Things that matter

Here we are, day 5 into the Great Motivational Videos series. This video is a show called Bridging Heaven and Earth, with Michael Beckwith and Lessia as guests.

Michael is the founder/Minister of the world-renowned Agape International Center of Truth (and home of the Agape Church of Religious Science), a humanitarian, teacher of teachers, songwriter and producer. He is in demand worldwide as a speaker and facilitator of classes, retreats and workshops. Under Michael’s leadership Agape has become one of the nations largest multi-cultural, trans-denomination spiritual communities. Agape has over thirty ministries and projects around the globe that are dedicated to the realization of the Presence of God, Peace, and Love. Michael is a magnificent speaker who, through a dynamic and personable mode of delivery, articulates beautifully the Universal Principles the undergird all of the world’s major religions. Read the rest of this post »

I’ve seen so many people talking about the importance of reducing the computer time in our lives and I’ve always wondered, how much time do people really spend in front of their personal computers and on which tasks?

Currently I spend almost twelve hours every day (both mobile – notebook, and at home – desktop). A lot of time, I know. The reason for me spending so much time on the computer is that I’m doing almost all my work on it.

The full computerization of a country is impossible to avoid. Today computers are used on a production, in the offschools and flats.

Children, which can’t read and write yet, already strongly use this wonder machine, playing on it for hours.

The last researches showed that computers don’t make us more healthy and with the wrong use can give an irreparable harm.

While the computer producers assert that their products are absolutely unharmful, the protection remedies producers and the computer users have a different opinion.

The most common health problems are lose of eyesight, muscles and joints diseases, memory worsening, weakness, tachycardia, negative dysfunctions, inattention and neurasthenia. The easiest way to fight these problems is to pay close attention to your workspace ergonomics.

Now what I want to ask you is a simple question (well, two…):

How much time do you spend on your computer each day? And on which tasks do you spend the biggest chunk of time?

I’m curious to find out how much time do Project Armannd readers spend on their computers daily.

Let’s discuss this issue in the comments. Maybe we’ll discover new ideas about how to improve our productivity and health while working with computers.

I want to thank Shine from over at ShineWithGrace.com for tagging me with a good meme, “13 Questions“.

It is a meme that gives bloggers the opportunity to tell their readers more about themselves, in a fun way. If you’ve read John’s interview with me you already know a thing or two about me. This meme is gonna take that a little bit further and reveal some more things.

3 things that scare me

1. Spiders (only sometimes…);
2. The thoughts that pessimistic people entertain;
3. … can’t think of other things that scare me. I guess I’m very brave!

3 people who make me laugh

1. Robert De Niro – nice acting in the comedy movies;
2. Laurel and Hardy;
3. Homer Simpson;

3 things I love

1. Optimistic people;
2. DJ’ing;
3. Life;

3 things I hate

1. People who tell me why things can’t be done;
2. Bad weather that lasts for weeks;
3. Excessive heat and humidity;

3 things I don’t understand

1. How space shuttles are built;
2. How to route a router through a router without using a switch; Read the rest of this post »

The first three places have been occupied by some very good and uplifting motivational videos. The last video, Steve Jobs‘s speech at the Stanford University, is one of those life-changing kinds.

Today it’s time for yet another incredible story. The story of a woman who got from rags to riches by doing what she loved. Writing and fantasizing.

She’s the most popular children book author the world has even seen. Yes, you guessed it, she is Joanne Kathleen Rowling (J.K. Rowling).

Ms. J K Rowling was born on July 31st, 1965 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England. Her given name at birth was Joanne Kathleen. Ms. Rowling has one sister, Di, who was born 2 years after J K.

It is interesting to note that Ms. Rowling claims that she has actually been writing since she was 5 or 6 years old. Her first story, called Rabbit, was filled with interesting characters, such as a large bee called Miss Bee.

Ms. Rowling, along with her parents and sister, moved twice while J K was growing up. While at one of their homes, close to Bristol and in Winterbourne, she had friends next door whose last name was Potter. J K never forgot the children, or the last name, which she liked very much.

When she was nine years old her family moved again to Tutshill. Ms. Rowling attended a primary (grade) school in Tutshill, and later attended Wyedean Comprehensive. Ms. Rowling describes herself as being shy, freckly, with no natural athletic ability but a great love of literature. Later, when she graduated from Wyedean Comprehensive, she attended Exeter University. Here Ms. Rowling studied French after her parents encouraged her into what they believed would be a wonderful career as a bilingual secretary. After graduation, however, it didn’t take Ms. Rowling long to realize that she was not meant to be a secretary. Self described as “the worst secretary ever, very disorganized”, she found it increasingly hard to remain attentive during meetings, actually writing story ideas instead of taking notes as she had been instructed.

When Ms. Rowling was 26 years old she moved to Portugal to be an English teacher. Ms. Rowling has been quoted many times as saying she loved teaching English, often teaching in the afternoons and evenings so that she could be free to work on her writing during the mornings. It was during this period that she began working on a story about a ‘wizard”.

That wizard story turned out to be her ticket to success. These days almost everyone in the civilized world has heard at least once about the famous wizard she created, Harry Potter.

This woman is strengthening my belief that in life it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters how you do it. The Harry Potter books aren’t necessarily writing cameos, but she definitely has put a lot of energy and passion into them and that is the reason why they became so successful.

The following video(s) is Rowling’s biography, and I can tell you that after watching it you’ll have gained a little bit more hope in your life. Read the rest of this post »

The first two videos of the ten day “Great motivational videos” project have been powerful and inspiring seminars.

Now, for the third place, I’d like to present the video of the famous speech that Steve Jobs delivered to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. In it he talks about getting fired from Apple in 1985, life & death.

I have already written an article on that (you can read it here) so now I will let Steve do the talking.

I know there are many people who “hate” Steve Jobs, but what is important here isn’t the man, it’s the ideas that he has that are important. There are many things to be learned from this speech, and the past of the person that communicates them shouldn’t interfere with our perception or understanding of those ideas. If we do that, it’s us who lose… and I don’t want you to lose such valuable knowledge.

That being said, I’ll let you watch the video. Enjoy.