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Positive News & Interviews

Our Life as the Dublin Holistic Centre – Bella Barker

by Admin April 23, 2013

written by Admin

Staying positive and staying in business

We are a multi-disciplinary venue with over 50 individual holistic businesses working together under the same roof. We care. We try to help our clients using our various trainings. We make mistakes. We have our good days and our bad. We are only human too.

Sadly one of our founders passed away this year, and although we are tinged with sadness, the support and kindness of everyone here created something more than can ever be expressed. Our clients, our students, our society, we all have challenges to face, but the Dublin Holistic Centre is very lucky to be thriving.

The buzz of South William Street in Dublin bodes well for us, the wide selection of therapists bodes well for us, the standard of our teachers bodes well for us, but in truth: we are worth more as a whole than the sum of our parts.

As a practitioner, you choose this field because you care, because you want to help, and when you multiply that by 50, it is so much more than just a workplace. This year we shared empathy, hugs, kind words, patience, grief and hardship. We became friends.

Of course we must still be accountable, but if you can become more than money, become more than marketing… The DHC works because we became more than just a business.

www.dublinholisticcentre.com

April 23, 2013 0 comment

Positive News & Interviews

Living Your Own Life

by Admin April 22, 2013

written by Admin

Seeing the Forces at Work in Your Life…

Derek O’Neill

Though you might go about your life thinking you’re steering the controls, chances are there are other forces – that are not about who you really are, and can be – that are shaping your existence. During this month’s inspirational talk at Creacon Lodge Wellness Centre, I talked about empowering yourself so you can start living your own life.

We are driven by emotions, beliefs and needs. All three of these elements must be looked at and understood. What are the emotions behind your actions? What’s driving them? What are your beliefs and how do you come to them?

Is your mind open to new beliefs if the old ones reveal that change is necessary? What are your needs and are you too attached to chasing things you don’t really require in order to be happy?

The state of your mind determines your reality. I talked about the effect of negative thoughts, heightened emotion and “learned helplessness”. When you begin to live your own life, you leave behind the voices from your past that defined you. When you can’t move forward, there is conflict within you. Working through that conflict is the first step. The goal is to live “at cause”, which is a state of empowered belief. It’s when we live “at effect” that we are in a victim role which cuts us down and takes our power away.

Living your own life and knowing how to get there is essential for a happy, harmonious and productive future for all of us!

www.creaconretreats.com

April 22, 2013 0 comment

Positive News & Interviews

Hero Dog’s 911 Call

by Admin April 21, 2013

written by Admin

People have always seemed to have a soft spot for heroic dogs. Whether it’s TV classics like Lassie or heart-warming family films like Homeward Bound, the idea of dogs rescuing their human masters (or even complete strangers) captures our love and affection as few other things do. So it’s only natural to love hearing about dogs that save people in real life! Here is one true account of a dog that saved a human from perilous circumstances:

A 17-pound beagle named Belle is more than man’s best friend; she’s a lifesaver. Belle recently received an award for biting onto owner Kevin Weaver’s mobile phone to call 911 after the diabetic man had a seizure and collapsed.

“There is no doubt in my mind that I’d be dead if I didn’t have Belle,” said Weaver, 34, whose blood sugar had dropped dangerously low. Belle had been trained to summon help in just those circumstances. She had been taught to bite down on the number 9 on his mobile phone contacting 911.

Belle was the first canine recipient to win the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award, given to someone who used a mobile phone to save a life, prevent a crime or help in an emergency.

Using their keen sense of smell, animals like Belle can detect abnormalities in a person’s blood-sugar levels. The dog periodically licks Weaver’s nose to take her own reading of his blood-sugar level. If something seems off to her, she will paw and whine at him.

“Every time she paws at me like that, I grab my meter and test myself,” Weaver said. “She’s never been wrong.”

April 21, 2013 0 comment

Positive News & Interviews

Breathe Out Fear, Breathe In Love – Charles Virtue

by Admin April 20, 2013

written by Admin

A New Day, A New You

Charles Virtue

One of the major goals of spirituality is to maintain a higher energy regardless of our current life situation. Every moment is a lesson, every moment is an opportunity to learn, and if we can maintain the discipline to remember and practice this, our power to help others and ourselves will increase every day.

It is important that we maintain the faith that every situation has a purpose. We are the only true and reliable sources of happiness and well-being for ourselves. While others can contribute, we must eventually learn to find harmony in self-reliance. The happier you are, the greater your ability will be to help bring joy to others. How can you be happier?

“Take a deep breath, close your eyes and thank God for the guidance you have received, and allow yourself to surrender to the knowledge that this guidance will continue every day and that it will become clearer the more you can release control over every moment.”

Let’s turn desire into prayer, lack into lessons and fear into love. Let’s affirm that every aspect of our lives in this moment has divine meaning.

Take a deep breath, close your eyes and thank God for the guidance you have received, and allow yourself to surrender to the knowledge that this guidance will continue every day and that it will become clearer the more you can release control over every moment. Breathe out your fears, breathe out the limiting thoughts, and breathe in peace, love and trust. Know that your ability to bring joy is not limited to other people’s lives – you have the same power to create happiness for yourself, if you give yourself permission and allow the angels to guide you.

