This is the situation in nearly every country around the world. Now more than ever we need leadership. Those who call themselves leaders need to learn from the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela and Jawaharlal Nehru.

This change needs to happen, especially today where the public is trapped in the rat race, caught up in the latest gizmo and consumed in the latest gossip simply as a cover for the truth which they are incapable of coming to terms with.

All politicians are consumed with multiple agendas that lose their focus and concentration and thus no problem or issue gets resolved to the core. They are simply looking to make big changes in each area without full research and thinking, unaware that small inconsistencies are going to creep up. These big changes take place without the real questioning. They see something they like the sound of and then they chase it.

Then the public turn their heads. They start to speak up about the lack of control and poor decisions the government are making. In true reality, the so-called leader has the right idea, but the poor leadership turns him or her the other way.

The result today: the hellish war in Iraq, and talk of pouring more troops into the region. I can admit to my premature thinking. Who am I to speak up? But then again, who am I not to? You think what you want. I’m here to petition for change. Real change.

We need leadership today, more than ever.

As a result of the lack of leadership in our country, the public is following the same path. Lack of leadership in our life and the choices we make are putting more teenagers out of education, bringing about more drug scandals, violence on the streets and teenage pregnancies. More than ever, we need leadership today.

And for the Government to see this (which I really think they need to open their eyes too), it’s important that we as individuals don’t lose our lack of leadership. We need to become leaders of our life in order for the Government to take notice of the change that is required in society. We need to follow our inner guidance and do as we feel is right. We need to play our roles in society. We need to become intelligent day-to-day leaders.

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.

One of the coolest creatures on Earth today are fireflies. Have you ever seen one? Unfortunately, we don’t get them in the UK. If you’re out in the night, you may be able to see little things flying around with a shiny end like in the image here.

The yellow end part of the firefly is called the lantern, and they have a flickering ability as well as the ability to turn on and off and is used as the male’s attracting power to call over the females.

How cool is that?

All fireflies have nearly the same frequency for their flashing, but their phase is shifted. If a firefly receives a flash of a neighbour firefly, it flashes slightly earlier.

Not only does the flickering work as an attractor, it is also really important as to what rate and at what frequency the flickering occurs.

Here is a photo of a plant in the night sky with fireflies in the picture.

In this week’s issue of TIME magazine, I came across a feature on Rwanda entitled “Seeds of Change” which talks about how fast Rwanda has grown since the destructive 1994 genocide that killed around 800,000 people in 100 days. Today it is one of the world’s leaders in coffee, one of Africa’s first to have complete wi-fi, very low AIDS rate and all of them are on anti-retroviral drugs.

The article was inspiring - a country led by President Paul Kagame for over a decade who is pulling together resources from the whole world whilst using the coffee trade to make friends with world leaders and company executives from Google, Yahoo, Starbucks, Mercato and others.

The government and country as a whole are also playing an active role in environmental issues. Since 2005, the government has banned plastic bags and this has made it’s roads some of the best and cleanest in the whole of Africa.

The next thing I read about really took me back and opened my eyes wider to the amazing transformation this country is having. They have “a mandatory national “tidy up” one afternoon each month, in which even government ministers clean the streets.” How amazing is that?

I want to go visit Rwanda now. It has become extremely attractive, inspiring and important to me that a country as a whole is moving forward in big steps after such a horrendous time 13 years ago.

Monthly “tidy up” events are a great idea and one that everyone should grab hold of - in the house, the shed, the garden, the local park, the streets, everywhere. Perhaps you could set aside 30-60 minutes once a month to go round a particular area and pick up all the litter you find to give the environment it’s natural space, clean of rubbish. What do you think?

All the Guru’s talk about finding some kind of achievable work/life balance. If you’re working the normal 9-5, I suspect your work takes up 75% of the hours you’re awake, and your life takes up the remaining 25%. Based on this divide, how do you create a work/life balance?

I believe that my life has a purpose and I am here to serve that purpose. My purpose is to contribute to the world whilst I move along the path to liberation. Not a single one of the values involved in living this purpose weighs more heavier than the other and therefore it cannot take a backseat. I cannot fight one value with another and strive for a balance. So for me, it doesn’t work. I want to strive for the blended life.

