Monthly Archives: January 2013

Do You Want To Be Famous?

What do Kim Kardashian, Tom Cruise, and Mother Teresa have in common?

 

They are all famous.

But famous for what?  What classifies someone as famous?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘famous’ is defined as: “known about by many people” while ‘fame’ is defined as: “the condition of being known or talked about by many people, esp. on account of notable achievements”.

Let’s start with Kim Kardashian.  What in the h-e-double-toothpicks is so special about her?  Where did she come from and how in the heck did she get to be so known about by many people?  What has she contributed to society? What are her notable achievements?

Tom Cruise – this one is a bit easier.  Jockey-shorts-dancing ’80’s teen heart-throb turned action-star turned couch-jumper turned questionable. He certainly mastered the talked about by many people portion of fame and now with his current situation the conversation continues.

Mother Teresa would appear to epitomize the Oxford definitions of both ‘famous’ and ‘fame’.  Her name known by all, both pre and posthumously, she embodied goodness and faith in humanity. Her notable achievements are innumerable.  Her effect on society continues beyond her life. A legacy of hope, love, compassion and fortitude.

So, the next time someone asks: Do you want to be famous? Before answering, define what fame means to you.

For me, if famous means that I have attained my fame based on achievements that leave a legacy for the benefit of mankind; that I have contributed to society in a positive and lasting way; and that I am known about by many people because of those acts, then the answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’.

Do you want to be famous? What does fame mean for you?
Share below.

Photo credits: http://photopin.com
Kim: flickr.com/photos/shankbone/3482389782/
Tom: flickr.com/photos/lewishamdreamer/135017580/
Mother Theresa: flickr.com/photos/grrrl/2311748945/

Positive Ponderings: Image

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What image do you want to portray to the world?

Do you?

What is one thing you can do today
to set you on that course?

photo credit: http://photopin.com
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/ranopamas/537687775/”>Panoramas</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;

Bright-Side of the Web: Landfill Harmonic

“The world sends us garbage.
We send back music.”
Favio Chavez
Orchestra Director

An inspiring video about very resourceful young musicians.

Below, share your thoughts about this video.

Video credit: YouTube

How To Tune Into Your Sub-Conscious

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I wonder what percentage of people have a song in their head – ALWAYS.

I’m not talking about an ‘earworm’; a catchy popular song or jingle that is over-played on the radio and works it’s way into your head and repeats for the day.  I’m talking about a line or a lyric of any song, from any era, at any moment of any day, that is playing often on a loop – a seemingly endless loop.  Sometimes the same song will play for days.

Do you know what I’m talking about?

Are you one of those people?

I am.  I don’t know when it started but I noted it in my teens.

For me, if there is a song on the radio, that becomes the song in my head but once the radio is off, my internal frequency picks up its own signal and the beat goes on.  Perhaps this is why I don’t often turn on the radio, throw on a CD or plug in my iPod while I’m alone in the house.  There is no need for external music when the internal juke box is playing my song.

Once, while on a camping trip deep within protected wilderness grounds, I suddenly noticed an absence of internal tunes.  I literally stopped what I was doing, aware of the foreign silence.  The next day as we drove toward the park’s boundary, the music returned.  It was both welcome and not.

I’ve often wondered why that happened or why myself and others, yet not everyone, have this ability or anomaly.

Are we some sort of radio receivers? 

When I approach a radio, often the signal will go off frequency and return once I move away.  I joke that it is my animal magnetism that is causing the fluctuation but I wonder if I am emitting an electro-magnetic field from all the gunk I’ve absorbed from the state of the environment we live in today.

At one time I was seeing a naturopath and I mentioned to her of my constant sonatas and she responded very sincerely that I should pay close attention to this internal music for it is a porthole to my subconscious – particularly upon waking.

Each morning that I awoke unassisted by the radio, including if I were to awake in the middle of the night, I was to note what song, and particularly which line or lyric was playing in my head.  This would be a window to my soul.  An indication of what my true thoughts and feelings were given whatever was happening in my life at the time.

This has become a habit and has proved most insightful.

I don’t remember many of my dreams and dream interpretation, although very interesting, is in my opinion very subjective. For instance, if I dream about swimming, could that simply mean I like swimming, or could it mean something deep like I am infantile and am swimming in the womb, or could it mean that I am feeling like I am drowning and am trying to get a way from some stress in my life?

But paying attention to the line or lyric that is playing in my head upon waking has at times surprised me, often confirming a far off feeling, and has provided ah-ha moments like no dream interpretation ever has.

So perhaps it has nothing to do with radio reception and I can stop worrying that an alien civilization will one day make contact through me via their inter-stellar FM station.

Perhaps it means that I am so out of sync with my true feeling that I have these constant messages trying to get me to pay attention and perhaps those few days in the park, where I was relaxed and at peace, there was no need for a skipping record to play the same line over and over telling me how I was feeling because I was taking a break from the daily grind and was actually letting feelings filter in.

