For starters, I saw a good friend over the weekend that I haven’t seen in a long time. We met by chance at a restaurant that we happened to both be at. We didn’t have much time to talk, but it was good to see him and know he is doing well.

On the flip side, I got to clean up some “throw up” that my dog left on the floor last night. Yes, I know you probably didn’t want to hear that, but it helps me make my point…

Why don’t we expect the unexpected?

While these two events were not predictable by any means, they are certainly not out of the ordinary. Both types of things have happened to me previously, and they are sure to happen again.

What does this information tell us, and how can it help us?

Well it tells us that life is fascinating and exciting. And it is unpredictable, and to a certain degree fun. That is, if you enjoy the excitement that comes from something out of your normal everyday routine.

It can help us too if we let it. Nothing causes more stress then letting all these random things in life get to you. You need to learn to roll with the punches. Be like water. Water flows around everything yet it’s strength is not diminished.

So don’t let things get to you. They will happen. Things won’t always go the way you planned, the way you think, or the way you want them too. Things will happen. Flow with them.

Expect the unexpected….

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Why did I decide to check this? Well I unfortunately had 3 people unsubscribe by email in one week. I thought that maybe it was time to check my numbers and low and behold I had more then last time.

Also, Jack the Web Design Dude, suggested I open things up to guest posters to add more content. Great minds think alike Jack because I was already thinking about it. (And not doing anything about it of course.) Do you want to be my first guest poster of the year?

All in all, things are going pretty well here. I averaged 79 visitors a day in the past week. Normally I hover around 50 per day. Guess all that hard work in the past is really paying off!

I say all that to say I am sorry. Sorry for letting my readers down. Sorry for being so lazy about this website. I also want to say now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to press ahead and keep going. Because I do believe I have a thing going here.

You know, my mom asks me all the time when my next post will be. (Hi mom!) She also says I don’t call enough, but thats another story.

The thing is I don’t write enough either. Writing helps us all to cut through and find clarity in a murky world. I know my writing helps me, and I know it helps you, the reader, as well. I am happy for all your feedback, both in the comments and by other means.

So here is me writing more, and inviting you all to do the same. Don’t be shy. Whether you have your own blog or not I would love for you to contribute here. You can comment here, or send me an email. Whatever works best for you. I have no strict requirements for a guest post. Just that it has to deal with some personal development issue. Which means you can write about anything in life!!!

So again, thank you all for sticking with me. And for all you first time visitors as well. You are most welcome here!

Cheers,
Jeremy

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J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly always seems to produce some great content. This article is no exception. He does an outstanding job at summarizing some of the best principles he has found in the many books he has read over the years.

Here is his article, Great Lessons from Great Men.

Cheers,
jeremy

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Let’s start with Economic Prognostications 2009…

It would be great if you read those predictions to start out with, and also read my economic primer, but if you are strapped for time here is the summary.

1. I first predicted that the Dow would not rise above 10,000 in 2009. Low and behold, it hit that mark in November. Couldn’t it hold out 2 more months for me to be right? haha.

In any case, I must thank Kent @ The Financial Philosopher for making me do a counter argument. While it was unlikely it would rise that high, it did happen, and I think I explained pretty well why it happened in the comment section of that post. As for the second predication that it wouldn’t rise above 10,000 over the next 5-10 years. Well, that was a little crazy, and wasn’t based on anything more then my pessimism at the time. Moving on…

2. My second prediction was that housing prices would drop another 10%, half of which would be caused my the increasing unemployment rate. Looking at the data now, I really can’t really say conclusively whether this happened or not.

For one, the census bureau won’t wrap up their data analysis till sometime in February. I also failed to remember how I came to my conclusions in the first place.

There are only two solid conclusions I can come to: That there was an additional decrease in housing prices in 2009, but by what percentage I am unsure. Also that there was a degree of stabilization in the market overall.

3. I predicted that immigration will remain high. This is almost a no-brainer. Obama would like to eventually give illegal immigrants a better pathway for gaining citizenship. If that happens, and immigration quotas are raised, we will almost assuredly see a huge surge in new immigration.

