Blog Archives
New Year Wishes for Peace and Prosperity!
Wishing you all a wonderful year of peace, prosperity, happiness, good health and endless joy!
As you step into this new year may you be bold and daring enough to believe in your dreams and your ability to accomplish them. Let each day bring positive changes to make your life better and put a smile on your face and the faces of those with whom you come into contact. I hope you realize your potential, set your goals, and take action to complete them. Appreciate the beauty surrounding you, especially the people who love you, and always be thankful for the life with which you have been blessed.
“So may the new year be a happy one to you, and happy to many more whose happiness depends on you!” – Charles Dickens
Solitaire
A Blessing that is Often Overlooked – Books
Envisioning a better future, reliving a glorious past, encouraging us to dream big, or bring happiness – these are all reasons to find importance in reading books. They allow you to escape into a world you may never know and can even help lower stress levels. Reading draws us into a whole range of human emotions that provide wisdom and value and give us a positive distraction that potentially brings so much good into our lives.
Reading books improves confidence and self-esteem, which provides a platform to pursue goals and make decisions in life. Improving our education in almost any area can only enrich our lives beyond measure. There are so many positives about books that it’s hard to imagine a world without them.
“Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes place for that.” – John Green
“There is no friend as loyal as a book” – Ernest Hemingway
“I am a part of everything I have read.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“We read to know we’re not alone.” – William Nicholson
“The more you read, the more you know. The more things that you learn, the more places you will go” – Dr. Seuss
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R. R. Martin
“Books aren’t made of pages and words. They are made of hopes, dreams, and possibilities.” – Unknown
“Reading is like breathing in, and writing is like breathing out.” Pam Allyn
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Stephen King
“Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzei
“I feel the need of reading. It is a loss to a man not to have grown up among books.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.” – Neil Gaiman
“Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting, and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives us a terrific advantage.” – Roald Dahl
“Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.” – Carl Sagan
Happy reading!
Solitaire
12 Reasons Why Writing is Important.
- Sometimes an idea makes little sense until you can see it in words. It also helps when you’re trying to explain your idea to another person—if they can see it written down, it goes a long way for understanding.
- Communication – It is an essential skill that allows you to communicate with people. It also helps to build vocabulary skills, which in turn can improve our social skills. Nowadays we use far less words to communicate than our forefathers.
- Discipline – If you learn to write on a regular basis, it builds discipline. In other words, it provides you with direction and training.
- It engages your brain – both the creative side and the logical or analytical side, allowing you to make sense of what is being stated. It also improves memory function and helps you make better decisions.
- By writing things down we can often work through an idea or problem and come up with possible solutions. It helps to keep our thoughts organized.
- The written word very often influences how we think in society – via authors, journalists, bloggers, speechwriters, etc.
- We wouldn’t know what happened in history without those who took the time to write about it.
- Everyone has at least one book inside of them. We all have a story to tell, and no two stories are alike. The experiences of others can be very enlightening and can often influence and be of help.
- Keeping a journal is very often a means to better mental health. It is important for dealing with anxiety, depression, and other issues. You may not be able to tell someone what is bothering you, but writing down your thoughts and feelings can help you to change your outlook and reset your thinking. Writing down your anxieties or fears can often diminish them in our minds and put us in a greater state of ease. In short, it promotes emotional and spiritual well-being.
- Sometimes you need reminders of what your goals are to stay on track. You are more likely to achieve them if they are written down and you can refer to them to keep you heading in the right direction.
- Making a To Do list is often extremely helpful to organize your ideas and helps you to remember important things that need to be done. We all have busy, fast-paced lives that make it difficult to remember everything all the time.
- When you take the time to write to a loved one or a friend it forms a bond that would not otherwise have been made. You can relate something important to them without having to be where they are. It can build memories. When you take the time to write, it tells someone that you care.
Writing is more than just a means of communication; it is a powerful tool that can be used to inspire, persuade, and even change the world.
Solitaire
What Defines Our Daily Lives?
Today is Friday. I was sitting here thinking about what needed to be done and what I had accomplished this week. At the same time, I was checking my emails, and came across some information I found to be of value so I’m passing it on to anyone who might be interested.
It’s amazing how fast time flies – 2023 – here already! So how can this year be different or better than the last one? We may begin the year with such good intentions or resolutions, but somehow life seems to get in the way and they never come to fruition. So maybe we just need to rethink how we traverse our daily lives and determine what is the main malfunction and correct the problem.
So here are some ideas to get on the right track:
First, we need to develop self-discipline. For some of us, that is easier said than done, but never impossible. I am a firm believer that you can do anything you set your mind to do. If there is something important you want to accomplish, then find a way and don’t let anyone tell you, no. How important is reaching your goal? Focus on getting things done one step at a time – sometimes that means you have to slow down or make a list. Concentrate your efforts so your energy is better spent. Attempting to do everything at once often leads to lack of motivation and spinning in a circle, never getting anything done.
Once you get in that “sit and spin” mode, it’s very easy to become overly critical of yourself. We live in a society that is all about “hustle” which doesn’t help at all. There is a great deal of wisdom in slowing down. To succeed in anything, we need to develop healthy self-confidence, not negativity. Being negative is counterproductive. Concentrate on what you are doing now, not the results. You can’t control what happens in the future, but you can control the quality of what you do right now. No one ever succeeded by not doing anything. Criticizing yourself is a waste of time. Instead, focus on reaching your goals.
Look out for the “distractions” in your life. You can’t remove them by focusing harder or getting more determination. Never try to cope with a distraction that you can eliminate. A good example of this is the clutter around you. If you are trying to write, for instance, and all you can see is a desk full of stacks of paper, empty snack bowls, water bottles and coffee cups, pens and pencils scattered everywhere – you get the picture, your mind is so distracted with all the “stuff” that you can’t concentrate. So, remove the distractions! Don’t let anything tempt you to lose the focus you need. This holds true in any situation. If your surroundings are a cluttered mess, your mind will be too. Make it easier for yourself to succeed by removing the distractions. (Which, by the way, requires self-discipline.) Do this on a day-to-day basis and it will become a new habit – a good, healthy one. It frees your mind to think clearly.
Give yourself the right reasons. You might attempt to do something because of someone else’s opinion of you. That usually won’t last because you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Be motivated by something that is personal to you – something much deeper and more important. Get to know your strengths and interests so you can concentrate on what you really love. You can’t control what anyone else thinks about you, nor should you even try. What is important for you is to take ACTION and your life will improve and succeed. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of procrastination – it’s a dead end. The only failure is doing nothing. So, don’t allow that to happen. If you fall, get right back up and keep going! Never give up!
Solitaire
Solitaire Parke - Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books 