Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, March 16, 2019

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 16, 2019 

Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


How Estate Planning Can Help 
You Dream About Your Future

A dream without a plan is simply a wish. Estate 
planning is not just about death and taxes -- it puts you 
in the driver’s seat of your financial life, allowing you 
to set achievable goals. But it’s also a great opportunity 
to focus on the legacy you want to leave behind for 
loved ones, help you avoid the expense and delay of 
probate, as well as help you save on taxes.

Putting Your Dreams on Paper

When putting together your estate plan, think about 
what legacy you want to leave behind. The best way to 
do so is to write down your wishes. Consider the values 
you want to promote. Think about important family 
traditions you want to encourage or memories you 
want to preserve. Rather than a just dry discussion of 
what happens to your assets, including these wishes in 
your documents makes your plan relatable and more 
meaningful for your family. Because you’ve passed 
along values and wisdom along with your financial 
wealth, you will have solidified and furthered your 
dreams, hopes, and aspirations you have for your 
family, even though you are no longer with them. 

For your estate plan to effectively pass along your 
values and wisdom, it should: 

(1) clearly state who you are leaving your assets to; 

(2) give an explanation as to why an individual is 
receiving a particular asset;

(3) provide guidance about how you want a beneficiary 
to benefit from your assets (e.g. what “education” you 
intend to help with, whether or how you want to 
instill a work ethic, what you mean by “support,” etc.); 

(4) make sure that those assets are received by your 
beneficiaries at the right time to maximize their 
benefit, and 

(5) protect your legacy from being taken by estate 
taxes, creditors, predatory lawsuits, government 
claims or divorce. 

You even have the opportunity to protect your legacy 
beyond your beneficiaries’ lifetimes into future 
generations if you want to do so.

Estate Planning Basics & Benefits

There are several benefits of developing an estate 
plan with your legacy in mind. You can help the 
next generation become empowered to achieve 
competence, character, and confidence. You can also 
preserve and reinforce your family’s core values and 
traditions. 

In addition to preserving your legacy after you die, a 
comprehensive estate plan can provide guidance for 
managing your affairs if you become incapacitated 
and unable make decisions for yourself. Some basic 
documents that should be included in your estate plan 
are: 

* A will: A written document that states who you 
want to inherit your property and names a guardian 
to care for your minor children or disabled family 
members. The use of a will as your primary estate 
planning strategy does require the court process 
known as probate.

* A trust: A legal structure which holds property 
for your benefit during your life and for the benefit of 
your beneficiaries after your death. The use of a “fully 
funded” trust allows your beneficiaries to avoid the 
costly and time-consuming process of probate.

* A healthcare directive: A written document that 
spells out your wishes for healthcare and end-of-life 
choices when you are unable to make these decisions 
for yourself.

* A financial power of attorney: A written document 
giving a trusted person authority to handle your 
finances and property on your behalf.

Guidance From Estate Planning Attorneys

A skilled estate planning attorney can help you make 
your dreams a reality by communicating them 
through a well thought-out estate plan. Contact us 
today to learn about your options.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your 
wealth and defining your legacy,

,

A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on 
a mission to help parents protect what they 
love most. His office is located at 55 Auburn 
Avenue, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an 
appointment to sit down and talk about ensuring 
a legacy of love and financial security for your 
family by calling 626.355.4000 or visit www.
GarlettLaw.com for more information.

HOW TO DISAPPEAR: NOTES ON INVISIBILITY IN 
A TIME OF TRANSPARENCY by Akiko Busch 

It is time to reevaluate the merits of the inconspicuous life, to search 
out some an-tidote to continuous exposure, and to reconsider the value 
of going unseen, unde-tected, or overlooked in this new world. Might 
invisibility be regarded not simply as refuge, but as a condition with its 
own meaning and power? The impulse to es-cape notice is not about 
complacent isolation or senseless conformity, but about maintaining 
identity, autonomy, and voice. In our networked and image-saturated 
lives, the notion of disappearing has never been more alluring. Today, 
we are re-lentlessly encouraged, even conditioned, to reveal, share, and 
promote ourselves. The pressure to be public comes not just from our 
peers, but from vast and perva-sive technology companies that want to 
profit from patterns in our behavior. A lifelong student and observer of 
the natural world, Busch sets out to explore her own uneasiness with 
this arrangement, and what she senses is a widespread desire for a less scrutinized way of life—for 
invisibility. Writing in rich painterly detail about her own life, her family, and some of the world’s 
most exotic and remote places, she savors the pleasures of being unseen. Discovering and dramatizing 
a wonderful range of ways of disappearing, from virtual reality goggles that trick the wearer 
into believing her body has disappeared to the way Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway finds a sense 
of affiliation with the world around her as she ages, Busch deliberates on subjects new and old with 
equal sensitivity and incisiveness. How to Disappear is a unique and exhilarating accomplishment, 
overturning the dangerous modern assumption that somehow fame and visibility equate to success 
and hap-piness. Busch presents a field guide to invisibility, reacquainting us with the mer-its of 
remaining inconspicuous, and finding genuine alternatives to a life of per-petual exposure. Accessing 
timeless truths in order to speak to our most urgent contemporary problems, she inspires us to 
develop a deeper appreciation for per-sonal privacy in a vast and intrusive world.

