A Key to Happiness...

There is more to this life than having everything. - Maurice Sendak

I read this quote today looking for inspiration and something positive to focus on. I try to see the good around me before I succumb to the gloom that so many others are willing to embrace. I'm sure this quote means many things to different people, but when I read it, I found that it reminds me of the similarity that it has to things both Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy have said. For those of you not familiar with these individuals, they are both motivational speakers.

Reading a book by Tony Robbins, called "Awaken the Giant Within", he takes time to talk about what makes people truly happy. He observed that people can have a ton of money and still not be truly happy in their lives. We often see celebrities that seem to have it all, and yet resort to drugs, alcohol or other substances to escape their reality. Some even resort to suicide to try to escape their lives. Yet, we also see people that are dirt poor, struggling to reach up beyond their means, and always unhappy too. They are upset with the way the "system" holds them back, or that someone else is responsible for their lot in life (which may even be true). So unhappiness is not limited to the Rich, nor is it the exclusive domain of those that are poor either.

Still, we know that people exist that are actually happy. They come from both sides of the spectrum - rich and poor. What enables them to be happy? When I read or Listen to Tony's material, he hints that the key is in being able to appreciate what you have now, while you continue to pursue your dreams. Perhaps that is why an underprivileged family knows how to have fun with simple means - a stick, a pile of small stones or even just the friends around them. So too is it with someone who is wealthy perhaps. Maybe they understand that they are greatly blessed and truly appreciate all they have. Being happy with what you have - being thankful - maybe that is the secret?

I also took a course called the Phoenix Seminar - with content from Brian Tracey. His message was about having a Positive Mental Attitude. Expect positive things and positive things will happen to you. If you seek the negative, then it will surely find you as well. From this course I was given an exercise to reinforce positive expectation. After each day ended, the instructor coached that we should identify at least 3 good things that happened to us during the day. In this way it would reinforce that there is something good even from the worst days. The more you look for the positive, the more you will find it. When you're being positive, it's hard to be unhappy.

So now, when I look back at the original Quote, I think the message here is that we don't have to pursue material wealth as the end objective, but instead to be appreciative of what we already posses. Being thankful is the message I take from that quote. As Tony says, it's hard to be unhappy when you're in a "thankful" frame of mind.

I do believe I have many things to be thankful for. I feel a smile coming on now as I write this.

Thanks Maurice for your words of inspiration.

Tiny URL

Now that I'm "twittering", I find it increasingly useful to be concise so that I can keep my "tweets" under 140 characters. It's not as easy as you'd think it is. One of the activities you might find yourself doing often when you "twitter" is to post links to interesting articles or pictures. Well, as you can imagine, there are tons of websites out there that don't have Twitter-friendly addresses. So to help yourself out, you can dig up a URL shortening service like tinyurl.com or bit.ly both of which do an excellent job of shrinking a lengthy web address. Then today I stumbled upon an article that recommends against using TinyUrl on Twitter. Admittedly there are plenty of good moments to use a service like this, but the author of this article suggests that if you're trying to build your "brand" or - online presence - then you need to make sure you keep your name in your URL so people remember it and visit you often. A shortened address will only keep you in anonymity. You can read the article here for more insights on this topic. Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Hope you find it useful information! :)

Interesting iPhone Apps

So I thought I would see if anyone else has found any interesting iPhone apps that they’d like to share or talk about. Here's a few that I thought I would share with those that read my blog…

• Evernote: A cool little note taking app that allows you to capture text, photo’s, and voice recordings to a note. There is an online component that will sync your notes to a database and allow you to use a full featured client on a desktop to edit or tweak

• Zenbe Lists: Another nifty little note taking app. This one is mostly just for making lists which is fairly simple and straight forward. You can even assign a deadline or calendar date to your item so that you have a ‘due-date’ to work towards. Comes with an online sync feature as well, but doesn’t require a ‘fat’ client to work with when you’re not using your iPhone.

• Corus Radio: For those of us that want to listen to Canadian radio stations via our iPhone, this gets you part way there. I haven’t played with it much, but as you can probably guess, it only has radio stations that Corus Media is responsible for.

• TwitterFon: A great twitter client for the iPhone.

• Bejeweled 2: A game to distract yourself with. Bonus – just like the online version

• Sudoku: A great little app for getting your Sudoku fix in with.

• Night Stand: This little gadget turns your iPhone into a night stand clock (as the name implies). Nice when you’re staying over somewhere when you don’t have an alarm clock. Unfortunately sucks the battery dry, so make sure you use this in conjunction with a charger.

• Converter: Very handy tool. Ever needed to figure out how many km’s in a mile? Or what your fuel consumption was? Or what your shoe size translates to in the UK? This is the app for you

• Shush: This is something that I just installed today. This nifty little guy produces white noise. Yup, that’s it. Could be handy though, when you’re at work and don’t want to be distracted by music, but don’t like listening to the colleague in the cube across from you. Or when you’re on a plane and just want to drown out the baby in the next seat so that you can get a few zzz’s before your plane lands. Maybe you just need it to help you sleep at night. Or even if you’re on the bus and just want to be alone with your thoughts.

• ShoppingList: Yes… I’m *that* guy. I like to have a list with me when I go shopping. This app will allow you to input your own grocery items or pick from a pre-defined list. You can choose weights, amounts, quantities etc. It remembers the items you’ve shopped for on previous outings and lets you re-list them if you need them again. Nifty

• Shazam: Ever wanted to know what the name of that song was during the end credits of a movie? Well this little guy will sample an audio source for 15 secs, compare it to an online database and shoot back a match for you. You could be listening to the radio and hear a song you really like, but couldn’t catch the name of it, or maybe you just want to sing a few notes yourself to a song that is driving you nuts. Shazam is your tool!

• iScopes: An app that is mostly fluff. This one just gives you horoscope readings. I would love to find something like this but for the Eastern Zodiac signs.

• Magic 8 Ball: As the name suggests – it’s a magic 8 ball. Cool little time waster. Ask a question and hopefully you don’t get “Signs murky, ask again later”. ;)

• Genius Typing: Want to enable Emojicons for your iPhone? This app is the one for you. Install, and then make your way to your iPhone settings and look for your international keyboard options. Check under Japan and enable Emojicon. SMS texting is fun once again!! ;)

Ok… so there are some of my favorites…. What apps would you recommend?? What are your top 3 that you can't live without? Do you even own an iPhone or are you a BlackBerry Supporter? ;)