Founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington. Then it was sold to Howard Schultz, who decided to make the coffee bean store a coffee shop serving espresso-based drinks. Today, Starbucks is the Number One coffee shop chain in the world that is popularly [...]
Abraham Lincoln is known for inspiring things during his life and presidency. From the “House Divided” speech to his lesser-known letters and writings, plenty of motivational phrases are found. However, in the decades and centuries following his death, many quotes have been wrongly attributed and disseminated in various publications, with the Internet spurring it [...]
Michael Dadich
Those who watched the new movie, Aftermath (2021) on Netflix were intrigued when a tribute flashed on the screen at the end of the movie.
The tribute has created viral speculation about who was Michael Dadich since the two main characters in the movie (Shawn Ashmore and Ashley Greene) were named Keven and Natalie [...]
It should come as no surprise that there is a great amount of misinformation in today's world. Conspiracy theories abound, spreading both misinformation and disinformation on social media, news outlets, and even from the various governments. This makes it very difficult to decipher what is real and what is not. The only salvation is [...]
My experience has been that people can do a tremendous amount of good just as they can do a tremendous amount of evil. No person is perfect. We are each inadequate at some things, and we all have flaws. And, we must take individual responsibility for ourselves.
Individually, we each must work to be good [...]
Having an indigenous maternal grandmother, I learned the truth about many things at my grandmother and my mother's knee. Both were extremely intelligent and kind women, who had a propensity for the truth in all things.
I grew increasingly disappointed in school because of the many inconsistencies in the historical leanings of the education system [...]
If you believe you are allergic to cats, congratulations you are within a tiny portion of the population. In the USA, only 10% think they're allergic to pets, and cats are responsible for only about 6% of those beliefs. Outside of the USA, the number of people who believe that they have pet allergies [...]
It is important to clean up your life on a daily basis. Ridding our life of the things that do not provide for improvement are a necessity if we are to find joy in life. Your goal should be to find peace, serenity, and tranquility in your life.
Sometimes, we have to cleanse our life [...]
On December 24, the truly devout Christians will attend the midnight ‘Christ-Mass’ service to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God. Or perhaps they will arise before sunrise the next morning to attend the Sunrise Mass. Arriving back home, they gathered around the tree that stands in [...]
A friend sent me a wonderful piece called “Catching Wild Pigs”. For those of you who have never heard this parable, I'd like to share it with you.
"A chemistry professor at a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young exchange [...]
There was an interesting article in the journal Science a few years ago in which more than a dozen scientists and researchers from various backgrounds expressed analysis of genetic tests and the limitations of these tests. The conclusion was that these vanity tests have significant scientific limitations and rely heavily on misconceptions about race [...]
I find it strange that people would choose to only associate with those who are most like them. And it just goes to show how out of touch people are with reality regarding their expectations and acceptance of others.
It is true that most wish that other people were more like them. And, they become [...]
Every person needs a strong, common purpose and direction in their life. We need to establish guiding principles that can serve as a foundation for our relationships with one another and for the actions we take on a daily basis.
The Object of Your Life
What do you believe to be the object of your life? [...]
When shown the coins laid out like the illustration above, and told they could only move one coin one time and end up with five coins in each row, most people eventually give up.
I say most people will give up because it is a fact that most people, when presented with a problem, will [...]
How much credit does Trump deserve, personally, for the economy of the United States?
While the man talks a hard line about how he has been behind the economy, is he responsible? In truth, his words as to the economic transformation are out of step with the underlying reality. While the citizens of the USA [...]
Nothing Can Make Negative Thoughts Go Away
It seems that no matter how much we want to get rid of overwhelming thoughts they simply keep coming back. It is because they never left.
I have written about how to get rid of overwhelming negative thoughts before, however I still get asked for clarification. Perhaps it has [...]
A Different Time
The second hand on the clock points to the exact second of the day. Its importance in our life only lasts for one second before clicking on to the next and different second.
What was true at one time, no longer holds any relevance today. While it may still be true, often as [...]
We have lost our way!
