Archive for March, 2010

The following is an excellent story about Narcissus taken from the book The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coehlo.

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The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus. The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.

But this was not how the author of the book ended the story. He said that when Narcissus died, the goddesses of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.

“Why do you weep?” the goddesses asked.

“I weep for Narcissus,” the lake replied.

“Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,” they said, “for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.”

“But…was Narcissus beautiful?” the lake asked.

“Who better than you to know that?” the goddesses said in wonder. “After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!”

The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said:

“I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.”

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I believe that it is human nature to desire attention, appreciation, and approbation. I also believe that this goes one step further. In a way, it is human nature to be narcissistic, or absolutely consumed with one’s self-image and ego. But by letting ourselves become consumed with our egos, what are we missing? What beauty in the world are we overlooking? When we look back on our lives, will we be like Narcissus and the lake, too consumed with ourselves to enjoy the beauty surrounding us? Or will we appreciate the beauty of the world and people around us, using the opportunities we are presented with to establish lasting and meaningful relationships, and with those new relationships change the world?

Stop and meditate for a moment. Which life are you living?

A digital business card can take a lot of different forms. In this post, I am referring to a simple page detailing your online footprint. To give you a better idea, here are three examples of these pages: www.naimishpatel.com, www.adamdaugelli.com, www.nikolaideleo.com.

In today’s increasingly connected world, people are finding information about you through the internet as opposed to more traditional means. Have you ever Googled yourself? Try it now and see what pops up. You’ll probably notice you don’t control most of the sites on the first page. While some may find this scary, take it an opportunity to instead direct these people to a site created by you. Since the first three listings get over 79% of the traffic, make it your goal to reach the top three spots on Google for your name.

1. See if your name is available as a URL. Click here to check the availability. If it is not, try adding your middle initial or some slight variation. It helps to have your full name within the URL as Google will boost up the page on the search rankings.

2. Buy hosting and register the domain. I use Bluehost and I know a lot of people who also consider it the best hosting service. This should cost you about $4-$7 a month depending on the length of the plan you purchase. It includes free domain registration which is a plus.

3. Install WordPress on the host site. For bluehost, they conveniently do it for you in under 5 minutes. Click here for help.

4. Pick a business card theme. There are a variety of business card themes in a variety of price ranges. Here are my top 2 free ones: Digital Business Card by Human 3rror, Ipseity by Human 3rror. Click here for help uploading the themes.

5. Customize the theme with your info. Go through the WordPress theme options on the left toolbar and input your personal information. Most of the themes make it as simple as adding the URL of your different pages in the specified boxes.

Congratulations! You now have your own personal website. Comment on any problems you have and let me know if there are other themes you have found!

Forget Self-Help courses! Flash Mobs are improving the lives of people more than most of those could. A Flash Mob is an organized routine performed by a group of dancers in a completely random area. These groups can range from less than ten people to hundreds of people. These large groups of strangers are usually brought together by some form of social media.

What do Flash Mobs have to do with life lessons then? I believe if you asked most people why they go to work, they would respond, “Because everyone else does it.” They are stuck in a routine and are awaiting the “glory” days of retirement. The fire and motivation is gone. What is the cure to this? Can it really be a random dance with strangers?

Watch the video below and observe not only the dancers but also the people who gather to watch. It won’t be tangible but you’ll feel the happiness bubbling up inside of them. The man in the suit is not thinking of his impending deadline as he’s dancing. The smiling and clapping audience members have forgotten everything in their lives for those five minutes. Most of us live each day with a checklist mentality. We need to accomplish certain goals and cannot rest until we get there.

As these dancers in Antwerp taught me, sometimes you just have to let go of everything and dance, even if only for 5 minutes in a train station.

The real question now is: Who wants to organize the next one?