well as helping to establish lifestyle goals. 

Overall, I think this is a fantastic book, as it provides the reader a tool set to help maintain a healthy lifestyle.  

If you are interested in purchasing this book, click on the following link for one of the most affordable deals online:

“How to Be That Guy (or Gal)”
Scott Ginsberg, Author, Speaker

What are YOU known for? Do you even know? It’s time to find out. Based on his successful third book, How to be THAT GUY, Scott Ginsberg shares the many ways to help individuals and businesses maximize their visibility, credibility, uniqueness, authenticity and memorability in the eyes of customers and prospects. The practice lessons he will share include:

• How to create an unforgettable personal brand
• How to position your value and increase visibility to magnetize more business
• Ways to facilitate authentic, approachable word of mouth about you, your company and your ideas

Notes (from a talk based on his book):

-          First impressions are generated in seconds (vs. minutes as previously thought)

-          Personal Brand comprises of the following:

a.) what are you known for?

            b.) What are you known as?

-          Customers will choose to do business with you for 3 reasons:   

a.)    They have heard of you

b.)    They have heard of your company

c.)    You are someone they trust

-          Anonymity is the greatest barrier to success

-          Website & Web Presence is key to becoming that guy/gal

Website vs. Web Presence 

1.)       Choices – The “best choice” usually means the first hit on google

2.)       Competition – why you? Why is your competition attracting more attention than you?

3.)       Communication – Meebo (ability to have instant support –think website IMing)

4.)       Memorable Numbers: (think McDonalds “_ billions served”) – what numbers makes our company memorable (e.g., number of COBs…etc – people track the # to see where they are)

a.) What is your memorable number (e.g., Lambert’s Café is about how many rolls have been thrown

b.) revistiability – getting people to track your number (keep coming back to your site/location)

c.) memorability- numbers are anchors

d.) credibility – specificity is persuasion

5.)       Websites are like newspapers. (If it’s over 2 years old – no one is interested)

6.)       Enshrine your practice (see below)

7.)       Separate portals (for candidates, for clients)

-          Websites should be screaming here is what you are you looking for versus hey look

-          Ezine articles – great way to get your name out there

-          What word do you own? – Own a word that NO ONE ELSE owns – this is one way that people will come to you

a.)    Example: Book called Dickless Marketing: Focused on Jane Not Dick – example of creating a great name

-          Mind Share, not Market Share (who thinks of you first?)

-          Enshrine your practice (e.g., Katz’s Deli – enshrined booth from When Harry Met Sally) Other examples: since 1984; over 140 stores; news coverage; watch 20/20 click here (on website); zagat rated; quotes clients/NACCB members, etc)

-          Rather than a biz card, he has a philosophy card

Tip: If you sign up for Scott’s Blog, you can get his ebook 117 Phrases that Payses for free! Here is his blog site: http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in learning how to have more successful and fulfilling relationships with the opposite sex, we highly recommend the workshops developed by Alison Armstrong for PAX.  She has created an extremely eye-opening series of workshops that explain the differences in how men and women think, communicate, and act in relationships. 

Understanding Women workshop

Men, PAX provides two coed courses. They offer a workshop titled Understanding Women: Unlock the Mystery, which provides you the opportunity to better understand women, and have more fun and satisfying relationships with them. It is advertised as being “for anyone who wants to understand why women do what they do – how they think, act, speak and listen – and how to work with it instead of being frustrated by it!” 

Co-Ed Workshop  (In Sync With the Opposite Sex)

PAX also has a coed workshop titled In Sync with the Opposite Sex LIVE™ , currently offered on CD (see below) and sometimes Live, which teaches men and women to “understand how the most basic instincts of men and women pit us against each other in the world of dating and relationships” and how to change this pattern to develop satisfying relationships.

Our male friends have also found the audio books/books below to be intertesting and informative.

Understanding Men

Alison Armstrong’s material is based on years of research with men, which has led to an amazing understanding of men and their stages of development.  This knowledge opens a new opportunity for compassion, respect, and understanding between the sexes.  After her workshops you will no longer buy into the old clichés about men—instead you will have a newfound appreciation and respect for how amazing men are and how amazing and satisfying relationships with them can be.   

