Enthusiasm – University of Life

Are You Living an Inspiring Life?

by Shaun Roundy

Today’s podcast asks whether you’re living an inspiring life, then explains how to do that by choosing the better of the two motivations (hint: I’m not referring to love and fear). You also get a story of walking with young pioneers in disappointingly pleasant weather and you’ll learn a little bit about self actualization.

P.S. one of the “family” groups spent much of their walking time solving riddles, so I made up a brand new one. See how quickly you can figure this out:

I carry life on my back between the stars,
I’ll fight you both ways, my arms against yours.
No matter how far you walk, or how fast you run,
We’ll never reach our next destination.

Click here for hints

Hint #1: what do you need to keep you alive? Hint #2: stars have rays shooting out from them. Hint #3: what’s the farthest you can ever see (not counting the sky)?

Click here for the answer

A handcart. It carries your survival gear. The wheels and spokes are like stars. Both ways = uphill and down. Our next destination is the horizon, and we’ll never reach it because it keeps moving farther away….

Heal Your Mind

by Shaun Roundy

UPDATE: the book is finished and you can find it here: Heal Your Emotions

I’ve been working on writing my next book, which will be one of the best and most important things I’ve ever created. It’s (tentatively) called Basic Intuitive Energy Healing ::: Heal Your Mind ::: A Scientific Approach to Speaking your Brains’ Languages and Turning Pain into Power and it includes over 50 simple yet highly effective healing techniques that you can use on yourself (or if you’re already a skilled energy healer, you can apply them to others for good effect).

I’ve been wanting to write it for about ten years, but the time wasn’t right until now. In hindsight, the reason is obvious – I thought I knew a lot ten years ago, and I did, but I’ve learned so much just in the past year that the book will now be far more complete and useful than it would have been then.

Here’s the introductory story which gives a general idea of what the book is about, and stay tuned as I reveal more details soon!

Once upon a time, you found yourself wandering through a deep, dark woods. You didn’t know exactly where you were headed, but hurried along the path just the same, hoping to escape the unpleasant shadows and the too-cool breeze that made you wrap your arms tightly around yourself and shiver.
Out from the darkness came distant, unpleasant voices in faint, scarcely-audible whispers. “You’re not good enough,” they said, “why even try? You’re a fool if you think you’ll ever be happy again!”
“Nobody loves you,” others murmured. “You’re all alone. You’ll always be alone.”
You pretended to ignore the voices as you hurried along, but deep inside, you knew they were right. Read more “Heal Your Mind” →

Thank a Teacher

by Shaun Roundy

I recently came across this inspiring letter written by a new teacher and she gave me permission to share it here:

So, I’m a brand-new 7th grade English teacher. I work in a school where something like 80% of the kids live below the poverty line. Many of them have families who are barely making it. Many of them wear the same clothes to school multiple days in a row. For many of them, school lunch is the only meal they will eat that day. Many of their parents struggle with drugs, alcoholism, or are incarcerated.

And here I am, some 25-year-old white girl who saw Freedom Writers and wanted to make a difference. Want to know a secret? Some days, I feel like I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Read more “Thank a Teacher” →

How to Repulse Energy Vampires

by Shaun Roundy

“Mmmm,” the vampire thinks to him/herself while looking over your glowing aura, “that much energy could sustain me for months!”

Your happy smile slowly fades as dark clouds creep across the bright morning sky. You don’t understand why you’ve begun feeling more down than usual lately. Nothing is actually wrong, nothing you can name; life should continue going great! But it’s just…not, exactly. You feel more tired and less optimistic than usual. If only you could shake off this miasm, then you could get back to being your normal, cheerful, productive self.

