Is It Better to Be Poor and Happy or Wealthy and Miserable?

When coaching people on wealth creation, it is amazing for me every time to discover how strongly people who are not wealthy believe that this question is valid. Don’t get me wrong. I came from a simple family, where my mom and dad both worked hard, very hard, at more that one job, to provide for 5 children.

When my clients discuss this, I know what they are talking about because we had such discussions around our dinner table.

People who do not have “enough” money (90% of our society) have some beliefs that support their identity as “poor”, “struggling”, “cannot have what we want”. Here are some of them:

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How To Have Great Skin

Many people ask me about my great skin. I have heard it so many times that I am already convinced that I have great skin. I went to the shopping centre last week and stopped at a stall to get my make-up done, just for fun. The make up artist told me numerous times, “You have great skin” while she was putting creams and make-up on my face.

“What kind of moisturiser do you use?” she asked me.

When I told her it was just a simple moisturiser from the supermarket, she was very surprised.

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7 Easy Steps To Detoxify Your Life

Fruits and mint for detox in heart shapes

This happens to many people. They get up one day feeling sick and tired of trying so hard and determine to change. Some of us are lucky to be really sick and are forced to listen to our body and detoxify. I have a group of clients who all know one another (they referred each other to me) and they imitate me saying “Sickness is health” (they say it in a funny way, I must sound very funny when I say it).

Sickness is our body’s way of talking to us. When we are sick, the level of poison in our body has reached a warning level. If we do not stop to detoxify, we can ruin our own life and the lives of the people we love.

Having been very sick during childhood, I was shocked to discover when I was just 16 that my thoughts were pure poison. I had bad thoughts about myself, my abilities and my talents. I had bad thoughts about others around me and, of course, I never took any responsibility over my life. Not that I didn’t want to, but I do not think I knew what it meant.

Well, what do you know? As soon as I realised this, I fought my way back to school (after failing too many subjects and being kicked), I started going out with a boy, I got an excellence scholarship and was sent with the first-ever Israeli youth delegation to Egypt, to help establish new relationships just after the peace agreement was signed between the two countries. You can certainly say this was one of the best “sick and tired” points of my life.

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Suicide Rate Is Rising. Time To Wake Up!

Teen girl's hand limp with pills spread around it

Although suicide is not a topic many people talk about, I believe it is important to discuss it BEFORE it is too late. Whereas in the past suicide was an adult concern, the trends in the last 50 years have changed and more and more teens (aged 15 and above) are at risk.

There are many reasons for suicide, some of which are related to crisis and mental breakdowns due to the loss of loved ones and others events that cannot be prevented. However, the major reason for suicide is depression. Yet unlike losing someone you love, depression can be prevented!

Suicide is one of those things that when it happens, it is already too late. Therefore, we, as parents and educators (and government), must take responsibility and dedicate ourselves to preventing suicide.

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Anorexia: Dying to Be Thin!

I recently spent some time coaching a woman suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. She weighed 32kg and would not eat to save her life!

A study in high schools in Canada found that 50% of girls were on a diet because they thought they were overweight. If your daughter is young and you think, “I’ll deal with it when she is a teen”, think again. Records show that eating disorders are increasingly seen in children as young as 10. A research in Canada in 2002 found 37% of Canadian females aged 11, 42% aged 13 and 48% aged 15 say they need to lose weight. By the way, 52% of them started dieting before the age of 14.

What can we do about it? I think we can do a lot.

This post is part 1 of 8 in the series Anorexia

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Laughter Therapy – Do It Yourself!

There is a whole new science now dealing with the importance of laughter to our wellbeing. Terminally ill people watch funny movies to heal themselves. There are courses where you can learn to laugh. Think about it – learn to laugh. This natural thing that we do from birth is something we need to re-learn as adults. Do you think that when we were born everything around was funny and when we grew older nothing was funny anymore or is it that we just can’t recognise the fun in life?

Children laugh a lot. One of the greatest joys is to hear a baby laugh. More people find that irresistable. Children do not need a “real” reason to laugh. They laugh at things that seems silly. What do you think? Is it better to laugh over millions of silly things or only to laugh at rare “seriously funny” things? Who has more fun in life? Kids or grown-ups?

There are two ways to get back to this truth. One way is to invest in personal development. Grow, evolve and attract more fun into your life, which will give you more reasons to laugh.

The other way is to laugh more and thus attract more fun into your life.

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If You Think You Can or Think You Can’t, You Are Right – The Story of Marina

“And I thought all that time I was crazy and imagining things”, Marina said when she first came to see me. “I have been taking anti-depressants for 21 years, but now I want to stop. Will you help me?” she asked.

During coaching, Marina gradually stopped her medication with the help of her wonderful doctor. She goes out and is has entered a happy new relationship. She has improved her relationships with her kids and is communicating amazingly well with Peter. She has been promoted at work and is considering publishing her story “to help others believe they can”.

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Food for Thought: Fighting Obesity with Happiness

Obesity in the world is increasing and numbers are a real worry. Statistics from around the world puts USA as the leading country with 30% of its population being obese, followed by Mexico with 24%, UK with 23% and Australia with 21%. Closing the list with 3% obesity are Korea and Japan.

These numbers increase every year and if, many years ago, we talked about “the overweight issue”, now we are talking about something that it is much bigger – obesity.

Many overweight people are shocked when the doctor tells them they are obese. Overweight? Yes, we are used to it, but obese?! That is a whole new game. Houston, we have a problem!

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Hugs: The Ultimate Antidepressant

For a while, I’ve been thinking of ways to motivate my readers to live an inspiring life that will make a difference. Many people think that the way we can make a difference is by doing big things and I think we need to re-define the meaning of “big”.

I think we can make a difference, a big difference, by changing the depression statistics in the world. One person at a time, we can teach how to put happiness in our hearts and chase away the darkness. And you are probably asking yourself, “And how do we do that with no budget, without the support of the government and without organizing ourselves in a formal way?”

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