Author Archive for Guest Tickler

As an immigrant to the United States, I am not what one would consider part of the fabric of mainstream culture.  Of Asian descent, I belong to a group that makes up just 4.4 percent of the population.  I have dark hair, big eyes, a Singapore smile and a unique accent influenced by my British [...]

How fast do you need to lose weight? Most experts would suggest to diet; but everyone hates dieting. Why? Because dieting is temporary and doesn’t work. You need to CHANGE the way you eat.

Spirituality means many things to many people. Answering the question of “what is spirituality” for yourself is an important step in your lifelong process of discovery. To be honest, you don’t need to become an expert in terminology to enjoy a life of meaning and fulfillment. The words are just pointers and tools you can [...]

How many people do you know that are on emotional roller coasters? They experience every high and every low imaginable about every situation. True fitness is having control and discipline over our emotional lives.

Fall is one of my favorite times of year—the temp starts dropping, the air gets crisp, the trees put on a glorious display of color—I love it! I also think it’s a great time to drop what’s not working for you. If trees can let go of every leaf, why can’t we let go of what no longer serves us?

Ouch – we all hate it when we’re rejected. Fear of rejection stops salespeople from asking for the sale. It stops us from reaching out to new friends and associates. It stops families from coming together. It even stops us from pursuing our dreams. Rejection is a given – no matter how fabulous you are, [...]

Some people won’t even make New Year’s resolutions anymore. Not because they don’t want to improve their lives, but because they’ve tried and failed so many times, they’ve given up. It’s not the resolution maker who’s the failure, it’s the methodology we’ve been using to try and bring about radical change in our lives.

Research has found a connection between the power of the mind and what happens in our life and the results are speaking for themselves. The process to create what we want in our lives is called “manifesting” – the bringing of ideas and desires into physical form. Manifesting becomes a self empowerment tool when it is applied to realizing our desires. This is done through the law of attraction.

There are several concepts and approaches that aim to improve your time management skills. However, most of them seem to rest on unrealistic concepts that actually achieve nothing. Effective time management entails the maximum use of whatever time that is available each day to enable you to accomplish designated tasks.

Most people accept anger as a part of life. We all feel justified when we get angry and we can point to all the people and reasons for it. Certainly no one in their right mind could disagree. We all shake our heads as we hear of yet another “idiot driver who almost killed me”, the boss “who set me up to take the fall”, the spouse “who knows just the right buttons to push to send me over the edge”.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming your employees are good communicators. Just because you trained them on what to say doesn’t mean they know how to say it. There’s a mighty fine line between efficient and rude. Caring is what people want.

There are several reasons why people procrastinate. Oftentimes, it is innate to an individual or it could be lack of self discipline. However, it is important to point out the reason for this unhealthy habit so as to know how to deal with it.

Two  critical skills which the highest performing managers have in spades are the ability to influence and persuade. The most obvious targets for your powers of persuasion are your team, and sometimes your peers in different departments; but just as you need to manage down or sideways , it’s also critical you know how to [...]

What do you do when everything goes wrong?

2010 is here! There are three powerful tips I’d like to share with you that’ll not only make 2010 your best year ever, but will lay the essential groundwork for abundance and prosperity beyond your wildest dreams for you and your loved ones in the years to come.

I’m not that great at keeping New Year’s resolutions, but this one is going to stick – I promise. I resolve to wipe the F word “fair” from my vocabulary, from my thinking, from my emotions.

Given the current economic condition in the US, 2010 could become the year that Americans have to look at their lives in a totally new way. If they stay focused upon their finances, like the economy they may spend a good part of the year, if not all of it, receding into a depression and not living their lives fully at all.

Most employees view training as medicine or worse, as punishment. As an outside trainer, I work with hundreds of groups in a wide variety of industries and most people enter the training room as if they are going to the gas chamber.

