Finding Joy

Cherry blossoms and rainbows, bubbles and googly eyes: Why do some things seem to create such universal joy? In this captivating talk, Ingrid Fetell Lee reveals the surprisingly tangible roots of joy and shows how we all can find -- and create -- more of it in the world around us.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.

How to Develop Your Personal Brand Like a Marketing Professional

Creating a successful personal brand is doable, especially if you have a dedicated process in place.

In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Eric Siu discusses how to grow your personal brand so that you become known for it and encounter success. 

In order to grow a personal brand, Siu stresses the power of batching together content, particularly your podcast output. 

Time Space Adventurer

Shana Tovah

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and the beginning of what is called in Judaism the High Holidays.

Many of us have received calls, texts and emails from friends and loved ones with the traditional New Year’s greeting, “Shana Tovah,” which translates to "a good year." Rosh Hashanah is followed by ten days known as the Days of Awe, followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. 

Religious holidays reflect universal themes found in all the great spiritual traditions. The Days of Awe are a meaningful concept for everyone. They are especially powerful and resonant for Americans now, reminding us to reflect on the deepest truths about our country, reconcile with the God of our understanding, and prepare ourselves for new beginnings.

Americans need to reflect deeply these days, about who we are as a nation and the larger purpose of a free society. We need to think about how we were created, where we’ve gotten it right as a country, where we’ve gotten it wrong, and our responsibility to right what is wrong and pave the way to a better future. We need a spirit of national atonement, in which we reconcile with our deepest principles.

Let's have reverence for those in the past who, with their own struggles, created greater possibilities for all Americans. As citizens of this country now, may we do in our time what they did in theirs.

To all of you, Shana Tovah. May your days ahead be filled with wonder.

With love,
Marianne Williamson

The Weight | Featuring Robbie Robertson | Playing For Change | Song Arou...

Facebook is the Soapbox for the Digital World Community

Marianne Williamson, since she decided to run for President, has generated a lot of talk by insinuating that God and prayer could have some effect on our realities of the day.  Some it seems are more than dismissive about these concepts – they seem actually annoyed – are they somehow threatened by this thinking?  Why all the intense sentiment?

ART P:  There is NO God- Thinking that God exists is a Delusion. It is the most wide spread delusion there is. Saying God is Love or any variety such as God is Universal Energy--God is the Oneness , are ALL ways of Re Framing a Word--God_ that should not be used at all. If it is an illusion ,then when you say God is Love, in effect you are saying that Love is also an illusion. Just STOP using the word... If someone had the delusion that Mickey Mouse is God...would we then say that Mickey Mouse is Love...NO.... to have a CLEAR mind, one must remove ALL Delusions----If those that claim that the God Delusion is Religion--that is there problem and it becomes the worlds problem when political leaders, etc use God to justify or explain.. Clear ones mind... Love is Love...

And here is my probably too lengthy response…

You are GOD - Art and the rest of you. You happen to be caught in a matrix of sorts and therefore believe the world you perceive is more than an illusion. The real deal is that you are an immortal being playing an adventure game that you have chosen to participate in hoping to write a satisfying story for yourself. Like any good adventure game, there are plenty of challenges and your character will die if you don't make the right choices with some of them. Not to worry - the God part of you can't die so like a video game you can always play a new game hoping to have learned some things along the way. That does not diminish the pain of those left behind but if you can recognize that the God part of them has gone nowhere - it has only been freed from the character it created to play the game. Maybe they will decide to jump right back into the game and even find a new way to interact directly with you - you know those people that you meet and seems like you have known them a long time? The challenge that you have in a new game is that you start each game with a fairly clean slate. Only occasionally do people recall things from past lives all though they may have learned some lessons. 

Now one thing many get mixed up about is the idea of "judging" - God and sin - that part is where "religions" got all screwed up - they wanted to exercise control over our behavior and therefore needed to create the concept of guilt and some divine punishment for "wrong-doing".  These are not "God" ideas - they are human ideas designed to for control.  

