My personal Thanks to Anil Gunesh who has kindly updated my site with the latest Blogging engine and plugin tools.Many Thanks I’m most grateful for your dedication and helping me out!

BTW The following video has been watched over 22 million times!
I wonder if I’ll ever get over 400 hits per month, lol !

Popularity: 44% [?]

It is still not to late to register for this event - covered by the BBC and taking place over the weekend of 14-16th March 2008.

Sport Relief is a fundraising event that takes place every two years. It aims to harness the power and passion of sport to change lives for the better.

Comic Relief spends the money raised through Sport Relief to help vulnerable people living incredibly tough lives both at home in the UK and in the world’s poorest countries.

For Sport Relief 2008 suggests that everyone could challenge themselves, their family, their friends and their colleagues to do something sporty and raise cash at the same time.

The ultimate challenge is doing the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile, where hundreds of thousands of people across the country will take to the streets and go the distance. The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile now covers 1, 3 or 6 miles so you can get involved at any level! Just visit the web site at:
http://www.sportrelief.com to find out about an event near you.

Alternatively, you can seek a team to sponsor from the latter website.
If you have not exercised for a while or have health concerns I strongly recommend that you discuss the challenge with your Doctor first.

From the site I started looking at the number of sponsoring organisations involved, for example, a bank, sports club and supermarket chain - just to mention a few. This is great news for corporate responsibility and I’m certainly not knocking it. I wondered how great it could be if the whole initiative could be a continunum, i.e: encouraged through all they do and built into their core business processes. In that way Sport Relief could have something to celebrate too, i.e: Highlighting projects and international tie-ups.

Interestingly, I found the following definition for corporate responsibility also known as CSR. CSR is a concept whereby organisations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.

For corporations getting involved in Sport Relief it is a great start. However, there are still multi-nationals that are fueling or simply unaware of the implications of their business practices on the poor and vunerable.

We can certainly make a change by getting involved with Sport Relief but I also suggest that we all look closely at our own organisations to see if there is something we can do everyday to make the world a better place.

Have fun.

Popularity: 38% [?]

One of my pet subjects has been the power of media and also the advent of what is being described as ‘new media’. In recent years I have suggested that those are hoping to ‘fight’ against traditional reporting and stereo typing should create their own media. Now I’m not saying that this strategy should be abandoned but there is an opportunity to consider how the current media operates.

The whole arena of reporting got me thinking about the role of Press Relations and its role on influencing editorial chief’s, especially in leading periodicals and commentators sound bytes.

Wikipedia suggests that modern PR can be defined as the ability to  evaluates a product or individual’s public perception through market research. Once data is collected and challenges are identified, solutions are presented in a campaign strategy to meet goals. Techniques may vary from campaign to campaign but some standard tools used are; press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information and Internet placement. Others include entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speechwriting, establishing partnerships and more is often required.

Last week I met a specialist in PR and he suggested that the media simply wants to ‘talk’ about stuff! In other words sometimes by being more creative or creating a ‘buzz’ around the things that we do can create an interest and therefore coverage. I then considered his point in the context that maybe we will not totally overcome the obessession of some media outlets to feature celebrity lifestyle or even scandals but we may be able to generate positive stories.

Interestingly, he also suggested that generally there was a negative tone to reporting news and views. When you think about it he s quite right. In the UK we may get a 30 seconds of a good news story at the end of News at 10 but it is often positioned as a quirk or even a funny item to lighten the mood. However, lightening the mood should not be at the cost of respectability or victimisation.

Take Bollywood’s relentless negative portrayal of some religions. The humour element is not global and on so many levels and occasions blasphemous. Yet, we appear to not be able to stop them. One suggestion could be to ‘push’ positive stories about people. Those individuals from different backgrounds that are helping communities. The theory being that negative images could be potentially knocked out by positive ones, i.e.: With enough good news in the air that celebrates life, maybe we can change the behaviour of editorial staff and ultimately the way that we should respect each other.

Popularity: 60% [?]

Over the weekend I was attending a function where my sister and her family were also present.

During the function my sister approached me and said that her 3 year old daughter had just declared to her the following, ‘You need to meet your brother as you love him like I love my sister.’

These direct words cut a clean direction for the way we all should see the relationships between family and friends.

I was impressed with the innocence and profoundness of the sentiment expressed.
It was from the heart, unclouded, unjudged and pure.

In the USA the hugely popular Oprah show has yielded great successes for regular experts and guests. For example, Oprah’s guest Doctor: Dr Phil. The Doctor now has his own successful TV programme.

A look through Dr Phil’s site reveals some interesting information and practical advice on building a range of personal relationships.
Visit http://www.drphil.com to discover useful guides on:

What Impression do You Make?
Helping Your Child Succeed In The World
Keeping the Peace in Your Extended Family
Overcoming Your Competitive Nature

For example, in the latter section he suggests…Live true to your authentic self.
Discover who you really are, and accept yourself. “You don’t need to compare yourself to somebody else to be able to look in the mirror and be proud of who you are,” Dr. Phil explains. Remember that you are an individual, and people will form an opinion about you based on your own actions, not how you compare to someone else.”

I wondered if this concept of being, ‘true to oneself, respecting others and considering that we are only here on this Earth for a short period is lost amongst the need and desperation to survive?

Often people are chasing the treasure of their rainbows rather than valuing what they have in front of them. Could it be that our temptation to perform against each other keeps us in the dark about the opportunities to progress on both a spiritual and self-less manner?

To help resolve family issues, Dr Phil suggests that… sometimes relationships need a hero. That means someone has to step up and be the bigger person to close the gap.
Someone has to make the first move, the first compromise, to heal the relationship.
Swallow your pride and be that person. Think about what the future holds if you do not mend this.

Although much of what is suggested appears to be obvious, as time passes wounds can deepen and before one knows it life has passed everyone by. Time runs out for redemption or keeping the peace. I have seen episodes where once good friends can stop talking to each other permanently.The pain this causes is not shown on the surface but underneath in the soul.

Recently a friend of mine did not realise that my innocent and unawareness of lack of communication was causing him issues, I had lost his emails in my SPAM box! Eventually his ‘pot boiled over’ and it was a shock to me about how serious he thought the situation had become. Luckily we managed to clear the air and accept that we both needed to improve our associated reliabilities.

Like my niece’s attitude I should have valued the relationship as something that was worth keeping in tact regardless of any noise or distractions.

Popularity: 40% [?]