Link: The Shift

Please vote in round 2

Round 2 of the Next Top Spiritual Author competition is now open for voting!

I need your help again to vote for me in round 2 of the Next Top Spiritual Author competition. With 271 authors remaining in the competition, this should be the last time that I will be asking you to vote. From round 3 there will only be 25 authors and success will be determined by the judging panel.

Vote for me at http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=254

For round 2 authors should submit a book proposal and a sample chapter. You can read my entry at the above link. To vote just login with your email address and password you set up last time.

Also, please pass this message onto your friends and family and ask them to support me as well. Round 2 is open to all for voting, including those who didn't vote in round 1. By you spreading the word and encouraging others to vote as well, I stand a much greater chance of progressing to round 3!

You can also spread the word with the Facebook page which already has 123 fans and is a great way for me to keep you updated.

Thank you very much for your support :-)
Michael

P.S. Please drop me an email or Facebook message if you vote so that I can keep track of my progress and best update you later.

Link: Many Faiths, One Truth

When I was a boy in Tibet, I felt that my own Buddhist religion must be the best — and that other faiths were somehow inferior. Now I see how naïve I was, and how dangerous the extremes of religious intolerance can be today.

Read the full post by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, here... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/opinion/25gyatso.html

American boy, 13, breaks Everest record

A 13-year-old American became the youngest climber to ever summit Mount Everest on Saturday. Jordan Romero's journey was tracked through GPS coordinates on his blog, logging his team's ascent up Everest, which is 29,028 feet (8,847 meters) above sea level.

"Their dreams have now come true," a statement on Jordan's blog said. "Everyone sounded unbelievably happy."

Read the full story here...
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/22/teen.mount.everest/index.html

Your life purpose

"Your primary purpose is to be here fully, and to be total in whatever you do so that the preciousness of the present moment does not become reduced to a means to an end. And there you have your life purpose. That's the very foundation of your life." Eckhart Tolle

Link: Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Thought Bubble: Kindness

Laugh

"If you laugh - you change; and when you change - the world changes." Shilpa Shah

Link: Once a rising star, chef now feeds hungry

Narayanan Krishnan was a bright, young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group, short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading to Europe changed everything.
"I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food," Krishnan said. "It really hurt me so much. I was literally shocked for a second. After that, I started feeding that man and decided this is what I should do the rest of my lifetime."
Krishnan was visiting a temple in the south Indian city of Madurai in 2002 when he saw the man under a bridge. Haunted by the image, Krishnan quit his job within the week and returned home for good, convinced of his new destiny.

Read the full article here... http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/01/cnnheroes.krishnan.hunger/index.html

Do you ever wonder? NTSA

Who am I? What am I doing here? What is the meaning of life? Is this all there is? Why am I never satisfied? Why is life so difficult? What is the secret of happiness? How do I take control? Am I missing something?

Have you ever wondered about the answers to these questions? I used to. Then I found them and wrote a book about it!

Now, I really need your help to get published. The 'Next Top Spiritual Author' competition is only made possible thanks to the evolving methods of communication happening through the Internet. Never before have we been so empowered to connect with one another than we are today. Approximately 3500 new authors are participating in the competition from all around the world. Thousands of votes are being cast every day. Please help to bring my message forward by casting your vote to support me.

Vote for me at http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=254

In order to fairly track who has voted for who, it is necessary to use an email confirmation - hence entering your email address is the only way to cast a vote. I am aware that some people may be concerned with this. You will receive email updates about the competition from time to time. At any time you have the option to unsubscribe - each email will contain information about how to unsubscribe at the end of the message. It is as simple as a couple of clicks and you will not receive anymore emails. The competition organisers state on their website that they "will never sell, trade or give away your personal information and abide by all email laws". Also, I am in regular contact with them, so just let me know if you have any issues and I will raise it with the organisers directly. However, I really doubt that you will have any problem at all.

For the first round of the competition, each author must submit a video or audio pitch about their book. You can watch my video pitch on the competition website.

Voting for the first round of the competition closes at midnight on Monday 3rd May. The top 250 authors with the most votes will progress to the second round. Please help me progress, firstly by voting, and then by sharing this with your friends, family, and colleagues. In this way the potential number of votes increases tremendously. If you think my book has potential, please spread the word and ask people to vote for me.

You can also spread this with Facebook. Every vote really does count.

Thank you for your support, I really appreciate it.
Michael John Roberts

P.S. The competition website does not reveal individual votes, so if you vote please drop me a message and let me know. I can then keep some idea of how well things are progressing.

Do you ever wonder?