Christie's To Auction 'Perfect' Diamond: Mined in Botswana - Updated - Bought by Harry Winston

                                                                    

Another one I won't be getting!

AUCTION house Christie's says it will put up for auction "one of the world's most perfect diamonds" - a new colourless, pear-shaped gem weighing 101.73 carats. 

In the rough, the diamond was 236 carats when it was extracted from the Jwaneng mine in Botswana, before it was meticulously sculpted for 21 months, Christie's said.

The diamond "has literally been sculpted like a work of art," Rahul Kadakia, who heads Christie's jewellery division in Switzerland and the Americas, said in a statement, describing the gem as "one of the most beautiful 'white' diamonds Christie's has ever had the honour of offering for sale".

The May 15 auction in Geneva will mark the first time the rock goes on sale, and the buyer will have the privilege of naming it.

The American Institute of Gemology has handed the gemstone the top colourless grade D and the best clarity grade, "flawless", Christie's said, also hailing the diamond's "absolute symmetry".

In this category, the reigning world champion is the Cullinan Diamond, a gem weighing 530.2 carats that is part of the British crown jewels.

Last November, Christie's sold the flawless 76-carat Archduke Joseph Diamond (below) on auction in Geneva for $US21.5 million.

                                                                 
And in May 2011, a heart-shaped 56-carat diamond was auctioned off for $10.9 million.

The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond,below, which is in the same D-colour category but weighs in at only 33.19 carats, was meanwhile sold for $8.8 million at auction in New York in December 2011.

                                                                             
Before going on sale in Geneva, the new diamond will go on tour to New York and Hong Kong in April, Christie's said.

                                                                    

Update: Harry Winston buys the 102 carat Botswana Diamond for $US26.7 million.

With thanks to The Australian
Related: 

 "Pink Star" Diamond sells for record $89m

Elizabeth Taylor's famous pearl sells for $11.84m at NYC auction

Sotheby's to sell 400-year-old diamond - The Beau Sancy

Christie's To Auction 'Perfect' Diamond: Mined in Botswana

White diamond set to fetch record $39 million at Sotheby's auction

Archduke Joseph Gem To Fetch At Least $15m at Auction 

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The Story Of Appreciation

   

By: sugarnspice4u

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV, that the youth's academic result is excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never has a year he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarship in school?" and the youth answered "none".

The director asked, “Is it your father pay for your school fees?" the youth answered, my father passed away when I was one year old, it is my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother worked?" the youth answered, my mother worked as cloth cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands, the youth showed a pair of hands that was smooth and perfect to the director.

The director asked, “Did you ever help your mother washed the cloth before?" The youth answered, never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books, furthermore, and my mother can wash cloths faster than me.

The director said, I had a request, when you go back today, go and help to clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt that its chance of landing the job is high, when he went back, he happily wanted to clean his mother's hands, his mother feels strange, happy but mixed with fear, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly, his tear drop down as he did that. It is first time he found his mother's hand is so wrinkled, and there are so many bruises in her hands. 

Some bruises incite pains so strong that shiver her mother's body when cleaned with water.

This is the first time the youth realized and experienced that it is this pair of hands that washed the cloth everyday to earn him the school fees, the bruises in the mother's hands is the price that the mother paid for his graduation and academic excellence and probably his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly cleaned all remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and sons talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office

The director noticed the tear in the youth's eye, asked: “Can you tell you what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, “I cleaned my mother's hands, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The director asked, “please tell me your feeling."

The youth said, Number 1, I knew what is appreciation, without my mother, there would not the successful me today.

Number 2, I knew how to work together with my mother, then only I can realize how difficult and tough to get something done. 

Number 3, I knew the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am asking, I want to recruit a person that can appreciate the help of other, a person that knew the suffering of others to get thing done, and a person that would not put money as his only goal in life to be my manager. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates, every employees worked diligently and in a team, the company's result improved tremendously.

A child who has been protected and habitually given whatever he did, he developed "entitlement mentality" and always put himself first. He is ignorance of his parent's effort. 

When he started work, he assumed every people must listen to him, and when he became a manager, he would never know how suffering his employee and always blame others.

For this kind of people, he can have a good result, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement, he will grumble and full of hatred and fight for more.

If we are this kind of protective parent, did we love the kid or destroy the kid?

You can let your kid lived in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experienced it. After a meal, let them washed their plate and bowl together with their brothers and sisters.

It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. 

You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parent are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. 

The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learn the ability to work with others to get thing done.

