Halloween

Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today. Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity and life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Halloween has long been thought of as a day when the dead can return to the earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off these roaming ghosts. The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day and the Roman festival of Feralia all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. In the 19th century, Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children's holiday. Although the superstitions and beliefs surrounding Halloween may have evolved over the years, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people can still look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to usher in the winter season.

Originally taken from: www.history.com/topics/halloween

In Bulgaria we celebrate this holiday just last few years, but everyone likes the idea of wearing silly costumes and having fun. I'm sure very soon we will fully accept this tradition.
Here are some nice, cute or silly costumes I like:

And that's my beloved sister in her costume, hahaha I don't believe she will make someone scared :D

Huddling - Interpersonal Communication Skills

This is an informal management communication technique and is the the title of an unusual book dealing entirely with business communications. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'huddle' colloquially as a close or secret conference.

It's about results that are not produced by organizations but by people, by a special kind of people - the 'huddlers', who are able to work intimately and informally in small groups. It is one of the most effective means of communication.

To be effective, a manager needs to be a 'huddler'. Normal communications within an organization are in the form of inter-office memoranda and or e-mail, with copies to all and sundry. If it deals with matters which are confidential, and is so marked, then it is read by everyone including the office helpers, even before the message reaches the target person. So much for confidentiality.

Further, the recipient, already flooded with a paper explosion, hardly has the time to read it, let alone act on it. The same message conveyed verbally face-to-face will not only remain confidential but will be extremely effective.

Clarification, if any, is sought and given immediately, and in addition instant feedback ensures that there is complete understanding of the message and the resulting action required. Plus, of course, there is the 'human touch' element, completely lacking in the memorandum.

Huddling, of course, is nothing new. It has always been there in the matter of inter-personal relations. The book attempts to formalize an informal means of communication. There is, too, sufficient demonstration in the book, as from our personal experience, about the effectiveness and result-achieving ability of the technique.

A few minutes of informal conversation with subordinates, peers and superiors, along the corridors of the office or in the wash rooms can be most effective. The practice of this technique therefore needs to be encouraged.

Original path to the article: http://www.accel-team.com/communications/busComms_04.html

In tv commercials, when I was young

It was just a few years ago, but I feel it so far away now. I'm not sure if anyone can recognize who I am :)

"Committed"

After the book and the movie "Eat Pray Love", I like the book much better, I decided to read the next Elizabeth Gilbert' book.
I have no idea what marriage and divorce are, so don't feel what she says, but I think I understand most of it.
How do I feel about marriage? Well... when I was a young schoolgirl I was afraid of the idea that some day I would have to find a job and work whole day long every day from Monday to Friday. In the same time I felt enchanted by the stylish business ladies walking around on their high heels like they rule the world with their skills. I hoped to become one of them some day. I guess in my mind marriage is something like that... I'm afraid to take responsibilities, but I crave for happiness.

Here are some quotes from the book:

"I'd learned enough from life's experience to understand that destiny's interventions can sometimes be read as invitation for us to address and even surmount our biggest fears."

"It had always been my experience in the past that the more I learned about something, the less it frightened me. Some fears can be vanquished, Rumpelstitltskin-like, only by uncovering their hidden, secret names."

"The problem, simply put, is that we cannot choose everything simultaneously. So we live in danger of becoming paralyzed by indecision, terrified that every choice might be the wrong choice."

"Marriage becomes hard work once you have poured the entirety of you life's expectation for happiness in the hands of one mere person. Keeping that going is hard work."

"The only thing marriage has ever done, historically and definitionally speaking, is to change. Marriage in the Western world changes with every century, adjusting itself constantly around new social standards and new notions of fairness. The "Silly Putty-like" malleability of the institution, in fact, is the only reason we still have the thing at all. Marriage survives, in other words, precisely because it evolves."

"As a friend's grandfather once put it, 'Sometimes life is too hard to be alone, and sometimes life is too good to be alone.'"

"Maybe the only difference between first marriage and second marriage is that the second time at least you know you are gambling."

"Infatuation is not quite the same thing as love; it's more like love's shady second cousin who's always borrowing money and can't hold down a job."

"I mean, once the initial madness of desire has passed and we are faced with each other as dimwitted mortal fools, how is it that any of us find the ability to love and forgive each other at all, much less enduringly?"

"There is hardly a more gracious gift that we can offer somebody than to accept them fully, to love them almost despite themselves."

