It freezes. It melts. It evaporates. Water exists in solid, liquid, and gaseous states and, given specific conditions, it transforms itself repeatedly throughout the course of time. It’s a wondrous thing. Humans also have the ability to transform themselves in many ways, and on an ongoing basis. If we choose wisely and try to better ourselves and the world, perhaps we, too, can become wondrous things.
#1 – A Better Life Are you 100% satisfied with your life right now? Most likely not, because there’s always some aspect of our lives that can stand improvement. Here’s a list of 100 Ways To Live A Better Life. Sure, it’s a long list, but there’s probably at least one thing on this list that will make your life better.
#2 – Tilt-Shift Using special camera lenses and techniques, photographers are able to keep their camera bodies parallel to their subject matter, while tilting their camera lenses at different angles to bring their subject matter into view with less distortion. Landscapers and architects employ tilt-shift technology when photographing their work, but as you can see in 16 Incredible Van Gogh Paintings Tilt Shifted, tilt-shifting can be used in creative photography as well.
#3 – Ways to Wear a Scarf
Scarves are indispensable fashion accessories; they transform ho-hum outfits into stylish ensembles. It goes without saying, that the the more scarves you have and the more ways you know how to tie scarves, the more fashionable and stylish you will be. In this short video, you’ll learn 25 ways to wear a scarf.
#4 – Is Your Future Green? Please do your share and help planet Earth. Make 2014 the year you resolve to go more green. To help you, here is the Ultimate Guide to Going Green in 2014.
#5 – Choose Wisely
“My circumstances do not make me what I am, they reveal who I have chosen to be.” Wayne Dyer
Purple flowers with yellow centers pose against a golden summer backdrop. These two colors sit on opposite sides of a color wheel making them complementary colors. In the world of color theory, they are a dynamic duo. Perhaps, a hopeful lesson for the world can be extrapolated from this theory: that despite being far apart (in color, beliefs, origins, etc.), entities can come together, work together, and bring out the best in each other.
#1 – Color Palettes Whether painting a piece of art, decorating your home, coordinating your wardrobe, or planning a wedding, choosing the perfect color palette can be difficult. There are many online sites that offer help. One such site is Design Seeds where you can “find the palettes you love.” Searches can be done by color value or by theme.
#2 – Make Music Click on a square on the Op Art Sound Matrix grid and you have the first note of your song. It is an entertaining and hypnotic little diversion. As far as I can tell, to create another song, you have to leave the page and come back.
#3 – Get Ready to Eat Fall Desserts Am I rushing things by sharing 35+ Fall Desserts with you? Not really. The autumnal equinox is only two days away! Stop drooling and click on the link, so that you can get to the mouth-watering recipes ASAP!
#4 – Life = Risk
If you can spare a minute, watch this motivational video. It may change your outlook on life and the way you view people.
#5 – Spread Your Wings
“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you’re going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.” ― C. JoyBell C.
Two is better than one, three is better than two, four is better than three, and so on. Being a part of something larger and grander, lends us support and strength and gives us a better perspective. No matter what each of us is experiencing, good or bad, life is just better when shared with others.
#1 – Shape The Hive Be part of a creative community and help SHAPE THE HIVE, a digital interactive art piece. The website states: “SHAPE THE HIVE, at its foundation, is a creative community. Members contribute pieces that, when combined with others, will form a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.” Participants create and add images to cells using their own photographs. The built in software allows participants to manipulate their images to give their cells different kaleidoscopic effects. This is so easy and fun to do!
#2 – Makes Me Think
A while back I posted a link to a site called Makes Me Think: Today’s Thought-Provoking Life Stories. People submit entries about occurrences and observations that made them think (MMT). Recently, I came across this site again and I remembered to bookmark it on my computer this time. Reading the entries always engulfs me in an array of emotions and often times renews my faith in my fellow man. Here is a sampling:
Today, I went for a run and decided to go thru my town’s cemetery. While I was looking around, I came across an older women in a lawn chair reading a book next to a grave. I began talking to her, assuming she’d lost her husband recently, but it turns out she has done this every week for the past five years. Her love and devotion MMT.
Today, I am 16-years-old. I learned CPR yesterday in health class. I had no idea I would have to perform CPR on someone this afternoon. And when the paramedics arrived, they told me I undoubtedly saved my mom’s life. MMT
Today, instead of calling the cops on the homeless man that was caught stealing canned soup from the grocery store where I work, the store manager bought the homeless man an entire case of the canned soup he was stealing and told the man he’d prefer never to catch him stealing again. MMT
#3 – A Word To The Wise We’ve all heard about clothes dryer fires, but how many of us have heard about dishwasher fires? I normally don’t write about these types of things, but a friend recently shared her dishwasher fire experience with me and I think it is information well worth sharing. The interior of her home is being completely gutted, because of the extensive fire, water, heat, smoke, and soot damage. In her words,” . . . the common culprit appears to be an electrical defect in the control panel that was used by many manufacturers in the late 90s up through 2005-2009. Many, many models by many manufacturers are under recall – but nobody knows! Like many people, I did not register my appliances because I didn’t want to be flooded with junk mail/e-mail. Most manufacturers have a place on their website where you can check which serial numbers are under recall. Encourage people to do it – and to register appliances. Also, do not run the dishwasher when leaving the house or going to bed.”
#4 – When The Mind Says Goodbye
After listening to my friends tell me their stories of dealing with parents who have Alzheimer’s Disease and after watching this video, my eyes were opened to this sad and cruel disease.
#5 – Counting Hours
“Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.”
~Anonymous
Show someone you care this weekend and your weekend will become infinitely better!
