During this season of giving it is easy to get caught up in materialism. New home decor, sparkling jewelry and gadgets galore fill the gift lists of all ages. Thanksgiving allows a time to reflect on the blessings we have and express our gratitude. Our families, our health, our jobs come to mind and we are grateful. Most of us have our basic needs met and I think some of us take them for granted. We know there are people in other countries who do not have the luxury of the basic necessities of life and people in our own country who do without some of the “extras”, the proms dresses, ipods, and fancy cars. So we give to the third world nations and maybe pick an ornament off of the local Angel Tree and feel good about giving back.  There are a lot of good causes we can all support with money, resources, talents. If you are looking for one close to home, in the U.S., for people who are without the basic necessities we may take for granted, consider the families of Hale County, Alabama. View the link below to get more specifics. It is amazing to me how so many here in the United States, the richest country in the world, live without water. Buy a meter yourself or get a group together.

 “Our dreams carry with them the energy for their achievement; our fears carry with them the energy of our defeat.” – Michael Neill

One of my favorite life coaches is Michael Neill. The following excerpt is shared from his newsletter. Take a few minutes and answer the questions in your head if you don’t have time to write them down. 

Hope is the magic elixir that energizes dreams and fuels possibilities. It is not a promise that something you want will happen - it is an invitation to enjoy the possibility of what you want while you and life negotiate the eventual outcome. 

The Dream and the Fear Experiment:

1. What’s your dream?

• If you could have absolutely anything happen for you over the next year, five years, or whatever time frame you’d like to explore, what would you want to have happen?
• If you really could create anything you wanted in your life, what would you choose to create?
• What would you want if you knew you didn’t have to be unhappy about not getting it?
• What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

2. What are you afraid might stop you? 

• If you take on your dream and fail, why will you have failed?
• If you could eliminate one obstacle to living your dream, which obstacle would you eliminate and why?
• What’s going to be the hardest part of waking up your dream and bringing it to life?

3. Take a few moments to review your dream. Notice how you feel. If you’re not feeling energized, take the extra step of deliberately adding “hope” to your imaginings - in other words, just for now, imagine how wonderful it would be if you actually did succeed in making your dreams come true. 

4. Now take a few moments to review your fears. Again, notice how you feel. 

5. Make a choice - do you want to focus on your dreams or your fears? Which focus will make living your dreams more likely? 

If you’re concerned that not focusing on your fears will leave you open to danger, realize that the opposite is true. Since your fears exist only in your head, the more you focus on them the less you are able to focus on what is actually going on in the world around you. The more you step outside of the “dark imaginings” of your mind and drop down into your body and the world around you, the easier it will be to handle any real challenges that may come your way.  

Copyright © 2008 Michael Neill. All Rights Reserved

Find more inspiring and motivational articles by Michael Neill at www.geniuscatalyst.com

Matthew Kelly posed this question in his book The Dream Manager. It is intriguing to me. As someone who sets goals and even has a dream board on display, I realized I haven’t posed the question to some of my loved ones recently. I automatically wanted to believe I would know what all of them would say. Fact is there were some surprises. Dreams change so often and range in size and scope from talking baby dolls to world peace. What dreams do your family and friends hold? Go ahead, ask them you may be surprised and inspired by what you learn. Remember sharing your dreams and knowing the dreams others are seeking will help us all achieve them even sooner. “All men dream, but not all equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act their dreams with open eyes and make things happen.” - T.E. Lawrence  

I had to share this! A regular email I receive on design LiquidTreat often has points of interest on the web for great design and this week I can not resist passing along a link. ”Democracy is the Helvetica of politics.” is a show featuring posters from 60 famous artists and designers —including Paula Scher, Ellen Lupton, Ken Carbone and Kit Hinrichs. These designers have put a modern spin and their own signature on Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” posters from 1943. The show runs through Dec. 7 at the Wolfsonian in Florida, but you can see these civic-minded works online and even order a favorite from the museum shop (ph. 305.535.2680) for $25.http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewolfsonian/page3/

For over 10 years, Connection Graphics has been providing quality print marketing materials to clients in Michigan, and throughout the United States. I started the graphic design studio in Lansing, Michigan offering primarily corporate branding systems, original logos designs, print marketing materials, etc. I have always approached design so it can quickly and easily be adapted into all media and still maintain the integrity of the brand. I continue to educate clients on the importance of quality, consistency and creative with everything released externally and internally. Unfortunately, over the years more and more art comes to us that is not suitable quality for reproduction.

Since the invention of the internet many people feel they can go to a web site, grab a logo or a photo or graphic and “wahla”, they have provided their graphic artist (me) with great help and content for their publication, brochure, newsletter, etc. Not so much. Although I appreciate the effort and the need for companies to save dollars and have staff do as much as possible in house - internet graphics do not reproduce in print! If I did a search in my email sent folder for that exact term I could probably walk away and get two mochas made before all of the emails I have sent would come up.

If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop or other imaging software (is there anything else? ) which allows you to view the dpi (dots per inch) and actual dimensions of the image, try printing the image on your desktop printer. Most of the time you will see an image that looks huge on your screen is actually only a half the size or smaller when printed full scale. Or, it is still huge but it is blurry and has an alien glow around the edges. If your desktop printer allows you to select the dpi, select 300, or print quality. With an internet graphic it will show a blurry or pixelated image. This will be enhanced on an offset press. It will look worse - not better. 

Monitor resolution, graphics for web and email, etc. are 72 dpi. Print resolution graphics need to be 300 dpi at actual size. Any less and you begin losing quality and clarity. If you are going to the expense of professional offset printing, make sure your publications and promotions are designed in the highest quality. Let your image speak highly of you, even when you are not there. Please, spare your graphic designers the emails “Will this photo of Norman Rockwell I snagged off of Wikipedia work for my full color annual report cover?” No. Not so much…and don’t get me started on the copyright use laws….