This is Volume 8 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series.

This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader. Enjoy!

1) Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul - With High-tech & Low-tech Ways to Focus on What You Want, Hueina Su brings us an incredible mash-up of old school techniques that work with today's high-technology, but she also offers low-tech alternatives for those who prefer it that way. 

2)  HELLO, My Name is BLOG - Scott Ginsberg (whose wisdom can be staggering) has a post called When you care the least, you do the best. He's right, it's true, and you should check it out.

3)  Achieve-IT - Regular readers have seen Brad Isaac's work featured many times here at Today is that Day, and his post One Ironic Tip For Forming And Maintaining Good Relationships… is once again worthy of your time. You might be surprised at the tip that you'll receive!

4) Optimist Lab - In the post What I Learned at the Taco Shack, Cardin Routh does a job that is more than just noteworthy of detailing an incredible few moments in the life of an adult, a child, and a produce wrapper. Great job, Cardin!

5)  Steve Olson - Anyone who has ever been married or in a long-term domestic partnership will recognize the fact that both participants need to be on the same sheet of music. In How a White Board and a Dry Erase Marker Can Strengthen Your Marriage, Steve details a method for doing that, using his own relationship as a real-world example.

6)  Jane Chin - Most people are seeking financial success or abundance in some manner or other, but few people actually give thought to what that dream may cost them. With the post Quality of Money you Earn, Jane Chin does a great job of asking the question "Was it worth it?"

7)  Breathing Prosperity - I have my workaholic tendencies, but I have also learned that there is a time to back away from the keyboard. In the post Are You a Mental Slave to Your Job?, the concept of your responsibility to your job (vs. your life) is examined.

8)  Scott H Young - In the category of "thinking outside of the box," I have not recently seen a better example than Scott's post Empty Calories. He does an incredible job of detailing not just a major hole in the health/nutrition concept, but in how that same concept translates directly to other areas of our life. Great stuff!

A hearty THANK YOU to all of this week's authors and the incredible wisdom that they have shared. See you next time! 

Blaming your lack of blissful happiness on anyone but yourself is a crutch - period.

This habit that human beings have of allowing people or circumstances to dictate the level of happiness in their lives boils down to nothing more noble than sheer laziness.

We always want to look at every situation like we did everything 100% perfectly, and if the situation did not turn out 100% perfectly, there most certainly must be someone else to blame for that.

It is certainly easier to find a flaw in another person or in the details of any given event than to admit the fact that we ourselves could have probably worked harder in order to manifest a more positive outcome to that event.

Believers in conscious creation, the Law of Attraction, and even Ho'oponopono will have no problem admitting that anything that has happened in their lives is there as a direct result of the things that transpired prior to that event.

However, you don't have to believe in or understand concepts such as those in order to admit that YOU are responsible for whether or not you are happy with your life. Here are some examples:

Blame: I can't get a good job because the economy is bad  

Truth: No, you can't get a good job because you have not applied yourself enough. Maybe you need more education, maybe you need to work harder at the actual job search process, or maybe you just need to improve your self-confidence and attitude about the entire project. If your life depended on it, I bet you would find a way to get a good job.

Blame: I can't lose weight because I have poor metabolism and I don't have time to exercise and eat right.

Truth: Although genetics do play a role in the overall health of people, there is no genetic condition - including metabolic rate - that cannot be modified, and normally it can be done fairly easily. 

As far as not having enough time, that it total crap. Every person who has ever lived has had 24 hours in their day. If they could do it, you can do it. 

Blame: My spouse or significant other is completely unreasonable and is causing chaos in our home.

Truth: Your spouse or significant other could be a cold-blooded killer, but unless there is an actual danger to you or your children, you CHOOSE to allow that person to affect your life in a negative way.

Either step up to the plate and do what it takes to be happy with your situation, or leave the situation. And no, I don't want to hear "It's not that easy." Yes, it is.

I am going to stop with the Blame/Truth scenarios now, because if you are reading this with an open mind and an ear towards the truth, you have already absorbed and internalized this message.

However, on the other hand, if you are the "victim" in every scenario of life that you are finding less than perfect, no matter how many examples I give, you are still going to answer with the thought, "Yes, but…"

No buts. If you don't like an aspect of your life, then change it.

Will it be hard? Probably. Will it cause chaos in your life? Maybe. Will it cause you to make some hard choices, face some hard realities, and let go of some of the security that you have had in your life up to this point? Very likely.

Or, you could just do nothing and stay unhappy with your circumstances. After all, it is fast, easy, and sometimes even rewarding to point the finger at everyone else as being the cause for YOUR unhappiness.