With many thanks to The Experience Project.

Picture Credit: Knowing The Path and Walking the Path Blog

Many thanks to Edith for sending me this important piece.

                                                            

The Consciousness Challenge - Help Raise Consciousness On Earth

                                                                  
                                                                        

Watch the webinar here.

Everything you need to know is here.


The All Knowing Diary now available on Kindle.

For further updates from Daniel and UI see his Facebook page

 

Nine Surprisingly Easy Ways to Develop Intuition

                                                                 

Very helpful advice in the article below!

Another way is to read The All Knowing Diary, check out the Accessing Universal Intelligence site, or do some of their courses.

They are all connected.

Intuition is that deep inner feeling or hunch we have about something that we often can’t explain with any reason or logic.

According to Florence Scovel Shinn: “Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way.”

Our intuition or as it’s sometimes called our “sixth sense” generally communicates with us through our feelings and emotions and is triggered through channels within our subconscious mind.

The important thing to remember is that everyone one of us is born with intuition. As children we use it all the time as we generally base all our decisions on our instincts. Why’s that? Simply because we don’t know any better.

However, as we grow older, our developed minds become more analytical, rationalized and logical. This all results in us neglecting and losing touch with our powers of intuition.
But don’t sweat. Just like any out of conditioned muscle in the body, your intuition can be exercised and developed back into prime shape in no time.

Below are some easy ways to develop intuition so you can become more connected with yourself and the universe as a whole.

1. Meditate. Calming your mind and slowing down your thoughts allow you to focus and help you develop intuition power. Light a scented candle, settle down on some soft cushions, and close your eyes. Try to stop thinking and just focus on the aroma from the candle. This exercise not only helps develop intuition but helps develop your senses, as well.

2. Get creative. When you express your thoughts through writing, drawing, painting, and other creative endeavors, you also build your intuition.

3. Listen to your subconscious. The more you pay attention to and have silent conversations with your inner self, the more you develop gut feeling. Take time regularly to sit down somewhere quiet and listen to the voice in your ear, feel the sensations in your gut, and see the images in your mind’s eye.

4. Do memory tests. Stimulating your brain helps develop intuition. Summon a memory of a random event in your life. Focus on this memory and try to recall the little details such as the color of the dress you were wearing, the weather, the smell of herbs on the table, the sound of traffic in the background.

5. You cannot develop intuition without taking care of yourself. Nourish your body with wholesome foods. Get enough rest and physical exercise. Nourish your mind with positive thoughts. Nourish your soul with prayer and good intentions.

6. Be active. Performing a physical activity on a regular basis can help develop intuition. This is because alertness in the body results in alertness in the mind. Try to stay active with activities such as swimming, tai chi, running, or walking.

7. There are many exercises to develop intuition. Here’s one that uses symbolic intuition: Get a sheet of paper and a pen. Sit down and focus on the question “What do I need in my life right now?” Ask yourself this question three times in a row. Pause after each question and try to imagine that you are moving towards a more profound answer every time you ask. After the third time, pick up the pen and draw a symbol on the sheet of paper. Interpret this symbol. Think about what it suggests you need to have or need to lose in your life.

8. Guess. Every day, use your intuition to try to answer questions about some simple observations. Keep an intuition notebook to record your experiences.
Practice on everyday things and ask questions such as: “Will the next traffic light be red, yellow, or green?” When the phone rings, ask yourself “Who is on the other line?” Try to do this for some time and you might be surprised by how accurate your guesses can be.

9. To develop intuition, try to solve a problem by doing this exercise:
Sit somewhere quiet and close your eyes. State the problem in your head. Visualize yourself walking in a sunlit path in the woods. You are walking up a hill. When you reach the top, you see that there is a beautiful lake. As you get closer to it, you see that there are huge, flat stones that you can step on to walk out into the water.

You hop from stone to stone until you reach the middle of the lake and then you lie down and look at the water. The glassy surface of the water suddenly becomes cloudy and in it appears a scene that holds the answer to your problem. Visualize this scenario until you figure out what it means.

Rediscovering your intuition will equip you with greater knowledge, a peace of mind, and a deep inner confidence to take action in your life so you can create your dreams.
Start to develop intuition today by practicing some simple but effective techniques that I’ve mentioned above.

Through intuition you possess a powerful tool that will help lead you toward to happy, successful and more fulfilling life. When used properly it can provide you with all life’s answers, solutions and ideas. Discover effective ways to develop intuition so that your goals and success are guaranteed.

