Winning is important to me, but...

 

Phil Jackson has won 13 NBA championships: 2 as a player and 11 as a coach.

So he sure knows how to win, but more important than that is his approach and what he has to say about winning which is important to living a good life...

Phil Jackson is known for his "zen" approach to the game of basketball. He coaches about focusing on the We rather than the me. A lesson for a team sport as well as for life in general. 

He has written a thought-provoking memoir in which he shows how he encourages his players to work with a clear mind - not thinking, just doing. 

Sacred Hoops: SPIRITUAL LESSONS OF A HARDWOOD WARRIOR by Phil Jackson.

"An earnest and refreshing answer to the dollar driven soullessness of modern professional sports." -- People

Phil Jackson is an American original. A two-time All-American at the University of North Dakota, in 1967 he was drafted by the New York Knicks, where he played for 11 years and was a member of the 1970 and 1973 championship teams. 

Jackson guided the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships in his nine years as head coach from 1989-1998, and guided the LA Lakers to three titles as their head coach from 1999-2004.

You can find out more about the book here. It can be purchased on kindle for only 2.99 or also as a paperback. 

Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson aka the Zen Master.

Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is an American professional basketball executive, former coach and former player, currently serving as president of the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

Jackson was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 until 1998, during which Chicago won six NBA championships. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five championships from 2000 until 2010. 

Jackson in 2009

In total, Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, surpassing the previous record of nine set by Red Auerbach. 

Jackson is known for his use of Tex Winter's triangle offense as well as a holistic approach to coaching that is influenced by Eastern philosophy, earning him the nickname "Zen Master".

Jackson cites Robert Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as one of the major guiding forces in his life. He also applies Native American spiritual practices as documented in his book Sacred Hoops. He is the author of several candid books about his teams and his basketball strategies. 

In 2007, Jackson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1996, as part of celebrations for the National Basketball Association's 50th anniversary, Jackson was named one of the 10 greatest coaches in league history. He retired from coaching in 2011 before joining the Knicks as an executive in March 2014.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 

Photo by Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA (RO9A3387) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

“There’s a Zen saying I often cite that goes, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” The point: Stay focused on the task at hand rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.”
― Phil Jackson, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.

Many frugal living sites

LINKS TO MANY OTHER FRUGAL LIVING SITES

• Affluenza: PBS Program on the Epidemic of Overconsumption - The online companion to the PBS program on the high social and environmental costs of overconsumption and materialism, helps to recognize and treat affluenza. 

• Better Times Webzine - An e-zine of sustainable, simple, and frugal living, published by the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House. 

• Center For a New America Dream - Non-profit movement of anti-consumerism - simplifying lifestyles by reducing waste and only buying what is needed in order to be happier and preserve the earth. 


• Choosing Voluntary Simplicity - An illustrated guide to simple living and self-reliance. 

• Families for Natural Living - A 501(c)(3) Non Profit educational organization that provides resources, information and support for families who want to make informed natural living decisions for themselves. 

• Getting a Life - Information, ideas, philosophy and articles on voluntary simplicity, sustainability and spirituality. It focuses on the practical application of the "Your Money or Your Life" program and the concepts of the "Ecological Footprint" to achieve a sustainable future. 

• Hermitary - resources and reflections on hermits and solitude. 

• Hitch Hike Mike: Mike Gitelman - A Canadian hitchhiker and traveller, with his autobiographical writings on his voluntary homelessness, and a description of his simple life in a tree house.

• John Seymour's Self Sufficiency School. Has book suggestions and free, short videos on topics such as basket making and beer making, scything and cement slabs. 

• Live Simple - An E-book that sets out specific suggestions for simplifying possessions, home, daily routines, personal goals, and use of resources. 

• Live Simply With Style - Authors Mary Helen and Shuford Smith offer retirement, travel, and photography tips for a simple lifestyle. 

• Living Lightly on the Earth - This site is based on an assumption that every human being has a right to an equal share of physical space on this planet, purely by virtue of being human. 

• Natural Life Magazine - News and articles about sustainable living, health, family, livelihood, and mostly voluntary simplicity, since 1976. 

• New Liberty Village - A community and network of websites with articles on self-sufficiency, voluntary simplicity, and spirituality. A movement of ideas and freedom which is providing an online school of right living. 