If it's everyone else's fault, then by default, YOU must be perfect, right?  

One of my goals with the Today is that Day website and blog is to help people to realize that success IS something that every single person can attain!

However, a lot of the "how-to" information that is available in the world is just the same old information that has been re-packaged, re-purposed, or simply copied and pasted from information that was already available.

In order to put an end to the constant recirculation of the same data over and over again, I have decided to start a new blog carnival that will be dedicated exclusively to blog posts that detail new and innovative ways to live life!

I'm calling it the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival, and this post is both the official announcement about the new carnival, as well as the first Call for Submissions!

My regular readers will be familiar with blog carnivals about personal development and the Law of Attraction that I have hosted in the past, and I will take this opportunity to once again thank both Lyman Reed as well as Edward Mills for the chance to host those blogs here at Today is that Day.

It is my intention to add even more value to the "blogosphere" by adding this new and unique blog carnival that will be hosted here at the Today is that Day blog. One major thing to note, however, is that the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival will NOT be restricted to blog posts about personal development, self improvement, etc.

The whole point of this new carnival will be for people to publicize their methods for living life "outside of the box," and I want everyone to have free reign to write about anything and everything that falls into that category.

Some possible subjects could include - but not be limited to - things such as relationships, making money, recreation, building businesses, exercise and physical fitness, art or other self expression, etc.

I cannot emphasize enough that if you have or come up with a way of doing things that the "average joe" doesn't know about, your information is welcome at the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival!

The very first edition will be posted on April 15th, 2007 (tax day, yikes!), and you can get some more details as well as access the carnival submission form by clicking right here.

I'm looking forward to receiving your submissions and to growing this new blog carnival as a way to help people find new and unique ways to achieve success and to enjoy their lives!

p.s. - See these links to Social Networking sites? Please feel free to use them extensively to share this post and any other post on this blog. The more people who read this blog, the more people who learn, the more people who participate, and the more people we can all get to know! So bookmark to your little heart's content!

Many thanks to Edward Mills over at Evolving Times for allowing Today is that Day to host this powerful edition of the Law of Attraction Blog Carnival!

The theme for this edition of the carnival is how your emotions control your success with the Law of Attraction, so entries that focused on that topic got top billing in the Featured Entries section below. 

For each entry I have provided a short overview, so be sure to have at least a quick look to see what every author has to offer. Let's get to it!

Featured Entries 

Karen at Live the Power once again demonstrates her firm grasp on the fact that we can control our lives, and her powerful post entitled Butterfly easily shows us how our emotions are tools that guide us, so don't ignore them! 

In a post called Great Expectations, an absolutely wonderful job is done by Debra Moorehead of tying in our emotional responses and expectations to our belief systems, and showing us how those concepts work together non-stop to create our success in life - or lack thereof. 

Wanda Grindstaff at Creating Abundant Lifestyles brings us the post Urgency to Create Your Life, a short, but informative piece which spells out very clearly that excitement and urgency are your friends when it comes to manifesting your desires.

John at the Universe of Success does a great job of explaining the cumulative effect that our emotions have on our results with his post called Expectation Makes Intentions Manifest Faster.

 Other Informative and Empowering Posts

Giselle Nicholson at Positive Psychology News Daily brings us Retrospective Visualization, a GREAT piece on how to get the most out of visualization. Not your "standard" visualization fare, and definitely worth a look.

At The Creative Power of Thought, the post A Creative Being is an interesting bit on how we - as humans - create the world around us in ways that seem "common," but are in fact as unique as the fingerprints that identify each of us.

Ho'oponopono is one of the most potentially powerful systems of healing and success that you could learn about, yet actually learning how to do it is easier said than done right now. Check out a great primer on Ho'oponopono over at Nourished Magazine with the post Ho’oponopono: Lessons from Hawaiian Shamanism

At ShamaHyder.com, Shama's post called The Law of Attraction explains in a brief but understandable manner 4 of the powerful processes that you can use immediately to start manifesting success.

At Organized Brain Clutter, Jennifer Rog's post Manifesting my dreams into reality by journaling…. does a great job detailing how to get the most out of visualizing, and she also speaks about the very real fact that taking inspired (and expedient) action is a necessary step for success.

At The Being Project, the post Live Life Forward - Forgive the Past reminds us that the moment of creation is NOW, not earlier in our lives.

Ipop-in's Think Positive Blog includes the post More thoughts about The Secret, illness, and the law of attraction, which talks about both the amazing power of controlling thoughts and emotions, while also putting forth the opinion that there may be other forces at work as well.

Christine Kane's post Why Your Ego Loves Airline Delays is very much in line with the idea of consciously creating your life because you always have a choice about how to enjoy each moment! 