We are being told what to think about, what is important to us, but much of it is lies, paid for by politicians and special interest groups. How dumb can we actually become?
When word first spread that Russia had interfered with the USA Presidential Election, and later it was discovered [...]
I wake up every morning mentally broke. Yesterday is dead and gone. Nothing that happened yesterday matters today. Yesterday has passed and is unchangeable. I keep only the lessons that I have learned, at least the positive ones; I discard the rest. I do not want to harbor negative thoughts. I have a lifetime [...]
Have you got six minutes to spare? I'd like for you to spend those few minutes to think about the direction you are moving. Hopefully, you are moving forward, but so many are spending their time as if they had all the time in the world. Which, of course, is not true.
We each have [...]
Every day, throughout the world, there are those who retire in the evening unsatisfied with their day. They have trouble falling asleep as they consider the many things that went wrong during the day or worse, preventing them from accomplishing what they set out to accomplish. They wake up in the morning feeling like [...]
Irena Sendler (née Krzyżanowska), also referred to as Irena Sendlerowa in Poland, nom de guerre "Jolanta" (15 February 1910 – 12 May 2008), was a Polish nurse, humanitarian, and social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II in German-occupied Warsaw, and was head of the children's section of Żegota, the Polish Council [...]
Every once in a while, I read a book that is a game-changer for me. This is a review of one such book.
Start Where You Are (1994 - Pema Chodron) ) is one such book. It is an enlightening guide to opening up your heart and mind and learning to feel happier in your [...]
If I told you that spending 15 minutes a day doing something would change your life for the better - would you be interested?
The Back Story
In 1979, when I was 34 years old, I had a chance meeting with the writer, James Michener, that changed my life forever. We had just finished wrapping the [...]
There are three words that are often used in an introduction that are actually the wrong thing to say.
by Bill Hood
Today, I watched a webinar from a very popular writing coach that gets over 1-million page views a month on his website. He is an author of New York Times bestseller, as well as [...]
Perhaps you have heard the quote, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Do you think you know who made this statement?
In my profession as a consultant in the screenprinting technologies I am often called upon to perform research and development of processes. In research [...]
Astrology may be bogus, but the month you're born has certain undeniable coincidences
I read an interesting comment concerning one's Facebook friends today. The study stated that in general people will have more "true" Facebook friends (those which you actually have a close relationship) that are born in the same month as they are. Of [...]
At the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, the seventeenth such event, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the question was asked whether the universe as we know it, is in effect a simulation. Five esteemed panelists discussed the possibility that maybe everything that's happening is just a simulation being run on a computer by [...]
A Mezcalero is a person who grows the agave that produces mezcal and especially enjoys the pleasures that can be derived from partaking in the “Juice of Life.” The older Mezcaleros live to a ripe old age and seemly do not have a problem in the world. Here are some bits of sage advice [...]
If you are old and reading this I have some advice that will make what years you have left some of the happiest years of your life. If you have someone in your life that is old, share it with them. If you are still young, print this out and start following the advice [...]
Are you waiting for the right person to come into your life? You know that special person that will meet your expectations and ideals? Be honest with yourself. Do you desire a certain height, hair color, body style, language, skin color, or other physical attribute?
You may be surprised to learn that you are only [...]
Most have heard some version of the adage, "You can never tell a book by its cover." The phrase first appeared in print in the 1946 novel, "Murder in the Glass Room, by Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller. Even then it was an adaption of "You can't judge a book by its binding", from [...]
Perfection
Perfection is a state of mind – a choice.
Your success in all things begins with your will,
If you think you can, your will can pull you through.
If you have no will, it is almost certain you cannot.
Without will, you assign yourself to failure.
If you wish to win, but think that you cannot,
You have already [...]
How to rid your life of negativity and be truly happy
I greatly dislike the root word NO! It has a way creating problems for me and creating a ton of anxiety in my life. Then there is also the word not, as in cannot “can’t”, do not “don’t”, and will not “won’t”. And, for [...]