4. I predicted that unemployment will rise above 10% in 2009. Check. I went even further to say that it will stabilize around 7-9% in 2010. Hmmm. Maybe a bit too ambitious. We will see…

So I was either right on, or slightly off. We will see the final figures in a month or two. As for 2010 I will make some simple predictions…

1. Forget the stock market. Gold prices will continue to rise. Yes, gold is almost ridiculously priced right now. It will continue to rise however. With what the government is doing right now, they are causing a lot of inflationary fears. Enough people are buying into that fear that they will continue to buy into gold. Today’s price of gold is $1,138.30 per ounce. I wouldn’t be surprised if $1,300.00 or $1,400.00 was out of the question.

2. Going against last year’s predications, somehow, someway, the Dow will rise to over 11,000 or 12,000. My only basis for this is my understanding of money and the need for people to invest it somewhere. The stock market somehow remains still one of the number one places to invest despite it’s lack of sensibility.

3. As for housing. Who knows. I thought unemployment was the trump factor last year. This year it’s housing. It will be a make or break year. This is the year we will see if the housing stimulus, and record low interest rates will save the housing market. So far the numbers look promising, but anything can happen. My predication is that we will start seeing modest house price increases across the board in all but the worst of locales. For example, Detroit & the rest of the rust belt, and probably California & a few other states that were hit the worst. Those areas will still experience declines, albeit modest ones…

4. Unemployment. *sigh* Its rough and will continue to be rough. Federal policies, as well as banking policies, are making it tough for new and small businesses to hire and experience growth. My original prediction of a job recovery in 2010 is a bit unfounded. I thought more people would make the shift to entrepreneurship, but that doesn’t seem to be happening in large enough numbers.

What is also intriguing is the number of people who get removed from the official unemployment list. The number of people that “stop searching for work.”

I predict that unemployment won’t go below 10%, and may go up to 11 or 12%. I’d like to be more optimistic here, but I just can’t.

I have some other ideas about the economy, but I feel they would be best served in separate articles, and certainly wouldn’t count as official predictions anyhow.

So here is to a great 2010, whatever it turns out to be.

Cheers,
Jeremy

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Right off the bat I want to thank everyone who is reading this for sticking with me (or finding this site for the first time). As most of you know I was a fairly prolific writer until this past summer. Then I let things slide until I was hardly posting at all.

A lot of that had to do with my personal life at the time. And a lot just came down to sheer laziness.

Yes, my last post was for Thanksgiving. And I couldn’t even get off a Christmas or New Years post. And we all know how much personal development bloggers love seizing the opportunity to write about the New Year, and especially New year’s resolutions.

Well here ya go. My New year’s post…

Ill start off by doing a small Saturday wrap for ya. In beginning to think about what I would like to write about I started reading some other blogs. Of course, one of my stops is Zen Habits which continues to be one of the best blogs out there.

Leo included some of his top posts for 2009 including one that still applies for 2010. Here it is…

The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever

Well the secret is out… Don’t wait for happiness. Have it now. It’s well worth the read.

As for me I would just like to apologize for not posting more. I just approved over 30 comments waiting for me from December. And I would just like to say I love the fact that I am still getting tons of visitors and people who take the time to leave comments. My hard work from the past is still living on without me.

That is what I love so much about writing and blogging especially. You write a good tidbit of information down and people get a lot of value out of it. And that value continues on without you. And you get to see a little of the result in the grateful comments. It is a real satisfying thing to have.

I have also became friends with some fellow bloggers. And sad to say, without blogging, the friendships kinda fade. However, one blogger friend emailed me out of the blue about a project she is working on to help the homeless in her area. If you are looking for a good cause to support I would suggest you check out her blog article Holidays and Homelessness.

I know this is a bunch of random stuff, but it is a byproduct of not posting more frequently.

As for the future, here are some things I want to do…

Economics and politics still continue to be my biggest “hobbies”. I would like to post some of the things I have learned about health care, our banking system, and the economy in general. You don’t wanna miss out on this juicy stuff.

I also want to start getting back to cooperation I had with other bloggers in the past. I am still welcoming guest articles and I will be looking to guest write on a few other blogs here in the near future.

I also have to check out my web analytics stuff. My numbers have been pretty steady without me doing much. It’s good to see I have a good baseline of visitors coming from google and other sources without the need for much promotion on other sites. And without the wild spikes of Stumble Upon. etc. I’m excited to see where I can take things from here.

Last but not least, I would like to start replying to comments again. I am going to leave the past couple months of comments go, but I would love for you to leave a comment on here saying hi. It will help me to get back to your blogs so I can get back on track again.

Happy New Year everyone! May this one be one of the best you have had!

