Photo by Nikolay Botvinnik
“People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately.”
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
BUT
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Worry less and smile more often
THE END
Gratitude awards
A few days ago I have been nominated by Theresa for the Gratitude Awards. As Theresa says in her award post, one of the great benefits of exchanging awards is that it helps meeting new interesting bloggers in the blogosphere. Theresa’s Soul Gatherings was one of such new blogs that I came across last week and enjoyed a lot. Visit Soul Gatherings and enjoy the stories, quotes, images and other Theresa’s ‘soul gatherings’.
And now -THE RULES:
1-Display the award logo on your blog.
2-Link back to the person who nominated you.
3-Answer 7 questions.
4-Nominate (no limit of nominations) other bloggers for this award and link back to them.
5-Notify those bloggers of the award requirements.
In keeping with nomination guidelines, here are my answers to the 7 questions:
1) If you could create your own planet, what would it look like?
It would be a very colourful one with lots of laughter, happiness and songs and no misery at all. Only smiles.
2) If you could visit one nation you have never visited before, what nation would that be?
I can’t choose one as there are so many cultures I would be interested in visiting. However ‘Global Citizens’ are the ‘nation’ that appeals to me the most: people, who feel the ‘oneness’ of all human beings on this planet; people, who freed themselves from the ‘us vs. others’ stereotype.
3) Have you ever taken a long-distance train trip?
I’ve done a few long-distance train trips when I was a child. I lived in Russia at that time and travelled by train to Ukraine to spend summer holidays with my grandparents, uncles, aunties and numerous cousins. The whole trip took between 36 to 48 hours and required changing the train a few times.
4) What is something you would collectively change about humanity?
Theresa answered that question so well, that I simply quote her: “More tolerance, compassion and understanding of others, recognizing that we all have far more in common than differences. Hopefully, that would bring more cooperation and working together for the needs of the many, rather than the needs of the few. Peace.” That reflects my thoughts 100% – I would not be able to put it better into words.
5) What is your favorite song?
Lots and lots and lots. Like different styles and genres from opera to folk and pop music. Among my favourites is a beautiful song called ‘Smile’ by Nat King Cole. I got it embedded at the end of this post. Hope it will make you smile 🙂 .
6) If you could meet one person who is still alive, who would you choose to meet?
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama – again, totally agree with Theresa on that. I would also love to meet Osho. Unfortunately, he died a few decades ago, but his thoughts are still alive. I have a few of his sayings on my blog, e.g. :
7) If you could choose one symbol to represent you, what would that symbol be and why?
A smile – big, happy, infectious and real, with joy sparkling in the eyes (not one of those Hollywood/Bollywood mock ups).
Hm, it looks like now we got to the nominations bit. I always find it very hard to select bloggers for award nominations, as there are so many wonderful bloggers to choose from. Therefore I decided to nominate any of my followers or visitors, who made someone smile today. However there is a catch – if you want to accept this nomination, you need to add a comment to this post with a story of that smile: either a story of how you made someone smile today or any other ‘smiling’ story. 🙂
THE END
Wherever you go, whoever you meet…
From Sheri Shares
Sometimes you need to talk to a two year old…
THE END
What story are you telling yourself?
From Hippie Peace Freaks
“We tell ourselves stories every day. This is a story. A story of how we take the events of our lives and turn them into memories. And of how we can remake those memories by telling new stories to change our lives.
Every story is built on themes and although there can be an infinite number of stories there are a limited number of themes. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what our lives are about are just so. We can be the hero, antagonist or victim. Our lives can be heroic or tragic, fulfilling or empty, happy or sad. It all depends on the story we write and the stage on which we perform.
Just as a stage contains props to support a play, so do we select from life’s myriad events the bits and pieces of evidence we use to support our life stories. If ours’ is a story of popularity, we remember only what supports that story. Conversely, if our story is that of rejection we’ll only remember the looks, remarks and behavior that make us feel rejected. We store these as memories and replay them whenever we want to relive or convince ourselves that the story is true.
Most of the time we don’t even realize how our life story determines what we’ll remember. Or how we force the events in our life to conform to that story….
Our memories are amendable and adjustable to the stories we tell ourselves. When we recall a memory we can subtly alter and update it to our story so that when the brain stores it again, it is no longer the memory it once was. That means if our memories are painful or unpleasant we can alter them simply by telling a different story when they arise. It also means that if we don’t like the story we’ve been telling, we cannot only change it but the memories that support it as well.
Memories are not just images that we replay in our minds but the emotions we bring forth as well. So if we can alter our memories we can also change our feelings.”
From Memory
From Memories
* * *
What story are you telling yourself?
My First Award Bouquet with 4 awards!!!
From Flower Power
In May a received two Award Bouquets from Ajay for choosing three awards from. There were 7 awards in the first bouquet with a few awards that I’ve never seen before. The second bouquet had 6 awards.
I also received another Liebster Blog Award from Codedjeannie. Thanks a lot Ajay and Codedjeannie for nominations. Much appreciated. To spread your love and kind thoughts further in the blogosphere, I decided to make my first award bouquet and pass it to all my visitors and followers.
My dear visitors and followers, feel free to choose one award from the list and pass it on. Enjoy 🙂
Wonderful Team Membership Award
Last month I was swamped with awards. I believe that passing on awards is an important part of ‘blogosphere membership’, as it allows bloggers to get to know each other better and develop closer relationship in a virtual world. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day and I could not free any of them for writing award posts. Will try to make up for that now. Thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who nominated Otrazhenie. Your patience is appreciated. 🙂
Here is the first award from my May list:
Ajay kindly nominated my blog for the Wonderful Team Membership Award. Ajay is a wonderful team member himself, very supportive of other bloggers. I have been following Ajay’s blog for a few months and enjoy his posts a lot. Check it out – I’m sure you’ll love it.
The rules are as follows;
1.The Nominee of the Wonderful Team member Readership Award shall display the logo on his/her blog.
2.The Nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days, all at once or little by little.
3.The Nominee shall name his/her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during 7 days.
Below are my 14 nominees in no particular order.
These people have been following my blog for quite a while, commenting on my posts and sharing their thoughts. I feel so lucky to have met them in the blogosphere and enjoy a lot our long blogo-conversations.
Every child should have a caring adult in their lives…
“Every child should have a caring adult in their lives. And that’s not always a biological parent or family member. It may be a friend or neighbor. Often times it is a teacher.”
Joe Manchin
From Big Buddy
Today I came across two videos created in different parts of the world that reflect this point so well. The first one is a very touching commercial by the Ministry of Education of Singapore:
The second video was created in USA. It tells about the Year Up programme – a one-year intensive training program that provides low-income young adults, ages 18-24, with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education:
What about you? Who was that special adult (or adults) in your life?
Believe nothing…
“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.”
Buddha
Related posts:
- Do not be fearful of challenging your own beliefs…
- Don’t just teach your children to read…
- The best teachers are those…
- Minds are like parachutes…
- Governments don’t want a population…
- Intelligence
- The illiterate of the 21st century…
THE END
Otrazhenie 