Is it just an age thing or does it seem to you that there are more people recognizing the pit-falls of modern day materialism? I was chatting with someone earlier today whose husband had retired early because it was either that or die from stress related symptoms. She too had chosen to retire early and stated unequivocally that she does not miss her high pressured job one tiny little bit.

Within thirty minutes of that conversation I heard another friend comment upon the difficulty of working with particular partners who only sought to benefit their own end, and did not fully comprehend the value to working together in a more giving fashion. We hear many comments about "the rat race" or it business being "cut-throat", and so on. That's not very inspiring is it?

What does this say about how we as a community approach business? It would seem that business can all too often become a money grabbing tread-mill upon which you have to focus so hard in order to succeed that you miss out on many of the more important things in life. You can easily forget the reasons why you set out on that course in the beginning and lose sight of both enjoyment and fulfillment in the process.

It becomes easy to lose sight of the fact that in the long run we gain more from giving than receiving, besides the fact that running at break neck speed on a treadmill isn't always good for one's health and well-being. It is easily understandable that stress is an ever increasing modern day health hazard. We stress our minds and bodies by constantly doing things at a pace which does not allow us to "smell the roses along the way". We become so absorbed in seeking results that we forget about the process.

And yet in most things in life, if you focus upon the process the results will look after themselves. Reverting to the issue of age and having a more mature mentality, perhaps one of the main learning curves of life is that of learning to decide between personal gratification and global "goodness", if you see what I mean.

I think we all have the awareness that money doesn't automatically bring happiness, and also that the best things in life don't actually cost a dime; and yet we are tempted by these things like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Life would appear to be all about biting into those apples and discovering through first-hand experience the effects of our own actions.

Some of us take longer to learn life's lessons than others. We learn and develop at our own pace. For many of us it is our state of health which finally gets the message through to us. High blood pressure, heart disease and most other illnesses are the messengers which tell us that it's time to step off the tread-mill, slow down and reassess our lives. We begin to question what is in fact most important to us and what really makes us feel good.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis downloads for health and well-being.

P.S. Discover how easily you can focus your mind with hypnosis; Grab a free hypnosis mp3 from my website.