In Beauty…and Then What, the belief that some external factor is going to allow us to realize happiness is blown out of the water by Craig Harper. Craig covers the eternal concepts of "If I could only…"

Over at The Positivity Blog, the post entitled How to Make a Good First Impression includes advice on visualizing the desired outcome of a situation, and that is a powerful cornerstone tool that many people use very effectively to easily control the flow of their lives. 

REagent brings us the post Fix Broken Things which talks about the negative effect that certain less-than perfect circumstances can have on our lives. If you have a low-level vibration running through your life of chaos, disorder, and lack, that vibration will ultimately create negativity for you. 

At The Power of Creative Living, Lucas Vaden brings us a post called Perception which points out that how you look at something is infinitely more important than the thing itself.

Taking inspired action is one of the keys to success, and the amazing success story Urban Tea Party posted by Aspeth, should make some of you start to reconsider whether or not to listen to the flashes of insight that you sometimes get! 

At The Daily Positive, the post The Law of Attraction Experiment details the author's initial and on-going method of learning about and applying the Law of Attraction to his life.

The post Wealth Beyond Reason at Zantariah.com talks about how Zantariah created success without even realizing it, and moved into a dream home in the process.

Most people who believe in the Law of Attraction also believe that we are energetic beings, which is what gives us the power to control our destinies. At WelcomeJoy.com, Hope Edelman gives us a piece entitled If You Lead a Meaningful Life, You Never Really Die, which briefly and enjoyable touches on that concept.

Thanks once again to Edward Mills at Evolving Times for his past as well as on-going efforts to teach us all about consciously creating our lives, and a very special thanks to all of this week's contributing authors!

Be sure to submit your blog article to the next edition and also check out past posts and future hosts at the blog carnival index page.

This could very well be the single most important personal development concept that you are ever exposed to.

I give my wife full credit for saying the following, although I don't know if she originated the saying or not. Regardless of who the original author was, you would do well to read, remember, and internalize the following words:

In order for people to change, the pain of change must become less than the pain of staying the same.

That concept is so telling about why people do or do not achieve lasting self improvement results, and I want to thank Steve over at The Fast Lane for his post that reminded me to share that quote with my blog readers.

There are very few people (if any) who do not have dreams, ambitions, or fantasies about living a life that is an improvement over their present life in some way. Although we should all be living in and enjoying every single moment, this urge to move forward is a part of the very evolution of our species.

Why, then, do so many people fail to make the positive changes that they want so desperately?

The answer is so simple and has been in plain sight all along: It is simply easier for a person to stay where they are and to deal with whatever discomfort is in their lives than it is to make themselves uncomfortable enough to effect permanent, positive, long-term changes.

Most people want more money or some other form of abundance, yet they don't actually strive for it because their day to day needs are already being met.

They must have enough food, shelter, and clothing to survive, because if they didn't, they would be dead! However, find someone who is about to lose the job that pays their bills, or are about to lose their home to bill collectors, and you will also have found someone who will literally live without sleep in order to turn their circumstances around.

The world (especially the United States) is full of overweight people or people who have negative health conditions that could be eliminated or lessened as a result of eating right and exercising, yet they don't do everything and anything in their power because the pain of continuing to be out of shape is still easier than exercising and eating right every day.

However, find someone who is constantly ridiculed, shunned, or who is repeatedly the victim of prejudice because of their weight or their physical condition, and often times that person will "flip a switch" that turns them into a workout junkie because they have decided that leading a healthy lifestyle is easier (less painful) than the alternative.

People are constantly visiting online dating websites, message boards, and chat rooms in order to find romance and friendship, yet when push comes to shove, they don't make the long-term commitment needed for successful relationships.

The occasional bout of lonliness or sexual frustration by an unattached person is still easier to deal with (less painful) than the risk of getting emotionally and/or financially involved with a long-term partner, roommate, or even just a good friend.

However, someone who has finally "had enough" of their solitary lifestyle will pull out all the stops in order to achieve relationship success. They will also achieve that success because they have decided that the pain of taking a chance on a relationship is less than the pain of being emotionally and/or financially alone.

You can plug this formula into any human equation that you can imagine, and the results will ALWAYS be the same!

People don't make the changes in their lives that they "claim" they want to make because when push comes to shove, even if their life isn't perfect, it is still easier to keep walking the same path than it is to carve a new path through a dense and potentially dangerous jungle.

So, the next time you feel like whining because you don't have enough money, or because you're lonely, or because you're fat, I invite you - with all due respect - to stop whining about it, and to get outside of your comfort zone and to do something about your situation.

You are - after all - the only person who has the power to do that.