Blending together all elements of my life to function together, rather than keeping them separate is more attractive. The overall purpose of my life is visible in all areas so why should I keep them separate?

As more and more people have turned to entrepreneurship, taking on careers that are ideal for their lifestyles, the work/life balanace principle, however true it used to be, has now gotten more blurry and unclear. It is now our aim to live the blended lifestyle.

If your work is something you love, how can you keep it separate from your life? Work is life and life is work, if you are living your purpose. I have to work late at times. I can rearrange my schedule to fit in activities that have no profit-making focus. The ability to manage my time is more important in the blended lifestyle than to balance my work and life. That doesn’t mean I’m a work-a-holic.

I write here today as a young entrepreneur who has no commitment in marriage as yet, and no children. Some would say I have it easier than those in marriage. I agree that the lesser commitments gives me the freedom to live the blended lifestyle easier than someone in marriage. I do not, however, agree that it is not possible to live the blended lifestyle as a husband or wife. In fact, it is probably more required of you now than ever.

Let’s discuss. What are your thoughts on cultivating the blended lifestyle?

The ideas of peace, unity, love, compassion, non-violence and faith need to be at the forefront of our everyday discussions. There is less and less of it going in my local town and it’s time to step it up. Our community is strong, vibrant and active, but there is more talk of violence, sex, drugs and drink rather than peace, love, compassion, environment, unity and faith. It needs to replace gossip. It needs to stimulate people to think creatively, constructively and openly. We all need dialogue in our life.

We need more people to discuss these things. We need them to share them with their friends. This is not profit-making. This is joy-and-bliss-sharing. We need to bring them together on a regular basis, to share ideas, common themes and ways forward, etc.

With that in mind, I’m proposing a monthly (or regularly scheduled) meetup called Breakfast Conversations in which individuals are invited to join a round-table creative dialogue, discussion and collaboration on a focused theme. If you’re anywhere in London, travelling through our city, then please come. But only come if you’re juiced about love, compassion, faith, peace, unity and togetherness. If you are just interested and want to find out more, you are also welcome.

I prefer conversations like these to take place over breakfast - the start of the day provides each and everyone of us with a fresh outlook on the chosen theme and a great way to start the day.

With that in mind, I’ve gone ahead and selected the first date. I’ve gone for a weekday morning and a 9am meetup. I’m experimenting with the weekdays. If you want to come but can’t because you are working, please let me know. It’s best to run these things when there’s a majority presence.

The first Breakfast Conversations will take place on Tuesday 21st August 2007 at 9.00am at Amano Café, Northwick Park, Watford Road, Harrow, HA1 3TZ.

I’m hoping you’ll be able to make it. Even if there’s just two of us, this will go on. It’s nice if you can let me know if you’ll be coming. To do that, just leave a comment saying you’re coming. If you want to email me, my email is kavit@kavitharia.com.

We are currently living in a realm of infinite possibilities. We have at our hands all that we need and all that we may need. All we have to do is select the infinite possibilities we want and turn them into infinite probabilities. Making your dreams come true is not about blood, sweat and tears… it’s about beliefs, imagination and expectation. We live in a magical universe with unfailing principals that conspire on our behalf. 

If this is true, there are infinite possibilities for peace and unity as well. When we keep our eyes and ears open, we get to observe and appreciate more. This increased awareness allows us to notice the possibilities that around and thus grab the ones we feel at home with and turn them into probabilities. The more possibilities we turn into probabilities, the more hope there will be for world peace and unity.

How are you keeping your eyes and ears open?

One social theory is that if we change the attitudes of the individual, society will change around it. In opposition, if we make changes in social circumstances, the individual will automatically change. Both have their pro’s and con’s. Sometimes one will work, and the other won’t. And other times the opposite will happen.

Lenin, in 1917, headed the idea of Communism, trying to bring change through altering the socio-political circumstances in Russia. The idea failed in 1989. The masses became disillusioned.

Gandhi was probably the first thinker who brought the two ideas together. Rather than change one of social circumstances only, why not change both? was the pattern of his thinking. He attempted to change social circumstances, and simultaneously change the attitudes of the individuals at the same time. His belief was that the individual and society are part and parcel of each other.

