the abundance mentality or abundance mindset

It's easy to dismiss the 'self-help' industry and its gurus:
Jay Doubleyou: smile or die: the power of positive thinking
Jay Doubleyou: mindfulness: "too many people are avoiding using their brains"
Jay Doubleyou: fish philosophy and the motivational mafia

But there are interesting places to go:
Jay Doubleyou: this column will change your life
This column will change your life | Life and style | The Guardian

For example:
Jay Doubleyou: how useful is your job?
Jay Doubleyou: how do you make decisions?
Jay Doubleyou: what's it costing you to sleep?
Jay Doubleyou: what are you good at?

One of the most successful self-help books is 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People':

It has sold more than 15 million copies in 38 languages worldwide, and the audio version has sold 1.5 million copies, and remains one of the best selling nonfiction business books. In August 2011 Time listed 7 Habits as one of "The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books".^[3]

U.S. President Bill Clinton invited Covey to Camp David to counsel him on how to integrate the book into his presidency.^[4]

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It looks at a very interesting idea:

Abundance mentality

Covey coined the idea of abundance mentality or abundance mindset, a concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and successes to share with others. He contrasts it with the scarcity mindset (i.e., destructive and unnecessary competition), which is founded on the idea that, if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, that means you lose; not considering the possibility of all parties winning (in some way or another) in a given situation (see zero-sum game). Individuals with an abundance mentality reject the notion of zero-sum games and are able to celebrate the success of others rather than feel threatened by it.^[5]

Since this book's publishing, a number of books appearing in the business press have discussed the idea.^[6] Covey contends that the abundance mentality arises from having a high self-worth and security (see Habits 1, 2, and 3), and leads to the sharing of profits, recognition and responsibility.^[7]Organizations may also apply an abundance mentality when doing business.^[8]

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How to Create an Abundance Mentality: 9 Steps (with Pictures)
Abundance vs. Scarcity Mentality - P2P Foundation


Abundance - Creating Abundance Mentality - YouTube
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experience

The elllo.org website has lots and lots of excellent 'real' audio pieces:
elllo video #1298 Have you had a bad travel experience?

More on 'experience':
Jay Doubleyou: present perfect for experiences

Here's a typical exercise:
Let's Talk About Experiences worksheet - Free ESL printable worksheets made by teachers

Here's a list of extraordinary experiences:
Experience | Life and style | The Guardian

What about how experience shapes us - and our grandchildren?
Grandma's Experiences Leave Epigenetic Mark on Your Genes | DiscoverMagazine.com

Of course, we can sell experience:
The Scotch Whisky Experience
Experience Jaguar | Jaguar UK
Experience Guildford

Or maybe you need some professional experience:
Work experience and internships | Prospects.ac.uk
BBC - Work Experience - Careers
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the news in the esl classroom

There are some excellent websites out there:
ESL News Sites

Michelle Henry gives a very useful overview as always of a subject:
The media : NEWS - ESL Resources

Here's a choice of the links she gives:

What is the typical 'news vocab':


W-ORD Channel 7 News With John Oliver & Cookie Monster - YouTube

Here's the latest news in one minute:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/
Jay Doubleyou: 60 seconds news from the bbc

What about media bias:
That's Not Me | MediaSmarts
Jay Doubleyou: english-language news media
Jay Doubleyou: english-language news media - part two
Jay Doubleyou: how to spot media bias

How are controversial topics addressed?
Jay Doubleyou: the media
Jay Doubleyou: propaganda, public relations and manufacturing consent

And:
Jay Doubleyou: immigration
Jay Doubleyou: immigration part 2

And:
Jay Doubleyou: "drunk stupid brits"

And:
Jay Doubleyou: crime statistics - and the perception of crime

And:
Jay Doubleyou: the politics of language
Jay Doubleyou: english language media as propaganda in the ukraine

What about using grammar:
Jay Doubleyou: the use of tenses in the news
Jay Doubleyou: the passive in the news
Jay Doubleyou: futures on the bbc

What about the vocabulary of the news:
Jay Doubleyou: journalese
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from narrow reading and listening to fluency: part two

There are some very good ideas on how 'narrow' input can help you produce good quality output.