Cheers,
Jeremy

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Now this is something people should practice every day, year-round…

Yes, I know this is an American holiday, and I do have many international readers. However, I think this is an important concept in personal development.

Giving thanks…

Sometimes it is hard to do. Especially when you have so many things working against you in this life. However, did you know that being thankful is mostly a state of mind?

It has to be right? How else can someone on their death bed still give thanks for the life that they were given? Dying isn’t something to be most thankful for, now is it?

Yet, if we want to, we can find thanks in even the worst of circumstances. That’s why I wrote my article about Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.

Here are some things that help me to give thanks…

1. Calmness – Sometimes we are moving so fast we don’t actually think about how much we have to be thankful for. Calmness is something I practice my meditating, and deep breathing.
2. Reminders – Each time I experience a good thing I try to pause for a second. Both to enjoy it and to remind myself that there are many good things in this life. These good things could be anything from a good meal to a hug and a kiss. We have much to be thankful for.
3. Children – Watching children play, laugh, and do all the other things they do helps me to remember what life is about. To me it is about joy. Although finding it everyday can be hard, children seem to be able to bring that joy out of us.
4. Enjoyment – Part of thankfulness is enjoyment. You know you have seen those people. The ones who have the seeming inability to not enjoy anything. The ones that have the world in their hand, yet can’t enjoy it because it is never enough. Friends, let what you hold be enough, and enjoy the most out of it.
5. Giving – Last but not least is giving. One of the most powerful ways to be thankful is to give out of your abundance. To realize that you have enough. And that you have the power to help someone else be thankful in their life. This creates the most thanks giving out of all…

I hope you enjoyed these couple of ideas on giving thanks. I would love to hear about some of the practical ways you give thanks in the comment section.

Cheers,
Jeremy

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I feel like I have entered a very interesting time in my life. A time where I am more confident then ever about my place in life, my abilities, my goals, and my dreams. Yet more uncertain then ever of what the best way is to accomplish those things.

Just when you are making some headway life throws you a curve ball. And in no place is the analogy more relevant then our current bathroom remodel project.

This remodel project has been on our minds nearly from the time we bought the house almost 5 years ago. We started this project 5 months ago when we got the urge to rip everything out of the old bathroom. Oh how us guys love to flex our muscles in some righteous demolition. Especially knowing something much better is coming along.

So we completed the demolition in the spring and allowed nearly the whole summer to go by as we were on vacation or enjoying the nice weather outside. Finally as cold weather approached and September loomed large on the horizon we decided to get started on the actual building part of the project.

We bought our supplies and started to put up the basic framing needed to support the room. As amateur builders go we knew just enough to be able to accomplish the task, but slowly, and with much thought and questioning of what more experienced people knew. Things would run smoothly and then we would run into something we didn’t know how to accomplish. We used up a lot of time figuring out the best way to do things. And a lot of time spent running to the store to get parts we didn’t realize we needed.

Next came the plumbing and electrical work. Same deal. Go until you can’t go no more. Then find out from the experts what we needed to do next. Or go to the store to get the things we didn’t realize we needed. All in all, a great way to learn a lot very quickly, but not the best way to spend your evenings and weekends.

But isn’t that how life is, and isn’t that how we grow. Go until we run into something we haven’t encountered before then learn how to beat it?

In thinking about this, I’ve learned some things that I would like to share…

1. Take it a day at a time. Yes, things always seem to take more time then you realize. Especially when you haven’t done exactly that thing before. Enjoy the process. Realize you are building both something valuable and your knowledge for the future.

2. Good things come to those that wait. Our kitchen remodel was the same way. It took months before it was done. Now that it is finished we are enjoying the fruits of our labors. We spend a whole lot more time in our kitchen because it is so much more enjoyable.

3. Problems will arise, yet nearly everything is solvable. Don’t act like something is impossible just because you lack the desire to beat it. People that have come before you have accomplished nearly everything you plan to set out to do in this life. Anything you want to do from raising a child to flying a plane can be learned. Knowledge and experience is everywhere, you just need to look for it.

4. Everything is an opportunity. It may be in disguise but everything that challenges you will make you better. Its a real promise for all your hard work.

5. Life is short, so play hard. Life is way too short to get all caught up and mixed up in the twists and turns of it all. Focus your energies and play hard. Most of us have heard the analogy about how concentrated light makes a powerful laser. You be the same way. Focus yourself and play hard. Life is too short my friend…

How else do you guys handle the twists and turns of life? I would love to hear about it in the comment section below….

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