The bottom line, if any, is that it’s not only political parties and governments in the wrong. We, too, as individuals in society have a part to play. We cannot put blame entirely on someone else’s shoulder. We cannot expect society to first change and we will easily mold around it. Together, we have to change. We, as individuals, have to take the steps as well.

Starting with expressing and only coming from a place of true, unconditional love for everything, regardless of how much you like or dislike the person, item, place or being. We come from a place of love and we are going to return to a place of love. We have just been trapped and caught up in “blame-a-name” and “I’m-the-winner” games once we came out of our toddler years. We need to go back to our origin. It’s there we together both our shift and the nation’s shift can take place. Love is all that matters.

One of the biggest issues at the forefront of scientific research is global warming. And after decades of research, only now is it really coming into the minds and hearts of all the people living on Earth as environmental activists are doing any and every thing to spread the word.

July 7th, 2007 was a big day. The one man who made a film, wrote a book, and has been trying to get the people to listen to the importance of climate change for nearly 30 years finally gets closer to his goal. This man with real determination is Al Gore. On July 7th, the organisation Save Our Selves launched the Live Earth series of concerts taking place in cities all around the world, co-chaired by former the US Vice President.

Here’s what he said after the events: “Live Earth was phenomenal. My only concern is that it worked too well. According to my most recent numbers, we’re beginning to see global cooling emerge as a legitimate threat.” The UN estimates that over one billion trees were planted in direct response to the Red Hot Chili Peppers which would result in extreme overforestation.

When Gore mentioned that it worked too well, he refers to how much change the musicians may have inspired. The UCLA head of earth sciences department Dr. Herbert Greenthumm said that “It seems to me that anyone within earshot of the Foo Fighters last week now feels the need to go green. This is wonderful, except that we’re concerned with the dangers of going too far in the other direction. If you have any doubts that inverse global warming, or ‘global cooling’ as we call it, can severely impact our planet’s ecosystem, I refer you to our statistics.”

Why do you think the perfomers had such an impact? It’s the same thing Geldof was trying to achieve with his Live 8 set of concerts. Young people are the ones that will drive change and they link easily with performers who are authorative figures in the world.

Global warming changed to Global cooling. The effect on the days that immediately followed Live Earth saw a change in the Earth’s atmosphere - it cooled too fast! Rumour has it that Al Gore is planning Live Heat 2008, a worldwide anti-cooling concert series.

Make what you want of it - I’m not sure whether to believe that that earth is cooling one week, and then heating for the next. Just live life, save energy and be environmentally-friendly.

If we fill our time taking care of plants we can get rid of stress, it is a scientifically proved thing. Taking care of our green friends (the ones with leaves not Martians!) we will discover new hidden sides of our personality and will get to know better how to love and care for others, firstly because a plant that we won’t care for will die for sure.

Accepting a plant we are assuming a new responsibility, we are adopting a breathing being. This way, we learn just what it means to pay attention to those around you.

We have to concentrate over needs that are exterior to our ego. We become aware of the needs of another being: we know how much water the plant needs, how much light it gets, the intervals it needs to receive water again, and slowly we will transfer these cares and abilities in our social relations. We become more and more aware of others. Visual contact with a beautiful plant makes us realize our own beauty.

Studies show more and more that taking care of plants can be the most efficient method to improve the physical and emotional general condition. They have a serene effect, they can reduce stress and relax muscles and therefore improve the mood people taking care of them are in.

Different studies have demonstrated that the existence of plants reduce mental exhaustion. When we are overwhelmed with work, we just have to look up for a couple of minutes to a plant and we’ll instantly feel more relaxed. In conclusion, plants fascinate and attract people, they break boredom and monotony generated by forced attention. The oxygen generated by plants creates a feeling of mental agility.

Some big plants placed on the right spot will help us insolate ourselves from annoying surrounding noises. The technique is the same as the one of hanging paintings in an empty room to minimize the echo effects. The thick leaves will absorb a part of the noises, including the sound of the phone, Xerox, printer or coffee maker, making these sounds a little bit friendlier.