The purpose of our life is to be happy!

And last week, for my birthday, I was very happy to give £650 to 10 deserving people.

This weekend I have just returned from hearing the Dalai Lama give a series of lectures and question/answer sessions about important aspects of our lives - mainly about practising compassion, contentment, mental calmness, and being happy. As well as being an incredibly wise man he also had a real sense of pragmatism and a fantastic sense of humour as evidenced in his response to the audience question, "I am scared of dying - what should I do?" His answer, "Take care of your body - and avoid extreme sports!"

His equally pragmatic answer to the question, "How do I live an ethical life?" was, "Help others and, if you can't, restrain from harming them."

For me, maintaining my happiness includes helping others and encouraging people to make a difference - both for themselves and others.

What differences can you make that will help your level of happiness?

It's my birthday - have a present!

Happy birthday,

I tend to celebrate being alive and the good things in life pretty much everyday. So for me, birthdays are just another great day. However, having opened my birthday cards and presents this morning, I thought it would be nice to give a few presents, of £65, this week to people who feel they deserve it. So imagine it is your birthday and you received £65, what would you like to spend it on?

For this week only, you can nominate yourself to receive £65. Just tell me the reason why you feel you deserve it and how you would spend it.

Next week I will pick a few worthy winners.

How motivated are you to help others?

Last night I was runner-up in two categories of the local business awards and, whilst it would have been nice to win, I reflected on how easily many people give up if they do not initially achieve their goals.

Sometimes people need to involve others more. Who could you possibly help to achieve their goals? How could you match my £65 with time and effort (or money) to help someone else? How motivated are you to help others?

Contributing To Make A Greater Difference

Watching Sport Relief over the weekend puts into perspective what £65 can do to help people in difficult situations and sometimes I do wonder whether I should contribute more personally to allieviate suffering in 3rd World countries.

Recently I have been receiving a range of requests for £65 and have realised that I prefer to give to people who are willing to match me - not necessarily with money, but also with time and effort - to make a bigger difference.

Much of my time is spent opening people's minds to think differently, which causes them to act differently and hence achieve better results. So with this in mind I am paying for a couple of my team to travel to Macedonia and be facilitators for innovation groups at the "Uncovering New Solutions - Building Communities and Making the Most of Resources" Conference organised by Handicap International for family organisation leaders. I hope that this investment, whilst much greater than £65, will lead to greater differences being made.

So what genuinely is the greatest difference you can make with £65 of my money? Are you willing to match it in some way to make a geater difference?

A year later - still making a difference

It is now a year since I won the money and I have enjoyed helping many people to help others make a difference through the £65 giveaways. It has been rewarding to occasionally get follow-up e-mails, letters and photo's showing the differences made.I hope I have also inspired others to be creative in their thinking. Whilst £65 might not seem much to some, for others it can be life changing.

Who's life could you change? How creative could you be? Are you willing to make a difference?

Spring into action

Spring seems to be arriving early. I think this a great time for giving birth to new ideas and dusting the cobwebs from our minds to explore possibilities for making a difference.

One of my fellow Poker Face contestants has launched a campaign to help 65 people in her community think possibilities about the differences they could make with £65, so I look forward to receiving their requests in due course.

Come on, let's have a spring clean and spring into action to Go MAD with £65.

New Year Resolutions

Whilst I don't believe in setting New Year resolutions (why wait for New Year? - do it whenever you have a strong enough reason why), many people attempt to make a difference in their lives at the start of the year. So what differences are you going to make?

In 2008, why not use your thinking skills and decide to make a difference in someone else's life? If you would like £65 to help, then please post a request.