"Money brings its own problems, of course - but money also brings options. Money can buy child care, a separate bathroom, a vacation, the freedom from arguments over bills - all sorts of things that help stabilize a marriage."

"Marriage is not prayer. That's why you have to do it in front of others. It's a paradox, but marriage actually reconciles a lot of paradoxes: freedom with commitment, strength with subordination, wisdom with utter nincompoopery, etc. And... you have to hold your wedding guests to their end of the deal. They have to help you with your marriage; they have to support you if you falter."

Kalokagatia- Beauty Gathers Ethics and Esthetics

Beauty is commonly defined as a characteristic present in objects, such as nature, art work, and a human person, that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, joy, and satisfaction to the observer, through sensory manifestations such as shape, color, and personality. Beauty thus manifested usually conveys some level of harmony amongst components of an object.

According to traditional Western thought from the antiquity through the Middle Ages, beauty is a constitutive element of the cosmos associated with order, harmony, and mathematics. Classical Philosophy treated and conceived beauty alongside truth, goodness, love, being, and the divine. In this concept, beauty is a supreme value, basic to the whole cosmos.

Kalokagatia- It's the highest ethic and esthetic principle in ancient Greece. This Principe is based on two words which means kάλος(beauty)kάι (and )aγάθοσ(good)
Conclusion that we need to accept for ancient Greek philosophy and Hellens in deed is that they were at the same time ethical as they were esthetical .Biant(one of the seven wisdom reach ancient philosopher) for example said: "You have to watch yourself in the mirror, if you are beautiful do lake that if you are not try to recover physical anomalies with doing good things. or Sappho(one of the greatest poetess from ancient time till today) said:”Someone who is beautiful for my eyes maybe is good person but someone who is good person is at the same time beautiful”. Real balance between two principles.

And how about today? Do we still consider a beautiful face and a body for a beautiful personality? May be not, but we can't deny the attraction we feel to those people. Beauty has always been a power and I believe now days it still is!

A part of the text belongs to : http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Beauty

What "Eat Pray Love" Says

I've read the book and I liked it a lot. This author writes in a very easy and interesting way. Yesterday I saw the movie. Honestly I prefer the book as it is not an action story, but I enjoyed it. The part about Rome brought me back amazing memories. I was about to scream "I wanna be back there".
Here are some quotes from the book I like:

“Some time after I’d left my husband, I was at a party and a guy I barely knew said to me, ‘You know you seem like a completely different person, now that you’re with this new boyfriend. You used to look like your husband, but now you look like David [her new boyfriend]. You even dress like him and talk like him. You know how some people look like their dogs? I think maybe you always look like your men."

“The former Catholic nun who oughtta know about guilt, after all wouldn’t hear of it. ‘Guilt’s just your ego’s way of tricking you into thinking that you’re making moral progress.’”

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master..."

"I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism."

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

"This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something. "

"When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings."

"Tis' better to live your own life imperfectly than to imitate someone else's perfectly."

"To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life."

"Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions."

"There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."

"Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it's what you want before you commit."

"In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place."

"We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy's fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, under him the whole time. Your treasure--your perfection--is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the buy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart."

"The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving."

"I am a better person when I have less on my plate."

"You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control."

"I crossed the street to walk in the sunshine."

"To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have 4 legs instead of 2. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God."

"Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots."

"There's no trouble in this world so serious that it can't be cured with a hot bath, a glass of whiskey, and the Book of Common Prayer."

Now I'm reading "Committed" and I'll see how much more I can learn from this author. I'm grateful to the people who recommended those books to me.

The Routine Path- What's on Your Way?

When you walk into Starbucks you quickly fall into a well planned routine. You wind your way through curved aisles, filled with shelves of enticing products. Suddenly the path widens and you face the front counter and a myriad of treats and other delicious calories. The lighting is powerful and enticing, leading your eyes to the muffins, croissants, and scones.
The routine becomes more familiar with a call of, “Can I take your order?” resonating from behind the counter. You look up at the menu board and see the daily specials and coffees of the day. Just like the marketing people planned, your eyes see the words “Gingerbread Latte” written in colorful script and your mind instantly imagines this frothy and delicious concoction instead of that cup-o-joe you came in the door for. You are helpless to resist and of course you need a grande.

Soon the Barista is mixing the ingredients and tells you that the latte will be available at the product bar at the end of the counter. The end of the counter just past the pastry case… Hmmm… do I want the scone or the croissant today? Within seconds the few steps you take to pick up your gingerbread drink results in another sale. That dollar fifty cup-o-joe has turned into a seven dollar sale with a whopping total of 1100 calories to go with it.

