"A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnMewMRKnPw

"Imagine there's no heaven...."

This show has helped me fall in love with music again. Let it do the same for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxG1eGlOhMg

“Unless I accept my virtues, I most certainly will be overwhelmed by my faults.”

Sometimes I find that my thoughts can shrink to the size of the space I am inhabiting. I feel them pressing down on me like invisible walls, moving slowly and yet causing me to double over onto myself...questioning my actions, my opinions and myself as a person.

When this happens I believe that you must get outside your space before the shrunken thoughts get bigger than you and end up suffocating. Only when you remove yourself from that space can you gain perspective and see the world for how big, beautiful, scary and alive it is. The worlds reality puts everything in perspective for you very quickly.

I lived such a small life today.

Eventually I forced myself to leave my space to get a little human interaction and stop myself from drowing in drama and self pity.

And that saved me.

"If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love."

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing of my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can't see.

I say

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

The palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

~Maya Angelou

“Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.”

A New Concept that I Came Across in my Studies...

Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing and evaluating ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtained by making decisions as a group.

Eight symptoms indicative of Groupthink

1. Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
2. Rationalizing warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions.
3. Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
4. Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, biased, spiteful, disfigured, impotent, or stupid.
5. Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty".
6. Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
7. Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
8. Mind guards — self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.

If I had known all of this a few years ago, the most painful summer of my life would've been much more endurable.

“The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.”

Please thank a Veteran today.

I will be thanking my Grandfather, who worked as a navigator during WWII. He jumped from a plane to save his life and ended up in the prison of war camp Stalag Luft I until the war ended. The POW camp was especially difficult for him because he had a German last name but was fighting for the Canadians.

I will also be thanking my Nana, who was a Sargent in WWII. She worked on Canadian soil but was every bit as brave and committed as those who went overseas.

I wish I could still call and thank my Papa, who taught pilots how to fly the Harvard aircraft during WWII. Just before he died he was able to have one last flight in his beloved Harvard and when he got home he added that flight to his log book from WWII.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”

http://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyParks#p/u/10/rKSQjNP2QIs

Oh Miss Piggy, you're my hero.