View allAll Photos Tagged Lifechanging
Iceland-September 2017 - one of the best vacation trips of my life! I stayed one week. 5 nights I saw them.....
If you have never seen the northern lights (as I had not before going to Iceland), then you'll find them really absolutely gorgeous - maybe a life changing experience. I was so excited by them that I found it difficult to shoot and watch them at the same time. It is one of the most impressive and beautiful sights I have ever witnessed. It is literally out of this world.....
The aurora borealis is a fickle phenomenon... A week can pass without a flicker ... then Bang! The Northern Lights come on like a celestial lava lamp (NIGEL TISDALL).
You will need lots of patience as auroras start out faintly. Look to the north for bands of green-white light that run in an east-west direction. As the light show intensifies over a period that can last seconds, minutes or hours, the lights streak, dance, ripple, arc or spiral southward, creating a dramatic, colourful light show. Many hotels in Iceland offer wake up calls for northern lights viewings and tour operators are experts for pinpointing sightings. ("Where, When And How To Catch The Northern Lights This Year", Huffington Post Canada, January 18, 2016)
This is a composite shot. One shot for the foreground (1/640 at ISO 200, and one shot for the aurora (8 sec at ISO 2000 ), put together in snapseed.
Thank you very much for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy and potentially learn something! Big thanks to the amazing Flickr family out there!
Just wanted to share this shot I made several years back ... it was kinda lifechanging for me then ... and as I reflect on it again in these times it's become significant once again ... I saw this guy practicing in a quiet corner of NYC's Washington Sq Park ... and later that nite when working on it ... the image became so impactful that it inspired me right then to go online and order a pocket trumpet ... I'd been away from my instrument for about five years ... but since that day and this image my horn hasn't ever been far from my side ... I was fortunate to know Dizzy Gillespie for more than 20 years ... and thru him got to know and play with many of the young NYC jazz players when I was a young jazz player ... and spotting this guy in the park brought me back to the joy and comfort that music had given me since I was 12 ....
Well ... since I don't have many opportunities to make new images these days ... last nite I re-worked this one from my past .... and it's impact and power struck once again ... and inspired me to purchase a keyboard and attempt to spend this time at home and try to re-learn the piano .... Just want to thank my parents and teachers once again for blessing me with the gift of music ... and my gratitiude to all of the musicians I've gotten to know , play with , befriend and shoot with my camera over these years for the inspiration and joy I've gotten from their gifts and performances .. and remember too that this time of solitude can be used to rekindle some of those forgotten passions that we never seemed to have time for in the past ....
Please friends .... everyone stay safe and healthy and Be Happy … 💛💜💛
"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."
- William Blake, Auguries of innocence.
Time is rushing by and sweeping us all away with the ebbing tide. As we grow older the perception that time is moving faster can overwhelm us. To hear that "melancholy roar", as Matthew Arnold put it, can so often lead to the "denial of death" (Ernest Becker). We hope for immortality, and since the dawn of human history this has been the primary generator of all religious belief.
When I lived through my midlife crisis I chose for the ringtone of my phone the popular song by the band Youth Group, "Forever Young." www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQi8wEHMm5Y&t=65s
"Do you really want to live forever, forever young?
But in truth, our desperate attempts to pretend the tide won't go out for us (you know the feeling that we are the exception to the rule), are eventually revealed for the self-denial they really are. The fact is we are all going to die, and some of us sooner than others.
But that's okay, life is not about us! Our dearest loved ones die and the world goes on. And so it will be when our time comes. The important thing is that we actually got to experience those eternal moments when we stopped and listened to the ocean, or gathered exotic shells on a beach of golden sand. For me the joy of life is being able to say I shared a planet with billions of fellow human beings, who despite the vastness of this universe, might well be the only complex form of life there is.
Zen philosophers know that facing the facts of life can be a lifechanging experience when we slow down enough to contemplate what is really before us. So we need to stop and look carefully, and take in the moments that bear true eternity. William Blake is right.
The Alarm Bell of the Last Days | How to Recognize God's Voice
The Bible relates the following story: In the middle of the night, someone called out "the bridegroom has arrived." The wise virgins heard the voice of God and went to greet the bridegroom and attend the wedding feast with Him, while the foolish virgins were locked out beyond the gates. Now, in what kind of people will the prophecy of the wise and foolish virgins be fulfilled?
Recommended for You: second coming of Christ movie
I am watching you watching her watching her screen.
Street photography is life watching or life changing experience?
Richmond, June 2016.
Fuji X-T1 camera
Fuji XF 35mm F2 lens
Auto White Balance
Classic Chrome Film Simulation
This beautiful newlywed couple was celebrating their wedding day with memories from Ottawa's Tulip Festival.