• Northwest Earth Institute - Discussion courses on sustainability, deep ecology, living in place, and the practice of simplicity for groups and individuals in the Northwest and across the United States. 

• Path to Freedom - One Step at A Time - Strives to inspire individuals to "think globally, act locally" by motivating them to live a simpler and more fulfilling life. 

• Pioneer Thinking - Internet natural living community. Share health, home, and beauty tips, men's health, and crafts. 

• Real Simple - An online magazine devoted to simplifying life and making it more meaningful for busy people, based on the print magazine.

• Simple Abundance - Sarah Breathnach's official website for her series, 'Simple Abundance'. Simple appreciation of every day life and beautiful things. 

• Simple Living Network - Sponsors a huge range of simple living resources as well as communities and books. A one-stop place for most subjects involving simplifying your own life. 

• Simple Living Resource Guide - Resource guide for people interested in voluntary simplicity, simple living, and downsizing, maintained by the Pierce Simplicity Study. 

• Simply Living - A non-profit organization in central Ohio, educating people to live responsibly and sustainably in a joyful relationship with the earth and one another. 

• Slow Down Now - Humorous short stories ranging from true to the wildly absurd. The author takes an anti-workaholism stance: Slow Lifestyle Manifesto. 

• The Center for Whole Communities - Beautiful learning center dedicated to nurturing the relationship between people and the land, a community gathering place, and a working family farm in Fayston, VT. 

• The Hermit - Photographic record of a hermit living in the woods of Ohio, USA in a cabin. 

• The Journal of Voluntary Simplicity - Subscription information for the quarterly journal about simplifying our lives. Includes information on related books. 

• The Lilypad List: 7 Steps to the Simple Life - About the book by Marian Van Eyk McCain. Online sales, information about the author and illustrator, and the author's other books. 

• Thoughts on Voluntary Simplicity - Explains the difference between voluntary simplicity and frugality; articles on topics such as building the simple life. 

• Voice Yourself - Project started by Woody Harrelson and Laura Louie to encourage citizens to protest pollution of the air, soil, and water through everyday choices and behaviors. Includes information about their bike and bus tour, recipes, a guide to farms, and a forum. 

• Voluntary Simplicity Overview - Essay on voluntary simplicity and why it is gaining acceptance, as well of some of the movement's roots in the 70's. 

• Voluntary Simplicity Study Circles by Janet Luhrs - Article from In Context on Janet Luhrs' study circles in sustainable agriculture and voluntary simplicity. 

• Welcome to Frog Holler - A family story of homeschooling, organic farming, music, yoga and ecology. 

• Welcome to Raven Talk - Raventalk is a portal for exploring how to create a sustainable planet future. Provides connections to people, activists and ideas which are working towards a healthy and sustainable planet for all living beings. 

• Welcome to Voluntary Simplicity - A weblog about voluntary simplicity guided by permaculture principles. 

• Wilderdom: A Project in Natural Living & Transformation - Wilderdom refers to "natural living". They seek to explore human-nature relations and to derive sustainable solutions to modern-living. Wilderdom is also a sustainable living center in Australia. 

• Work, Money, Time, Future - Arbeit, Geld, Zeit, Zukunft - Thoughts on work, money, time and future with questions that make us reconsider what we are doing to impact our lives and the future.

Live more with less

                                         

Live More With Less that is basically what we are about. 

More: celebrate a simple life, focus on what really matters to you, enjoy time with family and friends,  live within your means,  care about the earth's resources,  self sufficiency,  gain appreciation for the things you already have in your life.

Less: less spending, less unconscious spending, less waste, less stuff.

"Use it up,  wear it out,  make it do,  or do without."   L. Reid

Frugal means different things to different people so we hope you find some ideas here that you can use.  

• 5 fabulous frugal books packed full of thrifty, money saving and eco friendly tips and even better still they all cost very little.
• How to Build Lean Muscle Without a Gym
• Why the global recession is good.

Also please check out our links to other frugal sites and frugal resources.

Favorite frugal links

For this week's Frugal Friday I am sharing a short list of my current favorite frugal links where you will get lots of information on staying frugal. Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the consumption of consumableresources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.
Frugality explained at Wikipedia

earth sky sea child - blog about living an eco friendly life with kids

How to Get Rich - slowly

The Simple Living Forums

Miserly Moms money saving tips

The Freecycle Network World wide network of people who have something to give away. Free to join.

