2007-Apr-21 - ÖÐÎIJâÊÔ

2007-Apr-21 - Face Your Fears

Yes, that's me up there! Interestingly enough, I used to be deathly afraid of heights. I'm not suggesting para sailing is the best way to overcome a fear of heights but it worked for me. Sometimes, the only way through a fear is to meet it head on. That's what I did in this case.

My wife, Georgia, and I were vacationing on Marco Island, Florida several years ago and I was sitting on the beach watching people flying in parachutes over the water. I thought to myself, "That looks like a lot of fun." Then, the little voice inside reminded me that I had a lifelong fear of unsecured heights. Sure, I was fine in airplanes but to hang out in a parachute was more than I could imagine.

After a few days of anxiously watching people having fun I decided to face one of my worst fears. I walked over to the man at the rental booth and asked him if it was safe to do this. Dumb question. Like he was going to say no:-) He said, "It's so safe we have young children doing it and I even have an 80 year old woman who comes every few weeks to do it. What a closer:-) Now, what am I supposed to say? That this big macho guy is too scared to do it? No way! I said sure and paid the man.

I will admit that I was frightened half to death when I got up there. I figured since I was a good swimmer I would not worry. Once I saw how high I was going, I realized it did not matter. If I fell, I would splatter - good swimmer or not.

After a while, I loosened my painfully tight grip on the parachute lines and actually began to enjoy the ride. What a sight from several hundred feet above the island. By the time I got back down, I had next to no fear of high places.

Sometimes we just have to look our fears right in the eye and do it anyway.

2004 Jim Donovan PO Box 1147, Buckingham, PA 18912 (215) 794-3826

Jim Donovan is the author of "Handbook to a Happier Life, a motivational speaker and coach. For a no cost bonus product and more, visit http://www.JimDonovan.com

If you had all the information and tools you needed to live your dream life, would you use them? Yes? Click here ==> http://www.jimdonovan.com/ebookoffer.html

2007-Apr-21 - You Want Me to Do What?

Most of the time whenever we need to make an important business decision we turn to what is convenient or comfortable. Why is it that we never seem to want to venture out and try new things. Is it the fact that we know what to expect when using our current vendor(s), even if they aren't the best at what they do?

I believe that it's human nature to keep doing the same things over and over, using the same resources over and over, giving the same effort over and over.

Answer these 2 questions.

1.) When you shower, do you always wash in the same order?

2.) When you go on vacation, do you stay in the same place as

last time or at least near it?

What if there was a better way of doing these things? of staying in better places? of operating a business?

Well, I think there is.

We have to be willing to try new and different things. Just because it's different to us, doesn't mean that it won't work.

An example. I've been consulting for a company that is launching a new concept for companies to save money on printing and office supplies by making them a member of a large buying group. Some companies saw the savings they could obtain, but wouldn't try it because it wasn't familiar to them. They didn't want to learn a new way of buying, so they didn't sign up. The companies that were willing to venture out and try this new model were successful! They started saving hundreds and thousands of dollars immediately. All because they were willing to get outside of their comfort zone.

My advice is this:

Be Bold, Be Willing, and Go For It!

Ken Hamilton is a consultant for One Source GPO in Franklin, TN. He can be reached at 888-591-7722 or ken@onesourceinc.net

2007-Apr-21 - The Girl of Friday

A centuries-old mystery has crossed my path again ...

I mentioned in a recent article that there was a dispute in many academic quarters regarding the actual Viking deity being honored by the name, 'Friday.' The cold, hard fact is that unless someone unearths a runic stone that confirms the issue --- and that's not likely --- only a preponderance of circumstantial evidence is going to carry the day in any such debate.

So, while others while away their time contemplating world peace, I've returned to the search for Friday's inspiration.

If you'll recall, four of the seven days of the week are named after Norse gods:

- Tuesday is for Tyr, the god of truth and war,

- Wednesday is for Odin, the Allfather of Viking gods,

- Thursday is for Thor, the god of thunder,

- Friday, however is cloaked in ambiguity.

I'd always heard the day's name-origin came from Frigg, Odin's elder wife --- he had more than one --- and this is supported by the most scholarly of English references, such as the Oxford dictionary. Others say it was for either Frey or Freja, who were brother and sister in the Vanir clan. Frey was the god of fertility, so it was considered essential to keep him happy; Freja was the goddess of love and beauty, so it didn't hurt to keep on her good side, either.

Frigg's duties were to be the goddess of the sky. It was a subtle job, but someone had to do it.

Turning to cyberspace for resolution, I happened on an excellent guide in Norse matters, The Viking Answer Lady. She is so meticulous in her material that I felt the possibility of her bringing light to the issue was quite good. So, I contacted her. To say she did her research is an understatement. Here's her reply to me:

"Since Western Europe all originally derived from Indo-European tribes, we find that there were a lot of correspondences between the various branches --- not exact, one-for-one identity, but concepts are clearly related. So it's no real surprise to find that the naming and symbolism of the days of the week, and the number of days in a week, might be pretty much the same in all the descendants of the Indo-Europeans.