"Your Song" is Corey's favorite, and it was the first one played. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is his other favorite, and it was the last.
Needless to say he freaked out.
Everyone freaked out.
Greatest night ever.
Full story: saranay.net/?p=39
God's Utterance "God Himself, the Unique (V) God’s Holiness (II)" (Part Three)
Introduction
God’s word in this video are from the book “The Word Appears in the Flesh”.
The content of this video:
A. How Satan Uses Knowledge to Corrupt Man
B. How Satan Uses Science to Corrupt Man
C. How Satan Uses Traditional Culture to Corrupt Man
D. How Satan Uses Superstition to Corrupt Man
Our Daily Challenge - Your Life as a Movie
227:365
My whole life changed when I realised that only ME can make ME happy.
Now I'm just a party in my head . . . . . . whoop whoop!
Last night was special - life-changing even. I never thought I'd see the aurora borealis in Utah. Especially not like this. This is the first time I've ever seen it. Actually, now that I have seen it, I realize I've probably seen it before but just didn't realize anything special was happening. It doesn't look like much to the naked eye. I'm glad I made the effort to get out to the lake, away from light pollution. Now I'm going want to see it again.
This photo appeared in Flickr Explore on May 11th, 2024.
Christian testimonies | God’s Blessings: I May Not Be Rich, but I’m Very Fortunate
One day, I read these words of God : “What God wants to see is that man’s heart can be revived. These ways that He uses to work on man are to continually awaken the heart of man, awaken man’s spirit, letting man know where they came from, who is guiding them, supporting them, providing for them, and who has allowed man to live up till now; they are to let man know who is the Creator, whom they should worship, what kind of road they should walk, and in what way man should come before God; they are used to gradually revive the heart of man, so man knows God’s heart, understands God’s heart, and comprehends the great care and thought behind His work to save man. When man’s heart is revived, they no longer wish to live the life of a degenerate, corrupt disposition, but instead wish to pursue the truth in the satisfaction of God. When man’s heart has been awakened, they are then able to make a clean break with Satan, no longer to be harmed by Satan, no longer to be controlled or fooled by it. Instead, man can cooperate in God’s work and in His words in a positive way to satisfy the heart of God, thus attaining fear of God and the shunning of evil. This is the original purpose of God’s work” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Only after my experiences did I finally understand that God had arranged these situations to awaken my heart and my spirit, and to get me to follow the right path in life of obeying God, fearing God and shunning evil, and to live in God’s blessings—all this was God’s painstaking effort! I thought back to what I’d gone through, from sinking into the quagmire of money and getting a serious illness to having the fortune to hear God’s gospel of the last days and coming before God, then once again going in pursuit of money and getting caught in Satan’s net. My brothers and sisters gave me fellowship about God’s words, I came to have some knowledge of the fact of God’s sovereignty over mankind’s destiny, and I also came to have some knowledge of Satan’s wicked purpose in using heretical fallacies to corrupt people, and only then did I begin to let go of money little by little, and I understood that only practicing God’s words and submitting to God’s sovereignty was the right path to follow in life…. In order to awaken my heart and to save me from being harmed by Satan, God paid such a painstaking price for me and He showed me mercy. Every step I took, whether I listened and was obedient, or whether I rebelled against and shunned God, God always used the most suitable means to save me. I truly came to appreciate how real God’s love is and how beautiful and good God’s heart is! Were it not for God’s salvation, I’d still be living in Satan’s snare, caught in a whirlpool of money, completely unaware of what Satan’s harm was turning me into. Coming to this appreciation of God’s love, I had a deep sense of what a true honor and what good fortune it was for me to be able to come before God—God had graced me and showed me favor! I wished only to spend more time and energy in the future attending gatherings, reading God’s words and worshiping God, to arm myself more with the truth, and to perform my duty well to repay God’s love. Thank God and praise Him!
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Christian testimonies | Who Was It That Rescued Her Marriage? (Audio Essay)
She had just turned twenty, she had a graceful figure and appeared as pretty as a flower, and there were many suitors pursuing her. But she didn’t pay this any mind until one day when her friend invited her to come out and she by chance met Lin. Lin was almost 6 feet tall, he was tall and handsome, with a dignified bearing. He spoke with humor and with wit, and was able to attract her in an instant. And Lin too was quite interested in her. The two of them started seeing each other very soon, and after a few months they got married. Before long they had a child of their own, and this made her feel very blessed. But good things don’t last forever. Just when she was starting to enjoy everything and long for a beautiful future, she discovered that Lin was not engaging in honest work every day. All day long he was idling about, and he would even go out often and get in fights and gamble. When he returned home, he would pick out faults with her no matter if there was something going on or not. He simply did not care for her or their child. She did not understand why Lin was acting this way. Many times with eyes full of tears she would urge Lin to walk the correct path, but not only did Lin not listen, he would even lash out at her, and one time he even went so far as to nearly choke her to death. She had lost all hope in Lin. Before long, Lin got sentenced to prison for breaking the law, and she had to support herself and their one-and-a-half-year-old child on her own. Her life was full of hardships and dashed hopes. It wasn’t until 2003, when Lin completed his prison sentence and was released, that she was finished with this painful marriage.
