Vivian Greene

You teach best what you most need to learn.

How many people are forced to flush money down the toilet? Does the Gov just shove things down our throat? An email slapped me in the face today.

The list that was sent to me by a 72 year old man and his 100 year old mother – both VERY alert — is really thought provoking. I haven’t been around as long. Nothing speaks like experience. So even though I don’t like what it says, I cannot ignore it.

I’ve removed the bitter comment that surrounded the email – blame, name calling, etc – because to me that is not an effective way to solve a problem. Yet the list is worthy of our attention. How would you respond?

I was thinking of my blog post Beware of Bankers and Skunks. The banks are big and corrupt. The people who work there have little authority and are under the same victimization we are. So who is the boss? Who do we hold accountable?

Well….I guess ourselves. Because the government is “we the people.” So what are WE THE PEOPLE doing about it?

I’m the author of LEGAL LEMONADE, Should I Sue Or Is There A Better Way? I especially asked myself this question today.

Dade County Water & Sewer shut off my water, even though I have kept my agreement and paid them monthly for the last 10 months for an alleged leak that never existed. I’ve paid more than a thousand dollars to the Water Company, and more to plumbers, et al. I had help from the mayors office. A new meter was installed. No leak. So DCWS insisted I fixed the leak. They said “Pay and go to arbitration — but no one ever wins.” Talk about Money Down The Toilet! This is our government telling me to go sue myself.

Now I have to admit, I know a lot of government officials. Calling on them because I cannot flush my toilet doesn’t seem like the highest and best good for all of us.

But at this point I did have to call someone for my health, sanity, and the environment. Just what am I supposed to do if i cannot flush a toilet, and I cannot lift a gallon jug of water because I am recovering from an accident? I mean …what?…kitty litter?

Of course, I had to ask myself, Why. Why is this happening? Why me? And then the magic happened.

In the book Illusions by Richard Bach, he said,
‘ “You teach best what you most need to learn.” ‘

I did get help. It was not from DCWS. An advocate, Marie McDonnell from Truth in Lending took 5 seconds to ask “Where do I send the money? This is a legitimate issue and the city has it wrong.”

I learned something very valuable. The help is “we the people.” We simply must help each other. Truth in Lending clicked the Donate button on my site. My water was turned back on at 3:30.

I missed four appointments today. Critical ones for my health and business. I had to be home from 2 to 4 for DCWS. No one knocked when they turned the water off or on. I was told I am expected to pay another $128 in penalties – interest and the charges for turning my water off Dec 7th. The help will continue to pour in – because in the end it will help so many.

Who knows? Maybe there is one clerk, or computer glitch, or …elected official who has made this error that has caused so many problems. The water turned on, and this email arrived by someone infuriated with the government.

What can we do to help? Help each other.

a.. The US Post Service was established in 1775.
You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

b.. Social Security was established in 1935.
You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

c.. Fannie Mae was established in 1938.
You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

d.. War on Poverty started in 1964.
You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of
our money is confiscated each year and transferred
to “the poor” and they only want more.

e.. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965.
You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.

f.. Freddie Mac was established in 1970.
You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

g.. The Department of Energy was created in 1977
to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned
to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year
and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years
to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

And now we are expected to trust you with a Government-Run Health Care System??

The emailer wanted this circulated to reach “duly elected officials.” Do we really want to continue flushing Money Down The Toilet?

Vivian Greene
Invest In Love inc
“All that is real is seen with the heart.”

© 2009 – 2011, Vivian Greene. All rights reserved.

Today, let’s give Veterans peace with words, the magic of angels & the power of imagination.

I guess today is called Veterans Day in the States and Armistice Day elsewhere is because Armistice means a temporary suspension of hostilities. Oh, if there could just be a permanent one.

Although my new line of art and sayings will be unveiled in 2010,
I wanted to share this one with you now:

Websters is one of my favorite references for creativity. When I was a little girl, I heard that a good movie star could read the phone book and make you laugh or cry. I decided I could open the dictionary and create words that could do the same. Later, I started doing it with pictures too.

It’s all about using our imagination. Connecting to the magic that the magi brought us. Imagine that. And today, and always…imagine peace. Let’s call upon the magic of angels and give Veterans peace.

I have included American Idol discovery David Archuleta singing Imagine. I hope it’s okay, because it is so appropriate, but of course we’ll remove it, if there are any copyright issues.

