I have adopted the practice of meditating each morning and night. When I first started to meditate, last fall, I must confess that I didn’t think it would do much of anything for me except maybe to give me a few minutes of peace and quiet, and sometimes not even that. However, since I have disciplined myself to meditate everyday I have discovered that my life has changed in small, discreet ways and I like the feeling.
I have learned that meditation has taught me to live, learn and love in a different way than I’m accustomed to doing. It has changed the way I look at life and has afforded me more freedom, a freedom to explore my feelings, surroundings and even my life. It takes you out of the physical world for a short time and into a sort of peaceful state. I guess you could say it’s a little bit like letting your imagination take over for a while. It’s like a small, deserved mini vacation from a sometimes, or should I say most times, demanding world.
When I first started to meditate, I didn’t do well at all. I started out by closing my eyes and trying to get the noise of everyday life out of my head. I soon discovered that that is one of the hardest things to do. Each time I closed my eyes I was bombarded with thoughts and worries about this, that and everything else. It took some time and a lot of practice to be able to close my eyes and actually enjoy the quiet that I discovered I could find there when I tried. The trick is to keep at it until you succeed.
There are different forms of meditation, but Transcendental Meditation seems to be the most common. Transcendental meditation takes you into a kind of restful alertness. It benefits your mind, body and your relationships. Once you’ve added meditation to your daily routine you’ll realize that a lot of things you thought of as important, no longer matter to your well being.
There are many reasons to meditate. Meditation is enjoyable. You’ll start to feel an inner tranquility almost immediately. It leads to clearer thinking, better relationships, improved health and less stress in your life.
I look at the world much differently now than I did. Some things, like going outside and seeing that I have a flat tire, would have really put a damper on my day. Now, I may not be happy about the fact that I have to have my tire changed and that it will cost me money to have the old tire fixed, but I can look at it in the proper perspective. I attribute that to my meditation practices. Remember that old saying, “Don’t sweat the little things,” well I try to live by that motto and to also to “Let go and let God.” Life doesn’t have to be so hard, and I think that meditation is what we need in this changing world of ours.
If you would like to learn how to meditate there are plenty of courses online for you to take, for a price, but I would suggest that you just close your eyes, get the noise out of you head and you’d be surprised how good you’ll feel afterwards.
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This article may be reprinted, as long as it includes the following author box
“About the author: Kathy Zengolewicz, founder of The Ardent Author http://www.ardentauthor.com and a freelance author of informative business, self-growth and spiritual articles. Kathy can be reached via email at kathyze@gmail.com
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Book Giveaway #1
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape. A haunting, gripping story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.About Author
Dan Simmons is a recipient of a Hugo Award and the author of critically acclaimed suspense and science fiction novels. He makes his home in Colorado.
Here is your chance to win Dan Simmons' book.
Guidelines
1. Residents of U.S. and Canada only are eligible to win.
2. You must furnish a postal address, nothing will be shipped to a P.O. box.
3. You will be notified via email that you have won and you will have 3 days to respond or another winner will be chosen.
To enter, please submit the following to me at kathyze@gmail.com
Name
Your favorite book or author
How you heard about this giveaway
This contest begins on Thursday, February 12th and ends on Sunday, February 22nd. Winners will be notified by email on Monday, February 23rd. Five winners will be chosen at random.
A special thanks to Valerie M. Russo and Hatchette Book Group for making this giveaway possible.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Branding Your Virtual Business
Branding, by definition, is a mark of ownership. It’s a combination of your name, logo, tagline or any graphics that you may use in your business. It’s your identity, how your business is perceived by your clients.
Logos play a big part in branding. Once you have a logo you need to use it in creative ways to gain maximum exposure in your advertising. Your logo needs to describe what your business is all about. Once you have a logo you’ve taken your first step towards branding your business.
Branding is whom you are, whom you want to be and it will become an attestation or a declaration of how clients perceive your business, and how you perform within that business.
You may be wondering why branding is important. A brand is a representation of your business personality. It goes beyond a name and tagline. Aside from the services you offer, a brand is the most important facet of your business. Choosing just the right tagline and logo are important to successful branding. You’ll need to use visuals, auditory, and textural methods in your brands.
A Strong brand will make the difference between being noticed or overlooked. Your brand is a promise to your clients, a promise to deliver every time you take on a project. It tells them what to expect from your services and sets you apart from your competitors. It’s also a foundation for your marketing communication.
How should you create your brand. Be distinctive and do something different. This will take some brainstorming. Finding a mentor will help you to get the creative juices flowing. Create a mission statement. We are all in business to make a living. We all want to be successful. When creating your mission statement concentrate on how you will achieve that success and how you will define that success.
Create your ethics statement. I think this is essential for Virtual Assistants since we don’t really see our clients face to face. When creating the ethics statement, or code, concentrate of what basics are for your business ethics.