PAX provides a free introduction to the workshop series called Making Sense of Men™.  It is a free three-hour seminar for women only, which promises to teach a new way of understanding men. You‘ll learn how men are responding to you and how to gain their attention and affection.  It also introduces you to the language men speak and explains how this is sometimes the complete opposite of how women think and communicate.

The fee-based workshops for women occur in a series and include the first, and most popular seminar, Celebrating Men, Satisfying Women, which is a fantastic seminar for women. We couldn’t believe how much we learned about men in this  weekend workshop. This is an empowering, informational seminar that allows you to experience an entirely new way to relate to men. It has the potential to change your relationships with men in the most simple and profound ways.   

Cost of Workshops are typically in the $400 range, but PAX offers payment programs ($99/month). We also highly recommend the following products by Alison Armstrong:

If you can’t attend a workshop, this is good start:

This book teaches the stages of men via a story. This book is also on CD; however, I notice that my friends/family did not like the book on CD; but loved the book.  

If you don’t want the story version of the stages of men, this is a brief overview (note: this is usually given out for free at the Making Sense of Men introductory course). The information is gone over pretty fast, (thus, the reason why Armstrong created the story-telling version above), and advertises her seminars.

Powerful Speaker and self-published Arun ‘Yogi’ Parekh inspires followers and readers at his lectures (pictured above - photos courtesy of artipresentations.com). In his new book, Success is Your Birthright (My 5 Power Principles) Parekh teaches that success and happiness is what each person seeks in his/her lifetime, which can be achieved by the following 5 power principles:

1. Vision - having a clear vision of where you want to go
2. Values - having a vision that contributes to the world in a positive way and is in line with personal values.
3. Visualization - visualizing what is wanted materializing into your life
4. Positive attitude - maintaining positive thoughts, mitigating negative thoughts, and surrounding self in a positive environment
5. Inner voice - your conscience/inner guide

Although Parekh doesn’t claim to be presenting anything that hasn’t already been taught by his proceeding mentors, he does argue that his fifth principle, Inner Voice (i.e., your conscience, or source of moral/spirtual guidance) is often overlooked as a key factor of success. Listening to you Inner voice when you are at a crossroads is a key factor to ensuring your success and happiness. Woven throughout the 5 power principles must also be Desire for what it is you want so that you may manifest the object of success or happiness that you seek.

Overall, I think Arun ‘Yogi’ Parekh is a wonderful speaker and philosopher that delivers a simple, yet profound message to his audience. His stories, and nuggets of wisdom that he presents in a format similar to Deepak Chopra’s talks, make his events well worth attending.

More information on Arun ‘Yogi’ Parekh, his events, and new self-published book Success is Your Birthright, can be found on  his website: www.artipresentations.com

Other Publications by Arun Parekh (discounted on Amazon) at:

A Marketing Plan for Life: 12 Essential Business Principles to Create Meaning, Happiness, and True Success  (By: Robert Michael Fried)

This gem of book is written for anyone trying to bring more purpose and direction for their life beyond their job title. The premise of this book is that if we spend as much time planning our personal lives as we do our careers, we can live an enriching life, and gain personal success with less anxiety. This is a simple concept, but it makes sense. How many times have you sacrificed sleep, exercise, family, or mental health for your career? We all do it! 

Written like a workbook, Marketing guru Robert Michael Fried walks you through how to write your own 12-point life plan, via various exercises that guide through what matters most to you, discovering your life purpose, strengths, and what he describes as your “authentic” self. Fried’s life plan mirrors the successful marketing strategies that he used as a marketing executive for several Fortune 500 companies throughout the years. If you are a business owner, you’ll recognize how Fried’s life plan parallels a business plan.  For example, Fried’s first life point is figuring out who you are, and who you want to become, which parallels the first step of writing a business or marketing plan (defining the business you are in). 

