"Dreamer" - by Kristy

"Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."

"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind- amazing things will happen."

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Photo source: gettyimages.com

Losing sight of dreams is something we all struggle with at one point or another. I know it's so easy to focus on the negative, but when you do that you let all the good pass you by. It takes more strength to fight for what you want and to go for your dreams than it does to give up. Giving up and/or settling are the easy ways out. Everybody deserves to chase their dreams no matter how big, small, silly, or serious. All that matters is that you're going after what is important to you. It's rarely easy but it's always worth it.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

Appreciation - by Monica

Photo credit: Photobucket

Many people forget to say these simple two words: "Thank you." They forget to appreciate those who do things for them, who are there for them. Some people help out others without even knowing the people whom they are helping. We all take them for granted. But people do things for us because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to. Many people forget this simple truth and, instead, think they are owed these favors. Instead, thank the people who are there for you. Thank them before it's too late, and you never get the chance. Show them they are appreciated.

This story about former US Navy jet pilot Charles Plumb was published in "Insights into Excellence" in 1993. It shows the importance of appreciation and, sometimes, the people we may forget to appreciate may just be the ones to save our lives. If we don't appeciate others, we may lose the very people who "pack our parachutes."

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“ I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said Good morning, how are you?’ or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”

Plumb thought of the man hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?” Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute.

"Hockey Battle Across the Border" - by Kristy

Team USA shocks Canada stealing a big win last night. The border of Canada and United States holds quite a rivalry when it comes to ice hockey and last night that rivalry competed on the Olympic stage. It wasn't an elimination round, but you could feel the tension as the teams competed for their countries.

Both rosters are made up entirely of National Hockey League superstars. Team Canada was the heavily favored team going into the game, being that their team had the most skill as well as experience. Team USA had skill, but were unquestionably the underdog coming into the game. However the young USA team, with an average age of 26, prevailed and won the game 5-3.

HELP HAITI - by Monica

There has been an average rate of $1.64 million donated per hour to major American charities since the Haitian earthquake, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Donating is as easy as texting “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. I think this outpouring of donations and help as a result of this tragedy shows how much good there is in the world. There are millions of people who have helped out those who are less fortune than they are. It’s comforting to know how many people are willing to sacrifice, at least a little bit, to those who are hurting.

I created this collage of several pictures of people helping out in Haiti:



Photo credit:
Help Haiti Now
Yele
Red Cross
The Gathering
InterAmerica
Flickr
Dhatisland

"A New World Record..." by Kristy

Photo source: gettyimages.com

A world record for hugs? Now there's something to smile about. Jeff Ondash recently set a new record with 7,777 hugs in 24 hours. Ondash achieved the record and was also seeking to help a cause, raising money for the American Heart Association. Two great accompishments in one.
"When you hug somebody, they all walk away from each other smiling," Ondash said. "They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away; a hug a day — it's just fun."


You can see the entire story using this link : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100214/ap_on_re_us/us_hyper_hugging

You are Beautiful - by Monica

This weekend is "Tell her she's beautiful" weekend with more than 1 million attendants on the Facebook event. This event was created by Joshua Amar, a student at W.L. Mackenzie Collegiate in Canada. And when I found this event, it made me so happy that someone thought to do this and that there were so many responses. We live in a society where women are always pressured to look beautiful...and that this is all that matters. Not personality...but a certain manmade definition of beauty. But what defines beauty...and who got to decide this definition? Flawless skin? The ratio of curves to stomach? Every hair in place? A small percentage of body fat? Who gets to decide what's deemed beautiful and what's not? And women are made to feel awful because they can't fit this impossible standard made by airbrushed photographs and plastic surgery.

But...you are beautiful! Just the way you are, you're beautiful!

Everyday this weekend (and even further than just this weekend), tell someone they are beautiful (and no, I am not talking about some chick you are trying to pick up at a bar either...I mean genuninely tell someone they are beautiful). It will make their day...trust me.

Here is what Amar said about why he created this weekend:
It has come to my attention that as I grow older, girls get more and more self conscious of themselves. This hurts me, because every girl is beautiful in their own way. They all want to live up to standards that the media has set for them, like being paper thin or double Z breasts. It really breaks my heart to see all of the girls to wallow around and hate who they are and think they aren’t worth something.

I’m making this event so everyone can tell anyone that they think is beautiful, that they are beautiful. Just tell them. They don’t hear it enough, and they want to hear it. Tell anyone; tell your friend, your mother, your sister, your cousin, your dog for all I care. Let’s show girls that we don’t care about the standards that they set for themselves and that we like them the way they are.

Let’s show every girl that they really are beautiful. So tell them, it’ll make their day.

Girls, you ARE beautiful.

Guys please do not fret too much about this, this event was inspired by my friends that don't think that they're enough. Hence why I dedicate this to females. But being a guy myself, I do understand how we can feel self conscious at times too. So yes this can be for males too, i never said it couldn't.

Join the "Tell Her She's Beautiful" Facebook group

Superbowl 2010 - by Kristy

The New Orleans Saints have won the 2010 Superbowl. It is a great story not only because they were the underdog team coming into last night's game, but also for the city and what it has overcome in recent years.

View original article and picture on People - Celeb babies

Turtle - by Monica

Photo credit: Photobucket

I saw this blog post on author Jane Porter's website, and I found it really inspiring. Because, sure, it's easy to tell others about how they should accept themselves. But...it's a lot harder to accept yourselves. We are always so busy, alway trying to fill our time to feel successful and good about ourselves. But, sometimes, we could learn a thing or two from the turtle, instead of always racing through life as the "hare." Don't always think you need to move fast in order to feel good about yourself. Sometimes, the only way to feel good about yourself is to stop and smell the roses. Don't give yourself a set schedule to when you should achieve something because then you'll be disappointed. Move at your own pace, even if it's the pace of the turtle.

I talk about self-acceptance.

I talk about self-esteem.

I talk and talk and well, sometimes it’s just talk.

The truth is I’ve really wrestled with…me…lately. Wrestling with who I am and what I expect and what I deep down believe.

I’m so good at empowering others. I tell everyone else to be nice to themselves. To love yourself. To be kind to yourself. And then in the privacy of my own home–and mind–I beat the hell out of me. And it hurts. As well as being exhausting.

I’ve been so mad at myself for not writing more. For not going hungry more. And running more. For not slipping back into a tiny, tan, successful, glorious version of me…a version I’m not sure even, or ever, existed. But that’s what my tricky mind remembers and that’s what I must do to what…sell a book? Be loved? Be happy?

And so I’ve had endless conversations with myself, probably more than I should, probably more than what is safe and sane. But during one of these fierce conversations I had this ephihany—I’m going to get there.

It’s just going to be slow.

Maybe really slowly. Perhaps even painfully slowly. But maybe its okay to be a turtle. Maybe the slow crawl will get me the same results the sprint would. Maybe. And even if not, its where I am now.

Creeping along. Trying hard. Doing my best. And seeing a lot of the same scenery. I suppose one really gets to appreciate the scenery when you’re not racing, or breathless, or fighting a side ache.

I once enjoyed being the sprinter. I felt smug, the clever hare bounding along, dashing over the heads of turtles, grinning as I shot from here to there. Well, that Jane’s gone. Don’t know if she’ll ever come back.

So I’ve spent the last nine days learning to love the turtle in me and say things like “good turtle”, “lovely turtle”, “just keep going, turtle.” You see, there’s not a lot of glamour in being a turtle but if I get to the end…and don’t give up…I’ll have the journey and the success.

And maybe peace of mind.