Rick Singer's Blog

Aboutme contest

09/12/2011 15:16:00

Vote for my ABOUTME web page below by visiting the site featuring me and my beautiful twins and clicking on the vote button on the top right hand corner. The contest is to be the official faces of AboutMe on a TimesSquare billboard.

I am in the top 5% and I need you guys more than ever. Please share with evberone you know and make sure they vote. You can vote daily until sept. 20th

http://about.me/RickySinger

Writing Contest

09/08/2011 15:54:00

I am working on my first book for the new publishing company called Be the Change Publications. I will start out small and grow from there. It will be a non-profit compant publishing books that can change humanity. All money will go to community projects related to transforming the Universe. We can make a huge change if we stick together witth passion, purpose, and persistence.

The writing contest will choose the top 20 essays to be published as chapters in this upcoming book. The essays should answer:

What is wrong with the world today?

and

What do we need to do to prevent humanity from self destruction?

Be creative and be willing to apply what you suggest.

I look forward to your essays and any comments, suggestions etc that can help this publishing venture be a huge success.

Lets make Gandhi proud!

Also lets keep voting to get my books out to a larger audience.

You can vote daily until sept. 20th. Only you guys can put me on the Times Square Billboard.

http://about.me/RickySinger

Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds

09/05/2011 15:06:00

Book Review and Giveaway: Your Daily Walk with The Great Minds: Wisdom and Enlightenment of the Past and Present by Richard A. Singer Jr.

Today we have an unique daily devotional!

Synopsis: Starting on New Year's Day and continuing over the course of the calendar year, this book offers a journey of profound transformation, based on psychological spiritual principles that have been scientifically validated for their value in fostering personal development. Each day, readers will enter the inner world of one of the world's most influential minds. Day by day, great thinkers and great doers serve as muse and motivator for taking steps toward a more meaningful and fulfilling life, which, in turn, creates a better world.

"We are all human beings and those minds of the past are part of our human family," Singer stresses. "We can relate to these individuals and be inspired by their insight, vision, and how they lived their lives. We are no different from Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Oprah. We all have the capacity to be great in our own unique way and contribute to changing the world," says the author.

For every day of the year, it combines gems of wisdom with proven self-actualizing strategies and personal growth techniques. After starting their day with a compelling quotation from a great mind-Einstein, Freud, Confucius, M. Scott Peck, Dale Carnegie, Vince Lombardi, Anton Chekhov, Anais Nin, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau,Henry Ford, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Martin Luther King, Jr., St. Augustine, George Santayana, and Milton Berle, among others-readers will commit to through the following practices:
1. Meditation- Singer offers a reflection on the immediate relevance and application of the quotation for the day.
2. Visualization- Singer encourages readers to take a moment to picture themselves living the for the day.
3. Affirmation- Singer provides one for each day's commitment to change to help readers internalize it, believe it, and apply it throughout the day.
4. Mindfulness- Singer urges readers to focus on the present and truly living each moment of the daily guidance for change.

For each month, Singer suggests two books for gaining further knowledge,insight, understanding, and inspiration to change. The recommended reading list ranges from Norman Vincent Peale's Power of Positive Thinking to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.

About the Author: An award-winning author, a trained psychotherapist, and an Assistant Professor of Human and Social Services. He has studied Eastern Psychology, Buddhist Healing,and Non-Violence at the Doctoral level, and remains a devoted student of wisdom recorded throughout history.A native of Pennsylvania, he now makes his home on the island of Grand Cayman. To learn more, please visit his website: www.EmbracingthePresent.com

Review: This is an interesting daily devotional, as it isn't focused on the bible, but on the words of some our our greatest thinkers and writers! I like that each day's entry is SHORT and quick to read through. The thought for journaling for the day can be one you think on/act upon all day and then journal upon at night. As the entries are only dated by month and date, not year, the book can be used over and over.

Here's an example for today:

Today's quote: "Life's most urgent question, is what are you doing for others." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today's Meditation (first sentence only): Liberation from suffering comes only from kindness to the human race and and the willingness to make a difference in other human beings' lives."
Today's Personal Journaling: "What will YOU do to enhance humanity today?"

