We are made of Energy so enjoy TODAY!

The energy you exude is the energy you will attract. The vibes we put out from our thoughts and aura are what we are going to attract to us, if we are putting happy and positive vibes out there, we will attract those same kinds of vibes from the people around us. This is really important to remember as we go along through our days. If we put out insecure or negative vibes we will attract the same from those people around us, and we will end up having a lousy day. I actually get bad headaches when I am around negative situations and tense people. That negativity is what causes my tension headaches. If I walk away from the situation, the headache goes away within minutes! I always say happiness is contagious, so why not embrace everyone around who you love.

Signed copy of "Life in a Week - What is Spirituality?" book give-away contest!

I Love doing these contests! All you need to do to enter to win a signed copy of my second book is to "subscribe" to my weekly E-Zine! Look to your left and there it is! Put your first name and email address into the box and you are done. This is the eleventh book give-away contest this year and you are automatically entered into all of them when you subscribe! Have a really fun week everyone, Mike Keller

I am looking for your personal stories for book #3...

Hello everyone,
I am compiling stories for my next book about everyday issues, situations, problems, and how we were able to overcome these challenging times in life. The book will be geared toward teens and adults. I am not focusing on any particular forum, so send anything that you feel is important for others to read. The whole reason why I started writing was to be able to help people that I would have never been able to reach otherwise and from the emails I recieve I am sincerely happy that I have put my words out there; and so can you!
I am looking for (but not limited to by any means) stories about addictions (drugs, food, alcohol, sex, cutting, etc.), bullying, depression, suicide, peer pressure, and so on. I will be adding these stories to the book along with my input and/or research  to each of the situations and focus on the positives. Let me know if you would like your name added as a contributor in print as a Thank You for your input and stories since I will not be paying for your stories. My email is kellerslifeinaweek@gmail.com, please put "story for book #3" in the title so I know it is not spam! Thank You in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.   

Laugh at yourself...

What is really funny about life is that we forget how to live sometimes. We get caught up in the everyday drama, the mistakes, the rumors, and the stresses that we create for ourselves. We forget to laugh at the obvious laughable situations; I dropped my coffee as I was getting into the car this morning, it splashed up and hit me in the face. At first I was in shock then I laughed because I knew I should have made two trips instead of carrying a coffee by my teeth! Laughing at ourselves and situations we get ourselves into will have a positive effect on our daily lives, health, and our surroundings. Laughter causes our endorphins to be released instantly, which makes for a fun day!

Try to look at every situation that you may get yourself into in a way that a film maker would look at a situation who is making a comidy. Look at Sienfeld, that is exactly what Larry David did in every scene and show! Enjoy the uneasy moments of your day, the traffic, the rude co-worker, the radio that shuts off in the car when you go over a bump (Happy Days loved the broken juke box)! Laughing at these oddities and enjoying the beautiful day will be an instant anxiety reliever that will make for a funnier life! So get out there and laugh...      

Recognize faults and let go (excerpt from my 2nd book)

Have you ever gone into a beautiful church with beautiful antique artifacts, pristine walls, and perfect paintings and then you sat in a pew only to notice a crack in the stained glass window? You realize you keep looking at the crack and wonder why that ugly crack hasn’t been fixed; the church has plenty of money to fix it. All of the magnificent beauty of this church is suddenly reduced to almost an insult to you and your time. I use this analogy to make the point that we do the same with people; have you ever seen a friend after five or ten years and the first thought in your mind is “wow, they have gotten old and obese.” Our thoughts naturally go toward the negative. this is taught to us even as children, and it is a habit most of us have because of repetition of these thoughts. After a few moments of talking with your old friend, you realize the person had three grown children now working in fields such as nursing, social work, and teaching. It is exciting to know this person has brought up three children who all chose careers that now help society to be a better place.

No person is perfect, we all have flaws and when we point out other people’s flaws, we are just distracting ourselves from our own. I have found jealousy will always turn into hate and low self-esteem which, often causes us to notice flaws and we tend to gossip about others in order to boost our own feelings. When you are around someone who is gossiping, it is always best to remain silent and not even nod your head in agreement, because this will only encourage this type of behavior.