Recommended for You: depending on God
#30 on Explore, Jan 31, 2011. FP.
Eldoret, Kenya.
I have spent the last two weeks in east Africa travelling and meeting people in Uganda and Kenya. It's been a lifechanging experience. No more, no less. Hopefully my images from this trip into another world (there is no other way of putting it really) will be able to convey some of that.
What you lack in material things you can make up for in posture.
Quote by Katharine Whitehorn.
View large on black highly recommended.
Brickfest 2001 in Washington, DC was my first Lego Convention. I had a blast sharing it with my then-AFOL then-girlfriend, putting faces to the names I knew so well on Lugnet, and getting to know people and build friendships beyond just sharing a common interest. For a whole weekend I was free to talk about my passion with, well, basically everyone around me, and have that same passion reciprocated. It was a lifechanging event, for sure, and I'm forever grateful to Christina Hitchcock, her entire team of organizers and volunteers, and every AFOL that attended for showing me the true community of this hobby.
One of the items in the goodie bag was a red 2x4 brick keychain with the Lego logo on the side. It was my favorite item that I brought home from the 'fest, and it immediately became something that was with me every day. Through a lot of change, both good and bad, it was always in my pocket, jingling against my almost-janitor-myriad of keys. During my 9 year long dark ages, my collection was packed away in storage, but that keychain went with me everywhere. Every single day.
As you can see, that once proud 2x4 brick is now beat and battered, worn down and filthy. It's got 12 years of travel and grit on it and in it, 12 years of beating against keys and pocketknives and change and whatever else happened to be in my pocket. The logo's long faded, the studs are wearing through, the chain is tarnished, but the memories and the hobby it represents are cherished forever.
Thank you little red brick, for all that you mean to me. And thank you new little red brick, for being shiny and ready when your predecessor finally succumbs to time. And thank you, reader, for taking the time to share this with me.
#10 on Explore, Jan 25, 2011. FP.
Iganga, Uganda.
I have spent the last two weeks in east Africa travelling and meeting people in Uganda and Kenya. It's been a lifechanging experience. No more, no less. Hopefully my images from this trip into another world (there is no other way of putting it really) will be able to convey some of that.
As a member of a family of seven children this little girl stayed in the background and I had to force my way through the rest of the kids to get to her. I took one shot and then she ran away. I don't know what had happened to her but I do know that she gave me a faint smile when I managed to show her the picture. That I won't forget. Or her eyes.
Quote by Pablo Picasso.
View large on black highly recommended.
#42 on Explore, Feb 1, 2011.
Nairobi, Kenya.
I have spent the last two weeks in east Africa travelling and meeting people in Uganda and Kenya. It's been a lifechanging experience. No more, no less. Hopefully my images from this trip into another world (there is no other way of putting it really) will be able to convey some of that.
A good friend of mine called Mr. Wanjou is preparing his favourite beverage. It's a ginger tea with milk and fresh honey. I asked him what this wonderful mixture was called expecting something exotic. He said, "It's called ginger tea with milk and honey." ...That's Africa.
Quote by Alexander Pope.
View large on black highly recommended.
Found this advertisement was sreaming for being a part of my "On The Run"-project.
Luckily, a young woman was crossing my way with the exact properties of a common passerby these days: Eyes on the cellphone, Headset on the ears. Anything exiting or lifechanging could have happened right next to her, she wouldn't have recognized it.
My advise: Look around while beeing on the streets, you'll see and learn much more about life than any whatsapp-message could say.
People are always thinking and walking around with information on their minds. Wether you are in the middle of nowhere or at work there is always something to think about. I am always thinking and I have a few songs stuck in my head. But what I am really thinking about are the changes that are happening to me that are life changing. Will the new year teach me something new? Should I look for something that might help me out this new year? What are somethings you might be thinking about for the new year?
One eye sees, the other feels.
Words by Paul Klee
Series 10/12 - This is dedicated to Richard Dadd
for Flickriver - Sophie Shapiro
.
