The world around us

Back to school sales have been strong, especially in the teen market segment. Stores such as Zumiez, Buckle, American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch all saw higher sales as compared to last year. Hot Topic however did not fare quite as well with sales dropping 1.1% compared to last year. With higher gas prices affecting store sales all summer long, this is indeed good news for retailers. On the discount front, Wal-Mart same store sales rose by 3.1% while same store sales at Target rose by 6.1%. Gas prices didn’t affect shoppers at high end departments stores, where sales of stores such as Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus all rose.

The National Retail Federation had predicted that the average family would spend about $36 more on back-to-school shopping this year, a 7 percent increase over last year to an average of $564. “It’s no surprise to us” that retail sales rose in August, says Phil Rist, vice president at BIGresearch, which does consumer surveys for the NRF. “Little Johnny needs a PlayStation portable for the bus ride home, and Little Suzie needs a new cellphone so you can reach her after cheerleading practice. A little lobbying by kids is going on.”

I’ve been getting quite interested lately in reading philosophical stuff. I’m not sure how it started, since I’ve never been reading spiritual or philosophy books, but I’ve started finding them rather interesting now. I think it’s got to do with where one is in one’s life and what our experiences are and a sense of what lies ahead. It’s just one of those things that unless you’re at the right stage of your life, you’re not going to be able to really decipher it. You might understand it at a superficial level, but it’s not really going to penetrate and make a difference.

So, it’s really important to be aware of where you’re at in your life, and to take advantage of your knowledege and experiences to delve into your spiritual side when the time is right. I found a nice source of inspiration online in Karl’s blog which has lots of interesting reading material, that makes you think of how one wants to handle one’s life. It’s a great way to understand oneself as well. I like the weekly sections he has, such as his “Random Act of Kindness” post each Monday, which are really great ways to get inspired. Check out the Karl Moore site and you’ll be quite happy with where it will take you.

I’ve been looking around for some stuff for the home and I have found a great source of inspiration on a site called Apartment Therapy. It’s a site that writes about decor and what I love most about their site are the house tours where you can see how real people have decorated their homes and get lots and lots of ideas. Decor magazines get really boring since everything in there is just so stylized that it looks sterile and quite unlivable, but I love seeing how real people live and get tips on storage solutions, especially for the kitchen and bath.

I’m a big believer in looking for sites that give a local perspective, especially when it comes to looking for places to stay, jobs, things to buy and local services. It’s a great way to getting into the local system and finding out about what’s available for whatever it is that you are looking for. One of the sites that operates out of several locations is Gumtree, which is fast becoming one of the best known sites to look to when you’re moving to a new city. If you’re looking for a job in Scotland, especially jobs in Edinburgh, then the site that offers the most comprehensive listings of a wide variety of jobs is Gumtree, which is a great place to start your search.

I’ve been reading about how the job scene in Scotland is really becoming quite interesting and so I looked it up on Gumtree. Sure enough, there are lots of available jobs in Edinburgh for a variety of fields such as IT/Consulting, Recruitment/HR, Healthcare, Sales and Marketing as well as the more general bar and babysitting ones. One gets a good general idea of Edinburgh jobs and Gumtree makes it all quite simple and uncomplicated. Have a look around for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

As I looked through the last few posts I had written, it occurred to me that the placement of my last two posts was quite interesting and although unintentional quite fitting. In my second to last post I wrote about young people dealing with pressures of life and in lots of cases not being able to handle it, and in my last post I wrote about the book I am currently re-reading, The Celestine Prophecy, which talks about picking up clues from your life that lead you to your destiny. These are exactly the kind of clues that you’re meant to watch out for and it’s interesting how it happens. And it happens all the time, but we have to be clued in enough to notice them. Noticing them is key to the entire process and Noticing and Observing are key to gaining happiness in life.

Have you read a book by James Redfield called The Celestine Prophecy? It’s one of the all time best-sellers, especially in the late 1990s when it came out and was quite the craze. I read it several years back and brought it along for our trip to read once more. It’s essentially about learning what your purpose in life is, and how to achieve your goals and reach where you want to go by using your subconscious.

It’s all quite straightforward really and is written more as a novel than a self help book, which it actually isn’t anyway. If you get a chance, you must read it. I would recommend you buying the book, since it is definitely something that can be read again and again, and with each reading you’re sure to gain a newer and slightly different perspective, since it all depends on where you are personally in your self growth.

Here’s a link to Amazon, where you can get your own copy.