Or perhaps it means that I am so in tune (no pun intended) with my subconscious that I am in constant sync with it.  A highly involved individual – prime for alien connection.

Regardless of my evolutionary state, Waking Lyric Observance (my phrase) has helped me note the negatives in my life and therefore aided me in being able to confront them allowing positivity to shine through.

And after all, having a constant melody to accompany your daily tasks is like living in a movie – my own personal soundtrack – and that’s pretty positive, for the most part.

If you are like me, pay attention to the lyrics that repeat in your head.  It may bring a whole new meaning to waking up!

Bring on the music and dance! The aliens are waiting.

photo credit: http://photopin.com
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexkerhead/4933944478/”>alexkerhead</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;

Quotes That Make You Go Hmmm…

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“Most of us can read
the writing on the wall;
we just assume
it’s addressed
to someone else.”
~Ivern Ball

photo credit: http://photopin.com
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/radekbayek/616991854/”>bayek</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;

Positive Ponderings: Theory of Relativity

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How much of who you are
and what you do
is based on your family history?

*  *  *

Are you using it as an excuse
or are there things
that you can change?

photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/liloueve/4816533704/

Blog Of The Year 2012!

Blog of the Year Award 2 star jpegImagine my surprise as I opened my notifications a few days ago to find that two wonderful and inspiring fellow bloggers,  Metaphorical Marathons and Women Making Strides, had selected my blog as their choice for a “Blog of the Year 2012” award!

WOW! I have only been blogging for four months so for anyone, let alone two people, to find my blog worthy of such an honour is astounding!  I am very appreciative and thankful.  This award means a lot to me.

According to the author of Women Making Strides, here are the rules governing the award.  In her Metaphorical Marathons blog, the author poses questions for her pay-it-forward award winners to answer.

So here goes; her questions, my answers:

What do you most like about yourself?

I like that, for most of the time anyway, I keep looking forward to the possibilities that lay ahead instead of dwelling on past failures.  I look at failures as learning experiences from which to grow.

What makes you giddy with excitement?

If my kids have been away for a while, I get giddy with excitement as I’m driving to meet them.  They are the bright stars in my life.

What’s your favourite place or part of nature, and why?

Walking a trail in a forest on a clear crisp Fall day.  Everything smells so fresh.  The birds are singing, the squirrels are scurrying up and down trees, and the leaves beneath my feet are crunching as others drift slowly to the forest floor creating a beautiful carpet of oranges, rusts, reds and yellows.  It’s both peaceful and rejuvenating.

What is the one thing you really want to learn how to do?

I would really love to learn how to take professional quality photographs.

If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be?

I would be myself at about age twenty and I would convince myself to take the trip to Europe that I had considered but never took.

Here are my choices for the Blog of the Year 2012 award:

The inspiring Life Out of the Box: http://lifeoutofthebox.com/

The stunning photographs of Patrick Latterhttp://hikingphoto.com/

The thought-provoking I Heart Change: http://iheartchange.wordpress.com/

My questions for you:
Who inspires you most?
What would like to be known for?
Name one challenge you have overcome and from which you have grown.
Name one place you have never been but would like to go.

Congratulations and keep blogging positivity!

Quotes That Make You Go Hmmm…

Just as man cannot live
without dreams,
he cannot live
without hope.
If dreams reflect the past,
hope
summons the future. 

– Elie Wiesel

It’s A New Year, Baby!

medium_80224400With Father Time safely retired, it’s time for Baby New Year to make sure his diaper is securely fastened, adjust his sash, and get to work.  He has a lot to accomplish in only 365 days.

The beauty of having a baby as a symbol for the New Year is that he (or she) reminds us that before we can run, we must first learn to crawl and then to walk.

He also symbolizes a beginning.  We all have to start somewhere.  No matter what changes you hope to make this year, what goals you have laid out for yourself, you have to start somewhere.  And that somewhere is exactly where you are.

There is no use wishing things were different; that you had a different job, a different house, a different relationship.  You have what you have.  If you want something different, you have to look at where you are then assess where you want to be, then plan the steps needed to get there.

Just like Baby New Year, begin by crawling.  Go slowly and methodically as you plot your course and gradually pull yourself up until you are ready to take your first steps.

Before you know it, you’ll be chasing the other babies down the street – or maybe you will take the lead and they will follow.

There is a beauty in newness.  There is an unknown.  No history.  No mistakes.  Only unrealized opportunity.

What did you learn or accomplish in 2012?  The lessons were likely many.  It’s time to assess the past and set your sights on the future.

Today is the start of a brand new year.  Imagine what you will do in 2013!

You’ll go a long way, Baby!

Share one of your goals for 2013.

Photo credit: http://photopin.com
flickr.com/photos/beals/80224400/
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/beals/80224400/”>WadeB</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;