Exhibit in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
“Look overhead and you will see an aerial sculpture comprised of two hundred golden arms hanging from the ceiling. Each is a casting of the outstretched right arm of Tommie Smith (b. 1944), the American winner of the men’s 200-meter race at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.
“During the medal ceremony, Smith bowed his head and raised his black-gloved fist in an act of protest. Coming at a moment of turmoil in the United States, where unrest flared over the war in Vietnam and racial inequality, his gesture was an assertion of Black solidarity in the fight for human rights. Echoed by the American bronze medalist John Carlos, it inspired social causes around the world and irrevocably changed Smith’s own life.
“Glenn Kaino created ‘Bridge’ as part of an ongoing collaboration with Smith and as a reflection on the power of the athlete’s gesture nearly fifty years after it occurred. Nearly one hundred feet long, the sculpture reaches both backward and forward, acting as a bridge through time and space into the present. It serves as a monument to one person’s action and its aftermath, evoking the ways that even small acts can ripple through time and alter the course of history.” [From the accompanying text]
[Note: Tommie Smith’s personal effects from the 1968 Games are held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.]
“A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.”
Eda J. Le Shan
In one's lifetime - so many life changing quotes...
I cant even get to mention 'one' right now.
Look forward, look forward, and onward.
Because the sun always comes back tomorrow...
Courage sits on my desk in the shape of a good size rock and on a piece of paper under glass. The rock is heavy and so were my burdens at one time. The paper is my freedom. It tells me that Courage is doing something even when you are afraid. "I have a theory about courage. I don't think it's a moment of bravery when you have a rush of adrenaline. Courage is something level, a kind of force that sustains you. And that's what it takes to face difficult things, to make it through life successfully."
Beyond Layers..Day 28
Write about A Brave Moment in You LIfe.
Join Me in the BackCountry Blogging Today
so, this is my 1000th photograph on flickr.
i didn't plan for it to be that way. and i don't think it's one of my best shots. but the way i took it exemplifies why i've chosen it for this arbitrary, but somehow meaningful, milestone.
i took it yesterday morning, over pancakes and coffee at the cold spring cafe. fork in hand, i looked up; i saw the lines; i saw the screen; i saw the stop sign. so i put down the fork and picked up the camera. and i captured it.
before flickr, i didn't associate the word "capture" with photography.
before flickr, i didn't know what bokeh was.
before flickr, i didn't know what "abc" meant.
before flickr, i didn't stop when i saw something that made my heart skip a beat.
before flickr, i didn't have friends in wales and portland and texas and detroit and seattle and chicago and DC and new zealand and los angeles and north carolina and atlanta and watchung and scotland and massachusetts and australia and kansas city and iceland and philadelphia and london and san francisco and portugal and canada and belfast and cold spring and so many other places, near and far.
before flickr, i didn't think i was a good photographer.
a week or so ago, i passed the 50,000-view mark. i didn't make a big deal about it, because i'm still in awe of this whole flickr thing, suprised every time when people come back and look at my stuff. (i wish you could know just how insecure i really am.) but because of the support i have found here, i walk a little straighter. i see a little clearer.
and i take a few more photographs.
they say a picture is worth a thousand words. i say, a thousand pictures are worth one word: gratitude.
thank you.
#43 on Explore, Feb 2, 2011.
Iganga, Uganda.
I have spent the last two weeks in east Africa travelling and meeting people in Uganda and Kenya. It's been a lifechanging experience. No more, no less. Hopefully my images from this trip into another world (there is no other way of putting it really) will be able to convey some of that.
He kept in the background guarding the family bike. Having a car is only for the lucky few and any means of transport other than walking is considered a luxury.
Quote by unknown.
View large on black highly recommended.
--
I love you. It's that simple. Love doesn't need any extras. It's enough just to love someone with all that you have. It doesn't need fancy gifts, long songs, and confusing words. All that's really needed is those three words. You know why? Love is Love. Simple as that. It's the feeling that you get when you know you've found happiness in somebody else's happiness. The word, love, itself is a promise. I am yours. I am here for you. Be here for me. No exceptions, no lies. You are mine, and we are each other. Love transforms a person, and whether it be for good or for bad, it's worth every minute. You make me better, I make you better. We become our real selves through each other. And true love means letting go. You can't keep your walls up in fear of getting hurt. That only blocks out the magic. Because even if you get your heart torn out and stomped on, it's still beating. Waiting for the person who will come along and mend the broken pieces, pull you back together. Nobody comes out the same person as they went in. And all these things are the beauty of love. If you are brave enough to embark on a journey, let yourself go, giving all of who you are to another person, trusting them to hold you close and not let you fall, you will be rewarded. Love is Love. Simple as that. and these three words. I love you. So small, mean so much.