The Good News Network - GNN - positive world news site. Includes health, environment, happy homes, peace, good city award.

The Simple Dollar "is for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds - we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money."

Financial Integrity - transform your relationship with money with practical tools and innovative approaches for managing basic life challenges

How South Africa built one of the world's most advanced telescopes

A telescope built in South Africa is revealing new details about the Milky Way.

"It's the clearest view ever made of the center of our galaxy," chief scientist Fernando Camilo said of images produced by the MeerKAT radio telescope.

Officially launched in July, the telescope has also made South Africa a key global destination for radio astronomy.

READ FULL ARTICLE

Drink coffee and live longer

Dr. Adela Navarro, a cardiologist at Hospital de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain has conducted a study of 20,000 people which found that drinking coffee lowered your risk of death.  I think you would agree this is a good thing!

Those who drank 4 cups of coffee a day had a 64% lower risk of death than those who drank none.

"We found an inverse association between drinking coffee and the risk of all-cause mortality, particularly in people aged 45 years and above. This may be due to a stronger protective association among older participants," Navarro said.

The study was done on healthy people, who were mainly eating the Mediterranean diet, and their average age at the start of the study was 37 years of age. Factors that were considered were sex, age and whether participants stuck to the Mediterranean diet and discovered that age was a factor: coffee seemed to provide strong protection for people over 45 years of age.

 "Our findings suggest that drinking four cups of coffee each day can be part of a healthy diet in healthy people." Dr Adela Navarro concluded.

These findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress (ESC) in Barcelona in 2017.

So if you are a coffee drinker and over the age of 40, it would make sense to increase your coffee intake to four cups a day. For the rest of us this research should make us consider trying coffee don't you think?

MORE COFFEE RESEARCH. There has been so much research into coffee over the years so I thought it would be great to share some of it here.

Coffee and Parkinson's Disease: drinking coffee reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by up to 30%. Most studies recommend three cups of coffee as beneficial. - Parkinson's News Today

Coffee and heart disease: according to 3 studies people who drank more coffee had a lower long-term risk of heart failure. - American Heart Association

Coffee and liver cancer: Nine studies showed that consumption of 2 cups of coffee per day was associated with a 43% reduced risk of liver cancer. - PubMed Report

Coffee and type 2 diabetes: A 2009 study of 40,000 participants noted that consumption of 3 cups of tea or coffee a day lead to a 40% lower risk of type 2 diabetes developing.

Coffee and kidney disease: In one study 4,863 U.S. chronic kidney disease patients were monitored for 11 years. Researchers found that greater caffeine intake was tied to greater life expectancy for people with chronic kidney disease. - WebMD

Coffee and multiple sclerosis (MS): The risk of MS is substantially reduced among those who reported a high consumption of coffee. - NCBI

Coffee and colorectal cancer: In a large group of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, consumption of a few cups of coffee a day was associated with longer survival and a lower risk of the cancer worsening. - Harvard Health

Coffee and Alzheimer's disease (AD): A 21-year follow-up study found consumption of  3 to 5 cups of coffee daily, significantly reduces the risk of AD (62–64%) and dementia (65–70%) in the later lifetime. - NCBI

THE GOOD NEWS is that more and more research is showing us that coffee is not only not bad for us it is actually Good For Us.  A large body of evidence suggests that consumption of caffeinated coffee does not increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. In fact, consumption of 3 to 5 standard cups of coffee daily has been consistently associated with a reduced risk of several chronic diseases. - Harvard Health

Of course talk to your medical professionals before about your specific situation before increasing your consumption of coffee. 

THE BAD NEWS - while this is a good news site I would be remiss to not mention some reports I have found while researching this article and especially as I have autoimmune diseases myself. You should avoid coffee, or more than one cup per day, if you have a diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid disease, celiac, rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, GERD, peptic ulcer disease, gallbladder issues or Barrett’s Esophagitis. 

Brands of coffee that I recommend: there are 2 brands that I have come across that I can recommend because of  what they don't put in their products and how they are sourced and made: Purity Coffee which is made from the highest-grade organic green arabica coffee beans and Organo King Coffee which is an instant organic arabica coffee.

