Julia K Cole

Motivational speaker and author Shawn Anderson takes the idea of "living a life you love" seriously. With a mission of empowering one million people to lead a more positive and purposeful life, Anderson shares seven senseless habits to let go of in 2014. "Why would we ever want to live a life that makes us unhappy?" Anderson says. "We read everywhere about what we need to do to be successful. But I believe if we just change a few of our habits, we'd be much closer to leading a life we love." Anderson continues, "Sure, some of the seven items on the list may sound harsh, but if we don't stop doing them, the lousy results we will produce later will feel a lot harsher." 7 Senseless Habits to Drop in 2014 HABIT #1: Quit hanging out on Facebook.  "Facebook is a fun way to kill time," Anderson says. "But that's what it does: it kills time. Time that could be used to create, inspire and build." HABIT #2: Quit Keep...

Another Act of Random Kindness ... This is the kind of dash cam video we usually see – police chases and general mayhem which makes this dash cam video remarkable and unforgettable.  Saturday afternoon, Rosenberg Police Sergeant Ariel Soltura was on patrol, driving through an apartment complex parking lot when he saw a young man. He slowed down. “And I saw he was throwing up a football and I could tell that was actually playing by himself - he wasn't just waiting for more kids to arrive,” he said. Soltura could have continued driving but instead, he stopped. “I literally got out of the car - I did like this which is the universal sign of throw me the football and at that time you just saw his face just lit up and he was ready to play,” Soltura said. And so they did. Two men as Soltura says – playing football on a perfect day. The Rosenberg Police Department posted it on Facebook. Hours later, it had a about a quarter million likes.  Truth be told Soltura says, it's part of...

As we move on from the holidays and settle into 2014, it’s common practice to set goals and resolutions for the new year. However, as many of us can attest to, many of these goals, especially long term ones, will fall by the wayside as the weeks and months pass by. This week we’ll be examining 7 simple tips for sticking to your goals and accomplishing them. #1  Live up to your own expectations. Set your own goals, not those someone else’s. By setting the bar yourself, you will be more motivated to reach your goals and push yourself beyond your initial expectations. #2  Write your goal down. Be specific and always keep it visible as a reminder. #3  Reward yourself to celebrate achieving small milestones. Motivate yourself with a small reward for each step you accomplish toward achieving your goal. This can be something as simple as taking yourself out to lunch, taking a break to do something you enjoy, spending time with fr...

The feisty felines found their way into the Great Meadow Correctional Facility and there they have stayed.    The reason they haven’t been kicked out may seem unlikely. It turns out the inmates like them.  And the feeling seems to be mutual. The kittens were in poor physical shape when they first “broke in to the prison. But one prisoner quickly built them a “kitty condo” from scraps and began to care for them. Now Bruce Porter, the electrician for the pen, takes care of the animals during the week. Porter told The PostStar.com, “I’ve got a soft heart for any sort of animal. I don’t mind helping them out a bit.” On weekends when Porter is not there,  an inmate known as the cat whisperer watches after them.  But Doc, Meadow, Annie, and Comstock -- as they have been named -- won’t have a life sentence in the big house. The kittens will soon be adopted and have homes of their own. Source: KRMG Talk Radio   Story by Ri...

Between 2002 and 2012, federal agencies spent more than half a trillion dollars ($688 billion) on payments that should never have been made.  Every year, according to their own record-keeping, the agencies that administer major federal programs are now paying out more than $100 billion improperly, and even though they're aware of the problem, they recover only a tiny fraction for taxpayers. This adds up to huge losses for the U.S. Treasury. In 2012 alone, the Office of Management and Budget gathered data on just 13 high-error programs in the federal government, and determined that they made a combined $101.3 billion in improper payments. To put that in perspective, that's almost $16 billion more than the highly controversial budget sequester wound up cutting from government spending in 2013. The government doesn't get a whole lot of that money back. In July, then-Controller of the Office of Management and Budget Daniel Werfel testified in a Senate hearing that ...

I love sharing stories where people are kind to one another.   Please share this with all your networks!   *~*~*~* When Shanell Mouland boarded a Philadelphia-bound plane out of Orlando early this month with her family, she was bracing for the worst. Mouland was headed home to New Brunswick, Canada, Jan. 5 with her husband and daughters Grace, 5, and Kate, 3, who has autism and doesn’t like to sit for long. They were returning from a week spent at Walt Disney World. “We knew that flights were difficult for her,” Mouland said. “And we knew this was going to be a tough one.” To Read the Entire Story and Watch the Video, Please Click HERE

This is a wonderful story that should be passed around as much as possible.   SheKnows Home & Living Editor Kelli Uhrich shares her moving experience with a stranger who offered her kindness. Please share and cross post on all your Social Networks!   *~*~*~*~* Dear Stranger, Today we stood next to one another in line at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, waiting to move through the security checkpoint. You probably don't remember me, but I will never forget you. I was the woman with the frazzled hair, the sweat-dripping brow and the large plastic bag — the latter of which was clearly unplanned. I was the woman in the back of the line who thought she had adequately prepared for her business trip but quickly discovered she hadn't. You, on the other hand, were composed, collected and early  for your flight. You owed me nothing. You didn't have to help me, but you did — and I don't know how else to say  thank-you . You see, this all began l...