Firstly, let's look at the idea of 'input':
Get input. Lots of it. | Antimoon
Jay Doubleyou: antimoon

And the idea of reading and listening for 'content':
How to get the most out of English texts | Antimoon
Jay Doubleyou: pause and think: or, how to improve your language skills

Here's an introduction to the idea of doing things in a 'narrow way', including a video:
Get More Natural English Repetition Through Narrow Reading and Listening - YouTube
Jay Doubleyou: from narrow reading and listening to fluency

Particularly, we have ideas from the pioneer in this thinking:
The Case for Narrow Reading - Stephen Krashen

See also:
Effortless English Club Blog: The Power of Narrow Reading and Listening
The power of reading and listening | Successful English

And:
Jay Doubleyou: extensive reading vs narrow reading
Jay Doubleyou: krashen quotes
Jay Doubleyou: second language acquisition
Jay Doubleyou: theories of language learning and teaching: input

Here are some more very good ideas and practical tips:
Language Learning Tip: Narrow Listening | The Everyday Language Learner

Mimicry is an excellent method:
( @Fallimha 106 Speak like a native | #فلمها 106 ) - YouTube
Jay Doubleyou: learn english from movies
Jay Doubleyou: how watching films can help your english

And so is 'shadowing':
English Speaking Practise: How to improve your English Speaking and Fluency: SHADOWING (read along) - YouTube
Jay Doubleyou: speaking fluently
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music from the uk

In a couple of weeks, the biggest classical music festival in the world starts:
BBC - Proms - Events

It ends famously with the Last Night of the Proms:

When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."
Rule, Britannia! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Last Night of the Proms (includes bonus CD) - YouTube

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England's pleasant pastures seen!
Jerusalem - Last Night of the Proms 2009 - YouTube
Jerusalem - Last Night of the Proms - YouTube

This is the unofficial anthem for England's rugby team:
Eng vs Aus Laura Wright sings Jerusalem - YouTube

But did you know that the Beatles rescued Western music?
(from 2:08)
Howard Goodalls 20th Century Greats - The Beatles (Part 2) - YouTube

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. 
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly. 
I'm crying. 
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. 
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday. 
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long. 
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. 
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.
The Beatles I Am The Walrus HD - YouTube

The lyrics don't make much sense:

Lennon received a letter from a pupil at Quarry Bank High School, which he had attended. The writer mentioned that the English master was making his class analyse Beatles' lyrics. (Lennon wrote an answer, dated 1 September 1967, which was auctioned by Christie's of London in 1992.) Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding the Beatles' lyrics, decided to write in his next song the most confusing lyrics that he could.
I Am the Walrus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This was the song which closed the London Olympics in 2012:
Russell Brand Olympics Closing Ceremony - YouTube

Perhaps you prefer this song from the same show:
Monty Python's Eric Idle - London 2012 Performance - YouTube

Here is more fun with British music.

Do you prefer this:
The Mike Flowers Pops - Wonderwall - YouTube
... or this:
Oasis - Wonderwall - Official Video - YouTube

And do you prefer this (with a little help with your intonation):
The Beatles - With A Little Help From My Friends - YouTube
Beatles 1-Create Your Own Worksheets for "With A Little Help From My Friends"
... or this:
With A Little Help Of My Friends Joe Cocker - YouTube

Meanwhile, there is the great British folk tradition - which is very much alive and kicking today:
Seth Lakeman John Lomas With Lyrics - YouTube
Jay's Grave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jay - YouTube

And something a little louder:
Bellowhead - New york girls - Later Live 2nd November 2010 - YouTube

But perhaps we should finish with the greatest pop musical festival in the UK - which finished a couple of days ago:
Glastonbury Festival | The Official Glastonbury Festival Website

Two years ago, the headline act was the Rolling Stones:
The Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash @ Glastonbury [HQ] - YouTube

They were part of the original 'British Invasion' in the early 1960s:
British Invasion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British Invasion II: The Rolling Stones | Rock and Roll: An American Story

Did you know that the Rolling Stones saved the Blues?
Giving America Back the Blues | Rock and Roll: An American Story
teachrock.org/resources/video/embed/rolling-stones-little-red-rooster-1965/

And that British Blues players are considered among the best?
CHUCK BERRY, ERIC CLAPTON, KEITH RICHARDS - Wee Wee Hours - YouTube

Which brings us to some more controversy:
Jay Doubleyou: racial issues

To finish, here's a good place to go for music:
BBC - iPlayer Radio
BBC - Music Clips - Classic Pop & Rock
BBC - Radio 1
BBC - Radio 2 - Home
BBC - Radio 3 - Home

And an excellent series on the BBC about music:
BBC Two - Howard Goodall's Story of Music
howard goodall's story of music - YouTube

And a good place or two to go for some help with your English:
Musical English Lessons International
Jay Doubleyou: more music and song websites for learning english
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how watching films can help your english

What's your favourite film?