--
The incumbent President of the Cameroon National Youth Council (CNYC), Jean Mark Afessi Mbafor has urged every Cameroonian youth to continually hammer the phrase: “CHANGE DEPENDS ON ME” in his or her mind every day.
During an interview with Positive Youth’s Africa(PYA), he prescribed this as an antidote to the defeatist mentality of Cameroonian youths. In the interview which follows, Mbafor says this phrase was his main take-away from the last edition Young African Leaders Initiative(YALI) which took place in Washington DC. Read on…
PYA: As the President of the Cameroon National Youth Council, you are definitely a leader to reckon with. We would like to believe that your desire to lead must have germinated from somewhere. Could you briefly tell us how you came to reach this stage in your life?
President of CNYC: I come from a family where leadership is more of a gift. My Dad is a leader, he leads a church. My mum is leading an initiative for an orphanage. Leadership kind of runs in the family. From class three, I was head boy. In church, I was either youth leader or leader of the choir. Now what inspired me to run for the position of the President of the CNYC was a quote from Martin Luther King Junior: “One day the world would repent, not for the evil that wicked people have done but for the appalling passivity of good people.”This quote revolutionized my whole concept of leadership and pushed
me to wish to create an impact on my generation. I heard about the CNYC, I came there a couple of times and was not very inspired by what I saw. When I first discovered the National Youth Council in 2010, I pulled away but when I saw that quote in 2012, I got inspired to run for the Presidency of the National Youth Council. So I put up a campaign strategy and in December, 2013, I was elected President.
PYA: Reaching this milestone in your life, you must have cultivated certain values and skills that sustain you as a leader, so what are some of those values and skills?
President of the CNYC: First of all dreaming. People do not think that dreaming is a value. I had a dream like Martin Luther King. When you have a genuine dream, you get another value we call vision which will in turn produce another value I call passion. When you are passionate about your vision, you would get another value I call commitment. When you are committed, you are prepared to suffer for that dream from which emerges another value known as sacrifice. Many Cameroonians are not willing to sacrifice for their dreams and we think leadership is about seating on a rolling chair in an air conditioned office. No that is a result of leadership and not leadership.
PYA: These values, coupled with your professional experience must have contributed significantly to your being selected as a Laureate for the YALI. Could you tell us what YALI is all about and how many Cameroonians were represented?
President of CNYC: YALI is the acronym for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).It is a program under the Mandela Washington fellowship program. Twelve Cameroonians were privileged to be selected for this program. It is an initiative by President Barack Obama and I think it is his own way of giving back to Africa. I think this is a major gift because there is nothing more than giving to Africa people who are empowered. In Cameroon, 1500 applied for the YALI.180 were shortlisted for interviews and 12 Cameroonians who are doing remarkable things to change their societies were selected. I had sessions with President Obama, Michel Obama, Suzan Rice and I tell you it was a life-changing event.
PYA: What was your take away from this event?
President of the CNYC: My take away is that change depends on me. If everybody, every youth in Cameroon incarnates that feeling that change depends on him. If every Cameroonian gets up every morning and tells himself: “Change depends on me”, then by 2035, we would not be emerging but emergent.
PYA: During the JCI National Convention, you introduced a concept known as servant leadership. Could you further explain the concept?
President of the CNYC: It is one of the things we were taught in YALI. Towards the end, we were baptized as the Mandela Washington Fellowship. At that time, I asked myself why? I think it was to crystallize the whole concept of servant leadership which we have been hearing for six weeks. The idea behind this concept is that leaders have to serve their servants because these servants made them leaders. Mandela is a glaring example of a servant leader. A servant-leader puts the good of his people before his good. To summarize this, I would like to say, you never find common interest in working for personal interest but you will always find personal interest in working for common interest. A real leader works for common interest because he knows that in achieving common interest, he will find personal interest.
PYA: We are gradually moving from Millenium Development Goals(MDG) to Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) because the MDGs are far from being attained
just a few months to the deadline. Would you attribute this to the lack of leadership
.
President of CNYC: I have been privileged to be part of high panel discussions on the MDGs and SDGs. I think this can be attributed to will. We have many issues such as lack of resources, instability and unemployment but lack of will is the main problem. When we look at economies like Singapore that got transformed in 10 years, it means it can be done in Cameroon if only we have the will. Also, looking at a country like Srylanka that is just coming out of war and its level of development, we can deduce that Cameroon which has been at peace for long can do even better. Until each person accepts his share of responsibility and not just look at the government. In the human development index, Cameroon is ranked 150 out of 183.This is shameful. With all the degree holders we keep throwing out every year. It is man that makes development and if we are so low in our human development, it will be difficult for us to progress. It comes down to man and our will to want to change things.