By Rhodri Jones and Robert N Jones

                                                                 
With many thanks to Wisdom a la Carte

Picture credit: Powered By Intuition

Andrew Jobling: The Angel Inside You Just Needs To Be Set Free

                                                                    

                                                                         

It is impossible to doubt the genius of Michelangelo. If you need any further convincing check out the Sistine Chapel virtual tour. And there is so much more.

I am most fortunate to have seen the actual statue of David, and I was told by our tour guide that it was a symbol of Florence, created to symbolise the Florentine attitude to times of conflict, as well as representing the Biblical hero.

More information here. And also in the You Tube clip above.

The author has made a very clever analogy!

Free the ‘real you' and get rid of the limiting beliefs that are holding you back.

My gorgeous wife Laura spoke of some things I didn’t know this week and it really sparked an interest in me. Laura comes from a proud Italian heritage and she told me all about the famous Statue of David in Florence. 

Did you know that the statue, representing the biblical hero David, stands 5.17 metres (17 feet) tall and was carved from one single block of marble between the years of 1501 and 1504 by artist Michelangelo? 

Can you imagine having one massive 10 ton block of marble in front of you and, from it, creating such beauty and such detail as was the Statue of David? 

I did some research and was most inspired and excited by a couple of quotes by the artist Michelangelo. When he was asked how he made the statue he was reported to have said, “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.” 

Then he made the statement that has really inspired this weeks article … “I saw the angel in the marble and I just carved until I set him free.”

When I look at the statue I am in absolute awe.

 Laura has actually seen it in Florence and has stood before it … in her words, she says it is “overwhelmingly majestic with its own powerful energy … like it is singing to me.” She said she stood there for 20 minutes - staring - lost in it’s majesty and power. Just an incredible vision of beauty, power and majesty which all started from a massive lump of marble!

That beauty, power and majesty is inside of you You may be wondering where I am heading with all of this talk about the Statue of David. It must have a point, and it does … an incredibly significant and profound one.

Michelangelo spoke about the ‘angel in the marble’ that just needed to be ‘set free’. 

The Statue of David is you! You are the angel in the marble – the simple question is; have you set yourself free yet?

Michelangelo stated that it is easy … just chip away the bits that don’t look like you. You know, deep down, the person that you want to be …don’t you? You want to be happy, healthy, confident, successful, significant, lean, loved and loving – anything else you can think of? 

Do you know that the person you want to be is already inside of you?

You just need to chip away the things that are covering the real you – the things that are not you but are masking the angel that lies underneath.

I am talking about getting rid of the things that are preventing you from being the amazing person that you are – the things stopping you from seeing the beautiful, powerful and majestic winner that is the real you. And believe me … you are amazing! 

So what is holding you back? What is keeping the angel stuck beneath the surface? What is preventing the real you from showing your majesty? Is it lack of belief? Is it low self esteem? Is it lack of confidence or fear of failure? Is it worrying about what other people will think? 

Those things are not you – they are roadblocks preventing the real you from shining through and showing what you are capable of.

So ... are you ready to chisel?

Get a chisel and start chipping … The first step is to really believe that the angel is in you. This is the first layer of chiseling you need to begin with. So think now - and I mean right now – of things that you have already achieved in your life. Think of the things that you are proud of; the work you do, the family you have raised and/or the courses you have completed.

Think of the people you have impacted, the home you live in, the way you look or have looked and the hills you have climbed. Think of the hardest thing you have ever done … the thing that took an incredible effort and, at times, you wanted to give up on. Think about how you kept going and you got it done! 

With all this achievement, how could you possibly not believe in yourself or your own power?

Are you with me?

Okay, the next level of chiseling is to start to chip away at the voice in your head that is saying ‘I can’t’ and begin replacing it with the voice telling you that you can and you deserve the best. 

Start telling yourself that you can, you have and you will. Start affirming what you want by writing down and reading positive, empowering and abundance statements to yourself everyday. This will take some time, consistency and discipline but the result will be setting free the angel – the powerful and amazing you - that is underneath.

When you look in the mirror do you see the beautiful and majestic Statue of David, or do you see a lump of rock? 

Either way the news is great. If you are facing a lump of marble … look deeply and see the angel that lies underneath, then simply start carving until you set it free. 

You are the Michelangelo of your life!

With many thanks to Andrew Jobling who wrote this piece, and thanks to GR for sending it to me.

Florence: the city of The Renaissance, and the place of my birth, showing the Duomo.