"You can see the day-name correspondences in other languages that descend from Indo-European:

"Ancient Greek has: hemera selenes (moon day), hemera Areos (Ares' day), hemera Hermu (Hermes' day), hemera Dios (Zeus' day), hemera Aphrodites (Aphrodite's day), hemera Khronu (Chronos' day), hemera heliou (sun day)

"Latin: Lunae dies (Moon-day, Monday), Martis dies (Mars-Day, Tuesday), Mercurii dies (Mercury's day, Wednesday), Jovis dies (Jove's day, Thursday), Veneris dies (Venus' day, Friday), Saturni dies (Saturn's day, Saturday) or alternatively Christian Sabbatum or Sabbati dies (Sabbath day), Solis dies (Sunday)or alternatively Christian Dominicus dies (Lord's day)

"Unsurprisingly, the Romance languages clearly derive their day names from Latin, except for Portugese, which numbers the days:

"Italian: lunedi, martedi, mercoledi, giovedi, venerdi, sabato, domenica

"Spanish: lunes, martes, mircoles, jueves, viernes, sbado, domingo

"French: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche

"Romanian: luni, marti, miercuri, joi, vineri, smbata, duminica

"Portugese: Segunda-Feira (2nd day, Monday); Tera-Feira (3rd day, Tuesday); Quarta-Feira (4th day, Wednesday); Quinta-Feira (5th day, Thursday); Sexta-Feira (6th day, Friday); Sbado (Sabbath, Saturday); Domingo (Lord's Day, Sunday)

"The Celtic languages have taken and preserved the Latin names of the days, and also borrowed heavily from Christian concepts:

"Welsh: Dydd Llun (moon/Luna day), Dydd Mawrth (Mars' day), Dydd Mercher (Mercury's day), Dydd Iau (Jove's day), Dydd Gwener (Venus's day), Dydd Sadwrn (Saturn's day), Dydd Sul (sun day)

"Gaelic: Di-luain (moon day); Di-mirt (Mars's day); Di-ciaduinn or Di-ciadaoin (day of the first fast of the week - Friday being the second fast); Diardaoin (the day between the two fasts of Wednesday and Friday); Di-haoine or Dia-aoine (day of the fast) Di-sathuirn (Saturn day); Di-dmhnuich (Lord's day)

"Irish: D Luan (moon/Luna day); D Mairt (Mars' day); D Cadaoin (day of the first fast of the week); Dardaoin; D h-Aoine (the day between the two fasts of Wednesday and Friday); D Sathairn (Saturn's day); D Domhnaigh (Lord's day)

"The Germanic languages, however, are also related. Ares/Mars was equated with Tr as a warrior god. Zeus/Jupiter was equated with Thrr as the god who hurled lightnings. Mercury was equated with inn, since both had a role as psychompomps, the one who leads the dead to their afterlife. Aphrodite/Venus was equated with Frigga and Freyja.

"German: Montag (moon day), Dienstag (Tr's day), Mittwoch (Mid-week), Donnerstag (Donner's/Thrr's day), Freitag (Freyja/Frigga's day), Samstag (derived ultimately from Latin Sabbatum), Sonntag (sun day)

"Dutch: maandag (moon day), dinsdag, woensdag (Woden's/inn's day), donderda (Donner's/Thrr's day), vrijdag (Freyja/Frigga's day), zaterdag (Saturn day), zondag (sun day)

"Norwegian and Danish: mandag (moon day), tirsdag (Tr's day), onsdag (inn's day), torsdag (Thrr's day), fredag (Freyja's/Frigga's day), lrdag (washing day), sndag (sun day)

"Swedish: mndag (moon day), tisdag (Tr's day), onsdag (inn's day), torsdag (Thrr's day), fredag (Freyja/Frigga's day), lrdag (wash day), sndag (sun day)

"Old English: mondg or monandg (moon day); tiwesdg (Tiw's day, Tr's day); wodnesdg (Wotan's/inn's day); thunresdg (Thrr's day); frigedg (Frigga's/Freya's day); sterdg or sternesdg (Saturn's day); sunnandg (sun day)

"Middle English: monday, moneday, or monenday (moon day); tiwesday or tewesday (Tiw's day, Tr's day); wodnesday, wednesday, or wednesdai (Wotan's/inn's day); thursday or thuresday (Thrr's day); fridai (Frigga's/Freya's day); saterday (Saturn's day); soneday, sonenday, sunday, sunnenday (sun day)

"North Frisian: monnendei (moon-day); Tirsdei (Tr's-day); Winsdei (Wotan's/inn's day); Trsdei (Thrr's day); Fridei (Frigga's/Freyja's day); sennin (sun-evening); sennedei (sun day)

"Etymologically, it's impossible to tell for certain whether the 'Friday' words derive from Frigga or Freyja (at least so I am told, I am not a philologist or linguistics expert). We can tell by the cognates that the name is from a goddess equated with Venus and Aphrodite.

"We get into further problems in that 'Freyja' is derived from roots meaning simply 'lady' while 'Frigga' comes from roots related to 'beloved.' There have been several scholars who insist that Frigga and Freyja are just different titles for the same goddess.

"None the less, undoubtedly 'Friday' comes from the name of one of these two goddeses, and not from the name of the god Freyr."

Now, that's the sort of studied thoroughness that can achieve Master's degrees. It's a preponderance of evidence that can carry the day in a court of law. Even though she only eliminated one of the three contenders to the title of Friday's Namesake, the Viking Answer Lady has gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide me with the information I requested.

I'm sure glad I didn't tell her I was just trying to win a bar bet.

J Square Humboldt is the featured columnist at the Longer Life website, which is dedicated to providing information, strategies, analysis and commentary designed to improve the quality of living. His page can be found at http://longerlifegroup.com/cyberiter.html and his observations are published three times per week.