Imagination is the mother of the gift of the magi, magic, image, and of course, imagine. Imagine, the image I see creates reality…sing along:

Even just the tiniest portion of Beatle John Lennon’s classic is so inspiring. It’s a classic moment on American Idol, too. Simon Fuller was so visibly moved by this young boy’s appreciation for a song written before his life began.

I hope it’s okay to share at least these few lines with you on Veteran’s and Armistice Day — Lennon’s lyrics say the same things as so many sages say, in so many ways. The Secret is about the law of attraction. David Spangler speaks of the law of manifestation. Wayne Dyer asserts the power of intention.

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Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one!

~John Lennon
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Today, let’s give Veterans peace…
with words, the magic of angels & the power of imagination.

Vivian Greene
Invest In Love inc
“All that is real is seen with the heart.”

© 2009 – 2011, Vivian Greene. All rights reserved.

Blog Your Way To The Bottom! I learned something about golf today. The golfer with the lowest score wins. Kevin Sousa told me.

Kevin Sousa is my blog guru who encouraged me to create this blog. He was explaining to me (patiently for the third time) that my low ranking was good on Alexa. Excellent. Cheers!

“The websites that have a lower ranking score, have more relevant content, are more popular and/or have more incoming links than websites with higher scores.”

I wasn’t sure who Alexa is, but the name sounds kinda sexy.

Kevin tried again. “In essence, the ‘lower’ the web site scores at Alexa.com, the “higher” its rank.” Wow. I’ve only been doing this for two weeks and I have a hot blog!

Out of curiosity I asked what the ranking is for BJ Gallagher and Mac Anderson who co-authored “my” book Learning To Dance In The Rain, The Power of Gratitude. It’s based on my quote (Mac’s favorite).

Giggle, giggle, giggle. My sexy rating is lower (like better) than both of their personal websites and I’ve only done 11 posts in two weeks! I haven’t even attempted to market this or anything …yet. Giggle, giggle….Don’t tell Mac, but BJ’s is lower (better) than Mac’s too. You really need to Blog Your Way to The Bottom!

Now, I find this very exciting. Because Mac has been an idol of mine for decades. He owned the Successories stores in most major malls throughout the country, and my Kisses™ and Juvenile Delinquent (naughty but nice) Greeting cards were in every mall, too.

We both love putting together words and pictures. I wanted to do a photographic line and write captions for him. When I sent him some material, he wrote me the nicest note. He said he could tell from my writing that I had a “heart as big as Texas.” I couldn’t wait to work together. He is a marketing genius!

My own work had been published in 24 countries. I wrote a daily and Sunday comic strip, several books, both inspirational and children’s. The children’s books are in schools and libraries forever, I guess. Kisses™ books are used to teach English in Japan. and adorn hundred of products . I’ve been involved in writing, designing, product development, licensing and speaking for three decades.

Mac Anderson

Mac’s a tycoon at the business helm. He founded Simple Truths, and put forth his expertise – and client list I suppose – to grow his success with motivational gift books.

He has that Midas touch. He was the founder and CEO of McCord Travel, the largest travel company in the Midwest, and part owner/VP of sales and marketing for Orval Kent Food Company, where they made inspirational (prepared) salad.

People love my website VivianGreene.com, but I love doing this blog even more because I can personally do it without waiting for a webmaster to help me. I love working with Kevin and I am going to really dance with Mac and Simple Truths. Together, we’ll reach hearts bigger than Texas. Are you ready, world?

=*=-Mac Anderson’s Top 20 Quotes -=*=

• Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass…
it’s about learning to dance in the rain.
~Vivian Greene

• Sometimes our candle goes out, but is blown into flame
by an encounter with another human being.
~Albert Schweitzer

• When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace.
~J. Lubbock

• Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
~Henry Ford

• Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.
~Unknown

• To love what you do and feel that it matters –
how could anything be more fun?
~Katharine Graham

• Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples,
don’t count on harvesting golden delicious.
~Bill Meyer

• You can have anything you want in life if you
just help enough other people get what they want.
~Zig Ziglar

• Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
~Abraham Lincoln

• A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.
~Benjamin Franklin

• We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
~Winston Churchill

• What lies behind us, and what lies before us,
are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

• We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
~Aristotle

• You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
~Wayne Gretsky

• Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base
and keep your foot on first.
~Frederick B. Wilcox

• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
~Chinese Proverb

• The key is not to prioritize what’s on the schedule,
but to schedule your priorities.
~Stephen Covey

• All things are difficult before they are easy.
~John Norley

• Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
~Will Rogers

• Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do,
something to love, and something to hope for…
~Joseph Addison

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Vivian Greene’s Top 2 quotes by Mac

• The right words can engage the brain and bring an idea to life.