A wise man once told me there is good and bad in everyone and just always try to illuminate the good. This may not be easy at times and it may take practice but it is a habit worth reaching for. Most experts agree, it takes two weeks of daily activity to form a habit, good or bad. A good exercise would be to pick the person closest to you and write down on a sheet of paper, all the things annoying you about this person. On a second sheet of paper, write all of the positive things about the person. The second part of this exercise will be much harder but really dig down deep and free-write without even thinking. Remember sitting in the church and constantly looking at that crack in the stained glass window and dwelling on the broken piece. So often, we polarize the broken parts of people and ignore or simply don’t even take the time to notice the good attributes. Remember, we are not perfect but, we should work to improve our faults; a good way to do this is to let those imperfections of our loved ones and ourselves go! Once you have completed the exercise, draw a big box around the page about the annoyances of the other person and then crinkle it up into a ball and throw it away forever! Hang onto the second part of the exercise and read it once a day for two weeks; you will see a difference in the relationship becoming healthier and a change in the way you look at everything about that person.

Pride or Ignorance?

I often hear a lot about pride. I hear “well, I have my pride so I won’t back down” or “I know I heard that person say something two houses down and I won’t put up with it!” What. Really? Two houses down? Who cares, worry about your own house! A wise man told me that you should try to keep the peace because the more you worry about what others say about you, you are only giving them more power! The more you stress about what someone else is saying, the more you are strengthening their grips over you. Don’t worry about other peoples homes, look at what’s going on in your own. The anger that you hold inside of yourself is only creating a prison in your own life, let it go and you will live more freely. I believe we need to understand what pride means before we start throwing that word around and causing problems in our own lives. Here is the Webster definition of pride; “inordinate self esteem: conceit. A reasonable or justifiable SELF RESPECT.” It is key to understand pride is about oneself, the way you feel about yourself; not petty actions by others.

I was at a Hibachi a few months back with a few friends and sitting around the table was an older couple who were a few drinks deep and I over heard the husband say to his wife that my friend and I were “fags.” I almost threw my noodles at this man who knew nothing about me but, I took a deep breath and thought “ why should I loose my delicious noodles (which I crave 24/7) and ruin a fun time out with friends whom I care about! I would only be giving him power over my emotions and therefore letting him ‘win power’ while making me the foolish one who is kicked out of a really nice place that I love to frequent. I could have easily said “well, I have my pride” but, how would my pride have been if I created a problem over foolishness? I simply ignored his ignorance and he ended up leaving shortly thereafter because his wife was embarrassed by his foolish behavior. I had some more noodles, a lot of laughs, and ended up having a really fun night!

My point here is that if you worry too much about what others think about you then you are always going to be defensive and will never enjoy what surrounds you. If you are so sensitive about foolish words, then you are actually weaker than the one who is so ignorant and insecure about themselves that they are trying to tick you off in order to feel better about themselves. Ignorance is alive and well in our world and we are surrounded by it at most times of our lives but, do we want to stoop to the ignorant persons level or are we smarter than that? Once we realize that we are not perfect we can start to understand that neither is that other person two houses down or at the hibachi but, we will be giving them power by our own foolish prides if we let their actions create our reactions! As we get older and wiser, we begin to realize that we don’t have all the answers but we can make changes in this world by making changes in our own homes and not worrying about two houses down...

Happy Mom's Day!!

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11993993/mothers-day-movie

The Pay it Forward Band! - Wow...

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

Some people value education for itself. They see in it a persons greatest achievement. They are mistaken. Knowledge is of no value unless it makes me a better person. It should broaden my view of life, bring me a deeper understanding of people and things. If education makes me judge others or I become self-centered and proud, then it is bad for me. True education should help me to live a good life by helping others. A common working man who tries to help others is a far better man than a learned man who learns the lines of scriptures; living the words is the key to true happiness!

I was talking to a really successful man the other day who told me that “ religion is for the weak who need something to look forward too.” I was amazed because I have such a firm belief and faith in God, I not only believe in God but I have conversations with him! His words not only sent shivers down my back, they made me realize that even the most successful of people might be seeking what seems to be good but, might be focused on earthly goods alone. We are on this earth for a while, some are here for ninety years, some for thirty years, and some for five minutes. We will never know when our time is up, but we are certain that our bodies will die. I firmly believe that our decisions today will guide us to where we end up tomorrow and this is why we need to keep our eyes on the bigger picture; our souls and our beliefs.

