I could go on and on. The point is this: Life will always have ups and downs. The secret is to flow with tide as best we can. Complaining about what is keeps you from spotting or even creating new opportunities.

In every panic, in every generation, men and women with eyes wide open saw and seized opportunities.

Whether it was George Washington who went on to become president and build his own fortune, or P.T. Barnum who went on to prosper during Civil War, fact remains:

Circumstances don't make you, you make you.

This "bad time" might become greatest period of prosperity for you.

Maybe you just have to relax your demands. In 1941 Bruce Barton wrote, "I have been out of a job three times in my life. Each time I made a survey of my surroundings and discovered that there was work to be done, though not same kind of work I had been doing."

Barton was a best-selling author, Congressman, popular speaker, and founder of one of largest advertising agencies in world, BBDO. He also became a millionaire.

And don't fall for trap that past was better than present. In 1907 famous tycoon John Rockefeller said:

"People sometimes talk as if we older men lived in a day of peculiar opportunity, as if there were no chance today for a young man to do what has been done by my generation of men, as if all avenues were closed, all big things done. Nothing could be more mistaken. Why, time in which I opened my eyes was a midnight of darkness, and this is blazing noon."

A word to wise: Listen, act and prosper.

There are opportunities around you.

Which will you see first and act on now?

This is your time of blazing noon.

Dr. Joe Vitale is the author of way too many books to list here. His latest title is "The Attractor Factor:

5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or anything else) From the Inside Out." Register for his monthly complimentary ezine at http://www.mrfire.com

His Executive Mentoring Program is described at http://www.joe-vitale-executive-mentoring.com/

There are different ways of working, earning and saving that do not invest in earth exploitation - such as LETS (Local Economic Trading System), co-operatives, ethical banking, credit unions and other group activity.

There are different value systems that value hand-made craft item over industrial, mended over built-in obsolescence, home-made or found over purchased, grown over bought.

There are ways of thinking that generate creative new solutions to old problems, helping us all to do more with less. There are improvements in communications that help us all with making these changes.

We can reclaim our power from forces that create poverty with choices we make every day. Respect to Sir Geldof and all who are focusing on problems of poverty. Bringing pressure to bear on G8 for a fairer world is a grand move - but there is only so much that governments can and will do.

Read other articles on poverty and new economics at http://Simon-Mitchell.com

Thirty positive actions for a sustainable Earth: There are many ways we can use our human energy to lighten load on natural resources and tread lightly on our home planet. Check how many of these you do already: http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=49

Eyes down for prize fight: Present philosophy verses eco-philosophy. Henryk Skolimoski provides a startling model of two opposed value systems. This spider diagram reveals a mind map by a genius who was Philosopher in Residence at Dartington Hall. http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42

Economics verses Earth: The laws of human economics are in conflict with laws of Earth. Where do you draw line ? Guest article by Donella Meadows, author of Pulitzer Prize-nominated weekly column, 'The Global Citizen'. http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=41

The Cruel Lords of Nature: Around 10,000 years ago, after Earth had emerged from 90,000 years of last ice age, when mammoths roamed and northern humans shivered in caves, people who lived in fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, in modern day Iraq, invented agriculture. Guest article from author and broadcaster GuyDauncey. http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=40

The End of Education? Prince Charles is right on ball concerning his comments on education. The development of human potential is a crucial issue on 21st century Earth. http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=30

Get creativity? Creativity is central to management of our individual lives, but in modern times few people are able to access this as a resource. Globally at moment there are many problems facing mankind. Diminishing natural resources and increasing populations mean that we are in a spiral of entropy. http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=16

Paradigms of modern disease: A paradigm is a sort of cultural, consensual pattern of thought or model of something. Paradigms change, like impact of Galileo's work on disproving flat-earth theory or Copernicus' heresy that Earth moves round Sun. These new ideas met a great deal of resistance from orthodox philosophy but eventually gave rise to a changed perception of world we live in - a paradigm shift. http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10