Viral Sheep

I found a clever video clip at Heart Harmony (Small Business Tips). It shows a flock of sheep dressed in LED lights and filmed. Yes, it doesn't soudnd much but when you see it you will be impressed.

The clip very clever. I have never thought of sheep in terms of art or advertising before but have a look at it. This is one way to get noticed!

Success or Failure?

I spotted this quote over at Donna-Marie Coggins Blog. It just seemed to fit where I am at right now.

“The difference between a successful man and a failure, is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage one has to act on them”

Maxwell Maltz

Have you ever had a great idea but been too scared to test it out? Have you ever had to make changes or improvements to yor systems that you know some people won't like? Did you do it anyway? Tell me your story.

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Inspiration

Inspiration is such an intangible thing, as Annette Piper says in her blog post. Sometimes it is there and sometimes it isn't and nothing you can do will bring it back.

Inspiration strikes like a flash of lightning and it makes everything clear in an instant. Inspiration is fleeting but the activity it causes goes on and on as we rush to capture our new ideas and energies.

When you run out of ideas it is time to make a change. Do as Annette did and take a break. Go and work on something else. Totally distract your mind. When you least expect it a sudden flash of illumination will hit you and your ideas will start flowing again.

Sometimes inspiration comes through adversity but remember, when you start to doubt yourself:

"Each of us is a seed,
a silent promise,
and it is always spring." Merle Shain

Free Blogging Course, Anyone?

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Comparisons

I read a post at Modern Goddess Online this morning which set me thinking. The post is about self esteem and goes on to give 3 points for building our self esteem

1. Stop comparing yourself to others
2. Identify what is important to you.
3. Love yourself.

I have been thinking a lot about this lately. In January I wrote a post called "Success is in the company you keep" which looked at why we liked to stay in our own little circles of people who are pretty much just like us. One of the reasons we don't move on is because we are always comparing ourselves to others and guess what? We don't measure up. The only people we can measure up to are in the circles we hang around in and that is why we stay there. Our fear of failure and rejection is like a padlock on the door of our futures.

When we compare ourselves to others that we admire we are always going to come out the loser. Why? Because we set others on a pedestal and create an inflated image of their supposed virtues. We create a scale to measure against that is artificial. It cannot take into account the flaws and weaknesses of the admired person because we are unable to see them. We know our weaknesses so well (and our potential so little) that the scale is unbalanced and when we measure ourselves using the same scale we rate poorly.

Loving yourself, which is the third point in building your self-esteem, is all about appreciating who you are and accepting your good and bad points. Everyone has them whether we can see them or not. If we can learn to appreciate ourselves for who we are we will have no need for comparisons. All we need is to know where we are going and to follow our dreams. Loving yourself will give you the key to the padlock and will set you freely on the road to your future.

Whether yours is a business dream or a personal one, stop looking at everyone else and start looking at yourself. There you will find your path.

The Case of the Horny Snails

This post is called "the Case of the Horny Snails" but it could just as easily be called "The R Rated Garden".

I had never wondered how snails were born until I moved here. It is fair enough to say that I knew they didn't grow on the plants they were so attracted to, but honestly, who stops to think about how they are made?

Then we moved to this house.

There are snail babies everywhere. It was the site of a snail barely 1,5cm long climbing up the window that made me stop and think. Funnily enough, once I had noticed one baby I saw them everywhere. Little shells that look like tiny pebbles on the pathway, clusters of little shelled bodies gathered together as though they were at school and adult smails blocking my way. I have never seen so many snails in one place before. They were even locked together on the steps up to my front door.

So how did they all get there? How were they born? Yes, it is a strange question that occupied me. I found that snails can fertilise themselves but they also love to mate. They follow slime trails and track down potential partners. Yes, it can take days! Actual mating can take a while too. (There is a shocker for you!) They press part of their slimy 'feet' together and caress each other for hours before exchanging the other form of bodily fluid. Considering how long it can take to mate and the number of baby snails that are with us, I think we have the horniest snails known to man residing in our front garden.

Oh and now I know what they were up to on my front steps. In broad daylight, too! Our house is a seething, hotbed (snigger) of erotic snails.

So, in honour of our horny snails I offer you these tidbits of snail trivia.

Heliculture is the science of growing snails for food
Snails reply mainly on their sense of touch and smell when finding food, having very poor
eyesight.
Snails cannot hear.
When a snail goes into its shell it can seal the entrance.
Snails are hermaphrodites.
Snails can lay around 50 eggs. (Heaven help my garden)
The snails shell grows as the snail does.
The biggest snail of all is the Australian Sea Snail which can weigh over 15kgs.

I would guess that, having read this post, you won't see snails in quite the same light again. Don't worry about going at a snails pace in your daily life - it might be more exciting that you thought!