Overall, I highly recommend as a workbook for life coaches, busy professionals, business owners, and anyone looking for a little direction in their life.

Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie,  and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, comes back with a new solumn tale that although is a quick read, offers a profound message. The narrator is introduced to Chick Benetto, who tells his tale of a second chance, or one more day with his mother, Posey Benetto.  Chick is a broken man that is an alcoholic, divorced, has-been baseball player, who hits rock-bottom when his daughter doesn’t invite him to her wedding. During a suicide attempt, Chick has a profound experience that saves not only his life, but provides him with a second chance to make things right with a lost loved one.

Overall, this was a great, fast read that is featured here on our site for it’s great message. It’s a little something “for the soul”. Curl up with this book over the weekend, and you start the following week with more purpose and appreciation for those loved ones in your life. Enjoy!

The Secret opens with a story about a woman (Rhonda Byrne narrating her past) who, down on her luck, is given a book from her daughter that unlocks the secret to abundance in the form of wealth, health, and anything desired. 

In The Secret DVD, the “secret” is unraveled cinematographically with a cheesy montage including a genie, secret societies, and messengers/keepers of the “secret”. Despite the dramatic opening, the film goes on to include noteworthy writers such as Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul), and Dr. John Gray (Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus) and now famous (thanks to the DVD’s promotion, and appearances on Oprah) teachers of the secret, discussing how to obtain money, health, happiness, and abundance in you life – simply by asking for it.  

So, how does The Secret work? The answer, according to The Secret teachings is via the law of attraction. It works like this:

1.) Proclaim to the universe what you want

2.) Believe that you will obtain what is asked for

3.)Visualize obtaining what you want

4.)Remain optimistic about getting what you want

And then, like magic, (or via the law of attraction), you will receive what you want. Sound a bit like prayer? Ask and you shall receive kind of stuff? It is, but with one key difference – prayer insinuates that you have to ask a higher god/being for what you want, and he/she decides if your prayer will be answered.  The Secret implies that if you ask, visualize, and believe, what you want will manifest via the law of attraction.

The Law of Attraction is defined as the universe working to give you what you want, simply because you asked (and believed) in it’s ability to respond to you request. The universe, therefore, is the source of abundance that is attracted towards your energy, and like a genie, is ready to grant your desires. Yeah, ok, but it gets better…

In the book, which is mostly a transcript of the DVD, Rhonda Byrne promotes “there isn’t a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, The Secret can give you whatever you want.” Unfortunately, it is those kinds of statements made throughout The Secret, which have lead to a growing amount of criticism, and cynicism about the teachings.  

Since the release of the DVD and book, the handful of teachers featured on the film, have spoken out about the simplistic nature of The Secret (aka ‘ask and you will receive’). In two episodes on Oprah back in April 2007, The Secret teachers explained that a common misconception of The Secret was that people assumed that they could materialize millions of dollars from thin air, or cure cancer by simply lounging on their couches eating bon-bons visualizing money, health, etc. They went on to explain that in addition to visualizing and believing in your success, you have to follow-up with action to achieve what is sought.  In other words, you have to work for that million dollars. Oprah’s response: “I didn’t know that was a secret.”

 Fortunately for us, however, the teachers of The Secret provide a solution: they are promoting their seminars and personal development programs designed to finally teach people how to manifest The Secret into their lives, and promise to provide the missing/ additional information not taught in the DVD and book. In the fall, we will review one of the instructors, James Arthur Ray, and is seminar.

The take-away: although The Secret offers a simplistic message, it is a profound message. When striving to achieve success, it is important to believe that you can achieve it. The power of positive thought and prayer is common practice that we often forget, but it is in no way, like Oprah pointed out, a secret. I think the biggest secret behind The Secret is that mysterious book that Ms. Byrne obtained from her daughter. Fortunately, she leaves a clue in the book version of The Secret by relinquishing that the book is almost 100 years old. So what is it? Stay tuned for our upcoming review of this classic work that has been quoted from throughout the years by such greats as Anthony Robbins, Mark Victor Hansen, etc, etc….