PYA: You have been privildged to travel to other countries in Africa and the rest of the world. You have equally been very active in Cameroon. How do you compare the mentality of youths in other countries to that of youths in Cameroon?
President of CNYC;
Youths everywhere have the same problem. We all have the same problem, unemployment, social insertion issues amongst others but I think what surprises me most with the Cameroonian youths is the level of passivity as compared to youths of other nations. By passivity, I mean there is a surrender, there is a giving up. The average Cameroonian youth wants to leave Cameroon for greener pastures. We forget that in other countries, life is harder. Curiously, it is youths from Nigeria, Benin, Chad who are coming to Cameroon and making it. Look at the fishing industry, go to Kribi, go to Limbe, Idenau,its these people fishing. These youths are sending the money back to their countries. Cameroonian youths have giving up. They have a defeatist mentality. They have forgotten this notion that to eat you must work and work hard. The average Cameroonian youth does not listen to news. Youths have damaged their thinking about what real life is all about. Our youths are neither willing to serve our nation. Outside, you see youths who are active, who are full of energy and passion. It saddens me that most of our youths have lost passion. We do not have youths who are daring.
PYA: What is the CNYC doing to remedy the situation?
President of CNYC:
The CNYC has three objectives. Get the youths to be part of their council. Youths have to support the council. We should make the council that machine of the youths. We are trying to build credibility with the government and the youth. Youths say the council must serve them but we cannot serve youths if they do not support us. No institution will take us seriously if the youths do not stand by us. It should be a give and take. When the youths give us their support, we now have the power to fight for them.We are trying to open doors, look for partnership .But all that will be weak if the youths do not support their council. Until the youths and the council became one, things will not change. The youths should get involved with who they put at the head of the council.
PYA: We see that you are working hard to improve the situation of your country, so what kind of Cameroon will you wish your son or daughter to grow up in.
President of CNYC:A country which truly utilizes its human resources and other resources for the benefit and improvement of its citizens. I dream of a Cameroonian where every body’s voice, interest and welfare is seriously taken into account. Until everyone is equal before the law, it will be difficult to attain to that. I dream of a Cameroon where everyone (Northener,Southerner,Anglophone,Francophone) are equal before the law.
www.positiveyouthsafrica.org/interview-with-cameroon-nati...
lifechanging album to listen to today as I try to fix things
Noting the new lens filter I tried out, it's clear and fragmented looking, but I guess the filter effect is to make sparkle bursts appear and soften everything. Rad!
My first deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Due when I was a teenager was lifechanging, with no hyperbole. I loved it so much that I saved the napkin for years. Little did I know at the time that one day I'd live in Chicago.
Chicago, Illinois.
Thursday, July 7, 2022.
Nairobi, Kenya.
I spent two weeks in east Africa travelling and meeting people in Uganda and Kenya. It's been a lifechanging experience. No more, no less. Hopefully my images from this trip into another world (there is no other way of putting it really) will be able to convey some of that.
I was invited to a goat-party (barbecue) in Nairobi and got the chance to spend time with a couple of families that were a lot better of than the people I met in Uganda. We had a great time together and the kids were interested in my story. Here are two of them holding Antons (a fellow traveller) hand. He's almost two metres tall and blonde wich made him really fascinating of course.
Quote by Mark Twain.
View large on black highly recommended.
Iganga, Uganda.
I spent two weeks in east Africa travelling and meeting people in Uganda and Kenya. It's been a lifechanging experience. No more, no less. Hopefully my images from this trip into another world (there is no other way of putting it really) will be able to convey some of that.
Meeting the kids I was struck by the way they looked at my camera without any kind of preconception. They just look honest.
The quote is a Czech proverb.
View large on black highly recommended.
Gut Monkey's Leading X program facilitates life-changing experiences for adults in the bleeding disorders community. We canoed down the Green River in eastern Utah as it flows towards and joins the Colorado River. During our trip, the river was flowing at 15,000 cubic feet per second. When it was put in terms of a cubic foot being the size of a basketball, I was simply amazed! www.gutmonkey.com/leading-x
One-armed explorer John Wesley Powell led a couple of expeditions down these canyons nearly 150 years ago when he realized the value and beauty of the region. Without his life-long support of this area, many large cities in the southwest may not have flourished as they have.