It’s when events are overwhelmingly beyond your control, that you either find new ways to cope or are pulled down by the undertow. Your usual defenses are inadequate to protect from overwhelming long-term stress. Stress can build gradually beyond tolerance level, or a surprising turn of events like those recently reported in the news can create the kind of vulnerability that demands openness to change.

Some people seem to have it made, generating miracle after miracle with apparent ease, while the rest of us try time and time again, only to be left frustrated, exhausted and confused. But what makes some people abundant, while others are not? It all boils down to the eight success secrets listed.

Right now it’s tough to not feel like a victim. So many events seem to be beyond our control, and so many consequences of the decisions of others appear to have cost so many so much. It’s an easy time to choose to blame others and let events just carry us along- the perfect example of a victim.

I frequently see folks going to great lengths in their effort to develop and incorporate an “attitude of gratitude” into their lives, lugging around special gratitude crystals, rocks, or stones, keeping special gratitude journals, and/or resorting to all sorts of other “props and crutches” as I like to refer to them, when *all* that’s *really* required is developing the simple habit of saying “thank you”.

As responsible adults, we are encouraged to create both a Will and a Living Will. Wouldn’t it be great to also create a document that declares how we want to live! It could be called a “Living Willfully Declaration.” This document wouldn’t divide up what we have, or detail how we want to leave with dignity, but instead it would bear witness to the principles and values we want our lives to express. By Living Willfully, I mean living with intention and integrity, purpose and determination, mindfulness and just action. It means consciously choosing how we want to respond to life instead of simply reacting.

Becoming a parent is embarking on a journey that never ends. Parenting may take different forms and functions as time progresses, but I believe no one ceases being one. Long after your child outgrows you, and leaves you, you remain the parent that loves and cares for him as much as when he was still a baby.

Why does she feel the need to dominate our relationship? Why does she hold on emotionally to her son instead of allowing him to evolve into a mature and self-realized man and husband? Why should I be expected to prove myself to her? Surely my obvious respect and devotion to the family should be the measure of my worth as a daughter-in-law and wife? Why must so much of my time and energy be focused on my mother-in-law and not my son and husband?

Who is God’s God?
Andre: It is a circular reference …. well for me there is no proven God. So if I can’t prove the first one I can’t even begin to theorize further. But interestingly enough I have observed too that most things in life follow a cycle including animals, plants, the planets etc. This makes me think that existence must be cyclical too. It is only human beings who see everything to have a beginning and an end; maybe we are finite-focused and not able to understand anything else ?

round earthSome reason has to be,
For the earth to be round
So Life is never straight,
Always comes and goes around.

I was in Dumaguete, a city in the South of Manila, when I celebrated my 44th birthday last November 2008. I was not alone. I was with a group from the office, managing a multi-million peso event that was to crown all our achievements for the year. I was the team leader and I owned the project.

How can we stop wasting water? First we will have to change our attitude. We will have to feel responsible for the world that we will create for future generations. And what is the solution? How can we make everybody aware of this problem? Through public education programmes, water metres and higher water rates perhaps? As far as I am concerned I have always felt that the children can make a world of difference. Let’s also begin by adding water conservation and environmental studies as key subjects on schools’ curricula.

Her mellifluous voice served me better

Than all alarm clocks put together

As I woke up, each morning,

To the melodious tune of the cuckoo bird

In this funny, personal and motivating talk, Elizabeth Gilbert shares on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius.

There are several common things that people believe when they want to understand how to lose weight and most of them are false. Here are some of the myths.

(Note: This post is in 3 parts. Click here for parts 1 and 2. The author has chosen not to reveal her identity.) There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed, healed and done with. When you’ve finally hit the lowest point, [...]

(Note: This post is in 3 parts. Click here for parts 1 and 3. The author has chosen not to reveal her identity.) No one enjoys suffering though great men tell us suffering has a purpose: “If you have not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, [...]

