New design, new goals, exciting future

Lyved has come a long way since its launch in January. Some of the most popular articles have been read thousands of times; some even hundreds of thousands of times. Many of the goals I set have been accomplished but now it is time to go even BIGGER!

With the launch of this new design, today marks the journey of taking Lyved from what it was yesterday to what will be one of the most popular and influential blogs in the world in the near future.

Lyved will continue to cover success, goals, and personal development but life consists of many things, so Lyved will also cover other topics. No matter what subject is being discussed, all articles will remain inspiring, positive, motivational, and informative.

I believe sharing goals helps people achieve them even more quickly thanks to positive pressure. So to give me an extra boost I’d like to share with you my new goals for Lyved:

- Make Lyved one of the Top 100 Blogs on Technorati

- Increase readership to at least 1 million unique individuals a month.

- Have Lyved, our articles, and our opinions featured in magazines, newspapers, and on television.

- Turn Lyved into a platform where high profile and low profile people of the world can share and discuss whatever is on their minds.

- Turn Lyved into a full time business.

- Bring positivity to the negative-filled media.

- Raise awareness for important causes.

- Win a blog award.

- Change the world even more.

You may be thinking, “When will all this be achieved?” Well my goal is to accomplish a lot of these within the next six to twelve months. With more focus and hard work it is very achievable. I’ve included this goal list on the about page. I will update it whenever something is achieved or when I think of new goals to add to the list, so please be sure to check it out once and awhile.

Now, I’d like to give a special thanks to a few of my friends for helping re-launch Lyved:

Firstly, I’d like to thank Konstantino Kapetaneas. He designed this amazing layout for Lyved. The design is very simple, sleek, and very professional, perfect for Lyved. If you’d like to check out some of Konstantino’s other designs and creations please visit his portfolio here http://konstantino.deviantart.com/.

Secondly, I’d like to thank Syed Balkhi for coding the design to work with wordpress. Syed has an amazing talent and runs a web design company called Uzzz Productions. If you’re interested please visit their website here: http://www.uzzz.net/.

Thirdly, I’d like to thank Jacob Gube for helping me with moving Lyved to a new server. If you are into web design and development I recommend Jacob’s blog Six Revisions. It is an excellent resource and has quickly become one of the top blogs in its genre.

Lastly, I’d also like to thank Marius Jivoin for creating Lyved’s great new logo.

I appreciate all the help you’ve given me. Thanks to the four of you, Lyved is ready for a big future.

I’d also like to thank all of you for being a part of the beginning of Lyved. It has been really exciting and interesting. But get ready for what’s next; it’s going to be very bright and exciting!

One more piece of information: I really enjoy writing but I’d like to get many more voices on Lyved. So if you are interested in writing please visit this page for more information.

-Andrew

Photo by James Jordan

Seven, stupid, simple ways to be green and save green

Buying an eco-friendly car or outfitting your house with solar panels and the latest green tech can be costly and time consuming. Perhaps this is why many are reluctant to go green. However you can be green today with these seven simple ways. Some may seem stupid but they are often overlooked for that reason.

1. Don’t turn your faucet on until you’re ready

This is an interesting habit many of us have. When we want to rinse our toothbrush or fill something with water, we turn on the faucet before the brush or cup is under the water. Think of how many times this is done and how much water is lost over time. It adds up. Hold your cup or toothbrush under the faucet before turning it on and turn off the faucet before moving anything.

2. Take it easy when driving

One of the best ways to save some gas is just to be more relaxed. No tailgating or pushing the petal to the metal. It’ll keep your blood pressure down as well. Also if you’re driving downhill, let your vehicle coast and when you’re coming to a stop don’t slam on your brakes, slowly reduce your speed.

3. Have a dehumidifier? Use the water

It gets very humid in basements during the summer, so you might have a dehumidifier to take the moisture out of the air. Don’t toss the water that fills up the bucket out the window, use it. You can water your flowers and plants. Perhaps you can even use the water to fill a bucket for suds to clean your car.

4. Reuse trash bags

Obviously you can’t do this with your kitchen garbage but you might be able to reuse your bathroom’s trash bag. Most bathrooms have a small can that you throw paper waste in. Well dump that waste into your kitchen garbage and save the smaller bag.

5. Attach funnels to your watering cans

If you’re a gardener, place your watering cans out in the open with some type of funnel in the can’s opening. Then when a rainstorm comes the funnels will catch the raindrops and fill the can.