April 20, 2013 0 comment

HH Dalai Lama in Derry - City of Culture 2013 by Patrick Bridgeman © 2013

Positive News & Interviews

How to be Happy like HH Dalai Lama & Richard Moore in Derry – City of Culture 2013

by Patrick April 18, 2013

written by Patrick

Words and Photos by Patrick Bridgeman

It’s always a pleasure to be in the same room as HH Dalai Lama, especially when he comes to Ireland to visit his good friend Richard Moore. Moore, who was blinded by a soldier’s bullet when he was a child, became HH’s hero when he heard about how Richard actively chose to forgive the soldier and seek out his friendship. Today, HH Dalai Lama finally got to meet Richard’s mother, whom HH refers to as “Mother Hero”. Always playful, HH snuck into the press conference unannounced so that he could get right up beside his blind friend before making himself known. HH Dalai Lama and in Derry - City of Culture 2013 by Patrick Bridgeman © 2013 HH Dalai Lama and Richard Moore in Derry - City of Culture 2013 by Patrick Bridgeman © 2013 Visiting Derry (City of Culture 2013) for the Children in Crisis / Culture of Compassion event, HH Dalai Lama brought with him a message of peace, compassion, openness and hope for the future based on the children of today. 300 of which joined him in his walk across the Peace Bridge, where he was met by 3 other award winning children of the future. Amazingly, the sun shined brightly for the duration of his walk across the bridge, only for the heavens to open when he reached the other side (symbolic?). HH Dalai Lama and Richard Moore walk the Peace Bridge in Derry - City of Culture 2013 by Patrick Bridgeman © 2013

“The future depends on the younger generation. You need to work hard and think wisely.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

“When I meet young people, I feel younger.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

In The Venue 2013, around 1,000 people gathered to hear HH’s message, with awards being given to shining lights in Derry’s community, and special musical guests such as Christy Moore, who received an honorary sash and blessing from HH Dalai Lama.

“Firstly, I think and talk as a human, then as a Buddhist, then from Tibet. Chinese are also human.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

“Respect all religions, even non-believers.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

“Receiving maximum affection from your mother makes you much happier and healthier inside.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

HH Dalai Lama (1 of 1)-12

“Realise the physical benefit of compassion. It is better for your health. Compassion comes from an openness to others.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

“If you care about your physical health, care about your peace of mind. They are very much related.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

“A culture of peace comes through compassion. Non-violence is the only way. Mutual understanding and a mutual outcome. Everybody needs to win.” ~ HH Dalai Lama

April 18, 2013 0 comment

Positive News & Interviews

The Connections Economy by Kathleen Moore

by Admin April 17, 2013

written by Admin

People have started turning away from large-scale, anonymous companies and towards smaller, local, more authentic ventures. More and more, people want to know the person behind the product they’ve just purchased. They want to see their own personal values being upheld and mirrored in as many exchanges that they have as possible, every single day.

Seth Godin, a leading thinker in business, talks about this shift in his new book,The Icarus Deception. “What matters to people now is connecting with other like-minded people; including those they choose to do business with.” He has coined this new economy “The Connections Economy”.

Godin describes a new landscape of smaller businesses whose size enables them to deal directly with their customers. These new ventures are more personal, non-corporate and authentic entities set up to do something different and important – both for the personal creators and for people who deal with them. Fantastically, the digital and social revolution has enabled such a shift, giving small enterprises access to global niche markets, allowing them to be economically viable for the few who run them.

From a big business point of view, all is not lost either. Larger companies can use the size of their organisations for a significant social purpose and reconnect with their customers. This is the flipside of the scale of their operations: they can actually make a very positive and real impact on the world. Take, for example, the World’s number one brand: Coke. Coca-Cola, having used the image of the Polar Bear in their advertising campaigns for the last few decades, are now working jointly with the WWF to protect the Arctic – the habitat of the polar bears. Another company giving back is clothing brand Timberland. Since the massive earthquake in 2010, Timberland have been working with a local Haitian NGO to upskill farmers on sustainable farming and improving the forestry of the country.

How reassuring to know that the opinion and decisions of a single individual – when expressed and acted upon – can snowball globally and have a real impact by influencing the ways in which large-scale organisations work.

April 17, 2013 0 comment

Positive News & Interviews

Positive News Stories – The Giving Pledge Goes Global

by Admin April 16, 2013

written by Admin

By Trevor Neilson

A little noticed piece of news emerged in the world of philanthropy in February. A dozen new billionaires signed onto the Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge. The Pledge, established in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, encourages the world’s wealthiest individuals to give at least half of their wealth to charity rather than passing it on to their children. With the addition of these signatories, 105 billionaires have now committed a total of $500 billion to philanthropy.

This news is important for a few key reasons. First, Gates and Buffett have done a great job of engaging people around the world to donate their wealth to charity. Most people never thought the Pledge would succeed given the entrenched tradition of passing wealth along to one’s children. Even in a country like the U.S. that prides itself upon equality of opportunity, inheritances have historically comprised about 20-50% of wealth accumulation – a tradition that stifles ambition and innovation. The fact that 105 billionaires have signed on, including the latest Pledgers who represent 8 different countries, is an encouraging indicator that the culture of wealth is shifting.

As we look to the future, we have reason to hope that this increased commitment to charitable giving will become the social norm. Imagine a society in which extreme giving is the new status symbol for the wealthy. The Pledge could evolve into a giving competition and eventually a Global Philanthropy Award on par with the Nobel Prize.

We’ve already seen the concept take shape through the X Prize, which promotes technological innovations for the benefit of humanity. This model of incentivizing philanthropy through competition and peer pressure has proven successful. If we can leverage it further, we stand to change the landscape of philanthropy worldwide.

https://twitter.com/trevor_neilson

April 16, 2013 0 comment

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