As you can see, very simple, but basic ideas. Obviously if you were so inclined, you can find an applicable bible verse and add it to your journaling, as say an extra homework assignment. I think this is a great way to broach wider subjects and a wider audience by the author. In fact, I would highly recommend this book to kids entering college, and those graduating, as a way of focusing themselves daily and enriching their lives. It would also be a good resource for teachers and church leaders (especially for quotes applicable to sermons!).

About Me Contest

09/03/2011 12:09:00

I created a website at AboutMe that features me and my precious twins. The site is in the top 5% currently in a contest to be featured on a NYC billboard in Times Square. Its now time to spread my books around the world even more and begin transforming humanity. Please vote for me at the following link:

http://about.me/RickySinger

You can vote once a day until September 20th. Please push me ahead.

Thanks for all your support.

New review for 3rd Edition due out in December

09/03/2011 12:04:00

I am still reading this book and will probably read it for the rest of my life....I loved what you have done - thank you so much!Missy

"Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds of the Past and Present" by Richard A. Singer Jr. allows the reader's an opportunity to nibble on the knowledge from several wise people in history. The book is set up as a daily walk with several of the greatest minds of history; you will even find the words of Jesus between the covers of this book.

Every day is a walk which entails the month and day, there's no year so that makes this book timeless. After the date you get your quote from one of the great minds of time. Following that is your daily meditation; personal journaling exercise and lastly an affirmation based on your journal entry. On my birthday entry you find the words from Walter Anderson "Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action" The meditation meaning Singer shares bring more to the point of procrastination; which is the gist of what Anderson is saying in his quote.

I believe the authors' intention is two-fold; one is for the reader to change and grow which in turns effects humanity. This quote from the book can say much better what I am trying to convey "There are three gifts you can give on a daily basis that will eventually transform all of creation; they are love, compassion, and kindness." Singer has the right idea it starts with us and then extends out.
It's up to the reader to read daily, walk everyday with Singer and all the wise minds encompassed in this book and GROW. Take a look at some of the great minds Albert Einstein, Deepak Chopra, Helen Keller, Oprah Winfrey, and Abraham Lincoln to name a few.
"Your Daily Walk is much more than a self help book it's a world help book if you work it daily.

Missy
Readers Paradise
5 book marks

Poems from a Friend

06/23/2011 10:51:00

FROM THE INDIAN GIVER*

Life is a gift from an Indian giver.

Use It well; relish what you can

Of this imperfect present

Aware, at any moment

There’ll be a recall

From the manufacturer.

*also appeared 2003 in Bibliophilos Poetry Annual

NO REGRETS

For paths I never followed, loves I’ve never borne

For dreams I never dared, opportunities forsworn

For all I missed in life or never knew was there

No looking back – pleased am I with all I had to share.

The sweetest words to say when final curtains nigh

“My life was full and good, so no regrets have I.”

DEVASTATION**

Oh what devastation man has brought

His pride exceeding all normal bound

His cry of I consistently resounds

From barren space caused by wars he wrought

By striving for full mastery he sought

Since first he subjugated woman, beast

Environment as well, caring least

For those whom this destruction left distraught.

Then nature, with uncontested power

Strikes at most unpropitious hour

Fierce flood, wild fire, tsunami’s whirling thrust

In one wild burst of fury, one great gust

Erases myriad constructions of mankind

Will he now see or be forever blind?

** appeared on Yellow Bat website 2005

Insight Magazine Review in Australia for July Issue

06/21/2011 12:03:00

*Living in the now is as much about gratitude as it is about mindfulness and this theme is repeated throughout Now: Embracing the Present Moment. The first section of the book is full of quotations, which follow with not only an expansion on the wisdom of the quote, but also a present and centered meditation to integrate that knowledge. The second section of the book contains essays from various contributors with vastly different experiences and catalysts for beginning to live in the now. I also love that Rick addresses the paradox of planning and goal setting while remaining in the now. The longevity and relevance of the quotes are testament to what many have tried to teach us for decades and I highly recommend this as a daily meditative exercise to strengthen this wisdom.
Review by Libby Brown, Editor of Insight Magazine Australia