SEVEN SECRETS OF SLIM PEOPLE by Vikki Hansen , 
Shawn Goodman

Explains why diets fail, and tells how to develop healthy eating habits 
and avoid eating for emotional reasons. How do naturally thin 
people stay so slim? Face it. Diets don't work. All they do is create a 
chronic cycle of weight loss and gain that's nearly impossible to escape. 
But you don't have to be fat and unhappy forever. Now, at last, 
here's a long term, lifetime solution you can count on—an inspira-
tional, step-by-step plan that will help you achieve total health and 
your ideal body weight. Sound too good to be true? It's not! By following 
these seven secrets, you will take control of your eating habits 
and change your life forever. With this groundbreaking, time-tested 
program you'll get a new taste of freedom—the free-dom to look and 
feel great without giving up the foods you love. You’ve got noth-ing 
to lose...except the weight. 

THE ESCAPE (John Puller Book 3)by David Baldacci 

Special Agent Puller's brother is the country's most wanted criminal, but 
his con-viction points to a cover-up--and a dangerous enemy bent on burying 
the truth in this bestselling thriller. It’s a prison unlike any other. Military 
discipline rules. Its security systems are unmatched. None of its prisoners 
dream of escaping. They know it's impossible...until now. John Puller's 
older brother, Robert, was convicted of treason. His inexplicable escape 
from prison makes him the most wanted crimi-nal in the country. Some 
in the government believe that John Puller represents their best chance at 
capturing Robert alive, and so Puller must bring in his brother to face justice. 
But Puller quickly discovers that his brother is pursued by others who 
don't want him to survive. Puller is in turn pushed into an uneasy, fraught 
partnership with another agent, who may have an agenda of her own. They dig more deeply into 
the case together, and Puller finds that not only are her allegianc-es unclear, but there are troubling 
details about his brother's conviction...and someone out there doesn't want the truth to ever come 
to light. As the nationwide manhunt for Robert grows more urgent, Puller's masterful skills as an 
investigator and strengths as a fighter may not be enough to save his brother--or himself.


All Things By Jeff Brown

RUPERT SPIRA(NON-DUALITY)

Ask yourself what has never been, and could never be, parted from you, and re-main with that, as 
that.The knowing of our being—or rather, awareness’s knowing of its own being in us—is our primary 
experience, our most fundamental and in-timate experience. It is in this experience that all the 
peace, happiness, and love we have ever longed for reside. The happiness we have sought for so long 
outside of ourselves, in situations, objects, and relationships, turns out to be always present, always 
available, in the simple knowing of our own being as it is.The knowing of our own aware being shines 
in each one of us Because this simplest, most obvi-ous, most familiar, and intimate experience is to 
the mind not a thing, or nothing, it is overlooked or forgotten by the vast majority of humanity. The 
overlooking of our own being is the root cause of all unhappiness and, therefore, the root cause of our 
search for happiness. And in the end there's happiness itself with no one their.


THE MISSING PAGE

Real Life Tips from LIfe's Instruction Manual


I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN IT

Relationships are tricky. Anytime human beings come together there 
is the potential for disagreement and misunderstanding. Two people 
can recall or see a situation differently. In the heat of battle, it's difficult 
to be gracious and offer another person the benefit of the doubt. It's 
hard to remember that it's possible to be wrong or to entertain another 
perspective without evil intent. Being right, correct, or believing yourself 
to be blameless serves only to exacerbate conflict. Sometimes we 
forget ourselves. We forget to protect the tenderness and vulnerability 
of the relationship. Tempers flare and words are spoken that can be 
hurtful and damaging.

How do we recover when things go too far?

How can we apologize? An apology is an acknowledgment of wrongdoing coupled with remorse. It 
requires awareness. It is impossible to apologize when you don't think that you have done wrong.

An apology requires a strength of character. An apology takes self-awareness and empathy.

Saying, "I'm sorry you feel wronged." Is not the same thing as, "I'm sorry for what I did and how it 
made you feel." If you're not able to identify the transgression, perhaps it's better that you wait until 
you have more insight.

Validate the other person's experience. State and reflect on what went wrong. Be specific and state 
what you're apologizing for and why.

Do not justify or minimize your actions.

Do not blame the other person. Show your awareness of how your behavior made the other person 
feel.

Take corrective action and make sure that error doesn't happen again.

Expect it to take time to receive an improvement 
in your interactions.

Continue to work on repairing the relationship. 
The ability to form connections 
and friendships is the best thing 
about being human, don't let one bad 
thing ruin everything. Look for the 
good, leave the rest.

-- 

Lori A. Harris is a Life Mastery Consultant and 
the developer and creator of the Gratitude Train 
App, look for where you get your smartphone apps. 
Want to learn more? Look for Lori at Loriaharris.
com and get a complimentary strategy session.

FAULKN RED SIGNE

MOTION GRAPHICS.PRINT. AND WEB DESIGN626-644.7780aa
Sierra Madre Playhouse Presents: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE Starring Jackson Kendall and Larry Eisenberg

The autobiographical story of Mitch Albom, an accomplished journalist driven solely by his career, and Morrie Schwartz, his former college professor. Sixteen years after graduation, Mitch happens to catch 
Morrie's appearance on a television news program and learns that his old professor is dying. Mitch is reunited with Morrie, and what starts as a simple visit turns into a weekly pilgrimmage and a last class in 
the meaning of life.


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