This is considered 'the best':
Jay Doubleyou: what's your favourite film?

But there are other opinions:
Jay Doubleyou: what's your favourite film - we love lists of favourite films...

What about different genres?



Jay Doubleyou: utopia ... dystopia
Jay Doubleyou: the mockumentary
Jay Doubleyou: blockbusters don't have to be stupid
Jay Doubleyou: the movies and ... travel, shakespeare, race, violence, inspiration, gender, business...

Here's a very difficult film to classify:
Jay Doubleyou: fight club: how many film genres in one film?

An action movie?
Fight club TRAILER - YouTube

But the director and actors didn't think so:

Marketing executives at 20th Century Fox faced difficulties in marketing Fight Club and at one point considered marketing it as an art film. They considered that the film was primarily geared toward male audiences because of its violence and believed that not even Pitt would attract female filmgoers. Research testing showed that the film appealed to teenagers. Fincher refused to let the posters and trailers focus on Pitt and encouraged the studio to hire the advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy to devise a marketing plan. The firm proposed a bar of pink soap with the title "Fight Club" embossed on it as the film's main marketing image; the proposal was considered "a bad joke" by Fox executives. Fincher also released two early trailers in the form of fake public service announcements presented by Pitt and Norton; the studio did not think the trailers marketed the film appropriately. Instead, the studio financed a $20 million large-scale campaign to provide a press junket, posters, billboards, and trailers for TV that highlighted the film's fight scenes. The studio advertised Fight Club on cable during World Wrestling Federation broadcasts, which Fincher protested, believing that the placement created the wrong context for the film.^[46] Linson believed that the "ill-conceived one-dimensional" marketing by marketing executive Robert Harper largely contributed to Fight Club's lukewarm box office performance in the United States.^[51]
Fight Club - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

> An anti-consumerist movie?
Deliver Me - YouTube
Futures Forum: Transitioning from a Consumer Culture >>> to Sustainable Consumption
Jay Doubleyou: fight club and anti-consumerism

> A movie about 'masculinity'?
Jay Doubleyou: exploring gender: masculinity and 'fight club'

> But others think that 'Fight Club' is all about Hollywood just playing with the issues around 'gender':

It's not surprising that people lament that Fight Club is about pounding people's faces in. And certainly, feminist and Freudian analyses of the film abound as well. But all this gender analysis is missing the point. Although Fight Club will be remembered as a film about masculinity, it has nothing of any interest or coherence to say about it. The real focus of its concern is the dehumanizing impact of the three big Cs: consumerism, corporatism and capitalism. Fight Club is a political and philosophical film about human identity, a condemning critique of the way most Americans live meaningless, half-dead lives. Perhaps framing that in a gender context was the only way a) to garner Hollywood interest in the film and b) to make trashing the American way of life palatable to a mass audience.
The Movie Fight Club Uses Aggression and Masculinity as a Vehicle for Class Warfare - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com

How can watching films help us learn a language?

We can learn to speak like a native from films:
Jay Doubleyou: learn english from movies

This is real English:
Jay Doubleyou: how to learn english from movies

Films can move us... or even change us:
Jay Doubleyou: "i think this is one of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently."

Should you watch with or without subtitles?
Jay Doubleyou: how to learn english from movies - some tips

With this example, the subtitles actually destroy the moment:
Does the director want you to hear what is being whispered?



The Godfather - First Scene - YouTube



The Godfather opening scene english subtitles - YouTube
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what is art?

What is art?

This is the Google Art Project:



Google Art Project - YouTube

And this is the website:
Google Cultural Institute

Is Wei Wei's output 'art'?
Jay Doubleyou: art

Is Britian's most famous artist producing 'art'?



Jon Snow explores whether Damien Hirst's art is a 'con' - YouTube

Is graffiti 'art'?
Jay Doubleyou: art questions
Jay Doubleyou: the disappearing banksys
Jay Doubleyou: banksy is not only provocative - he's very popular...

But perhaps this TV series from 1972 is the most provocative:


A BAFTA award-winning BBC series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programmes ever made. In the first programme, Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past.

Ways of Seeing is a 1972 BBC four-part television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. Berger's scripts were adapted into a book of the same name. The series and book criticize traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. The series is partially a response to Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon.

John Berger / Ways of Seeing , Episode 1 (1972) - YouTube
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