This Easter week I have learned a very valuable lesson on my daily living. I learned that I have been focusing to many of my efforts toward success, when I didn’t even have the true meaning of success in mind. I asked myself “what is success?” I now know that success is not having the fancy car, the bank account, or the big office but, it is having true friends and family whom know that I am there for them any time they need me! Success is about relationships, respect, and trust. We don’t need to agree on everything, know everything, or even want the same things but, we do need to believe in something; my greatest achievement is my belief in God and my knowledge that I will never be perfect...

This was the best show I've seen in years! These kids are TALENTED...

Only one night left to see these talented kids bring a classic show to a new level. I had more fun at this show than allowed by law (in the town of Bomont). If you are looking for a fun night out then check out this show but hurry because tonight is the last night! Just click on the title and get all the info...

 

It is so nice outside...take a walk!

I like the old saying "spring is in the air!" The birds are chirping, the bugs are crawling, the grass and plants are changing colors and most of importantly; we are in better moods! Shake that "old man winters blues" off and take a walk, go to the petting zoo, play a game of hoops, or go for a ride with the windows down! A good dose of fresh air will make our days much better. Happy Spring everyone, Mike Keller    

My newest xtranormal commercial! ARGUMENTS...

Give-Away Contest for "Dare to Be Yourself" by Alan Cohen!

This weeks Give-Away Contest is for one of my favorite self help books, it is the book that actually got me started on my writing career. It is "Dare to Be Yourself" by Alan Cohen (an amazing writer). All you need to do to join is sign up for the "Weekly Ezine" on http://www.lifeinaweek.com/ (top left hand corner) and send me an email that you would like to be placed in the drawing hat! Click on the link here to read all about it -      http://home.ezezine.com/3043/3043-2011.02.20.23.07.archive.html I hope to see your name in the hat!!
Have a really fun week everyone.

Relationships are tricky!

<>Relationships are always tricky. Good relationships don't happen by accident and must be consciously built, you will always have to take into consideration the person at the other end of the relationship. To start with, some people are not going to interpret your personality as you see it. You are going to have to be sensitive enough to determine who these people are, and then you must build a good relationship with them on an individual basis. It is not easy to change a cool relationship to a warm one, yet you cannot afford to allow it to remain in an unhealthy state. You should take some extra effort to build it into a stronger relationship. To build a stronger relationship, remember that she (or he) sees you differently than anyone else or how you might even see yourself! A really good friend of mine told me that "it isn't all about you" and that is so true when building life long relationships... (Change 'me' to 'we')

Our habits that turn into addictions!

Let’s face the harsh facts about our weaknesses. We all have dealt with addictions in our lives, whether it is alcohol, drugs, work, love, or even hatred. Life is about balance and moderation. Any addiction that we may be facing in our lives can and probably will dull our energetic spirits. If we let our addictions take over our lives, we will become weak and frail, letting our guards down for even an instant may be enough for us to fall hard. My weakness was alcohol, it threatened all that I believe in and the overindulgence of the drink felt like tentacles of an octopus grasping my every thought and breathe.




In today’s society addictions are of an epidemic proportion. The curses of these addictions are leading many down a rough path in life, without an anchor to secure our thoughts. We are readily influenced by our peers, media, and television. Our thoughts become confused and frustrated, while our bodies and spirits deteriorate. We teach the young by our examples, not by our words alone! We may have even introduced them to the drunkard or addictive ways by failing to check our own corrupt impulses, and our principles may have been carelessly disregarded. The bad effects of these addictions far outweigh the so-called benefits. An addiction will take over our thoughts throughout the day while working like a demon trying to claw your eyes out (wow that was a bit harsh) so that you won’t be able to see all the good that is surrounding you. These addictions are destroying our judgements, character, and lives.



We are given free-will to live our lives the way we choose. If we overindulge in drinking, we will become drunkards, if we eat everything that is in front of us we will be gluten’s who become so obese that we can’t tie our own shoes, and if we let habits turn into addictions we will be doomed to a life filled with poor judgments and derangement. I write these harsh words because I know that these addictions cause many of the problems we are facing in our own homes, towns, cities, and the world. Many murders, suicides, health issues, and divorces are the tragic consequences of these tendencies, don’t let them take over your thoughts. If you feel you have been heading toward an addiction from a bad habit that you may have, look inside of yourself and ask what it is that you are not facing about yourself and face it. Become stronger by fighting the demons from within. Always remember that as long as we do just a little better today, then we are heading toward a healthier and happier life, pass along that feeling to all you meet during your journey!