My favourite Richard Branson Quotes

Sir Richard Branson

I've just finished reading Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson, well re- reading it actually and to tell the truth I actually listened to it in my car off an audio book, which is my new favourite thing to do when driving - listen to audio books.
I always find Sir Richard Branson inspiring and thought you might enjoy some of his words of wisdom. Do you have a favourite?

“There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions – in a way that serves the world and you.”

“You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.”  

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.”

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”

“Respect is how to treat everyone, not just those you want to impress.” in Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life and Business

“The brave may not live forever – But the cautious do not live at all” in Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You at Business School

“I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive then I believe you are better off not doing it. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” in Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

A business is simply an idea to make other people’s lives better.

My family brought me up to always look for the best in other people. I love people. Love spending time with people. I love learning from people.

Entrepreneurship is a great leveler, The wonderful thing is that money is not the sole currency when it comes to starting a business; drive, determination, passion and hard work are all free and more valuable than a pot of cash.

List of positive uplifting songs

Music can emotionally enhance your wellbeing. It can uplift your mood instantly just as well as an antidepressant.  It has the power to be emotionally uplifting or soothing and make us feel joy, love, hope, peace and so many other emotions. Apparently is alters many parts of our brain including those that feel these emotions - the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.
"It also flushes the body with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good. Music also paves the way for the release of norepinephrine, a hormone that brings about euphoria and elation." *

Elevator Music by Boy Wonder

Here is our list of inspiring songs from many different eras.
We would love to know a song that makes you feel uplifted (add it in the comments).

Mr. Blue Sky ~ Electric Light Orchestra
Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
Good Day Sunshine - The Beatles
What a Wonderful Life - Elvis Presley
What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong 
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life – Monty Python
Don’t Worry be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
Stand By Me - Ben E. King
Que Sera Sera - Doris Day
Perfect Day – Lou Reed
Circle of Life - The Lion King
Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
Lust For Life – Iggy Pop
Where is the Love? – The Black Eyed Peas
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
One More Time – Daft Punk
Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolf

* How Music Changes Your Mood - Examined Existence

The elementary school teacher who helped the new U.S. poet laureate

Lelya Sampson in her Mount Hope home.

This San Diego teacher helped Juan Felipe Herrera find his voice.

Juan Felipe Herrera, who is the new U.S. poet laureate, often talks about a defining moment 57 years ago, when he was a third-grader at Lowell Elementary School in Barrio Logan.   

Howard Lipin/Twitter: @hlipin

Australian woman leaves $4 million mansion to help homeless children

This lovely lady Lily Fardell of Newcastle, Australia, has left a personal legacy which will raise an estimated $4 million for homeless children.

"She couldn't have children of her own," her nephew, Michael Ellis said.
"But she loved children and left almost everything she had to a charity which supported them."

 

Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald

Amazing Australian Animals

Australia is home to many unique species of fauna the best known being the kangaroo and the koala. A total of 379 species of mammals have been recorded in Australia and marsupials are a special type of mammal that carry their young in a pouch.  Besides well-known marsupials like the kangaroos, wallabies and the koala and possum, other marsupials include wombats, the Tasmanian devil, numbat, bandicoots, bettongs, the bilby, quolls, and the quokka. Have you heard of all or any of these amazing and distinctive animals? Do you have a favourite?

Numbat:
or walpurti, found in Western Australia, exclusively eats termites



Sugar Glider:
it's name refers to its preference for sugary foods
and ability to glide through the air

Wallaby:
smaller than kangaroos,
herbivores eating grasses, vegetables, leaves

Eastern Barred Bandicoot:
weighs less than 2 kg and has a short tail

Quokka:
is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal

Spotted-tail quoll sleeping at Sydney Wildlife World:
a carnivorous nocturnal, native to mainland Australia

Bettong: A nocturnal animal
that sleeps during the day in a domed nest. 

Mother koala with baby joey on it's back

The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial
found only in Tasmania.

The common wombat is a marsupial that lives in a burrow
and eats mainly native grasses.

Germany Breaks a Renewable Energy Record

This is seriously impressive. Just this week, Germany was powered by a record 78% clean energy. It's proof is that solar and wind can keep the lights on in a highly industrialized nation.

ACF is Australian Conservation Foundation

 Germany’s experience shows that solar and wind can keep the lights on in a highly industrialized nation, said Osha Gray Davidson, author of Clean Break, a book about Germany’s transition to carbon-free energy.

Read the full article at takepart