Zen Garden > Monthorama - October 2005 Entries

Here you will find some occasional notes from me about matters pertaining to this website, its development, personal observations and whatever springs to mind that I feel needs to be recorded.

The most recent posts are first. If you want to follow the thread it might be better to scan upwards from the bottom.

October 31, 2005 - Goodness. I can hardly believe that October 2005 is already done and dusted. Further, my last post here was over two weeks ago. Where have the days gone?

For those following my comments here, you will have seen a massive growth on this site - especially on the "Zen Garden" page. I have also been tweaking other pages for greater clarity.

Specifically, I have added some scripts to key pages. They enable me to invite people to join my "Zenspirational Thoughts" series. This allows people to receive a short but powerful inspirational message. The main entry point for this is the "Zenspiration" page itself. We now have people from over 45 countries receiving these messages!

I asked subscribers to my messages to send in their favorite quotes so that I could make the series more responsive. Oh-oh! The replies that I received were overwhelming. Let me say that I am not going to run out of material for a while! Everybody who sent me their favorite quotes received a valuable e-book called: "Using Motivation and Self Esteem to Excell in Everything You Do." That was my way of saying thank you for taking the time to reply.

Traffic to this site has increased by a factor of 1.5 every month since August 2005. It seems as though all my hard work is starting to show.

The many articles that I have written on the subjects of motivation, finance, self esteem, success, time management, self defence, website matters and world news events have appeared all over the web. That is helping to drive traffic to the site.

It has also attracted what I call "snipers." They are those who will send lousy emails and make nasty comments from an anonymous shooting position. To those people - heck, don't bother. Go and write some articles of your own if you think mine are too much for you! Have a go yourself.

Enough of that... I just want this part of the web to be a place where people can come and drink from the well of inspiration. Like the real world, cyber space is filled with mis-information, scams, pornography, hate and everything else that tears the world down. But you won't get any of that here.

I hope that you are enjoying this site. I am trying to make it one of the best motivation and inspiration locations on the web.

Oh well, November is here and soon it will be Christmas. Like I said, where does the time go? What are you doing to make your life better? Talk to you later. Gary. .............................................................................................................................................

October 13, 2005 - Back again. I can't believe it has been a week already since I made my last entry here.

OK. I said I would make a brief explanation of the karate weaponry. The long shaft thing with the blade on the end is called a "naginata." In ancient Japan it was used on the battlefield to bring riders down off horses. It's a rather evil looking device. For me, it's just a part of my collection.

The sickles that can be seen on most pages are called "kama" - not to be confused with karma. In Japan these tools were originally used to cut grain crops. When weapons like swords were outlawed, the ordinary folk resorted to using tools as weapons. The kama was one of those.

Now that I have that out of the way... I have added a lot of content lately. My articles are now being read more than 200 times daily. The biggest day so far has been 514. It makes me rather happy that so many people consider them worthy enough to read in such numbers - and it is climbing.

You might also note that I have added a new section called "My World Goal." No, I am not seeking to take over the world - LOL. But I do want to receive visitors from every country of the world. That is an honorable goal in my mind.

To think that people from countries like Iran and Iceland and Finland and Chile are coming to my site to get motivated and inspired is a wonderful feeling.

Yesterday I flew my flag at half mast as a mark of respect to those people who were murdered in Bali in 2002 by the revolting, misguided fools who think that blowing people to smithereens is going to further their cause. I can hardly believe that three years have passed already.

As I lowered the flag I wondered about all the lives that had been taken so suddenly. We never know when we will die. What better reason can there be to enjoy our time on earth and achieve our goals while we can. Why wait? Too many people are waiting. Waiting for what? Start working on those goals today.

I'm thinking perhaps that making two to three posts a week is too much. Maybe once is better. What do you think?

Well, that is enough for now. Talk to you later. Gary. .............................................................................................................................................

October 6, 2005 - It's not my intention to come here every day to post something. Perhaps two or three times a week I'll make some comments here. But here I am two days in a row, so you never know.

I'm still coming to grips with the senseless death of our friends' daughter. How does one come to the aid of friends under these circumstances? Words are completely inadequate in times like these. Here I am - a recognized "wordsmith" and I'm lost for words.

This whole terrorism thing got me thinking. You know I wrote an article about it which you can read on the Zen Garden page if you wish. I mentioned that yesterday.

Heaven forbid if these maniacs ever get their hands on a nuclear device or some biological or chemical toxin. I guess they don't have one of these ugly weapons yet because surely they would have used it if they had. They are so filled and fuelled by hate.

But I want to turn the tables on that for a moment. I want to talk about love. When was the last time you called your parents or your brother or sister and told them how much they mean to you? Never? Yeah. Most of us take our closest relationships far too casually.

I drive a long distance every week to visit my elderly parents. They tell me I shouldn't do it. They say that it costs me too much money in fuel and takes me a lot of time. My reply is that it is my choice and one day I won't have that choice. So I exercise my choice to see them once a week while I still can. I like to know that they are OK.

In my part of the world we have lots of young thugs who prey upon old folk. They break into homes targetting old people who cannot defend themselves. They make me sick. They are urban terrorists in my mind.

I figure that my mom and dad gave me shelter and protection and looked after me when I was just a scared little kid. The pendulum of time has swung. Now it is my turn. It is my duty now to return that love and protection back to them.

Yes, these latest series of bombings have caused me to realize just how vulnerable we are and how temporary and fragile our passage on this earth really is. Am I getting too introspective for you?

Next time, unless I find something that takes my attention elsewhere I think I might explain some things about this website - what I hope to achieve with it. I might even tell you what some of those weird things are that you see me playing with in the karate pics. Maybe. Talk to you later. Gary.

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October 5, 2005 - Today is the first entry. I commenced this method of posting several years ago before "blogs" became famous. Back then I called it "Monthorama." Considering so many people liked it, and I have seen a number of searches looking for it on the new site, I thought I'd re-introduce it.

Pretty much it was a monthly account of what I had been doing behind the scenes at my website. I'd like to make it a bit more than that this time round - more "meaty" so to speak. So, here I will talk about all manner of things - some good, some bad. Hey! Even I cannot stand being positive 100% of the time. Shock...

I like being positive. There's not a lot to be achieved by being negative or a whinger or a buck passer. But today I am very sad.

Yesterday, I learned of the death of the daughter of some very dear friends of ours. She lost her life in the dreadful events in Bali last weekend. Her name was Jan. I am so distressed for them. They are devastated. Such extreme sadness.

This terrorism thing that is enveloping the world is sheer madness. I wrote an article about it today trying to come to grips with what has happened. You will find it in my rapidly growing article library.

Not to finish on this sadness I will change the subject. Do you like my new website? I have provided all the content, naturally. But the brains behind it all is a lady called Linda Caroll. I cannot speak highly enough of Linda. Have a look across the site and tell me what you think.

If you send me an email I'll do my best to answer it. My address is Gary Simpson. Be nice and say nice things - or constructive things and you will get my attention. Be nasty and I'll delete you in a flash. Your choice. Anyway, the offer is there. Talk to you later. Gary.

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Gary Simpson is a 7th Dan karate master who teaches self defense, motivation, self help and wealth building to students around the world through home study courses. You may reprint this article as you include this author credit and an active link to his web site. Finance - Self Help - Motivation - Self Defense - Personal Growth MotivationSelfEsteem.com