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

For Esteban

40 Days / Make Life Better, Eight

40 days of posts that make life better, eight: Committed Idealism!

40 Days / Make Life Better, Seven

40 days of posts that make life better, seven: Perspective!

See Earth from space, rotating. (Embedding was disabled.)

40 Days / Make Life Better, Six

40 days of posts that make life better, six: Grace under pressure.

Pee Wee Herman in the Biker Bar (embedding was disabled).

40 Days / Make Life Better, Five

40 days of posts that make life better, five: daily creativity fitness fun exercise! Star.me: the Happiest Place on the Webs

40 Days / Make Life Better, Four

40 Days of posts that make life better, four: to know the joy of friendship with a species other than your own.

N Word Always Unacceptable: Why? Here's Why

For the young who don't understand why I keep saying the N word lies in a realm beyond any petty insult, or punch in the arm to go with a "puh-leez!" and should not be used, have a read of Mr. Douglass' letter:

"I remember the chain, the gag, the bloody whip, the deathlike gloom overshadowing the broken spirit of the fettered bondman, the appalling liability of his being torn away from wife and children, and sold like a beast in the market..."

Read the entire letter:    http://networkedblogs.com/umWXs?a=share

40 Days / Make Life Better, Three

40 days of posts that make life better: three: Read a voice that's effortlessly funny. Read: The BlueGreen PowerPlant.

40 Days / Make Life Better, Two

40 days of posts that make life better, two: Taking one's time to wander as you may be led: (Thanks Ingrid!)

Snow Circles from Beauregard, Steamboat Aerials on Vimeo.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better: One

Fat Tuesday, eat all the goodies. Ash Wednesday, start Lent. I'm not religious, but why not look to this time so significant to so many to add to the mass of conscious reflection? So begins: 40 days of posts that make life better. One:

Noble in the China Shop

In order to succeed in non violent conflict resolution, you have to be willing to eschew the little thrill that comes from winning skirmishes.  To redirect hostility so that no one gets injured is the compassionate thing to do, keeping in mind the principle that the bull in the china shop gets hurt, too.

Choose Your Battles

Robert Burns had to put up with the simple minded arrogant critics, as do all writers.  But this one went to far, so Burns went a little farther.  I love this letter.

Burns' Writing Samples:

A Red Red Rose  O my Luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June: O my Luve's like the melodie, That's sweetly play'd in tune. As fair art thou, my bonie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi' the sun; And I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o' life shall run. And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve! And fare-thee-weel, a while! And I will come again, my Luve, Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile! and of course: Auld Lang Syne Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne! Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne. And surely ye'll be your pint stowp! And surely I'll be mine! And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet, For auld lang syne. For auld, &c. We twa hae run about the braes, And pou'd the gowans fine; But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, Sin' auld lang syne. For auld, &c. We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, Frae morning sun till dine; But seas between us braid hae roar'd Sin' auld lang syne. For auld, &c. And there's a hand, my trusty fere! And gie's a hand o' thine! And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught, For auld lang syne. For auld, &c.

More at: http://www.robertburns.org/works/