Make sure to describe what you are branding. A great way of doing this is by using your logo. Are you a writer? Maybe you can have a pen, pencil or an old fashioned typewriter on your logo. Or if your niche is Internet Research, try placing a small magnifying glass along side of your business name and other information.
Start using your logo as soon as possible. Use it on everything from your web site to all of your advertising and communications, including signatures on networking forums.
When advertising of marketing, be consistent. Don’t advertise one time as “The Best VA in Town” and then the next time as “The Best Virtual Assistant in Town.” Be unwavering, use the same colors, theme, symbols and even fonts on all of your materials.
Networking is an important part of a VAs life. This is how you get to know each other and earn the trust of your fellow VAs, which in turn can help your reputation as a virtual business or company.
The secret to success in branding is repeat, repeat, repeat. Be persistent. Put your logo on every page of your site. The more people see it, the more they will remember it. Whatever you do, don’t lose an opportunity to brand. Always keep it in the back of your mind. If a new opportunity arises, ask yourself “what’s the best way to use this opportunity to my advantage” and then do it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article may be reprinted, as long as it includes the following author box
“About the author: Kathy Zengolewicz is founder of The Virtual Independent Contractor (http://www.thevirtualindependentcontractor.com) and author of informative business and entertaining articles. Kathy is expanding her horizons and writing about everyday occurrences and happenings that may be of interest to people in all walks of life. For now, you can contact her at kathy@thevirtualindependentcontractor.com.”
Logos play a big part in branding. Once you have a logo you need to use it in creative ways to gain maximum exposure in your advertising. Your logo needs to describe what your business is all about. Once you have a logo you’ve taken your first step towards branding your business.
Branding is whom you are, whom you want to be and it will become an attestation or a declaration of how clients perceive your business, and how you perform within that business.
You may be wondering why branding is important. A brand is a representation of your business personality. It goes beyond a name and tagline. Aside from the services you offer, a brand is the most important facet of your business. Choosing just the right tagline and logo are important to successful branding. You’ll need to use visuals, auditory, and textural methods in your brands.
A Strong brand will make the difference between being noticed or overlooked. Your brand is a promise to your clients, a promise to deliver every time you take on a project. It tells them what to expect from your services and sets you apart from your competitors. It’s also a foundation for your marketing communication.
How should you create your brand. Be distinctive and do something different. This will take some brainstorming. Finding a mentor will help you to get the creative juices flowing. Create a mission statement. We are all in business to make a living. We all want to be successful. When creating your mission statement concentrate on how you will achieve that success and how you will define that success.
Create your ethics statement. I think this is essential for Virtual Assistants since we don’t really see our clients face to face. When creating the ethics statement, or code, concentrate of what basics are for your business ethics.
Make sure to describe what you are branding. A great way of doing this is by using your logo. Are you a writer? Maybe you can have a pen, pencil or an old fashioned typewriter on your logo. Or if your niche is Internet Research, try placing a small magnifying glass along side of your business name and other information.
Start using your logo as soon as possible. Use it on everything from your web site to all of your advertising and communications, including signatures on networking forums.
When advertising of marketing, be consistent. Don’t advertise one time as “The Best VA in Town” and then the next time as “The Best Virtual Assistant in Town.” Be unwavering, use the same colors, theme, symbols and even fonts on all of your materials.
Networking is an important part of a VAs life. This is how you get to know each other and earn the trust of your fellow VAs, which in turn can help your reputation as a virtual business or company.
The secret to success in branding is repeat, repeat, repeat. Be persistent. Put your logo on every page of your site. The more people see it, the more they will remember it. Whatever you do, don’t lose an opportunity to brand. Always keep it in the back of your mind. If a new opportunity arises, ask yourself “what’s the best way to use this opportunity to my advantage” and then do it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article may be reprinted, as long as it includes the following author box
“About the author: Kathy Zengolewicz is founder of The Virtual Independent Contractor (http://www.thevirtualindependentcontractor.com) and author of informative business and entertaining articles. Kathy is expanding her horizons and writing about everyday occurrences and happenings that may be of interest to people in all walks of life. For now, you can contact her at kathy@thevirtualindependentcontractor.com.”
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Beauty in Nature
I’ve come to a place in my life where I am looking for more. More of what, I don’t know. We all go through this phase; it’s a part of growing. What’s next for me? What can I do to feel more fulfilled in my life? Maybe meditation!
So, to see if there was something more to it, late last year I started to meditate. I found out, to my surprise, the benefits of meditation are many. It took a while to get the hang of it because at first I think I tried too hard when all I needed to do was sit, relax my body and clear the noise out of my head. Once I accomplished that I was able to actually enjoy the thoughts that penetrated my mind. Since starting to meditate I have become much more relaxed and I tend to easily see the beauty in things. I don’t think that I ever noticed these things before, or maybe I did, but forgot the joy they brought. Well, it’s time to re-explore. It’s time to open my eyes and see the beauty in nature.