6. Take the time to start tissue and paper towel rolls

This might seem stupid but when you’re the first one to use a new roll of paper towels or toilet paper, you know what I’m talking about. It always seems impossible to use the first piece of the roll. It always get ripped and shredded, and sometimes if you keep pulling it tears through 5 more sheets. The next time you have to start a roll, relax, breath, and take your time to save that first sheet.

7. Water plant roots, not leaves and flowers

You’d be surprised at how many people don’t understand this. You have to water the plant’s roots, not the leaves and/or flowers. A large percentage of water will evaporate off the leaves and flowers, without the plant getting what it needs. Because of this your plants will probably die. Make sure to water the base of the plant to reduce evaporation.

There are plenty more ways that you can be green. It doesn’t take much and after you practice new ways over and over, they’ll eventually become habits for you.

Photo by Frank E.

I will act…

“I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.”

Og Mandino

Be bold and…

 

“Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.”

 

-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Photo by ericskiff

 

 

We don’t see…

 

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

Anais Nin

 

 

Photo by Mayr

Somehow I can’t…

 

 

“Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy.”

Walt Disney

 

Photo by Mike Pedroncelli

Feeling Abundant While Losing Weight

I have become a somewhat accidental expert on weight loss. How did that happen? I have been on several diets over the last 20 years and have gained and lost enough weight to clone myself.

In the last two and a half years I managed to comfort eat myself to one pound shy of what I weighed when I was nine months pregnant. I knew I was getting heavier and heavier yet I couldn’t bring myself to get back on track. I really didn’t feel like depriving myself of my goodies, my comfort. I had experienced a lot of change in my life and this was a way to fill those new voids. Did I know better? Yes!

I would say to myself “I don’t FEEL like watching everything I eat. I don’t FEEL like giving up cheese, chips and chocolate. I don’t FEEL like making the effort”. I FELT fat, ugly and lethargic and, that is exactly what I was.

That was last winter. In March the penny finally dropped for me and I made the decision to nurture myself in the right ways and get back on a track of being the healthy, energetic woman I knew I could be. (See: Choosing to Lose Weight and The Path of Lease Resistance)

Although there are many reasons why I succeeded and will continue to succeed in staying healthy, I will not get into them all here. I will tell you the one big ah-ha that I had and it has to do with FEELINGS.

I know there are many of you out there struggling to lose or maintain a healthy weight. Obesity is a huge health issue here in North America (See: Obesity about far more than body image)

As I embarked on my journey to change the way I eat I had a moment where I wanted to kick myself. I was in a place of feeling deprived that I couldn’t choose to buy exactly what I felt like eating. This was while I stood in the aisle of a huge box store staring at one of easily thirty long walls of food.

How can I (we as a culture) ever, ever feel deprived as we stand in a store that could easily feed a small country? What is going on? Here I was having paid a couple of hundred dollars to join Weigh Watchers to help me learn to control myself as I cruise through the grocery store piling whatever it is I want into my basket? Duh!

Do you think it is possible to change how we feel about weight management? Can we look at it from a “glass half full” perspective? Yes! Here is the script that runs through my head now as I continue to manage my weight (I am down to my goal weight and became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers yesterday – I look and feel great).

- I am so abundant. I was able to afford to actually pay to join a weight loss program.
- I live is such an abundant country that I have unlimited choice in what I eat each day.
- I am so fortunate to have had a free education and am able to read and understand how to make this work for me easily.
- I live in an abundantly safe part of this planet where I can go out and enjoy walking each day in safety.
- I have an abundance of beautiful clean air to breath in as I exercise.
- I have an abundant supply of fresh water to drink.
- I have access to a vast variety of recipes to choose from.
- I have access to quick and easy ready-made foods that are healthy for me.

Do you get the picture? The law of the universe is simple. Like attracts like. If we feel grateful and abundant about any opportunities we have in life, we will continue to attract more opportunities.

In a world that is changing rapidly. In an economy that is waning. With media touting all that is negative. It can be difficult to choose to look for abundance in your life. But, you know it is there don’t you? All you need to do is shift your focus and change your language away from the don’t haves to the do haves. If you are sitting somewhere reading this, on a computer…then I would strongly suspect you can easily find a long list of what is abundant in your life at this moment. That is where to start. That will bring you the feelings you need to ATTRACT MORE JOY into your life.

Written by Louise Aspden of AttractMoreJoy.com.

Photo by Michael Henderson

Keep away from…

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Mark Twain

Photo by Dredrk.

Everything changes…

“Everything changes but change itself. Everything flows and nothing remains the same…You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters and yet others go flowing ever on.”

Heraclitus

Photo by rjones0856

People often say…

 

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing - that’s why we recommend it daily.”

Zig Ziglar

 

Photo by AZAdam