We each have total free will and you are the only one that can evaluate the positive or negative of your actions. There are some operating principles - one key concept is Newton's 3rd Law - "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".  You can do whatever you want but it will always come back to you.  This is "karma" - the more positive the energy of your beliefs and actions, the more satisfying your story will be - but you are always in charge of the story line. You do have an "emotional compass" - whenever you are not sure about how to move forward, ask yourself if it "feels" right? People talk about what their "gut" told them - that's it. That direction and most any other input you want is available by "asking". 

The reality is you are a very sophisticated "bio-computer" that always has access to an infinite "cloud network". The bottom line is that it is "consciousness" that is creating it all. Everyone is creating their own interactive adventure - we are all in it together but no two people live in an identical reality. We will stop here - maybe you think this an interesting science fiction story or maybe you think it is like Toto pulling aside the curtain on the Wizard of Oz... you can believe anything you want and that is the reality you will find yourself in. 

You may want to visit www.WeAreGod.org for more thoughts.

Marianne Williamson suggests using ‘the power of the mind’ to change Hurricane Dorian’s course.

This has generated many amused and sarcastic comments from media and the general public alike. 

While the power of prayer to affect outcomes is claimed to be accepted by a great many people, it seems that since Williamson is running for President, faith in her promoting prayer as an option is absurd to any actually rational person. 

“The Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas … may all be in our prayers now,” Williamson tweeted, according to images posted by several Twitter users. “Millions of us seeing Dorian turn away from land is not a wacky idea; it is a creative use of the power of the mind. Two minutes of prayer, visualization, meditation for those in the way of the storm.”

In response to people who found the statement foolish, Ms. Williamson’s campaign responded by deleting the tweet.  “It was a metaphor,” Williamson spokeswoman Patricia Ewing said in a statement. “When others speak of prayer and the mind it’s considered profound, but Williamson is held to a different standard”.  I personally think Marianne Williamson should have been more like our current President and double down on her statement regardless of how it might be criticized.  I happen to believe that many in this country and around the world do believe prayer can have an effect on shaping reality.

Do you believe your thoughts/prayers can alter Reality?      

Ms. Williamson believes this and nothing in science can prove it false.  In fact ideas arising out of Quantum Physics are affirming that consciousness can have an impact on the results gotten in an experiment. 

There are some famous photographs by a Japanese scientist named Dr. Emoto.  His series of photos were of various water samples, and they clearly demonstrated the power of thinking on “reality.”  He divided the samples into groups and then had his volunteers direct their “thoughts” at individual samples.  Here’s the revealing result.  The photographs taken of water molecules exposed to “positive” thoughts formed beautiful crystal shapes.  The water molecules exposed to “negative” thoughts became chaotic, with no patterns forming.  Same water; the only difference was how some random people “thought” about them.  Thoughts of love and appreciation resulted in beautiful patterns forming.  Send hate and anger toward those same samples, and all the beautiful patterns breakdown. Order is lost.  That belief is not a part of the reality most people live in.

To someone with no appreciation for the power of consciousness to influence the future, Williamson’s ideas would of course seem ridiculous.  One should be reminded that much of what we accept as simple fact today was once considered ridiculous by most.  As the inevitable evolution of human consciousness continues, those who thought Williamson’s “power of mind” idea ridiculous will likely be viewed simply as less informed or individuals less conscious of the actual workings of reality.  Not enough of us have reached the level of acceptance of our actual capabilities to appreciate the power of prayer and in a future day they will be simply be considered less evolved primitive thinkers. 

It probably will hurt her chance of reaching a high place in the government of this country but we encourage Marianne Williamson to keep reminding people that they can consciously impact the realities they experience in the world around them.  Are you, are we willing to regain the faith in our ability to shape our world.  Please visit DesignerOrReality.com for more ideas about shaping the future rather than just dealing with an uncertain world to come.