Having good friends is extremely important to one’s overall enjoyment of life. ~G. William Hood
For the last several years, I have had a wonderful friendship that has continued to grow and become deeper over time.
I met Enrique Fuentes when I saw a posting on a community forum that gave the coffee he was selling [...]
What people do to make each other miserable
Misery is that state or feeling of great distress or discomfort of the mind, which can affect the body - making one feel ill. In more severe instances, it can lead to depression.
Hedonism[1], as an ethical theory, claims that good and bad consist ultimately in pleasure and [...]
In 2004, I attended a funeral service at the Mount Zion church in Austin, Texas. Mount Zion is a large church nestled among the small wood-framed homes of the working-class neighborhood on Austin's east side. I had arrived just as the service was to begin. I had not realized that I would have to [...]
A week ago, I wrote that I was going on a sabbatical from my … well, from everything. I found my life severally spiraling out of my control. Nothing was going as I had planned and I felt lost. So I decided to take a week off from my self-imposed hectic life to go [...]
I have made a decision to go on a sabbatical from my … well, from everything. I found my life severally spiraling out of my control. Nothing has been going as I had planned and I have felt lost. So I have decided to take a week off from my self-imposed hectic life to [...]
"Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people." ~Dennis Prager[1]
Today, a friend posted a meme on social media that stated, "Being good is not synonymous with being a jerk. Being good is a virtue that some [...]
There are always problems to be resolved in life. The goal should be to concentrate on the solution – not the problem. ~Bill Hood
Yesterday, at the small corner grocery store, which also serves as a cafe, I had an interesting talk with a taxi driver that I know well – Jose Moreno. A cordial, [...]
Up until the late 16th century, everyone "knew" that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Up until the late 19th century, epidemic illnesses such as cholera and the plague were "known" to be caused by a poisonous mist filled with particles from rotting things. Up until the early 20th century, the most [...]
Sigmund Freud is probably jumping with joy in his grave to know that the concept of psychoanalytic theory that he introduced in his 1914 essay, "On Narcissism" is still alive and flourishing 101-years later. Of course, this leads one to ask that if psychoanalysis is so great, why are there an ever-growing number of [...]
“The great success in communication is to build on the other person’s observation, not overthrowing it, to exercise the mind with thought rather than our own words, to exercise truth, good sense, humor and wit, saying nothing of our self, and to [...]
My late father, Tom Hood, was born in Texas in 1911. He later remembered, although he was only a boy at the time, how World War I influenced the financial stability of his family. Still later, when he was a young man trying to raise a family World War II came along and again [...]
For as long as I can remember, I have been seeking permanent peace, serenity, and tranquility in my life. And, sometimes I add joy and happiness to my list. Today, for the most part, I have found peace, serenity, and tranquility in my life. But it has not been an easy road to travel, [...]
“El gran éxito en la comunicación es basarse en la observación de la otra persona, no derrocarlo, para ejercitar la mente con el pensamiento en lugar de nuestras propias palabras, para ejercer la verdad, el sentido común, el humor y el ingenio, sin decir nada de nosotros mismos, y para responder con acuerdo “.
Todo [...]
For without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods. ~Aristotle
This week I want to discuss "Expectations", as they relate to friendships and relationships with others.
Today, a man wrote on Facebook:
"I feel like most of the people that I care deeply about are upset with me. I don't mean [...]
During a conversation with a close friend, she intimated that I seem to be more than one person; sometimes quiet and peaceful, and at others animated and excited. She was of the opinion that this was abnormal in some manner, however I am quite accustom to the shifts in behavior. She, like many others, [...]
Like many people, I have been able to speak since I was perhaps 4 months old. But, I was unable to speak in complete sentences and much of my "speech" was still babbling, but as speech-language pathologist Sherry Artemenko says:
"Babbling is an important milestone because it represents the beginning of real communication, when a [...]
If you are a user of social media and are of the belief that you have a right to "free speech" you should read this article. Most people are not completely aware of the implications of speaking openly in social media or for that matter in public.
You may be surprised at what you do [...]
