Paradigm Shift

SAM AND THE WALLET , By Uche Peter Umez Review by Emmanuel W. Kijem for OHL children educational magazine Sam and the Wallet is an instructive story that looks at the uncertainties faced by today's young people, the power of honesty, the endurance of truth and the warmth of the traditional family. It weaves these into an interesting mix that draws the reader into the fast-moving world of two homeless boys. The storyline presents a sharp contrast between the two boys: one is fully wedded to the solid moral principles he was brought up with and the other has grown into a tough, smart and streetwise character with strong survival instincts. Their two different worldviews collide in many ways but things really come to a head as the storyline quickly winds its way into a laser-like focus on the wallet. The wallet quickly becomes the focal point of and the source of tension between their opposing value systems. The author does a good job of portraying the simple fact that every human be...

By Jeanna Gabellini, CPPC, Law of Attraction Expert, publishes the weekly ezine Designing Your MasterPeace. If you're ready to attract more money, a growing business, and great relationships with fun and ease, get your FREE tips and tools now at www.MasterPeaceCoaching.com "We encourage you to decide, as early in life as possible, that your dominant intent and reason for existence is to live happily ever after. That would be a very good career choice: to gravitate toward those activities and to embrace those desires that harmonize with your core intentions, which are freedom and growth and joy. Make a "career" of living a happy life rather than trying to find work that will produce enough income that you can do the things with your money that will then make you happy. When feeling happy is of paramount importance to you and what you do "for a living" makes you happy you have found the best of all combinations." ~ Abraham-Hicks The quote above makes per...

By Dacher Keltner, Ph.D. Professor Keltner is co-editor of Greater Good and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Originally published in Greater Good magazine , Vol. IV, Issue 3 (Winter 2007-08). For more information, please visit www.greatergoodmag.org . True power requires modesty and empathy, not force and coercion, argues Dacher Keltner. But what people want from leaders—social intelligence—is what is damaged by the experience of power. It is much safer to be feared than loved, writes Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince, his classic 16th—century treatise advocating manipulation and occasional cruelty as the best means to power. Almost 500 years later, Robert Greene's national bestseller, The 48 Laws of Power, would have made Machiavelli's chest swell with pride. Greene's book, bedside reading of foreign policy analysts and hip-hop stars alike, is pure Machiavelli. Here are a few of his 48 laws: • Law 3, Conceal Your Intentions. • Law 6, Co...

We are all probably familiar with the power of giving. When we give, we draw to ourselves even more of God’s Grace and Goodness. Jesus exhorts us in the book of Mathew to give without relenting. “Heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” (Mathew 10:8). Many people think thatgiving is limited to providing the material needs in life but Jesus brings out the multi-dimensional nature of giving. His call suggests we should also give of ourselves in every way possible, using all our God-given talents, powers and resources. My late grandmother used to tell me that if you cling too tight to money, you’ll never be a rich man. That was another way of reiterating the profound power of giving and the necessity to give continuously. Giving has the power to heal our divisions and unite us as children of the one God. Giving has the power to bring out the essence that is in our lives, the stuff we are all made of – pure love. Givi...

The US presidential elections are over, Barack Obama has made history once more in his ongoing series of firsts, taking down age-old barriers and prejudices. He has excited, motivated and brought hope to millions of Americans and people all over the world with a simple but powerful message of unity, sacrifice, service and hope. He built his entire message on the premise of change - change from politics as usual; change from the divisiveness of the cultural and ideological wars fought out of Washington; change from a government that believed its own lies; change from the subversion of science; change from unilateralism in international affairs … as complete a break with the recent past as is practically possible. Obama built a message of change straight from his heart, a message that reflected his life, temperament and values. He delivered it through stirring speeches that hardly left anyone indifferent. The message bore exhortations that have echoed throughout the world and generat...

Throughout our lives, we make payments (expenses) for the goods and services we need and, in turn, get paid (income) for those we offer to others. Whether you are talking about people, organizations, companies, entire communities or states, the same forces are at work and I’ll be referring to them interchangeably in this article. Their collective activities generate constant flows of money, goods and services and constitute the fundamental dynamics of our economies at every level. It is part of what’s referred to in economics as the circular flow of income. The main enabler of these transactions is money and, in any particular period, we always hope to bring in more money than we pay out in order to stay solvent. Everyone works vigorously to ensure that the balance in the flow of money (cashflow) always favours them i.e. they want to have a surplus of income over expenses in any given period. But, alas, it is usually not possible to sustain such a positive cash bala...

We all end up buying or selling something at some point in our lives and the way we feel after each transaction depends on how we think we fared in the end. Sometimes we’re left scratching our heads and wondering how we got into the deal in the first place and, at other times, we may feel gleeful at what we perceive to be a great bargain or windfall depending on whether we are buying or selling. The sad truth is that all business transactions are prone to risks and it is very important to understand the nature of these risks in order to protect yourself from the frequent mishaps people often encounter. A business transaction (a trade), in its simplest form, involves a buyer and a seller and the two are involved in the exchange of value. In his book, The Science of Wealth , Amasa Walker determines that an article or service has value: “when it is an object of man's desire , and can be obtained only by man's efforts . Anything upon which these two conditions unite wil...