Insight Magazine has become a great partner with me and will be giving away a set of autographed books in their August Issue from me and I will be their Editor for the September Issue. They are awesome. Check themout at

http://www.insightmagazine.com.au/

Irish immigrant grandmother's wisdom

06/20/2011 12:40:00

My story starts with my Irish immigrant grandmother's wisdom, strength and sense of humor, which helped her leave her home on 24 hours notice alone for a new life in a strange country. She had many challenges to face and passed that wisdom on to my mother who then imparted that wisdom to me. Over the years, I would mention an expression I heard my entire life and was always amazed at the positive reaction my expressions received. Many times I was told I should write a book and finally the spirit moved me and I did just that. I had an advantage in being a marketing and communications professional so I understand the writing and marketing process but in the financial services industry. My challenge was transferring that core knowledge to the publishing space. Again, my angels intervened many times to make the right connections for me. Now getting published was one thing, but I could never have even guessed in my wildest dreams all the very cool people I would meet and just wanted to help me and who touched me and who I got to touch. I was able to bring back warm memories of grandmothers, mothers, fathers, etc. those here and those past.

As I went along, I met two authors writing a book about "Wise Irish Women" and I was their first chapter, coming out in the fall. This gave me yet another opportunity to honor my grandmother, mother, father with stories about their strength of character and sense of humor in managing life's ups and down. You mention being mindful, I am happy that I listened to the little voice and my body telling me to do this. I am often asked about success and I respond that I am just enjoying the ride and looking forward to what is coming next. I don't worry, I just go and it just keeps getting better and better. I don't think in this day and age you can speak enough positiveness into people and encourage them enough. I am so excited to be part of a positive contribution to the larger conversation in my small way.

Please check out my site www.reneegatz.com to learn more about me and my book.

Moment

06/20/2011 12:29:00

Sometimes I wake up in the morning with my head filled with all the things I have to do that day: for my work life, for the household, for a friend, for my mate - the list goes on. On those days I rarely notice if it's cloudy or sunny, an important thing to notice here in the Northwest where I live. I am not lying in my bed, relishing my life, or the day, or the few minutes I can stay under the comforter, rubbing my feet up and down against the percale sheets, fluffing up my pillow, and breathing in the fresh-smelling air. I am off doing all the tasks I have burdened myself with that morning, even though I've just awakened, and am, in reality, still lying in bed. When this happens, I am learning to take a deep breath, close my eyes, and do Reiki on myself. When I took the Reiki workshop, I thought I had finally accepted that I was living in a very earthy/crunchy, airy/fairy community and partaking of its offerings. I laughed all the way to the first morning's event. When I left at the end of the day, I was laughing for another reason. I felt more relaxed than I had in months, and happy. I actually felt happy. So I do Reiki when I wake up in a crazy place, and it works 99% of the time. Then I can begin my day, doing one task at a time, clear-headed enough to decide upon an order that works for me and doesn't feel overwhelming. I am grateful for the course I took, and grateful that I have decided to use what I learned there on a daily basis. It keeps me much more present, I guess as Rick would say, in the 'now.' When I take the time to wake up in the present, I actually enjoy writing on my blog, and communicating with women who have read my book, "Little Nancy: the Journey Home" or taken the workshop I offer. Life is full, with intention, rather than trivia.

Nancy Alvarez

Mindful

06/20/2011 11:33:00

My name is Jacqueline. I’m an independent jeweler and the owner of. I design and create jewelry and home decor accessories. I live in New York City, one of the most vibrant urban cities of the world and also the capital of fashion.

I live a mindful life, being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non-judgmental approach to my inner experience. For example, a mindful approach to my inner experience is simply viewing "thoughts as thoughts" as opposed to evaluating certain thoughts as positive or negative. For example, you may not be able to afford a designer dress, but you can always find my fashion forward jewelry to update your own looks and my elegant home decor accessories to enhance your home.

In the past I have had careers in pottery, graphic design and industrial design with a sidetrack into computer programming early on in my work history. Ever since I can remember, art in some shape or form has been my passion. I am a graduate of The College of Ceramics at SUNY with a BFA in sculpture and art history, an MFA in Arizona State University in environmental design, and an MID in industrial design from Pratt Institute. A perpetual student, I am self-taught in handmade fashion forward jewelry with a proficient background as a professional designer. I have also written and had published two hip, smart books: Graphic Illustration in Black and White and Polymer Clay; Creating Functional and Decorative Objects.