I'm currently working on rebuilding this site into a different layout and a different format

And in doing this I'm going to answer the question ""Brewing and Personal Development can they mix?"" by saying no they don't (on a web page)

I will be splitting the site into sections, in this way I can continue with the main theme that this site has followed, the direction of personal development. But I can then focus specifically on Home brewing in the brewing section.

These changes may take a few weeks to roll out, but for those brewers out there, I do have a huge amount of articles and information waiting to publish for you, and I feel I can do better justice by having a separate section/sub-domain for this area.

So be patient, I'll probably post a few article from other sources during this time, along with updates when the new site(s) are ready

For most of my life I've always thought of 'value' in terms of contribution to life as something that contributes towards or produces something physical.

 I grew up on a dairy farm, so value was providing milk for others by tending the animals, fixing fences, milking the cows morning and night thus providing something physical for others, as I moved on in my life I became an Electrician, so my contribution was installing electrical equipment or repairing electrical equipment in the timber industry with the end result being timber products being produced once again a physical product. I found much the same as I moved in the field of Engineering, although it started to become a little less ""hands on"" and more developmental but eventually in my mind it would contribute to the production of timber products.

But in the last few years I've started considering information products as potential source of value and thus I've been looking strongly at information products in areas that interest me, and obviously I've started this web site so I can provide information for anyone who is interested.

By Michael Masterson

ETR reader Greg A. wants to know how to deal with ""family or friends that seem to want you to fail... if a great break in your plan to future success happens, and you tell everyone the good news, and half of them act bitter and discouraging.""

Unfortunately, envy is about as commonplace as crabgrass, though not as easy to spot. But you can defeat it - once you learn how to recognize it.

As you become more successful, the people who know you will change in two ways. First, they will begin to think of you as smarter than they do now. Second, they will sometimes resent your good fortune.

Article from http://theselfimprovementsite.com

This article while being a little ""new agey"" for my tastes does say things as I see them, having/finding a life purpose is a good idea but it should not get in the way of living your life now, you may find you are already living your life's purpose you just didn't know it....
There is of course the other way of looking at it, that your life purpose can be anything including what you are doing now, as it is just a way of thinking about your life, not actually anything to do with what you are doing.
This second option seems a little boring to me but does have a ring of truth about it, I tend to believe both options are a possibility it's up to you to live your life your way and find enjoyment in it, if you believe you have found your life purpose and it makes your life happy and worth living then that is fantastic, if you have not found a life's purpose don't dwell on it, live you life now, your purpose might be just around the corner of your mind or you may be already living it....

Enjoy the article

Is Finding Your Life Purpose Preventing You From Living It? By: Lauren Gorgo 

Article from www.betweenyourears.ca

This is an interesting article
But in my opinion I have found television and other media are not necessarily the problem it is more how you approach what is shown through these forms of media.
The way I approach much of what is in the media and on the internet at the moment, is I try not to allow it to directly affect my life, rather I watch television and read (listen, watch..) information on the internet out of interest and entertainment and try not use it as a gauge of my own life or let it affect my life, this is not always possible, but I belive it reduces the negative effects while maintaining to positive benefits of increase information available to us all.
I have seen many people who do gauge their lives by what they see in different forms of media, rather than looking at their lives for themselves...... when you look at your life for your self and don't compare it to the ""rest of the world"" you may see some things you didn't want such as areas of you life where you are not living up to your own values in life, if you don't take a good honest look at yourself it can lead to conflict in your own mind that you don't even know is going on, it only manifests itself as feelings of frustration, depression, anger, dissappointment in your own life (but you don't really know why).
It is hard to look at yourself with your own eyes, but as soon as you do and measure you life against your own values and not what is shown to you on television, you can correct the areas where you are not measuring up to your own expectations and you will also most likely find once you start doing this that you do actually measure up and possibly even exceed your expectations in many areas of your life that you had not even considered.

Television's picture of the World By: Aaron Solly
 
Who creates our picture of the world around us? Today, we receive information from all over the world through TV and the Internet.

I was reminded about the impact outside influences can have on our perception of the world after reading a chapter from a book I was given earlier this year. The book is called ""The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People"" by David Niven. In this book, there is a chapter specifically on the effects of watching television. I have provided the content of this chapter below.

Article from http://theselfimprovementsite.com

I have been very guilty of this, but if you check out my post "Not setting a goal to win" and to a degree "Purposeful goal setting" or "just wait for goals to appear?" I am starting to recognize that I do know what I want, I hope this help you to do the same (makes life a lot less stressful).

First Steps in Reinventing Yourself By: Dr. Toni LaMotta
 
The first step in experiencing or manifesting anything in our lives is to be clear on what it is we REALLY want. – The word REALLY is important here as you may or may not have yet discovered.
How do you get clear? And how Do you get to know what you REALLY Want?
Let’s start with some of the obstacles to knowing