Mary C. Rabbitt wrote about his motivation in the US Department of Interior's1969 publication of "The Colorado River Region and John Wesley Powell"
"Finally, he made up his mind. The region to the southwest was largely unexplored, represented on the Government maps as a blank. There were many and fabulous stories about the Colorado River which flowed through it, of explorers who had disappeared, of places where the river disappeared underground, and of great falls. The Indians were afraid of the river. They said that long ago a chief, who was mourning the death of his wife, had been taken by a god to visit her in the happier land where she then dwelled so that he would cease to mourn. The trail to this beautiful land was the canyon of the Colorado. On their return, lest others who were discontented with this life should attempt to reach heaven before their appointed time, the god had rolled a river into the gorge, a mad, raging stream that would engulf anyone who tried. But, Powell said, "the thought grew into my mind that the canyons of this region would be a book of revelations in the rock-leaved Bible of geology. The thought fructified, and I determined to read the book."
Have you ever felt like your heart was on fire? Maybe you fell in love, gazed into the eyes of your new baby, or caught the fire of the love of the divine.
You would definitely recognize that heart-on-fire feeling if you’ve ever had it before. It’s hard to describe, but it kind of feels like your heart warms your entire body and soul with the heat of an internal flame. Do you know what it’s like to sit in front of a blazing hearth on a cold night? Well, that’s what pure love feels like inside.
It’s easy for most of us to understand how we can love another human being—but not always as easy to figure out how to love the unknowable essence of the Creator. The Baha’i teachings say that one of the requirements of being a Baha’i, though, is “becoming enkindled with the fire of the love of God …” – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 336.
What does that mean?
The symbol of fire has always stood for life, love and health, for energy, transformation and regeneration, for light and warmth. When we feel passion for something or someone, we feel the fiery heat of an enkindled inner flame. We burn with it, that fire of inner feeling, and it sustains us.
To understand it, to comprehend its mystical meanings, I suspect, we need to turn to poetry, to the mystical and to the revelatory:
Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames. – Rumi
… heaven set the fire that burns in our spirits. – Gibran
Cause our souls to be enkindled with the fire of Thy tender affection and give us to drink of the living waters of Thy bounty. – The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 199.
The Word of God hath set the heart of the world afire; how regrettable if ye fail to be enkindled with its flame! – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 316.
You’ve probably recognized that inner fire in others. Those who have it burn with passion and enthusiasm for life. They have a contagious ardor for what they do; they live and love with great eagerness. Their excitement, because it generates so much heat, can catch everyone around them on fire, too:
All creatures that exist are dependent upon the Divine Bounty. Divine Mercy gives life itself. As the light of the sun shines on the whole world, so the Mercy of the infinite God is shed on all creatures. As the sun ripens the fruits of the earth, and gives life and warmth to all living beings, so shines the Sun of Truth on all souls, filling them with the fire of Divine love and understanding. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 26.
Everyone can access that “fire of divine love and understanding.” It’s simple—just turn your face toward the sun. When you do, it will gradually warm you with its rays:
Likewise, in the spiritual realm of intelligence and idealism there must be a center of illumination, and that center is the everlasting, ever-shining Sun, the Word of God. Its lights are the lights of reality which have shone upon humanity, illumining the realm of thought and morals, conferring the bounties of the divine world upon man. These lights are the cause of the education of souls and the source of the enlightenment of hearts, sending forth in effulgent radiance the message of the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. In brief, the moral and ethical world and the world of spiritual regeneration are dependent for their progressive being upon that heavenly Center of illumination. It gives forth the light of religion and bestows the life of the spirit, imbues humanity with archetypal virtues and confers eternal splendors. This Sun of Reality, this Center of effulgences, is the Prophet or Manifestation of God. Just as the phenomenal sun shines upon the material world producing life and growth, likewise, the spiritual or prophetic Sun confers illumination upon the human world of thought and intelligence, and unless it rose upon the horizon of human existence, the kingdom of man would become dark and extinguished. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 94.
We all owe our lives to that ever-burning fire we call the sun. Without it, nothing could survive. In the same way, we owe our inner lives, the realities of our souls and their attributes and perfections, to that heavenly center of illumination we call God:
Every man trained through the teachings of God and illumined by the light of His guidance, who becomes a believer in God and His signs and is enkindled with the fire of the love of God, sacrifices the imperfections of nature for the sake of divine perfections. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 452.
When you start that fire burning in your heart, when you enkindle your soul with the fire of the love of God, you’re on your way to achieving the greatest possible attainment in the world of humanity.
bahaiteachings.org/feeling-get-hearts-fire
Heart intelligence is the flow of awareness, understanding and intuition we experience when the mind and emotions are brought into coherent alignment with the heart. It can be activated through self-initiated practice, and the more we pay attention when we sense the heart is speaking to us or guiding us, the greater our ability to access this intelligence and guidance more frequently. Heart intelligence underlies cellular organization and guides and evolves organisms toward increased order, awareness and coherence of their bodies’ systems.
