I haven't had much to blog about yet. So far things have been going well with the book, and folks have been happy with it. There are a few folks who took the coaching package who haven't contacted me yet with any questions, and I plan on giving them a proactive email at some point to ask how they are doing.
However, I have been having a tumultuous life lately, both my parents have cancer and my mother got operated today while my dad has been receiving radiation and chemotherapy and I managed to remain upbeat and positive during the entire experience. I have had relatives and friends express sympathy over how badly I must feel and how distressed I must be and it's strange as I don't feel badly about the experience, I am managing to maintain a decent level of happiness. I do have a bit of stress and I will, of course, be much, much happier when they are both healthy again, but I am still managing to maintain a positive perspective, and frankly it feels quite wierd. At the end of the day, however, this is the reason this system was developed, to be able to remain positive through life's adversities, and it was put to the test.
I have also been getting a few short, but interesting emails lately though the website, and I wanted to blog about those. The submissions I receive have mainly fallen into three categories: blessings, offers or requests for translations, and on the topic of money. The blessings and translation inquiries are very appreciated, yet it is the topic of money that I find to be the most interesting to blog about due to the questions they raise. Here are two examples:
1: why don't you sent this book freely?
2: money is not all a man need in his life
The first example is interesting as right now, I am essentially giving the book away without any profit. I am just covering my advertising costs. I am not making up incredible testimonials, but using real ones, so selling to people is a challenge. Honesty does not tend to make you a lot of money, it seems. In order to just cover my monthly rent, I would need to make 128 book sales on amazon every month, and then I still need to eat, pay for advertising costs to get people to realize that the book exists, and pay for other internet costs. Unless a miracle happens and this becomes a best seller, I am not going to come close to covering my living costs with this project, but I do hope to cover the costs I am putting in, make a small profit for my time and feel good that I've helped many people have happier lives. Of course, it would be wonderful to be in a financial position where I could give the book away for free. Currently though, unless I get mentioned on Oprah or some other site, this project is basically a hobby that I am doing out of personal enjoyment. (But hey, if one of you knows Oprah and can direct her to this site, that would be totally fine by me!)
The second example I agree with completely, yet it reminds me of a person who was telling me what they looked for in their selection of books in happiness and they said they preferred something that didn't look too commercial. Right now, the web site does look quite commercial and perhaps that is detracting from the main focus, which is to get more people to be happy. I've been thinking about rearranging the site to look less commercial and more personable, so this has convinced me that it is probably a very good idea, and I'll work on doing this soon.
To quickly sum up my thoughts on the issue of money and happiness:
You get what you most highly value.
If you want happiness, you must value it above other things.
Some ways to value are to spend money and time.
Spend on happiness in order to receive it.
Thanks to all for your feedback!
Mark
However, I have been having a tumultuous life lately, both my parents have cancer and my mother got operated today while my dad has been receiving radiation and chemotherapy and I managed to remain upbeat and positive during the entire experience. I have had relatives and friends express sympathy over how badly I must feel and how distressed I must be and it's strange as I don't feel badly about the experience, I am managing to maintain a decent level of happiness. I do have a bit of stress and I will, of course, be much, much happier when they are both healthy again, but I am still managing to maintain a positive perspective, and frankly it feels quite wierd. At the end of the day, however, this is the reason this system was developed, to be able to remain positive through life's adversities, and it was put to the test.
I have also been getting a few short, but interesting emails lately though the website, and I wanted to blog about those. The submissions I receive have mainly fallen into three categories: blessings, offers or requests for translations, and on the topic of money. The blessings and translation inquiries are very appreciated, yet it is the topic of money that I find to be the most interesting to blog about due to the questions they raise. Here are two examples:
1: why don't you sent this book freely?
2: money is not all a man need in his life
The first example is interesting as right now, I am essentially giving the book away without any profit. I am just covering my advertising costs. I am not making up incredible testimonials, but using real ones, so selling to people is a challenge. Honesty does not tend to make you a lot of money, it seems. In order to just cover my monthly rent, I would need to make 128 book sales on amazon every month, and then I still need to eat, pay for advertising costs to get people to realize that the book exists, and pay for other internet costs. Unless a miracle happens and this becomes a best seller, I am not going to come close to covering my living costs with this project, but I do hope to cover the costs I am putting in, make a small profit for my time and feel good that I've helped many people have happier lives. Of course, it would be wonderful to be in a financial position where I could give the book away for free. Currently though, unless I get mentioned on Oprah or some other site, this project is basically a hobby that I am doing out of personal enjoyment. (But hey, if one of you knows Oprah and can direct her to this site, that would be totally fine by me!)
The second example I agree with completely, yet it reminds me of a person who was telling me what they looked for in their selection of books in happiness and they said they preferred something that didn't look too commercial. Right now, the web site does look quite commercial and perhaps that is detracting from the main focus, which is to get more people to be happy. I've been thinking about rearranging the site to look less commercial and more personable, so this has convinced me that it is probably a very good idea, and I'll work on doing this soon.
To quickly sum up my thoughts on the issue of money and happiness:
You get what you most highly value.
If you want happiness, you must value it above other things.
Some ways to value are to spend money and time.
Spend on happiness in order to receive it.
Thanks to all for your feedback!
Mark
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