Some energy vampires are overt and obvious. They complain. They undermine every effort with negativity and pessimism. They criticize, blame, and argue. Such incessant actions create a heavy iron anchor that you must drag behind you if you can’t avoid them. “See?” they ask as you grow weary and irritable from carrying their load, “didn’t I tell you how awful the world is?” Read more “How to Repulse Energy Vampires” →

Sponsor a Dancer!!!

by Shaun Roundy

I’ve known Bridger Barksdale all his life. I am *awed* at his dedication to his pursuits and the *excellence* he achieves in them.

I produced this video to show off some of his inspiring skills, and to help him raise money to attend the Bolshoi Theater’s summer intensive program in New York this summer, where he was awarded a 90% scholarship when he tried out at the Grand Prix in Denver this winter. His family is not rich and could really use your help. I guarantee that any help you can provide would be a VERY GOOD cause!

Happy Thanksgiving + Merry Christmas!

by Shaun Roundy

What I am grateful for today (among other things) is that I finally finished writing the last book in my Courage, Love and the Meaning of Christmas series!

The Art of Heart finally wraps up the trilogy with the most exciting book yet. Click any of the books above to view them on Amazon.com and click the book image there to read the first dozen chapters or so and see if you get hooked by the interesting characters and engaging style!

Have you ever wanted to write a book? If so, GET STARTED!!! I wrote Courage, Love and the Meaning of Christmas after reading another popular Christmas book and deciding I could do better. Now it has sold thousands and thousands of copies and climbed as high as #442 on Amazon’s overall best seller list.

If you need some tips for how to write and how to get started (the writing process will save you much time and frustration), also pick up my writing textbook, The Art & Craft of Writing: the ultimate step-by-step guidebook to the writing process and effective composition.

I Love Work

by Shaun Roundy

Imagine for a moment* that you have a dream.

[*If you have to *imagine* you have a dream, you should really find yourself an *actual* dream!]

Imagine that you feel excited about that dream. Imagine that attaining/accomplishing/becoming your dream would make you happy and satisfied and excited, and that it would give life meaning.

Clearly, living your dream would be a good way to live.

So why haven’t you reached your dream yet? Why haven’t you accomplished it? I’m guessing you haven’t, because once you reach a dream, it becomes reality, and then it’s time for a new dream, unless your new dream is to continue enjoying the old one. Read more “I Love Work” →

Roots vs. Wings

by Shaun Roundy

Have you ever had wanderlust? Have you glanced through all the stunningly exotic photos online or that your friends pin on Pinterest and wished you could go there?

That’s what I have to say today: YOU CAN. GO!

I once took a spontaneous trip to Taiwan where I taught English and learned Chinese. It lasted five months and ended with a three-week trip to Mainland China. That lasted four months. When I came home and started my master’s program, I couldn’t get it all out of my head and even wrote a book about the incredible experience just to help me process everything that happened.

YOU CAN GO ANYWHERE YOU WANT. If you really want to go, you can find a way to save money, get time off, find someone to go with, and whatever else it takes to get there! Read more “Roots vs. Wings” →

How to Come Alive

by Shaun Roundy

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

When was the last time YOU came alive? Watch this video for five tips on how to make that happen more often! Read more “How to Come Alive” →

Our Bright Technological Future

by Shaun Roundy

Want to get excited about the future? Watch this awesome talk by X Prize’s Peter Diamandis showing how rapidly we’re solving many of our world’s greatest problems.

Here at the University of Life, we have a parallel vision. We’re working to build a wealth of information resources to help visitors learn many of life’s most important lessons. And while innovators and researchers reveal new technologies that will transform our external lives, our vision primarily centers around the inner world of human beings and optimizing hearts and minds for happy, successful, teamwork-based coexistence. We call this focus “human technology.” A world of optimized human beings can solve any problem with incredible grace.

Many of the most important lessons every human needs are not new or revolutionary, but a staggering portion of the world’s population does not yet know or understand them. They’re not easily learned from the School of Hard Knocks.

Express Yourself!

by Shaun Roundy

This ones for anyone – author, artist or otherwise – if you ever think you have nothing worth saying. Read more “Express Yourself!” →