I have just received a stunningly beautiful thank-you card from some friends who recently came to mine for lunch.

Isn’t it just wonderful when people go out of their way to show their appreciation?

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Here’s an inspirational story of a family making things happen for the world.

My friend Suraj and his brother Sawan took the inspiration from their mother’s last moments and helped by their father built a water pump and borehole in a village in Kenya called Machakos.  Just check out these two videos to see how doing just a small bit can transform many lives.

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Today’s Observer newspaper has reported how they have found child labour being used in a factory that supplies finished clothing items to clothes retailer Gap.

Gap have immediately promised to look into this and have already taken the item in questions off their racks. All stock will be destroyed.

This is yet again another sign that things are changing with more and more Corporate companies being held accountable for their business practices.

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Today in the UK like in many other countries, the clocks went back one hour. So when I woke up early this morning naturally at 8am it was actually only 7am.

This practice has been going on for a few years so as to “save” the daylight for farmers etc.

So when I woke up early this morning at 8am it was actually only 7am. It does seem like a naughty gift when you are suddenly given an “extra” hour to snooze in bed, or you can even party longer the night before. I was at a friend’s 40th birthday party and it felt great to get home late and to imagine that it was not really that late.

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Something I feel passionately about is people and companies doing the “right” thing.

Recently I have been hearing a lot about financial institutes and the underhand way in which more and more consumers are being drawn into spiralling debts.

We all seem to be living like there is no tomorrow and running up massive debts. Part of the challenge I feel is that none of us were ever taught how best to manage our money. Through my coaching work, this challenge of financial education keeps coming up again and again.

Though school equips us with grammar and algebra, very few of us embark on our adult lives fully conversant with how to make, save and invest money. It takes us many years and costly experiences to learn more, whilst most of us struggle on in financial ignorance.

Slowly but surely I think that is changing with the advent of the internet and the growth of some excellent web resources. We can now all learn about money management and research the options for how best to spend or save our cash.

One such online resource has been set up by Martin Lewis, journalist, broadcaster and researcher extraordinaire. From his best-selling books, TV shows and his website, he has helped literally millions of people save money in various ways.

Best of all is that his website is a free service which is completely impartial and not dictate by any financial institute with it’s own agenda. Martin is leading the fight back against rogue corporates who for too long have had it easy in milking money from their consumers.

I have used the service myself and not only have I made savings by finding the best utilities for my area, but also reclaimed some extravenous bank charges.

Check out Martin’s website today at www.moneysavingexpert.com - the website does what it says. Be sure to susbcribe to the free weekly newsletter.

To get the life you love and live it, a solid financial base is a useful starting point. From today onwards, become smarter about the way you spend your money. Make it happen.

Every now and then, I receive one of those chain emails which you are supposed to pass on etc. I normally ignore them but sometimes there is a lot of wisdom in these messages.

Here  is one that I received recently which is all about making things happen and how it is all down to your attitude:- 

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

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Here is a great idea and tool to help you make things happen, from my friend Albert Foong at The Urban Monk.

Do check out his blog soon – his is one of the few inspirational blogs I visit regularly

It is a deceptively simple yet powerful method to reinforce positive behaviour, let go of negative habits and bring about rapid change.

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I came across the above image again recently after first seeing it many years ago when a friend shared how much we all had to offer the world.

His point was that we only ever look at a person at a superficial level but when we take some time to get to know them better, they have so much to offer.

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A few years ago, I was attending a company annual gathering of managers and the managing director (same as president in the USA) made a rousing speech to get us all inspired and motivated for the coming year.

We had just been bought out by another company and there was a lot of uncertainty and also resentment towards the many new people who had been integrated into the original company.

I will always remember the words he used to end his speech. He said these were the most powerful 10 two-letter words he knew for success and making things happen:-

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I have set myself some challenging goals between now and the end of the year. For example I want to be conversational in Spanish and perhaps visit Barcelona in December to practice what I have learnt.

I have already obtained some easy Spanish learning CDs and am listening to these as I type.

I am also asking around for a Spanish person to practice with, perhaps in return for English training. In the last week, I have met already 2 Spanish people by chance and I am building up momentum.

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A while ago I wrote in detail about living with an attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude is a way of reaching back to our natural state of happiness. You get to notice what’s right instead of what’s wrong and begin to see every “problem” as an opportunity for growth and development. Is your glass half full or half empty?

Are you grateful for your life? Or do you whinge about everything?

Gratitude is all about appreciating the things you have in your life. Are you aware of all the goodness around you? One major way of making positive things happen in your life is to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Even the rainiest day brings forth the water that we need to sustain life. In the same way, a rainy day in your life also brings some gifts, sometimes to be revealed later.

Yet we all tend to forget to live in a state of gratitude. Well, today I have just come across a way of changing all that - the gratitude dance!

I challenge you to look at the video clip below and NOT smile!

From now onwards, instead of focusing on what your life is missing, be grateful for what you DO have and do the Gratitude Dance!

Go forth and make things happen.

October is Fair Trade Month in the USA. Other countries such as the UK have a Fair Trade fortnight every February.

The idea of such events is to make more people aware of the impact they can make through their purchasing power. I have written at length before about personal social responsibility and it is important that we all make things happen in the world in a positive manner.

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Today, Thursday 4th October is international action day for bloggers to bring a unified online voice to deliver the plea of the Burmese people to the whole world.

Visit this website and spread the word - we need to let the Burmese people know that we are behind them.

Yesterday was a momentous day for me. I finally closed a long running, costly and draining legal saga after 11 years. I realised it was time to stop going around in circles and move on.

In 1996 I discovered that my parents house was subsiding and it was a real battle to initially convince their insurance company about the seriousness of the subsidence and then to convince them to pay suitable compensation. A long legal battle followed during which time we ended up spending a lot of money for legal and specialist fees.

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I took the above image at the peace march yesterday in London. Having posted the image on Facebook and received some positive feedback, I thought it would be useful to share it with the wider world. Time to let our light shine.

Let this candle be a sign of the peace to come.