Go on. Smoke up. You know you want to. Okay, probably not something you'd hear when it comes to spirituality, but just for a moment entertain the thought that drugs could help you reach enlightenment.

Deepak Chopra seems to think it's okay.

Whatever your feelings are about "puff, puff, pass" spirituality, check out this short video where Deepak Chopra makes a very good case for it. It's funny too.

Studies have shown that looking at nature makes you a nicer person. But if you're stuck in a big city where the only piece of greenery is sadly growing in a pot of crumbling soil, then fear not!

Looking at a screen saver of nature does the trick too. What's even more important to note is that when people spent more time staring at artificial landscapes they became more focused on more selfish goals such as wealth, and fame.

Check out this article and the accompanying nature slide show to give your mind some relaxation.

Looking at nature makes you nicer

If you can't get outside, download a landscape screensaver, study suggests

By Diane Mapes

“If it weren’t for Central Park, all us New Yorkers would kill each other,” says Ruta Fox, a 50-something jewelry entrepreneur from Manhattan. “It’s the saving grace of this city.”

As extreme as that sounds, Fox may be on to something. In a set of recent experiments, researchers at the University of Rochester in New York monitored the effects of natural versus artificial environments — and found that nature actually makes us nicer. Read More…

Sasha Xarrian

There are many in America right now that are losing their homes.

My children and I lost our home shortly after my divorce. Losing your home, a loved one, a business, a job, or any other significant thing or person in our lives brings forth vast and unsettling emotions.

Our sense of security, identity, and safety is threatened.

We wonder if we will survive. We wonder how we will survive. We feel pain, anger and a sense of tremendous loss.

At one time or another we will all experience this in our journey through life.

Sometimes we merely survive the upset.

Sometimes we are left with unresolved anger and a lingering or lifelong feeling of unjustness and unfairness. Read More…

Scientists have found that when we go into a state of strong concentration or are extremely busy, we "turn off" the part of our brain that is self-aware. You've probably experienced this when you "lose yourself" in a task or are so concentrated that you don't even think about how you feel at that moment.

Essentially, you're a robot.

Which is why we all need to take time out and focus on ourselves, consciously working on being self-aware. If you're always on the go and life is so busy it's a blur, you're likely to never reach a high state of self-awareness. Especially when your brain just switches off.

Check out this article below for the details. It's pretty neat stuff.

Watching the brain 'switch off' self-awareness

By Gaia Vince from NewScientist.com

Everybody has experienced a sense of "losing oneself" in an activity - being totally absorbed in a task, a movie or sex. Now researchers have caught the brain in the act.

Self-awareness, regarded as a key element of being human, is switched off when the brain needs to concentrate hard on a tricky task, found the neurobiologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Read More…

Just this Wednesday, President Obama made major headway for civil rights legislation when he signed called the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, making it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.

It is named after Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, who were both killed due to their sexuality and ethnicity in 1998.

While hate crimes still exist, this is a major step for humanity. Check out the article below for the details:

Hate Crimes Bill Signed Into Law 11 Years After Matthew Shepard's Death

By Rachel Weiner from the HuffingtonPost.com

President Obama signed major civil rights legislation on Wednesday, making it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity. The new measure expands the the scope of a 1968 law that applies to people attacked because of their race, religion or national origin. The U.S. Justice Department will have expanded authority to prosecute such crimes when local authorities don't. Read More…

Symbols are a very important part of our life. We might not realize it but a company logo or a small emblem can trigger strong emotions or thoughts in us. Everyday, we're flooded with symbols, such as:

• Lion = bravery, courage, king of the jungle
• The crucifix = Christianity, sacrifice, Jesus
• Dove = peace, hope.
• Shamrock = Ireland, luck, Saint Patrick's day

If you had to pick one symbol, glyph, drawing, or logo that would represent YOU, what would it be?

Drop a comment below and let us know what your personal symbol is and why. If Bruce Wayne had a bat, what would you have?

The value of time off is far too understated in this day and age. And if you think something as simple as "time off" is easy to find, you might be in for a surprise.

While juggling a career, a family, parenting, a social life, etc., "time off" becomes harder and harder to find. It's unfortunate because some of the most ingenious creative sparks have come from taking a lil' time off.

Check out this video of renowned graphic artist (he's designed album covers for the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed) as he describes the best thing he ever did for his career. And yes, it was taking time off.

Editor's Note: Before you start reading watch this special video message from Robert Scheinfeld:

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Our discussion here begins with a discussion of The Truth of who you really are. Who you really are is what I call an “Infinite Being” – a magnificent being who lives in a constant state of infinite power, wisdom, abundance, and joyfulness. Along your journey, you’ve no doubt heard something like this:

"We are Spiritual Beings having a physical experience."

That’s true, but it’s the little-known True nature of our “physical experience” I want to chat with you about here.
Your natural state as an Infinite Being also includes having an unlimited desire to play, explore, and express yourself creatively. As a result, you decided you wanted to play a game called "The Human Game."

We’re all here playing The Human Game!

The Human Game - What is it and why do we play it?

I define the term “game” as anything we do for entertainment, fun, challenge, and to express ourselves creatively. As such, to me, sports and traditional games like checkers, chess, bridge, and monopoly are games. But so is painting sculpting, playing a musical instrument, reading novels, watching plays, movies or TV shows, etc.
For purposes of discussion and using metaphors in this article, however, I’m going to focus 100% on sports games. All sports games have specific structures, themes, “playing fields,” and specific ways of winning. Read More…

A couple weeks ago we put up the first part of Raymond Aaron's seemingly insane polar race (click here to see it >>). And now we've got part 2 of the series.

More than just the polar race, this mini-movie asks the question, "How much can one person do, if they put their mind to it?"

Throughout history, individuals have continued to amaze people and Raymond Aaron's case is no different. Check out part 2 of this mini-movie and see for yourself:

After watching this, I've got one question for you:

If you could be known for just one thing in your life, what would it be?

Let your imagination run wild. It could be anything from being the best parent in the world to climbing Mount Everest in record time. Drop a comment below and share your thoughts with us.

P.S. Stay tuned for part 3 of the movie to find out what happened to Raymond Aaron on this frosty goal.

As you know I recently spoke at Engage Today and that was an amazing experience. Just to be on the same stage as the Dalai Lama and Richard Branson as well as many other people we've featured on FinerMinds like Greg Habstritt, Marci Shimoff, Paul Hoffman, Janet Attwood, and others.

So I spoke about our company MindValley, which is the publishing company behind FinerMinds and some of the work practices we do that take ideas from the personal development world. More importantly, I talked about how these personal growth practices have allowed our company to skyrocket in the last 1 year and become one of the world's most democratic places to work at.

But enough about that. I'm not gonna share the speeches and ideas from the event. What I will share with you is behind the scenes footage that i took with my flipcam (and i know some of my speaker and author friends are gonna blush cause of this). This is a chance for you to actually see Sean Stephenson when he's not being watched by the public, or when Greg Habstritt is flirting with his wife, or when Chris and Janet Attwood are gushing because they just met Richard Branson .

Enjoy!

Vishen