Delicate porcelain-like petals unfurl into a creamy kiss of pink — First Kiss to be exact. All the qualities of a first kiss can be seen in its blossoms: blush, innocence, and joy. Admiring the beauty of this rose had me wondering about the person who named it. This person’s first kiss must have left an everlasting imprint. Do you remember your first kiss?
#1 – 96 Seconds of Joy
This video has been around for awhile, but it never fails to make me smile. The pure joy the dog exhibits is a reminder for all of us to live in the moment and to do what we love with gusto!
#2 – Amazing Product Designs
Bottle Opener Cell Phone Case
Loving clever and innovative designs, I always enjoy sharing them. Some of these designs, compiled by Glorious Mind, are Eco-friendly, some of them are extraordinarily clever, and some of them are just playful.
#3 – Homemade Hand Scrub After a long day working in the garden or around the house, it’s nice to treat your hands to a moisturizing scrub. From the site StyleList comes this recipe for Black “Sand” Scrub, a scrub packed with good things:
1 cup leftover coffee grounds
2 tablespoons macadamia oil
1/4 cup of steel cut oats
Contents of 1 tea bag of high antioxidant tea
Combine coffee, oil, oats, and tea in a small disposable bowl until everything is well-blended in the oil. Scrub into skin using a circular motion.
#4 – Three Simple Materials
By Kumi Yamashita
Last Friday I featured an artist who used thread and nails to create huge rainbow-like art installations. This week I’m featuring a talented Japanese artist named Kumi Yamashita who uses similar media to create portraits. Of her Constellation series, Yamashita says, “This body of work consists of three simple materials that, when combined, produce the portraits: a wooden panel painted a solid white, thousands of small galvanized nails, and a single, unbroken, common sewing thread.” While on her website view some of her other amazing portraits made from different media.
#5 – Dreamers and Doers
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. Sarah Ban Breathnach
Rounding the bend and seeing the Ghost-Eye tree, that I had imagined many years ago, those words from a children’s book fluttered back into my consciousness. Deep-cut bark created a pattern reminiscent of some exotic animal skin, while twisted gnarly branches became sinewy “arms” that, in a moment’s notice, could reach out and snatch someone. Old branch scars bulged out like “eyes” keeping watch.
When my children were young, I would dramatically read them the tale of The Ghost Eye Tree by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. They loved the scary story of a little boy and his sister who were forced to walk past the dreaded Ghost-Eye Tree in order to fetch a pale of milk on the other side of town. I always told my children it was just make-believe, that there was no real Ghost-Eye Tree. But standing in front of this tree, I realized I was wrong. The Ghost-Eye Tree exists in my imagination because someone planted the seed about it, but my imagination took it a step further and applied it to reality. The notion that minds can convert things in our imagination into reality is powerful. So much of progress and change stems from seedlings in our imaginations. Keeping our minds open to possibilities is what makes the impossible possible.
#1 – Make A Difference Everyday is an opportunity to change lives and to make a difference in this world. But imagine a day when a nation collectively strives to make a difference. On October 27th join others around the nation and participate in Make A Difference Day: National Day of Doing Good. Click here to search for a Make a Difference Day event near you. It does not matter whether what you do to help is on a large or small scale. It just matters that you’re making a difference.
#2 – Virtual Choir
Using his imagination and creativity, composer Eric Whitacre gathered over 2,000 video submissions on You Tube and engineered them into a virtual choir. These beautiful voices from around the world sing together in perfect peaceful harmony.
#3 – Inspired Writing When was the last time you sat down and wrote something for the sheer enjoyment of writing? A document for work or an expository piece for school certainly does not qualify on this count. Go to Short Story Ideas and click on the button that says “Inspire Me!” Three random words will appear in a small white box. Using those words as a source of inspiration, start writing. If you need more inspiration or a different type of inspiration, click on any of the headings in the toolbar at the top. For example, if given the first line, “It was never going to be an ordinary day” or if given the setting, “A bus stop is the location, money is the root of all evil is the theme. A fur coat is an object that plays a part in the story,” what would you write about? Let your imagination flow. Your writing doesn’t have to be perfect or well-thought out. It will not being graded or looked at by anyone else but you, so write because it’s fun, challenging, and good exercise for your brain!
#4 – Advice To Your 15-Year-Old Self Using your imagination, go back in time. Go back to when you were 15. What advice would you give to your 15-year-old self? What things do you wish you’d known back then? In honor of the International Day of the Girl, CNN collected these inspirational thoughts and reflections from remarkable women around the world. Read each of their Things I’d Wish I’d Known.
#5 – Speak Your Truth
“Speak your truth even if your voice shakes. By being yourself, you put something beautiful into the world that was not there before. So walk your path confidently and don’t expect anyone else to understand your journey, especially if they have not been exactly where you are going.” Marc and Angel Hack Life
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It freezes. It melts. It evaporates. Water exists in solid, liquid, and gaseous states and, given specific conditions, it transforms itself repeatedly throughout the course of time. It’s a wondrous thing. Humans also have the ability to transform themselves in many ways, and on an ongoing basis. If we choose wisely and try to better ourselves and the world, perhaps we, too, can become wondrous things.
Are you 100% satisfied with your life right now? Most likely not, because there’s always some aspect of our lives that can stand improvement. Here’s a list of 100 Ways To Live A Better Life. Sure, it’s a long list, but there’s probably at least one thing on this list that will make your life better.
Using special camera lenses and techniques, photographers are able to keep their camera bodies parallel to their subject matter, while tilting their camera lenses at different angles to bring their subject matter into view with less distortion. Landscapers and architects employ tilt-shift technology when photographing their work, but as you can see in 16 Incredible Van Gogh Paintings Tilt Shifted, tilt-shifting can be used in creative photography as well.
Please do your share and help planet Earth. Make 2014 the year you resolve to go more green. To help you, here is the Ultimate Guide to Going Green in 2014.
What about this? 