“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

- A Course In Miracles

This is and always will be an inspirational story - how one family took the inspiration from their mother’s last moments and gained momentum to build a water pump and borehole in a village in Kenya called Machakos. They’re back now, but just check out these two videos to see what happened and how doing just a small bit can transform many lives.

Every year millions of people around the world unecessarily waste gallons of precious water. Every year millions of people around the world die from lack of nutritional, clean water. Next time you leave your tap running as you brush your teeth… Think.

“Being pretty on the inside means you don’t hit your brother and you eat all your peas - that’s what my grandma taught me.”

- Lord Chesterfield

I haven’t posted for a few days. Things in the lab are quite busy to say the least. As well as some of the projects I’m working on to launch in 2008. In the meantime, here are some sites I’ve checked recently which I think you’ll love:-

• Genetree - launched today 23rd October, this company has created a family networking site and through the power of genetics, you can link up with relatives you never knew you had. It’s free to join.

• Zap Your Phone - I’m helping Arvind with the promotion for this. It’s a great cause I believe in to get people to stop using their phones whilst driving and thus save lives. Get yourself a sticker for your car.

• Avoid Boring People - I just ordered the new book by James D Watson. If you don’t know, where have you been?! He co-discovered DNA with Francis Crick in Cambridge back in the 1950’s. I’ll tell you what I think of it soon.

• Living Jain - I’ve been subscribed to this free daily quote service for quite a while now. The last few days, the quotes have been awesome. You should give it a try.

• Cameron Johnson - check out the guy who started his first company at the age of 9. He’s definitely a role model for many young entrepreneurs.

That’s all for now!

“A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance.”

- Benjamin Disraeli

Over a month ago, I launched the Creating Wellness Letter through my relatively new start-up Wellness Junction.

You’re going to love this monthly printed newsletter sent directly to your home if you’re a subscriber. It’s going to be action-packed, full of lots of ideas, tips and articles about becoming more healthy, feeling more younger and actually being drug-free.

And for less than you’d spend on a takeout each month.

Check it out here and let your friends know too.

Eye contact is probably the most powerful way we connect with people. In both an initial encounter and a follow-up, how we look at someone and look away from someone all comes down to the type of expression we exhibit whilst doing so.

Some people aren’t able to look others straight into the eye. I used to be like that, but for many years I’ve been told by my father to look at the person directly when speaking.  Only recently has it begun to settle within me after 18 or more years of hearing it. I am beginning to look at people directly in the eye whilst speaking and the results are magnificent. I feel I’m having much truer contact with them, being able to focus in on that conversation and give it my all without looking elsewhere whilst talking.

Looking at people and meeting their eyes is the first thing to do at striking up a great friendship and positive impressions. Although I still believe a prolonged look at someone whilst talking to them can be threatening or intimidating, making short and frequent gazes works wonders.

Also, honesty and eye-contact seem to be related. One who cannot look truthfully in the eye of someone and speak may be keeping back some things from them or lying about a particular event.

One who is the listener in a conversation also must make contact. It shows responsiveness, interest and that you are actively listening.  Listeners typically look at the speaker about 75% of the time in glances lasting 1-7 seconds. Even flirting or speaking to a lady (or man) that you’d like to date begins with a process of eye-contact and then getting an eye-contact back to signal that you have “permission” to approach them.

What are your thoughts on eye contact?

At one point, Britney was a model to millions of girls (and maybe some boys) worldwide. Her music, style and fame took her to a level that all aspiring girls wanted to be at. There was a day when even I was into her chart-topper, “Baby, One More Time” and when she was being hailed as the queen of pop.

And in a very small time, all of that changed.

She made her money, got married to Fed, had two kids, became an alcoholic and addict, got married to her childhood friend for 2 days (not sure if that was before or after Fed), shaved her head, gained custody for her kids, then lost it again 1 or 2 days later. It is usually from a place of rock-bottom that people tend to “see the light” and rise again.

Will Britney do the same? And if so, what would be her comeback plan? I would think it’s pretty simple: “Disappear, invigorate and reappear!”

It would probably be in her best interests if she was to disappear for about 2 years, get back to her best, stay out of the media, and focus on rebuilding her life, her music and her values. During that invigorating process, music could be instrumental. And then when ready, we’ll see the Britney we once saw and she’ll be back on top of the world - for the right reasons.

What do you think her comeback plan should be?

What’s in a handshake? Sometimes everything. More often than not, a handshake is usually the starting point in a meeting. Whether it’s a personal or business meeting, it doesn’t matter. It’s usually at the point of being introduced to someone or meeting up with someone you already know. Even if it’s someone of the opposite sex, but sometimes for that there is more than one way to make your first impression.

When you shake someone’s hand, how do you feel? For me, that initial touch seems to give me a kind of feeling - usually always different - that helps me to make sense of the person in those initial moments. It’s the same thing with giving a hug, I suppose.

When you shake hands, your hand meets the other persons and grips it. Then you shake it up and down for one or two moments, usually done quickly but some do it too quickly and then after that embrace, you let go.

Have you ever been involved in the perfect handshake? One that’s given you a really good impression of the person because of the maturity with which they’ve made the connection, shook for just the right amount of time and not too fast or too slow? It’s usually a wonderful feeling.

Unless of course you have to shake someone’s hands and they don’t look too good becuase they could either have not washed hands after using the toilet or after touching lots of food. Eugh!

I met a guy who I’m going to be meeting regularly for the next year and I went up to shake his hand two weeks ago. He literally put his hand in my hand with no effort and took it back before I could give a proper grip and shake his hand. It was a floppy handshake at best. This guy was 23 and immediately I had an impression of him.

If you can’t shake a hand properly, it’s appalling. Get a grip.

“We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe.  In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our minds.”

- David Blaine, magician