Habit

Found this on Twitter and couldn't help but save it. Most of it is hogwash, but the learning a new skill is worth a shot.

For the next 6 months, become addicted to these 9 habits, and you'll be unrecognisable by may 2023...

1. Waking up at 5am. Waking up early means you're already ahead of everyone else.
Waking up earlier gives you more time to;
• Workout
• Plan your day
• Work on business
• Be more productive
It's a huge life hack and gives you more time to achieve your goals.

2. Writing down your thoughts before bed Writing before bed will improve your quality of sleep.
Here's what you can write down;
• Your goals for tomorrow
• What you're grateful for
• Any negative thoughts
This will improve your mental health dramatically.

3. Learning an online skill 30 mins a day
With inflation rising and taxes rising, an online skill will save you financially.
Here are a few skills I recommend:
• Coding
• Youtube
• Copywriting
• Digital Marketing
• Content Creation
You can earn $50-$250+/hour.
Art of Life
To learn a skill use these websites;
- Cody
- Lynda
- Udemy
- Coursera
- SkillShare
- CreativeLive
- Kahn Academy

4. Spend 1 hour a day exercising
To have a good mental health, you have to also have good physical health.
Exercises that have the best results;
• Running
• Swimming
• Lifting weights
These will strengthen and tone your body fast.

5. Sit in silence 10 minutes a day Your mind is racing with hundreds of thoughts every minute.
Take 10 minutes to:
• Sit in silence
• Practice mindfulness
• Give your mind a break
• Be present in the moment
This is an underrated habit for your mental health.

6. Create a proper sleep schedule
Sleep is essential for you;
• Performance
• Mental health
• Reducing stress
• Improving your mood
Do this for deep and quality sleep;
• No screen 2 hours before bed
• No eating 2 hours before bed
• Make your room cooler
• Use blackout curtains
And wake up at the same time, as your body will get use to the sleep cycle.

7. Take a 30 minute walk in nature
Nature is proven to help you:
• Get rid of anxiety
• Increase happiness
• Improve your mood
It's one of the best hacks for improving your day.

8. Read 20 pages a day
Reading will strengthen your mind and also:
• Increase your focus
• Increase your knowledge
• Increase your self-confidence
Just 20 pages a day will give you a huge return in life.

9. Drink 1L of water with every meal
Staying hydrated can be hard.
Water is essential for you:
• Mind
• Health
• Recovery
So take 1L of water to every meal and don't leave the table until you finish it.
Let's improve our lives together!

Follow me @Art0fLife_ and you'll learn more on;
• Building an online business
• Personal growth
• Writing
• Life

Simple habits that have huge returns:
• Writing
• Reading books
• Saving to invest
• Planning your day
• Compliment others
• Turning off the news
• Asking more questions
• Turning off notifications
• Walking 10,000 steps a day
Start cultivating them now.

Let it in...

 

Kris Kristofferson - For the good times (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX094Nn4L_Y&list=RDoX094Nn4L_Y&start_radio=1

Sports Heroes Who Served: Singer, Songwriter, Actor Kris Kristofferson Is Also an Army Veteran

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/2538793/sports-heroes-who-served-singer-songwriter-actor-kris-kristofferson-is-also-an/ 

When You Wish Upon A Star (Linda Ronstadt)

Photo found on Pinterest

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Marc Broussard - Cry To Me-Acoustic (Solomon Burke Cover) (S.O.S. 2: Sou...

Never apologize

 

When I go

 

When I go,

don't learn to live without me,

just learn to live with my love,

in a different way.

And if you need to see me,

close your eyes,

or look in your shadow,

when the sun shines,

I’m there.

Sit with me in the quiet and you will know,

that I did not leave.

There is no leaving when a soul is blended with another.

When I go,

don’t learn to live without me,

just learn to look for me in the moments.

I will be there.

By Donna Ashworth

From ‘LOSS’

Life

 

Winter Solstice

 

The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year which is coming to a close... like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds.

Our modern culture teaches avoidance at a max at this time; alcohol, lights, shopping, overworking, over spending, comfort food and consumerism. 

And yet the natural tug to go inwards as nearly all creatures are doing is strong and the weather so bitter that people are left feeling that winter is hard, because for those of us without burning fires and big festive families, it can be lonely and isolating. Whereas in actual fact winter is kind, she points us in her quiet soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection, embracing the darkness and forgiving, accepting and loving embracing goodbye the past year.

"Winter takes away the distractions, the buzz, and presents us with the perfect time to rest and withdraw into a womb like love, bringing fire & light to our hearth".

.. and then, just around the corner the new year will begin again, and like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again to dance in the sunlight

Life is a gift a Happy winter to you all... 

Borrowed from Juno's Place on Facebook

Written by Bridget Anna McNeil

Artwork by Jessica Boehman

Absence

 

Alicia Keys & John Mayer - If I ain't got you - Gravity

more

more sunrises, more mist, more mystery, more reaching, more receiving, more stillness, more noticing, more hope, more songs, more walks, more quiet, more opening, more listening, more seeing, more poems, more peace, more kindness, more time, more love, more writing it all down so that nothing is forgotten

Borrowed from https://www.facebook.com/officialmarychapincarpenter https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=662015861957319&set=a.254249456067297

Aristotle

 

The sky whispering to the earth.

 

This amazing photo might be photoshopped, but it's still amazing. What do you think the clouds are whispering? 

"Do you love Me?"

 

"Do you love Me?" Alice asked.

