Thank you for vising my blog again, even though it’s been a long time I haven’t posted any updates here.

“So where have you been, Ladan?”

You know how Twitter and Facebook have become so popular these days. Twitter is just like a blog where you can post your latest updates, but it is even faster and easier.

You can also use Facebook to share your latest news, tips, and interesting resources in a more personal way.

That’s why for the last several months, I have been actively posting new personal development tips and resources mostly on Twitter and Facebook - not on this blog anymore. Because they are faster and I can share more helpful content with you.

So if you have enjoyed reading this blog so far, you can find more updates on my Twitter and Facebook pages here:

• Ladan Lashkari on Facebook
• Ladan Lashkari on Twitter

I update these two almost every day, so you can discover lots of cool tips and tricks about success, motivation, and personal development there.

It does NOT mean I won’t post anything new to this blog any longer. I will still keep updating this blog from time to time.

See you around!

This was written on the tomb of an Anglican bishop (1100 A.D.) among the crypts of Westminster Abbey in London. I think we all can learn something from it…

“When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world.

As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, too, seemed immovable.

As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.

And now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed my self first, then by example I would have changed my family.

From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world. “

Isn’t it amazingly true?

Today, how are we changing and growing ourselves just like how we want our world to become?

It is the first step and the most important step. After all, if everyone keeps trying to change others while he is still full of flaws… how can it ever work?

You have heard they say “Life is full of choices.” So how true is it?

Sometimes we may barely notice the important, even life changing choices we are making every day. We may think we are simply living our  life normally and going along with it - while what we’re really doing is making lots of different choices.

So how about you invest 3 minutes and answer the following questions to help you discover what choices you’re really making in your life right now and if you are aware of them…

To sleep “just” one more hour on a Saturday morning… or to wake up earlier and make the most of your weekend to have more fun and spend more time with your loved ones?

To keep watching the TV, and the next show, and the next… until you notice hours of your time have flown away in a blink without getting much done… or to take control, turn off the TV, and accomplish more important and productive tasks to help you go closer to your real goals?

To shy away from the challenges on your path to success… or to stand tall and strong in front of them, look them in the eye and declare, “I am stronger than you. You may defeat anyone BUT me.”?

To keep on being in a relationship or friendship that is holding you back, telling yourself it’s OK… or let go of that relationship and gain freedom to move on with your life and your dreams?

To keep on the habit of smoking… or to quit for good and add 10 years to your life and double your energy level and health?

To eat that tempting cookie or food, thinking “just one more won’t hurt”… or keep up your self-decipline and follow your diet for a healthier and sexier body?

To pick up the phone and get in touch with your old friend and rekindle the friendship… or keep telling yourself I’ll do it “some other time” when I’m free (aka a day that never comes.)

To choose the motto for your life, “Every man for himself” or “If I don’t take care of myself, no one else will.”… or to choose to love yourself first, but still help others, touch lives, and make our world a better place in any way you can?

To blame your life circumstances and other people for your problems… or to stop making excuses and take control of your life’s ship and sail it to any direction you want?

So how did your test go? Did it help see your power to choose in a new light? (And this was just a tiny example of the big picture.)

It’s ALL your choice.

So for a test today, how about you put your day under a magnifying glass to notice the small and big choices you make and what results they bring for you?

Once notice your power to choose and change everything, you can boost your speed to achieve your dreams. I promise you.

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
- William Jennings Bryan

Have a great day full of choices!

Now that we are reaching to the end of yet another year, here’s an important we should really ask ourselves…

“Am I really happy in my life?”

In a minute, you’ll see why this is THE most important question to ask yourself…

Happiness and Success, as simple as they may sound, are confusing for most of us.

When you look closely at people’s lives around you, you see most people never really feel happy. They are always on the chase for happiness… but never get it.

You may have seen many rich people who actually have a sad life, and poor people who are happy and cheerful all the time…

Healthy people who are going through life depressed, and sick people who are laughing and positive - even if they have cancer.

Sometimes we think with ourselves, “If I have that car, I’ll finally be happy.” Or “if I can grow my business to $10,000 net profits a month, then I’ll be happy.” And so on…

But guess what? Even when we get there, we still feel something missing. So then we aim for another goal “to be happy”.

So what is really Happiness? What is Success?

“There are many definitions for success, but the simplest one is: Doing what you love, being around people you love, and being who you love.”

Isn’t it so simple?

(more…)

Now that we are near the holiday times, here are some inspirational Christmas quotes for you to add more fun to your holidays.

Enjoy!

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
Bobby- age 7

“Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you’re home. ” - Carol Nelson

“Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself…”
- Norman Wesley Brooks, “Let Every Day Be Christmas,” 1976

“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.”
- W.T. Ellis

If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a Merry Christmas?
- Don Meredith

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.”
- Burton Hillis

“I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day.  We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year.
As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year.  And thus I drift along into the holidays - let them overtake me unexpectedly - waking up some find morning and suddenly saying to myself:  “Why, this is Christmas Day!”
- David Grayson

“I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.”
- Harlan Miller

“Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.”?
- Janice Maeditere

Liked these quotes? Share them with your friends to enjoy the Christmas spirit together.

“We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.”  - Martin Luther King, Jr.

It really says it all.

What else can I say?

As much as there is glory in every new step we take to a more modern, advanced world, there is still one thing we seem to need to learn more…

As Martin Luther King says it perfectly above, it’s the “simple act of walking the earth like brothers”.

Once we do figure that out as well, do you think there will be any war, but peace? Any racism, but understanding and respecting one another despite of our small differences?

This reminds me of a beautiful song in the cartoon, Pocahontas. Have you ever seen it?

As you may remember, there is this part of the movie where the woman is singing a song for the white soldier who has come to their land and called her people savages. I love this part of the song…

“You think the only people who are people,
Are the people who look and think like you…
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,
You’ll learn things you never knew, you never knew.”

After traveling to various countries and getting to know the most different cultures and people, I realized something…

The truth is, we are all like brothers and sisters in this world together. We may look different or speak in different languages, but on the inside, we are really following the same hopes and dreams.

We sometimes judge others without really knowing them, and realize how they are different from it once we get to know them later.

Hasn’t it ever happened to you that you were judged by mistake too?

There is this other part of the Pocahontas song I like that goes…

“We are all connected to each other…
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends.”

Isn’t it another amazing secret in life?

Whatever one of us does, it affects the rest of us in the world in a way.

And today, with the Internet, the ease of traveling anywhere, and the nations becoming closer, this loop effect is true more than ever.

So how are YOU affecting the world today?

How about we pause for a second today and try to see our other fellow human beings as our brothers and sisters?

What changes would we make in how we treat others if we see us as a big connected family?

Isn’t it what we really are, after all?

…

“After the verb ‘to Love,’ ‘to Help’ is the most beautiful verb in the world.” - Bertha von Suttner

Isn’t it?

So who do you think you can help today – even if a bit?

Let’s Wow!