• Less is always more.

Blog Your Way To The Bottom!

Vivian Greene
Invest In Love inc
“All that is real is seen with the heart.”

© 2009 – 2011, Vivian Greene. All rights reserved.

This is the first time since 1965, when Congress passed legislation to create Medicare, that lawmakers have approved a bill to expand health care coverage.

My friend from Columbia was visiting me, and trying to understand this in Spanglish when she read it on the Internet.

“Lawmakers? You mean if you are sick you go to a lawyer instead of a doctor?”

Well, for my own situation with GEICO where they claimed I was at fault in a car accident when I was the passenger – that’s true.

I agree with two people I consider the Wisdom Warriors in this field.

One is my friend Patch Adams, M.D. I am dedicated to helping with his “Silly Hospital” which has been in the making for 35 years. He believes ALL medical care should be free.

Every time I hear from Patch it is from a different country. He is a social activist, citizen diplomat, professional clown, performer, author, and soon – darn good Tango dancer.

He founded the Gesundheit! Institute in 1972. Each year he organizes a group of volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries (including post-war Bosnia in 1998) where they dress as clowns, to bring hope and joy to orphans and other patients. He sent me a video called Clown in Kabul I wish everyone could see. We would opt for peace, and end war at any cost.

The other is Deepak Chopra – we have to overcome the physical and mental energy that drains our life. See this on Oprah.com

I hope the law congress passed, like the legislation to create Medicare is helpful. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had clean air, clean water, and a clean conscience and could just stay healthy?

As for me, as my mother said “Kisses make everything all better.”
Here’s one for you.

For a FREE signed print of TLC
send $8 for postage & handling to Invest In Love
with any donation…even a nickel or a million dollars!
We love you!

 

Vivian Greene
Invest In Love inc
“All that is real is seen with the heart.”

© 2009 – 2011, Vivian Greene. All rights reserved.

The Nerd in The Cabinet…*Steven Chu

Nobel Prize Winning "Nerd"

“Once a professor, always a professor.” began my favorite writer’s article. I was surprised, to say the least, by the word “nerd” in the headline, and “once a professor, always a professor.” I’ve only known Marc Gunther to give generative, not negative comments.

One of my greeting cards says “Once a king, always a king.“ The inside says “but once a night is enough.“ Oops, my age is showing.

Seriously… I’d give anything for the ability to be as balanced and non-judgmental as Marc Gunther who I’ve followed religiously -pun intended- since I first read the God and Business article in Fortune Magazine, which spawned Gunther’s book by the same name.

Well, he did not disappoint me. I found the article of such great value, I’ve taken the liberty of passing it on to you here: The Nerd in The Cabinet | Marc Gunther. And if you know the answer to my question in my reply, copied below for your convenience, do pass it on to me too.

Two questions re these helpful suggestions:

1. The simple step of painting roofs white could cut air conditioning costs by 15% in warm weather regions”

Exactly what type of paint, and where is it available, and could we arrange a cost efficient way to distribute it? I live in Miami. For office and home we’re talking $5000 a year here in addition to helping the environment and the future of our kids.

2. ”The costs of enacting climate-change legislation, he said, are about 45 cents a day for a family of four.”

Can you give another “simple step” we can each take, personally, to help enact this legislation?

Vivian Greene
Invest In Love inc
“All that is real is seen with the heart.”

* Steven Chu, the Energy Secretary, winner of the Nobel Prize and former physics teacher at Berkeley, spoke at a Washington fundraising dinner for Conservation International, the global NGO.

Actually, he delivered a lecture, deploying a long, detailed PowerPoint presentation.

Steven presented charts and graphs explaining temperature fluctuations over decades, rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere over the last 800,000 years.

He pointed out changes in sea levels, payback for investments in energy efficiency, even a diagram of a new battery technology.

Kisses™ has said that more simply for a long time. . .

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The Nerd in The Cabinet – A Revolution in Finance

© 2009 – 2011, Vivian Greene. All rights reserved.