A smile crosses your face as the Barista hands you your drink and a small bag with your scone in it. You turn around and grab a napkin from the mixing bar and take a seat next to the window. The Starbucks path took you from the front door to your eventual seat by the window. This modern day yellow brick road took you past many temptations and enticed you into the purchase of a few. As you finish your treat at the window seat you notice the new chrome travelers mug on the shelf next to you. You picture that mug saving you from an embarrassing spill in your car and the sale is made… another twenty dollars as you walk out the door.

What started as a $1.50 cup of coffee turned into a $27 shopping spree. The secret was placing high profit items along the “routine” path. Almost everyone takes the same path when they enter. The routine or ritual of Starbucks is intuitive and well laid out. You can take this same idea and apply it to almost any business.

The routine of a web based business is based on the navigation system. Are the destinations well laid out? Are the links intuitive? The better the path the more successful the site will be. When you go to a grocery store, the aisles are well laid out with signs telling you the products that are available on each aisle. Why are milk and eggs always at the back of the store? It’s to take you on a journey down the high profit isles of candy, cookies, and crackers.

Have you ever tried to use a different type of computer or PDA than you are used too? Is that Apple computer really easier to use if you are familiar with a PC? The closer to your regular routine the new device is, the more comfortable you will be. And comfort equals additional sales.

Does your business have a well laid out path and a comfortable routine? Do your customers know where they are going or are they playing a guessing game? Do they know how to read your street signs or are they facing a crossroads with no directions? Can they understand the language you use to describe your products or services or is it like a foreign language to their ears?

Patrick Hanlon talks about the rituals and sacred words that different brands use to differentiate themselves in his new book called “Primal Branding“. Patrick takes us on a fascinating journey into the business routines of successful companies such as Coke, Nike, and UPS and illustrates why they are so popular.

The next time you go into a store or purchase a product online, pay attention to the routine that you go through. Note the steps along the path. Could the path be better laid out? Is it too long to keep your attention? Do you get halfway down the path only to get frustrated and turn back. Are their flying monkeys and scary lions along the road or friendly people and smiling faces?

These are great questions to ask yourself about your own business or service. If the path is easy, well laid out, and full of happy people your customers will be happy, return often, and tell their friends about your yellow brick road!

Original path to the article: http://successbeginstoday.org/wordpress/2006/08/spark-the-routine-path/

"Inception"- Quotes

I like this movie very much. Here are some of the sayings that impressed me:

"What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere. "

"The seed that we planted in this man's mind may change everything."

" I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. "

"You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't be sure. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together. "

"You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe? What do you feel? "

"Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone! "

"She locked away a secret, deep inside herself, something she once knew to be true... but chose to forget. "

"Eventually, She tells me the truth that she was possessed by an idea, just one simple idea that changed everything, that our world wasn't real and in order to get back to the reality, We'll have to kill ourselves. "

"Cause there was still some time on the clock and you can't wake up from within a dream unless you die. "

Make a Good Impression at an Interview

1. Be confident

You need to practice talking good about yourself and developing some self confidence. Until then "fake it until you make it". Act confident. Throw you shoulders back and hold your head up. Put on your best smile and Be interested in the people around you!

2. Look good
Look neat and, smell well and wear appropriate clothes. Scent of nice perfume is always an advantage. If you know how to take care of your appearance well, may be you are doing that well with your other daily task.

3. Find your colors

Red is awesome. Look for the right tone that compliments your skin and try it. The reason to wear red is that it make people think you are smarter and successful.
Wear the color of your eyes - it builds trust. Try to match closely to one of the hues in your eyes.

4. Show respect and attention

Look in the eye without staring, then shake hands with firm but not overly tight grip. Use a genuine smile. Listen to their name and repeat it back with a comment like "its a pleasure to meet you XXX.".

5. Fit well

If they are standing you stand, if they sit you sit. To make good impression match tone of voice, and movements. Read articles on building rapport, and on conversation styles.

6. Listen

Listen and Listen well. Be able to summarize what was said. Listen 2x as much as you speak and ask question about what the person is saying.

7. Be prepared

Just in case you are asked to introduce yourself in group setting, be prepared. Have a 10 second mini present prepared. Practice it with smile. This way you won't fumble around and you won't be rehearsing at the last minute while in conversation with Rich, Community Manager.

