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Photo courtesy of allaboutgeorge

"The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live." ~Mortimer Adler

The first time that I started to hear a book instead of reading it was with the material from Anthony Robbins. I was immediately amazed how much faster I could get valuable information for personal development into my head.

At first the pace at which I could consume a whole new book increased, since most of the speakers are faster than you could read. The second and even more interesting thing was that I could get valuable knowledge wherever I was: whether I was in the car or in the underground or even walking on the streets, jogging or at home: I could consume a new book within 1-3 days without any trouble.

If you take time to process the new material, say one week per audio-book, this translates into 4-5 full books a month and 52 books a year. Read more…

Photo "abundance" by courtesy of akaalias

When I started my blog, one of the very first blogs and blogger I had the pleasure getting to know was Evelyn from AttractionMindMap .

She seemed to have a very warm and friendly attitude and a razor-sharp mind. "Attract Abundance With Your Mind" is the tagline of this blog which covers topics from "The law of attraction" and positive thinking to goal-setting and attracting a happier live in general.

The following interview is the first part of an Personal Development Interview-Series with bloggers of related topics, which I’d like to continue (maybe write into the comments who you want to be interviewed!) It covers the start and reasons of Evelyns blogging passion and the ways she used to grow the blog. Of course she is also kind enough to answer some personal as well as some technical questions about the subjects she is blogging about and how she incorporates these into her own life.

Thanks Evelyn for answering these questions. Here we go …

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Photo copyright by QT Luong of terragaleria.com

Many teachings from Zen-Buddhism are told in short and delightful stories. They are usually designed to develop the mind and to free it from distortions and so to connect with our spirit.

Some of them are really inspiring and enlightening. It is helpful to the mind to think about them and feel the deeper meaning. Even if it is not possible to grasp them fully, the beauty and simplicity of the message usually gets through to us one way or the other.

The following 10 Zen stories are a selection of the ones I found most inspiring and really worth to ponder about. Some may be instantely understood, some others need to be thought through and recognized in oneself.

They are about the following topics: life in the present moment, different perspectives, attachment, resistance, judgment, delusion, beliefs and thought as mental concepts but not truth and unconditional love. Please feel free to post your interpretation or other stories into the comments.

After reading the first, follow it’s advice to read all the others. :)

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Photo by courtesy of Lavelk

Confucius is one of the most quoted personalities ever. He is so popular that there is a special "Confucius says …" joke-selection, I mean who can say to have this kind of achievement ;)

Confucius, whose name literally means "Master Kong", lived 551-479 BCE. He was a Chinese thinker and philosopher, whose teachings have deeply influenced not only Asian thought and life. He presented himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing" and he really pointed out the importance of learning, which is one reason he is seen by Chinese people as "The Greatest Master".

One of the best known sources of Confucius are The Analects, a collection of his teachings, which was compiled many years after his death. A fountain of extremely mindful quotes springs from these ancient descriptions.

Many of them are universal and timeless in their beautiful and simple truth and they are as valid today as on the day they left Confucius’ mouth. Here we take a look at 10 of the most inspiring quotes by Confucius.

Confucius says … Read more…

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"Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives." ~Anthony Robbins

I can remember when I was about the age of 14 out of frustration I wrote on a piece of paper: "Concentrate on the essentials!" (in german: "Konzentriere dich auf das Wesentliche!") It was about some trouble with friends in school. This sentence somehow gave me direction to know what is important and worthy to think about and what is not.

To use the mind fully is an essential in personal development. If we improve our skill to focus on anything we want to accomplish we can dramatically improve our productivity and the results.

To actively direct our mental focus on only one thing at a time means to not focus it on all the other distractions that are constantly around us. It means to have the ability and also the discipline to say yes only to the most important thing at this moment and to say no to all the rest.

Now, how can we develop a clear and powerful mental focus?
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Photo courtesy of Zevotron

Buddha means "Awakened One", someone who has awakened and sees things as they really are. According to AboutBuddha.org , a Buddha is a person who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions. Because he has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and has removed all obstructions from his mind, he knows everything of the past, present, and future, directly and simultaneously. Moreover, Buddha has great compassion which is completely impartial, embracing all living beings without discrimination.

The person who is generally referred to by the name Buddha was Siddhārtha Gautama , a spiritual teacher from ancient India and the founder of Buddhism who lived at around 500 BCE. Forty-nine days after Buddha attained enlightenment he was requested to teach. As a result of this request, Buddha rose from meditation and taught the first Wheel of Dharma.

Those teachings of The Buddha such as The Four Noble Truths or the Noble Eightfold Path are timeless and reflect personal and spiritual development.

Many quotes that are handed down until today are both inspirational as well as reflecting deeper truth of reality. What can we learn, where can we be inspired from The Buddha today for everyday life and our own development?

I selected following quotations as both inspirational and helpful, regardless of where we are in personal development … Read more…

Photo courtesy of MissyV110

"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life… to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." ~Neil in Dead Poets Society

Seizing the day, living life fully, sucking out all the marrow of life – how marvelous this sounds …

Isn’t that the very thing we are here for - to experience life fully?

If we really look at it closely we can see what a strong and liberating message "Carpe Diem" holds: life is now and life will always only be now. The present moment is really all there ever is to experience everything. So it is to us to take this responsibility for ourselves and seize it fully.

Yet - it also entails the message not to waste a single moment. It means giving our all, being the best we could possibly be. It means dropping what still holds us back, dissolving the resistance to what we are and to what could be. It means to free ourselves from what we are not and to set free that what we really are. Let’s have a look together at how we can seize the day and make this happen …

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