The Beauty of The Pleasure Of

Found this extremely gorgeous film depicting various moments from our days on This is Colossal.  This film was created by Vituc and, as mentioned on This is Colossal, it is very reminiscent of a scene in Amelie, and I love it.  Beautifully simple idea well executed.

via This is Colossal

The Pleasure of

Maya Angelou on Courage

Maya Angelou's eloquence, brilliance and ability to get to the heart of a matter have made me wish she would run for public office on several occasions.  But, I guess her writings will have to do. 

What she does here is elucidates the most important virtue:

Courage is the most important of all the virtues. Because without courage you can't practice all the other virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind, or fair, or humane, or generous.  Not without courage.

I couldn't have said it better.

Found on #waywire

via YouTube

What is That? A Beautiful Video on Patience and Love

Not sure where I first saw this, but I re-visit it at least once a year to remind myself to really focus on what matters.  I have a tendency to get wrapped up in the minutae of the day, and things like this help center me.  Remember those you love as you watch this.  It serves to show us that maybe moments we thought were insignificant impacted others in a meaningful way.

The Earth Rolling By

Stuff like this fills me with gratitude.  It's so amazing that we are at a point in history where we can experience this.  Truly awe-inspiring. From ajrclips:

A truly powerful image generates questions.

The incredible night photos and time-lapse movies NASA has been sharing with us provoke questions about our planet. That thin-yellow atmospheric line separating earth from space, for example, that we see in all of the night shots provokes two questions: (1) how thick is this line? and (2) why is this line colored the way it is?

The visible yellow and green/blue capped line represents atmosphere reaching ~100km above the surface of the earth. The colors are not reflected light, and not pollution, but rather are light generated from the components in the atmosphere itself. Yes, the atmosphere gives off its own light, in a chemiluminescent process called "airglow" or "night glow."

I have written a blog to accompany this video that explains the various colors of "Night Glow" and discusses the Aurora as well. I hope you find this blog a useful companion to understanding what you are seeing.

Link to the blogpost here.

The Earth as You've Never Seen it Before via Vimeo

Steve Jobs on Life and How to Change the World

Steve Jobs is someone I admire, not for his positivity, but for his sheer determination and understanding of how the world works.  In this short video, he offers some simple advice on how your perception of the world can drive you to act and make a difference in the world.

Curtis Martin: A True Hero

Athletes today are generally considered to be extremely selfish and materialistic. Here is a former athlete who is the antithesis of that sentiment.  Curtis Martin played 10 years in the NFL, but it wasn’t for a love of the game.  It was personal, as Curtis says in the beginning of the video:

I was never able to identify with the love and the passion that a lot of my colleagues and a lot of the other alumni of the Hall of Fame, that they have.  Most of these guys have lived for the game of football…I was someone who was somewhat forced to play football.

He goes on to explain that his pastor, Leroy Joseph said, “…maybe football is just something that God’s giving you to do all those wonderful things you say you want to do for other people.”  This was a turning point for Curtis.

But that’s not the end of the story.  Curtis comes from a very tough situation.  As he relays in the video:

• His mother was physically abused by his father in front of Curtis at the age of 5.
• Curtis’ grandmother was murdered and found by his mother when he was 9.
• Curtis’ aunt was murdered when he was 13.
• At age 15, Curtis had a gun held to his head with the trigger pulled 7 times but never firing, only to go off when it was pointed away from him.

His mother pushed him to do an afterschool activity, as the neighborhood they were in was tough and she was concerned he would fall into trouble.  Curtis’ gym teacher guided him to football, and the rest is history.  He’s become a man of strong faith and a solid work ethic.  And now, he’s a member of the Football Hall of Fame.  He didn’t fall into the trap of feeling like a victim.  He forgave his father, convinced his mother to forgive his father, and is now happily married with a young daughter.  

I’ve had tough experiences in my life, but none like Curtis, and yet, I feel like he’s never lost site of what’s important.  He is focused on being the best person he can be.

The Pale Blue Dot

Eloquent and moving portrayal of where we live by one of the greatest minds of our time, Carl Sagan.  In 3+ minutes he succinctly sums up the frailty of who we are.  

Learning to Think Positively

Our toughest critic is ourselves.  We can be unforgiving, relentless, and mean when we are faced with daunting challenges.  Negative self-talk can pervade our every thought, leaving us stuck in our tracks, unable to achieve what we are capable of. How do we break out of this?

Ode Magazine featured an article on the power of positive thinking late last year.  In it, they discuss how to work toward changing your thoughts from positive to negative:

How does one change one’s thinking from old negative tapes to positive, healthy thinking? Placing positive affirmations in plain view is a great way to begin. Tape some affirmations to your bathroom mirror, refrigerator, car, and office. These affirmations are reminders that you are in control of your thoughts—and thoughts can be changed. Be aware; watch your thoughts throughout the day, knowing that you are more than your brain, and in fact, are the one in the driver’s seat.

Positive affirmations can take different forms, but I prefer to always keep them framed in the positive, present tense. “I am” statements are wonderful! “I am” strong, beautiful, confident, smart, creative, etc. Fill in your “I am” statement for the areas in your life where you wish to consciously shift your thinking patterns.

This can be a very challenging task. After all, you’re trying to change the way you think by thinking about it. To help get you started, Ode offers up some starter affirmations. Here are my three favorite:

• I value who I am.
• I accept responsibility for all decisions I make in life.
• There are beautiful things happening in my life daily.

If you’re a parent, a great benefit of this exercise is that you are modeling positive thought and action for your kids. How do you think Jessica, in the video above, came to do this affirmation? She speaks of love and appreciation for all those things around her. If a 4-year-old can do it, why can’t you?

Can Money Buy Happiness?

Can money buy you happiness?  Michael Norton purports it can…if you spend it differently.  Very interesting findings here.  The gist of it is that if you spend money on others, it affects your happiness positively.  These findings support the idea that ‘we are all in this together’.  Think about how you could use the money you spend today differently.  Do we need a $5 coffee?  If I packed my lunch everyday and didn’t eat out, how could I positively effect those around me and achieve a measure of happiness?

Support DonorsChoose whom Michael mentions in this video.

It's Not Just Another Day

One of my favorite inspirational videos.  I have this video bookmarked and watch it on a regular basis to remind myself of what’s important.  You can see the director, Louis Schwartzberg, here at a TED Talk discussing the techniques, nature, and why he made this film. Also, you can help fund a feature length version of this film at this Kickstarter project.