Read more: How to Make Good Impression in 10 Seconds | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4585876_good-impression-seconds.html#ixzz0zuJKYt5L

Book - Instrctions on How to Save the World

I was tired of reading books for the old times, I really needed something contemporary, a book to impose the problems we all face every day in our lives! I think this book covered my expectation- it's very realistic view of the society today.
It's about lives of different people who have to deal with their problems and anguish. Very popular problems are imposed like alienation, indifference, solitude, lack of love and happiness. And as the last sentence in the book says "It's all because humans can be separated into two group- ones who are capable of love and others who are not".

Long Socks-Sexy in the Autumn

Summer is the time for light, tight and sexy clothes, but why don't we keep being sexy in the autumn too?

Sex Sells Sometimes

Does Sex really sale? Or may be the question is when does sex sell? It's just a tool and if it's used well it may bring success, otherwise......

Here are a few commercials that are trying to sell by imposing sex:

1. Lingerie - I like it! There was a quote : "If love is blind why is lingerie so popular?"

2. A vacuum - Really? Where's the vacuum? Doesn't look like something that would attract an average housewife.

3. Toilet Paper - feeling of intimacy... may be

4. Car. I think it's too much, but it's funny.

5. Coffee - Passion, art :)

6. Hamburger? I'm sure she's not eating food like that?
7. Shops? Hahahah I'll remember it just because it makes me laugh, but I'm sure it's not that funny for the lady working there.

Marketing Point - Does Sex Really Sell?

An article from:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/time-out/201007/does-sex-really-sell

It was interesting to be read, as I not completely agree. But it's always good to see more points.

You probably think it's obvious that sex sells. That's a basic, unchallenged marketing belief. When it comes to advertising and sales, we naturally turn to eye candy, pretty women and men who are the ideal faces of persuasion. They smile seductively when they urge us to buy, buy buy! And we buy.

But with sex and sales, as with so many other issues, it turns out that more is not necessarily better. In fact, what a visual hint of sex will accomplish, a visual barrage of sex can destroy. Not long ago, researchers at Iowa State University found that viewers of programs with sexually explicit or violent content were less likely to remember commercials immediately after watching and even 24 hours later.

Does sex sell? Not necessarily, it turns out. It is not as obvious as we supposed. Perhaps we need to rethink some of our beliefs.

The Iowa study involved several hundred subjects aged 18-54 with demographics selected to match those of the U.S. television audience. Those who saw ads during neutral programming (no sexual or violent content) remembered the advertised products better than those who saw the ads during sexual or violent programs.

We can speculate about why this might be true. Perhaps it's because people pay so much attention to the violence and sex that they have less attention to spare for the commercials. Perhaps the sexual and violent images stir up their own thoughts, which interfere with the ability to pay attention to the commercials. Or perhaps, as is the case in real-life experience of trauma, strong emotions aroused by powerful images impaired their memory directly.

Regardless of the mechanism, the practical result of sex and violence on TV is that viewers remember less of the products the advertisers are trying to sell. If you can't remember it, you're not going to buy it.

The false notion that sex and violence sell comes from the fact that their intensity captures the channel surfer's attention. Advertising revenue is naively based on the number of viewers, regardless of whether their ads make an impact on them. But if the viewers can't remember the commercials on these shows, what difference does it make that more people are watching!

When television, or other media, is criticized for poor taste and poor judgment, it tends to explain away responsibility by referring to the marketplace: sex sells, the industry says. And we're in the business of selling products by selling commercials. But this Iowa study, and previous ones that examined violence alone, shows that argument to be false. Advertisers who want to make an impression on television viewers would be better off reaching fewer people who can remember their product, than reaching more people who are so overwhelmed by the program that the commercial message is lost. Sexually graphic, intensely violent television programs are selling only one thing: the message of excessive violence and sex.

It is a coarsening and degrading message. It is a message of hostility and misogyny. And it doesn't even work!

Back to the Old Times

Long time ago modeling was something I was doing very often. Now it's just a nice memory that makes me smile. I think a girl can't grow up before she feels her self pretty, sexy, seductive- a woman!
Last weekend I was just silly trying to do it again... of course it's not the same and it will never be, as I can't be 20 again, but it was fun after all.



Many times I wonder if I'm sorry because I felt modeling. And every time I think I did the right thing- when I was young I was developing my appearance and I believe now it's time to develop my brain :D