40 Days / Make Life Better, 39

40 days of posts that make life better, 39: The bad news: brownies don't really make you feel better. The good news: nutritious foods do!  Read:  5 Foods to Eat When You're Depressed by Paula Spencer Scott.

40 Days / Make Life Better, 38

40 days of posts that make life better, 38: 
Forever we've quietly raised little bullies so they could be the boss someday. Mean bosses suck, so we started fighting for our civil rights. Now we're bringin' it home, cause that's where it starts!  Read: Behind Every Harassed Child, A Lot of Clueless Adults, Movie Review "Bully" by Lee Hirsch, NY Times.

40 Days / Make Life Better, 37

40 days of posts that make life better, 37: 


No matter what method of telling, every story starts with a person who can bring together ideas we want connected. Plus, this is a way cool technology:

40 Days / Make Life Better, 36

40 days of posts that make life better, 36: Just because you have to say "no," doesn't mean it has to make for an unpleasant scene:

40 Days / Make Life Better, 35

40 days of posts that make life better, 35: Love!

40 Days / Make Life Better, 34

40 days of posts that make life better, 34: There is music in the air! Sister Rosetta will tell you where!

40 Days / Make Life Better, 33

40 days of posts that make life better, 33 
(I know I'm echoing a theme here, but it's poetic licence, since I'm talking about cycles): 
We have singular and group conscience to rely on. We have the luxury of self reflection, and the gift of responsibility:

40 Days / Make Life Better, 32

40 days of posts that make life better, 32 


Though we are prone to inertia, changing our trajectory puts new "automatic pilots" into place.  Read: Changing Your Life 'Inertia' Takes Courage by Dr. Jim Taylor

40 Days / Make Life Better, 31

40 days of posts that make life better, 31: "...decent and thoughtful people around the world want nothing more than to live their lives in peace."  A Plea for Peace: Why Social Media Matters by Marlo Thomas

40 Days / Make Life Better: 30

40 days of posts that make life better, 30: 


When we face the truth about what's ugly inside of us, we have the chance to grow out of it.  To wit: White People: You Will Never Look Suspicious Like Trayvon Martin by Michael Skolnik

40 Days / Make Life Better, 29

40 days of posts that make life better, 29: Perspective revisited: tinier tinier more tiny tinier, bigger bigger bigger bigger:

(Be sure to click on "the scale of the universe" and play with it. And read the article - especially about who made the interactive "scale of the universe").

40 Days/ Make Life Better, 28

40 days of posts that make life better, 28: You can get a team of people to carry a letter across the country for under 45 cents, or send a package for under five bucks. US Post Office

40 Days / Make Life Better: 27

40 days of posts that make life better, 27: Good manners!

40 Days / make life better: 26

40 days of posts that make life better, 26 (I'm a day behind, this one's for yesterday): "The quality of mercy is not strain'd,/ It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/ Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:/ It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."- William Shakespeare

This is a video of a young man who cares for a humming bird saved from attack:

http://www.wimp.com/babyhummingbird/ see video on wimp.com 

(youtube versions cut off after a minute and a half - it's a 3 minute video).

40 Days / Make Life Better: 25

40 days of posts that make life better, 25: Sometimes the answers are obvious: For example, a little poor kid got made fun of because he always had dogs following him around... okay... See Cesar Millan's "It Gets Better" project video

40 Days / Make Life Better: 24

40 days of posts that make life better, 24: 


A musical instrument once used as a screaming, whining drone of intimidation over the dale by oncoming armies has been allowed retirement into its higher purpose: to make music! (and this kid made one at home!)

40 Days / Make Life Better: 23

40 days of posts that make life better, 23:

...keeping in mind that everybody grieves differently. I heard this song today and had to look it up. When Astor Piazzolla's father died, he made this inspiration for feeling:

40 Days / Make Life Better: 22

40 days of posts that make life better, 22: We can read! (and we can download books for free, too).

Project Gutenberg makes downloadable texts from material in the public domain: http://www.gutenberg.org/

40 Days / Make Life Better: 21

40 days of posts that make life better, 21: 


Friendship.

40 Days / Make Life Better: 20

40 days of posts that make life better, 20:

April 15th is still over a month away. Black Books: Bernard avoids doing his taxes (embedding was disabled).

40 Days / Make Life Better: 19

40 days of posts that make life better, 19: 

Today we paid back the hour we borrowed from last fall. Now we're even-Steven... uh... or wait - does next fall now owe us an hour?

40 days / make life better: 18

40 days of posts that make life better, 18: 


Curiosity keeps driving us to expand our horizons; we wonder about the majesty of the night sky.

40 Days / Make Life Better: 17

40 days of posts that make life better, 17:  Language allows us access to the inner workings of others' minds, as much as they have the skill and desire to express their thoughts, even if our frames of reference are quite different. And, with the written word, we can re-read til we get it.

Read: "Letters of Note": Helen Keller writes of her visit to the top of the Empire State Building.

40 Days / Make Life Better: 16

40 days of posts that make life better, 16:  ‎The luxury that we have is that our minds are always free to wander and make unexpected yet perfectly reasonable connections:

40 Days / Make Life Better, 15

40 days of posts that make life better:

Bees!

40 Days / Make Life Better 14

40 Days of posts that make life better, 14: The ability to allow ourselves to discover within the courage to change the things we can.


The following is how this story appeared on facebook:


MAKE THE CONNECTION. "And suddenly, I looked at the bull. He had this innocence that all animals have in their eyes, and he looked at me with this pleading. It was like a cry for justice, deep down inside of me. I describe it as being like a prayer - because if one confesses, it is hoped, that one is forgiven. I felt like the worst shit on earth." This photo shows the collapse of Torrero Alvaro Munera, as he realized in the middle of the his last fight... the injustice to the animal. From that day forward he became an opponent of bullfights.


After doing some research (having my sister in law give me a translation of the video below), we discover the photo is a little misleading (we'll call it poetic licence).  Munera was injured in a bullfight and that is what brought his revelation.  But the point still remains that he realized what he was doing was hurtful and therefore wrong, and he is now an advocate against cruelty to animals.  


Here is his statement in Spanish:

40 Days / Make Life Better, 13

40 days of posts that make life better, 13:

People who devote themselves, to any degree, to helping guide humanity toward kindness, and for extra credit, people who serve as beacons:

"In today’s materialistic world there is a risk of people becoming slaves to money, as though they were simply cogs in a huge money-making machine. This does nothing for human dignity, freedom, and genuine well-being. Wealth should serve humanity, and not the other way around."

-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

Official website of the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama on Facebook

40 Days / Make Life Better, 12

40 days of posts that make life better, 12: The pleasure of enjoying a good story with kindred spirits.

40 Days / Make Life Better, 11

40 days of posts that make life better, 11: Knowing you have slightly more to draw upon than others might think.

This is Spinal Tap, Nigel Tuffnel: These Go to Eleven (embedding disabled).

40 Days / Make Life Better, 10

40 days of posts that make life better, 10: The ability to change without losing sight of who you are:
 

40 Days / Make Life Better, Nine

40 days of posts that make life better, nine: having a lie down to look at the sky.

Cartoon by Michael Leunig