Hello <<FIRSTNAME>>, and a warm welcome to 'Balance in Life' your free monthly newsletter

Hi, I'm Martin, and I'm very happy to be sharing a little more about life in this free monthly newsletter.

Life is very precious as we all know. And it is a noble aim to get the most out of it. Each month you will find new content here - not seen elsewhere first.

There will be a mixture of material to get our teeth into. To help move our lives along if we so wish. To think about life if that is what we want to do. Or to just ponder and wonder about life's rich tapestry, and what it has to offer us.

February 2009 Contents

On a Lighter Note

Following on from the Lighter Note page on the website I thought I would provide just a few more quotes here each month.

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New Developments

This month I am suspending the supplementary article to bring news of a new development on the www.self-esteem-enhances-life.com website. This is to announce your chance to have a real say and contribute your thoughts, your feelings for the benefit of all visitors.

You may have noticed some new red links appearing on some of the web pages.Clicking through these links will offer you opportunities to have a say (AND a page on the website). These subjects will be expanding in the coming months.

The following gives the first of the 'red links' I have created for you. Enjoy playing YOUR part in assisting others in this way

You will notice that the first submissions have now gone live. Feel free to offer your own thoughts and ideas - please just keep them focused on the subject of the page (there will be several more on different areas of topical interest in due course). Or see what others have shared and add comments to their input.

Have your say and your presence on the Internet - YOUR very own web page. This is your chance.

I will continue to add focused content and expand the www.self-esteem-enhances-life.com website but I will also be building other websites, too.

My second website is www.successful-decision-making.com This is will be all about making decisions and to help you in making the right decisions for you. Looking at the whole field of decisions and how they affect our lives. Helping us all to understand the decision making process that little bit better, which will enable us to progress our decisions in a more efficient and effective way. Thus saving time and effort, and sweat and tears - in some instances.

I will also be opening this website up to you the visitor. Look out for the 'red links' - where you can contribute 'on each particular topic' from your own life, from your own experience, and share with others. Or see what others have shared and add comments to their input. Get those keyboards active and help another visitor along the way.

You will notice that my first page on decision making was part of my pages on goal setting on www.self-esteem-enhances-life.com It seemed obvious to me that while goal setting has much information on the net and elsewhere, decision making had much less coverage. Hence that page and my second website.

My third website is www.guide-to-managing-change.com This, as the name implies, will help provide the background support and assistance to help us all to be able to embrace change in our lives - rather than shying away from change as is all to tempting and easy to do.

You will notice my prose this month is entitled 'Change'. Change is a huge subject and affects us all in so many ways. I hope to be able to take change back to first principles and take some of the mystery and mystique out of the change process, thereby helping us all.

I will also be opening this website up to you the visitor. Look out for the 'red links' - where you can contribute 'on topic' from your own life, from your own experience, and share with others. Or see what others have shared and add comments to their input. Have a look and see whre you can help another visitor - from your own experience.

There is an obvious link between decision making and change and we will be seeing how these websites develop over the coming months. But to make good decisions and ease change in your life it does help to have a healthy level of self esteem - you can see where I am taking this . . .

Let us share this journey together. I'm certainly very interested in where we can all take this into the future. It will be interesting to look back in a few years and see where we have all come, what we have learned and experienced.

and there is a fourth in the pipeline - but more news of that next month - is to provide lots of original and focused content for you the visitor. With the opportunity for visitor feedback, comment and contribution. To link the websites where they overlap. To provide well balanced and focused information on these important aspects of the life we all lead.

They will help provide a one-stop information and inspiration center to help support and assist us all through life. And help us all get the most out of our lives.

And you have your part to play. With each site there will be an Over2You page where you can suggest new areas or directions that the websites should go in, and comment on other visitor suggestions. And there will be other 'red links' where you will be able to add your own focused content and comment - and have your own web page(s).

The overall aim - as this e-newsletter suggests - is to help us all achieve a 'Balance in Life' and helps us all to reach our true and full potential.

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What's been happening on the website

So now there are further pages in the several sections of the website. If I may just point out the following examples:

They have kept my creative juices flowing and I'm happy that I have captured something of how I feel about these subjects. Again they were challenging but I'm happy with the results. I hope you enjoy reading them.

My next pages will be providing further content for various other sections of the website.

If you'd like to provide any feedback or comments please use my Contact Me page.

To get the latest website developments to your screen please subscribe to my RSS feed. You can either paste this address into your RSS reader

on my Home Page please click on the RSS button, top left of the page, and follow the instructions.

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Prose Corner

Each month I will look through my notebooks and find a little bit of prose. Often written in a few minutes, so please don't expect Wordsworth, but hopefully these entries will provide a little interlude in your day. A chance to think and ponder, to daydream or to visualize, to perhaps see things in a different light.

Change
We try to change if we dare
we try to change to show we care
but here we sit in our soft armchair
when will we change, when will we dare?

We try to change we will I swear
throughout our life we have shown some flair
this cry will not be on a wing and a prayer
we should change, but when oh when my dear?

We try to change or will we err
without which we'll have a right nightmare
but in our life most things look threadbare
how can we change if we don't prepare?

We try to change it is no scare
more out of fun than real despair
quietly and without real fanfare
we should change for our own welfare.

We look around, we look elsewhere
we see ourselves of what we are aware
in others we see them going nowhere
will that improve our lot if we did compare.

For where will it end I do declare
I cannot afford just to stand and stare
there is much to do both here and there
while I am young and not in day-care.

On and on my story goes how do I fare
I have made many a change and my life a real dare
I am trying to show that I really do care
and opening my life up and not leaving it real bare

in pursuit of assisting others their lives to repair
more so than mine that only seems fair
for many riches I've had I do declare
I experience contentment and I like to share

my good fortune with those whose life is 'unfair'
if I can help it, I hope, stop them shedding a tear
if in a small way I can help and care
for them, for me, I will help and change - I swear.

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As you know this is free to your email box at the beginning of each month. If this is not your own copy then please follow this link to sign up for your very own copy

Main Article

Each month there will be an article, with fresh content, that goes into a subject in a little more detail. Perhaps give a different stance. Perhaps provide food for thought. Perhaps . . .

Self assessment is an important area of our life. It is not something we should ignore, rather we should attend to it on a regular basis. But what should we be doing? For self assessment to be real and meaningful then it is important that we trust and respect ourselves. There are some basic but very important things that we should be doing to ensure that the assessment process is productive and worthwhile

Another way to think about self assessment is to think that we are taking a 'reckoning or stock take' of our lives:

Make the effort, believe in yourself, trust yourself, and give yourself a fair hearing. Make the time for YOU and see what you can find.

Improve yourself and improve your life. Be productive and happy. Embrace self assessment and make it your own.

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Ever wanted your own website or your own business, but always wondered how?

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Until the next edition of 'Balance in Life'

So, that is all for this month. It has been a pleasure spending time with you. I look forward to meeting up with you next month, at the beginning of the March 2009.

May I just wish you all every success and hope that you find enjoyment, satisfaction and fulfillment in your life in the coming year.