(Note: This post is in 3 parts. Click here for parts 2 and 3. The author has chosen not to reveal her identity.) No one can tell what goes on between the person you were and the person you become. No one charts that anguish of descending into a private hell. There are no maps [...]

To find out how other Ticklers and readers responded to these questions click here. If you would like to take this interview as well, mail us your answers at interview@tickledbylife.com. (we will publish only the best responses) What is God? Abhimanyu: God, the higher power, the Almighty, the grand wizard or any other name you [...]

To find out how other Ticklers and readers responded to these questions click here. If you would like to take this interview as well, mail us your answers at interview@tickledbylife.com. (we will publish only the best responses) What is God? Sanjiv: God is a creation of early human beings from a time when there were [...]

To find out how other Ticklers and readers responded to these questions click here. If you would like to take this interview as well, mail us your answers at interview@tickledbylife.com. (we will publish only the best responses) What is God? Sundar: Are we asking – What is God or Who is God? Please read my [...]

To find out how other Ticklers and readers responded to these questions click here. If you would like to take this interview as well, mail us your answers at interview@tickledbylife.com. (we will publish only the best responses) What is God? Kaustav: This is God. You are God. I am God. We are all God. Everything [...]

To find out how other Ticklers and readers responded to these questions click here. If you would like to take this interview as well, mail us your answers at interview@tickledbylife.com. (we will publish only the best responses) What is God? Abha: To me God is the epitome of ultimate truth, faith, light, knowledge, power and [...]

To find out how other Ticklers and readers responded to these questions click here. If you would like to take this interview as well, mail us your answers at interview@tickledbylife.com. (we will publish only the best responses) What is God? Samir: The GOD we know is a man-made concept defined on principles of suitability and [...]

What’s the best way to raise a child? A million dollar question, which unfortunately has no right answer. Each child is unique, thus no set of rules can apply to all. However there are a few things that you should keep in mind to be on your way to becoming a better parent.

At home, getting into a battle of wills is not something that’s new or rare. Regardless of the size of your family, the possibility of ruffling up each others feathers is always present. Instead of trying to eradicate conflict all together (which would probably be impossible), you should instead focus on how to recognise its [...]

Mention the word ‘metrosexual’ and watch Gramps and Grandma glare at you like you have just said something vulgar. Metrosexual, a word that has recently gained popularity, is a neologism, looked at as the new black. We can go into a whole paragraph defining the meaning of a metrosexual but to keep it simple, it’s [...]

All right, let’s face it. Nobody likes housework. We’ve seen it all on popular TV before. You know, waiting for the weekly visit from your army of housekeepers which includes your nanny, clothes folding guy, ironing lady, washing lady, butler and what the heck, let’s throw in the maid. Oh snap out of it, you’re [...]

Becoming a “real” dad was a combination of slow and natural process of “awakening” and conscious self-reminding, self-training, or self-conditioning that I am already a father and I have to change my ways. Not all of them are pleasant, or voluntary, I’m telling you.

Motivation is the key to all success. There are many factors in life that determine the amount of motivation we have at any given time. Pain can be a motivator as well as pleasure. The degree to which we desire to have something or some situation is another motivator. Desire and determination has the ability [...]

My favorite day of the year has always been Valentine’s Day. It didn’t matter if I was alone on that day or not, I still adored it. Valentine’s day for me is a celebration of love, love in its many forms, romantic love between a man and a woman, the never-ending love of family and [...]

What are subliminal messages? Have they really been used in advertisements and commercials? Are they effective? Can they really effect our buying decisions? Subliminal messages are affirmations used to program your mind at the subconscious level. The word “sub” is Latin and means anything that is underneath or below. A typical example of this would [...]

You’ve taken all the abundance courses, read all the prosperity books, watched the latest and greatest inspirational movies, listened to all the motivational audios, and you’re still struggling. Here are some possible reasons why. Perhaps you can relate to some of them. 1. You’re stuck in the “pay off”. What is the pay off for [...]