Written by Karen Frank

The Dalai Lhama had gone to New York City as part of his journey to the United States. After all, New York is a city of lights, Broadway, museums, people and so much more. As the Dalai Lhama traveled along the streets of New York he felt as if his life would be more fulfilled and complete if he were to experience a New York street vendor. So many people had told him of the outrageous hot dogs and the vendors that sold them were a unique breed unto themselves. And thus he came upon a street vendor. He asked the vendor, "May I please have a hot dog with everything on it. I want to experience the ultimate pleasure of your food." The street vendor complied and said, "Sir, that will be two dollars and fifty cents." The Dalai Lhama reached into his pocket and took out a twenty-dollar bill, which he handed to the street vendor. The Dalai Lhama waited and waited and watched while the vendor continued to serve many other people. Finally the Dalai Lhama inquired, "Excuse me," he said, "I gave you a twenty dollar bill and I was waiting for my change." The street vendor looked at him and replied, " Sir, change comes from within." Could there be any more truth for our lives?....Read more »

Written by Ed Spina

Lately, I've been watching episodes from the 1970s TV show, Kung Fu, on DVD. It starred David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese, half-American Shaolin priest who wanders the post-civil war American West looking for his long-lost brother.

Caine is a martial arts master who resorts to using his fighting skills only when someone's safety is at stake. Kung Fu introduced many Westerners to some of the basic tenets of Eastern thought. Like fine art and true wisdom, many of the teachings espoused in the show are timeless and universal in nature.

One of my favorite episodes, El Brujo, concerned an evil witch who was terrorizing a small town. The townspeople so feared this man that they willingly gave away their power - performing whatever actions he demanded - hoping to please him. At one point, the townspeople were resigned to letting an infant die because the evil man had cursed the baby.....Read more »

Take any office. Go in, watch the workers for a while, and track how much gets done by each individual.

A few will never seem to get around to anything, unless forced to. Most of the employees will do what's placed in front of them, and not much more. But a select few will quickly get their job done, do it superbly, then jump to do more. They're the self starters.

This points out a truth we already know: some people are simply more effective than others.

Consultant Robert Middleton ( http://www.actionplan.com ) rates this effectiveness on a scale of one to ten. In an article titled "Attracting TENS," he says:....Read more »

You have studied and tried them all-"The Secret", "The Law of Attraction", goal setting, affirmations and other more traditional success methods and nothing has worked for you. At this point you have reached a level of disgust with the entire self-fulfillment movement. You may have read my program reviews and wonder how I could conclude that these programs work and they do work. That being said, then you decide that there must be something wrong with you and this drives you into an even deeper depression.....Read more »