I don’t particularly care for the cold weather, but lately, even though it’s winter I’ve acquired a fascination with all of nature. When we talk about beauty and nature in the same sentence it’s usually concerning sunshine and flowers, but there’s much more to it. I have learned to look at a snow covered city street and seek the artistry there. If you told me, even a couple of months ago, I would see anything worth noting in a city street, I don’t think I would have believed it. I wouldn’t have thought there was attractiveness let alone beauty in snow. But there is and I’m happy to say that I can see it now. A couple of nights ago we had a light snow fall and when I woke the next morning the first thing I reached for was my camera to snap a few pictures. I am not good with a camera and the pictures aren’t great, but years from now when I look at those pictures I’ll remember seeing the brilliance of the still morning that I saw in that snow. Seeing the beauty in snow has made me ponder a few other things. It has awakened something in me that I haven’t felt in a long time. A real sense of peace and contentment settled upon me.
A long time ago, or at least it seems like a long time ago, I took a home study writing course and one of my assignments was to write a descriptive essay of a summer thunderstorm. When that memory came back to me, it was like awakening from a sleep and using my senses for the first time.
I can vividly remember describing that thunderstorm. Sitting quietly, I could feel the hot sticky wind beating against my face. I reminisced about the clean fresh scent that the earth disperses, and of the rainbows showing their band of colors in the stillness, that is felt after a thunderstorm.
We look for beauty in many places. There’s no need to keep searching, just look outside your door and you’ll be amazed at the allure that awaits you there if you just look for it.
Whether you try meditation, (which I do recommend) or not, look for more in your life. Keep growing and seek fulfillment in all that you do. Especially try to see all of the beauty that nature presents to us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article may be reprinted, as long as it includes the following author box
“About the author: Kathy Zengolewicz is founder of The Ardent Author who’s web site is coming soon and the author of informative business and enlightenment articles. Kathy is expanding her horizons and writing about everyday occurrences and happenings that may be of interest to people in all walks of life. You can contact her at kathyze@gmail.com
So, to see if there was something more to it, late last year I started to meditate. I found out, to my surprise, the benefits of meditation are many. It took a while to get the hang of it because at first I think I tried too hard when all I needed to do was sit, relax my body and clear the noise out of my head. Once I accomplished that I was able to actually enjoy the thoughts that penetrated my mind. Since starting to meditate I have become much more relaxed and I tend to easily see the beauty in things. I don’t think that I ever noticed these things before, or maybe I did, but forgot the joy they brought. Well, it’s time to re-explore. It’s time to open my eyes and see the beauty in nature.
I don’t particularly care for the cold weather, but lately, even though it’s winter I’ve acquired a fascination with all of nature. When we talk about beauty and nature in the same sentence it’s usually concerning sunshine and flowers, but there’s much more to it. I have learned to look at a snow covered city street and seek the artistry there. If you told me, even a couple of months ago, I would see anything worth noting in a city street, I don’t think I would have believed it. I wouldn’t have thought there was attractiveness let alone beauty in snow. But there is and I’m happy to say that I can see it now. A couple of nights ago we had a light snow fall and when I woke the next morning the first thing I reached for was my camera to snap a few pictures. I am not good with a camera and the pictures aren’t great, but years from now when I look at those pictures I’ll remember seeing the brilliance of the still morning that I saw in that snow. Seeing the beauty in snow has made me ponder a few other things. It has awakened something in me that I haven’t felt in a long time. A real sense of peace and contentment settled upon me.
A long time ago, or at least it seems like a long time ago, I took a home study writing course and one of my assignments was to write a descriptive essay of a summer thunderstorm. When that memory came back to me, it was like awakening from a sleep and using my senses for the first time.
I can vividly remember describing that thunderstorm. Sitting quietly, I could feel the hot sticky wind beating against my face. I reminisced about the clean fresh scent that the earth disperses, and of the rainbows showing their band of colors in the stillness, that is felt after a thunderstorm.
We look for beauty in many places. There’s no need to keep searching, just look outside your door and you’ll be amazed at the allure that awaits you there if you just look for it.
Whether you try meditation, (which I do recommend) or not, look for more in your life. Keep growing and seek fulfillment in all that you do. Especially try to see all of the beauty that nature presents to us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This article may be reprinted, as long as it includes the following author box
“About the author: Kathy Zengolewicz is founder of The Ardent Author who’s web site is coming soon and the author of informative business and enlightenment articles. Kathy is expanding her horizons and writing about everyday occurrences and happenings that may be of interest to people in all walks of life. You can contact her at kathyze@gmail.com
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