Healthy Body - and what I do about it...

The Five Pillars of Health is really cool. So simple but the more you allow yourself to focus on the value of this simple philosophy, the more it makes sense and the more you find yourself making subtle changes that gradually but powerfully impact your everyday life and bring you more balance and joy.

Like the Healthy Body. So where do we start? Nikken products obviously so you get good sleep, pure water and air, nutrition .... and so forth.

And then? Relaxation? It's so easy to go for your goals and stay productive all the time.... so you don't take the time to relax. Or when you get overwhelmed to find a distraction to bring you a temporary feeling of relaxation when you are really building up tension in front of the TV or on the internet.

When you could engage in the simple act of giving yourself a massage with the Magboy. Not having a partner around is no excuse. You don't need another person and the Magcreator to totally re-energize your body with some bumpy magnets. Just take out your Magboy and start. Work on your entire body and notice the difference. Take a few deep breaths. And stop thinking. About anything. Not even your goals this time. Your brain deserves a rest.

Exercise is a fun thing. Hard to get started but hard to stop once you have... Like somebody intelligent said: "everything is hard until it gets easy". Once you are in the habit of taking a daily walk or run in your CardioStrides, it will be easier to do it than not to do it.

This morning for example, after just a few hours of sleep in my Nikken sleep system and an intense week, I got as usual at 6 am (no 4 am pick-up for an airport today...) Looked outside the window. Had a sudden thought to stay in bed for an extra half an hour and skip my morning jog.... But what amazed me today was how easily that thought just disappeared. The new habit has taken over. It takes more effort now for me to stay in bed than to go for a run!

And it was such a good decision. I will benefit all day from my morning jog.

Just like you will benefit for the rest of your life when you follow the simple disciplines of activities that match your values, your dreams, your goals. Like talking to new people. It does get easier when you do it every day. After a while you can not not do it. So just do it.

The World's Longest Hug

On Valentine's day this year, Paul and Sandra Gerrard from London achieved a Guinness World Record by clinging to each other for 24 hours and 1 minute in the world's longest hug.

Both were wearing Nikken products to stay strong and balanced while spending a well earned 24 hours together. Both of them had a life long dream of beating a world record and had been leading very busy lives.... so the idea of this hug was the perfect combination for them.

For those of you who have attended HBM.... 4 4 4 !

Jan Carlsson gets DSA Award

Jan Carlsson from Sweden is one of Europe's most successful Platinum level Consultants. He lives a comfortable NIKKEN life style on the "gold coast" outside of Gothenburg, and enjoys leading his productive team with a very coaching-oriented approach.

On 8th March, Jan was awarded the Swedish Direct Selling Association's award for "excellency in direct selling".

Congratulations Jan! Keep up the good work. And thanks for the wonderful testimonial you gave on stage. Nikken rules!

News from Brussels - NIKKEN joins FEDSA

Two new companies joined the European Federation of Direct Selling Associations this week. One of them was telecommunications company ACN and the other one is NIKKEN.

FEDSA is a lobbying organisation in Brussels with one aim: to protect the interests of the direct selling industry in the European political arena. The members really consist of the national DSA's, but big, international companies such as NIKKEN can also join as corporate members in order to get a first-hand view of what is happening in the industry, and also in order to contribute both financially and with direct engagement in the different issues.

Of course, we were courted by many of the DSA's that we have not joined yet. We are already members in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Russia and Turkey, and applying in France as well as with the German UV-DV. But they all want us ....

It will be interesting to follow some of the issues that are currently on the table. More on that later.

From Brussels: Big DSA day

Belgium is quite an interesting country. It has always intrigued me and I'm sure many others. Also in the Nikken world, sometimes overlooked or seen as an outsider. But then, suddenly, people from both language groups start creating momentum and Belgium starts to climb the charts of top European countries. Belgium did a great February and almost, almost beat Holland that we usually hear more about.

The business knows no boundaries, really. Romania climbed nicely in February, beating Denmark. Hungary had a great month and established itself clearly as the third largest market in Europe after Germany and France.

Writing this in central Brussels, waiting to meet delegates of FEDSA, the European Federation of Direct Selling Associations. This is the industry organization that does lobbying for us directly at the EU level. They are doing some good work, including a recent study that really supports the industry and has been presented to EU politicians. Most national DSAs are members of FEDSA, but also some large, international companies as corporate members. We are applying for membership tomorrow and it will be interesting to hear what happens in the corridors of Brussels when it comes to Direct Selling.

Also tomorrow, our application for the new German counterpart, UV-DV, will be handled.

So by the end of tomorrow we might have joined two more strong forces to promote direct selling in Europe.

Speaking of which, the very active and well managed Swedish DSA has its annual gala in Stockholm on Saturday. NIKKEN is of course represented and there will be photos from the event available here soon.