"No, I don't love you!" replied the White Rabbit.

Alice frowned and clasped her hands together as she did whenever she felt hurt.

"See?" replied the White Rabbit. "Now you're going to start asking yourself what makes you so imperfect and what did you do wrong so that I can't love you at least a little.

You know, that's why I can't love you. You will not always be loved Alice, there will be days when others will be tired and bored with life, will have their heads in the clouds, and will hurt you.

Because people are like that, they somehow always end up hurting each other's feelings, whether through carelessness, misunderstanding, or conflicts with themselves.

If you don't love yourself, at least a little, if you don't create an armor of self-love and happiness around your heart, the feeble annoyances caused by others will become lethal and will destroy you.

The first time I saw you I made a pact with myself: 'I will avoid loving you until you learn to love yourself.' "~

~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
art: Milo Winter, Alice In Wonderland, 1924
Borrowed from Sacred Dreams on Facebook

TO THE WOMAN WHO IS SLOWLY FADING AWAY...

 

TO THE WOMAN WHO IS SLOWLY FADING AWAY...

To the woman who has lost her spark.

To the woman whose get up and go, has well and truly gone.

This is for you.

This is to remind you whose daughter you are.

This is to remind you, that you don’t have to be everything to everyone, every day.

You didn’t sign up for that.

Remember when you used to laugh? Sing? Throw caution to the wind?

Remember when you used to forgive yourself more quickly for not always being perfect.

You can get that back again.

You really can.

And that doesn’t have to mean letting people down or walking away.

It just means being kinder to you, feeling brave enough to say no sometimes.

Being brave enough to stop sometimes.

And rest.

It starts the moment you realise that you’re not quite who you used to be. Some of that is good, some of that is not.

There are parts of you that need to be brought back.

And if anyone in your life is not okay with that... they are not your people. Your people will be glad to see that spark starting to light up again.

So, if you have been slowly fading away my friend, this is the time to start saying yes to things that bring you joy and no to things that don’t.

It’s really pretty simple.

Donna Ashworth

From ‘to the women’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/.../ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp...

Image by Kevin Carden

Tony Joe White - Closer To The Truth

He was so very talented!  

John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers- Mists Of Time - Stories

https://youtu.be/nFxo7KmkS_o?si=NldcJoID5evkgL_M

As a friend said, if this doesn't send shivers down your spine,you probably don't have one... LYRICS: Somewhere in the world Are friends I've missed from long ago Could be drifting by the wayside Or even dead - I just don´t know And now my memories are fading ...Like melting footprints in the snow Sometimes a dream will haunt me And I see a young girl's face Was she once for real And did she really share my space Within the swirling mists of time It's hard to keep a track of year and place I thought about my mother When she was young and on the road Hanging out with my musicians Or camping out in forest groves Like gray mists conceal horizons I miss those times we'll share no more So far my life's a journey And I wouldn't change for anything All those years of bold adventures The highs and lows that make me sing Within the swirling mists of time Such sweet memories sitll often ring.

David Gilmour and Rick Wright - Barn Jam 121

Best seven and a half minutes you'll hear any day!

change

 

when things change inside you, things change around you

I sit by myself, talking to the moon...

~ photo from Pinterest

Just Live Your Life

 

For what it's worth:

 

For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.

~ Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Today is the day

 

Barely the day started and... it's already six in the evening.

Barely arrived on Monday and it's already Friday.

... and the month is already over.

... and the year is almost over.

... and already 40, 50 or 60 years of our lives have passed.

... and we realize that we lost our parents, friends.

and we realize it's too late to go back...

So... Let's try, despite everything, to enjoy the remaining time...

Let's keep looking for activities that we like...

Let's put some color in our grey...

Let's smile at the little things in life that put balm in our hearts.

And despite everything, we must continue to enjoy with serenity this time we have left. Let's try to eliminate the afters...

I'm doing it after...

I'll say after...

I'll think about it after...

We leave everything for later like ′′ after ′′ is ours.

Because what we don't understand is that:

Afterwards, the coffee gets cold...

afterwards, priorities change...

Afterwards, the charm is broken...

afterwards, health passes...

Afterwards, the kids grow up...

Afterwards parents get old...

Afterwards, promises are forgotten...

afterwards, the day becomes the night...

afterwards life ends...

And then it's often too late....

So... Let's leave nothing for later...

Because still waiting see you later, we can lose the best moments,

the best experiences,

best friends,

the best family...

The day is today... The moment is now...

The Mountain

 

Dear Self

 

Stop

 

Stop minimizing and discounting your feelings.
You have every right to feel the way you do.
Your feelings may not always be logical, but they are always valid.
Because if you feel something, then you feel it and it’s real to you.
It’s not something you can ignore or wish away. It’s there, gnawing at you, tugging at your core, and in order to find peace, you have to give yourself permission to feel whatever it is you feel.
You have to let go of what you’ve been told you should or shouldn’t feel.
You have to drown out the voices of people who try to shame you into silence.
You have to listen to the sound of your own breathing and honor the truth inside you.
Because despite what you may believe, you don’t need anyone’s validation or approval to feel what you feel.
Your feelings are inherently right and true. They’re important and they matter.
You matter, and it is more than okay to feel what you feel.
Don’t let anyone, including yourself, convince you otherwise .

Author: Daniell Koepke
Artist: Unknown

Borrowed from The Soul Journey with Sarah Moussa's post on Facebook

Ray LaMontagne - We'll Make It Through (Official Video)

Overture

Another Jeff Victor masterpiece.