Throughout much of recorded history, human beings have understood that intelligence, the ability to learn, understand, reason and apply knowledge to shape their environment, was a function of the brain in the head.
There also is ample evidence in the writings and oral traditions societies passed down through the generations that they strongly believed in an intelligent heart.
Research into the idea of heart intelligence began accelerating in the second half of the 20th century. During the 1960s and ’70s pioneer physiologists John and Beatrice Lacey conducted research that showed the heart actually communicates with the brain in ways that greatly affect how we perceive and react to the world around us. In 1991, the year the HeartMath Institute was established, pioneer neurocardiologist Dr. J. Andrew Armour introduced the term “heart brain.” He said the heart possessed a complex and intrinsic nervous system that is a brain.
Today, more than a half century after the Laceys began their research, we know a great deal more about the heart:
The heart sends us emotional and intuitive signals to help govern our lives.
The heart directs and aligns many systems in the body so that they can function in harmony with one another.
The heart is in constant communication with the brain. The heart’s intrinsic brain and nervous system relay information back to the brain in the cranium, creating a two-way communication system between heart and brain.
The heart makes many of its own decisions.
The heart starts beating in the unborn fetus before the brain has been formed, a process scientists call autorhythmic.
Humans form an emotional brain long before a rational one, and a beating heart before either.
The heart has its own independent complex nervous system known as “the brain in the heart.”
Although scientists say it is clear there is still much to learn, future generations may well look back and cite another important discovery as one of the most pivotal of the 20th century. The HeartMath Solution, the book that details the program used by hundreds of thousands of people to access and utilize heart intelligence to improve their lives, discusses this discovery.
“Researchers began showing in the 1980s and ’90s that success in life depended more on an individual’s ability to effectively manage emotions than on the intellectual ability of the brain in the head,” says The HeartMath Solution, by HeartMath founder Doc Childre and his associate and longtime HeartMath spokesman Howard Martin.
This discovery naturally resulted in people wanting to know how to infuse emotions with intelligence.
Scientists at the nonprofit HeartMath Institute , which had been conducting research into heart intelligence and emotions posed the theory that “heart intelligence actually transfers intelligence to the emotions and instills the power of emotional management,” the book explains. “In other words, heart intelligence is really the source of emotional intelligence.
“From our research at the HeartMath Institute, we've concluded that intelligence and intuition are heightened when we learn to listen more deeply to our own heart. It’s through learning how to decipher messages we receive from our heart that we gain the keen perception needed to effectively manage our emotions in the midst of life’s challenges. The more we learn to listen to and follow our heart intelligence, the more educated, balanced and coherent our emotions become. Without the guiding influence of the heart we easily fall prey to reactive emotions such as insecurity, anger, fear and blame as well as other energy-draining reactions and behaviors.”
Early HeartMath research found that negative emotions threw the nervous system out of balance and when that happened heart rhythms became disordered and appeared jagged on a heart monitor. This placed stress on the physical heart and other organs and threatened serious health problems.
“Positive emotions, by contrast, were found to increase order and balance in the nervous system and produce smooth, harmonious heart rhythms,” Childre and Martin wrote. “But these harmonious and coherent rhythms did more than reduce stress: They actually enhanced people’s ability to clearly perceive the world around them.”
The heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom for centuries. For more than 27 years, the HeartMath Institute Research Center has explored the physiological mechanisms by which the heart and brain communicate and how the activity of the heart influences our perceptions, emotions, intuition and health. Early on in our research we asked, among other questions, why people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other regenerative emotions as well as heartache in the physical area of the heart. In the early 1990s, we were among the first to conduct research that not only looked at how stressful emotions affect the activity in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hormonal and immune systems, but also at the effects of emotions such as appreciation, compassion and care. Over the years, we have conducted many studies that have utilized many different physiological measures such as EEG (brain waves), SCL (skin conductance), ECG (heart), BP (blood pressure) and hormone levels, etc. Consistently, however, it was heart rate variability, or heart rhythms that stood out as the most dynamic and reflective indicator of one’s emotional states and, therefore, current stress and cognitive processes. It became clear that stressful or depleting emotions such as frustration and overwhelm lead to increased disorder in the higher-level brain centers and autonomic nervous system and which are reflected in the heart rhythms and adversely affects the functioning of virtually all bodily systems. This eventually led to a much deeper understanding of the neural and other communication pathways between the heart and brain. We also observed that the heart acted as though it had a mind of its own and could significantly influence the way we perceive and respond in our daily interactions. In essence, it appeared that the heart could affect our awareness, perceptions and intelligence. Numerous studies have since shown that heart coherence is an optimal physiological state associated with increased cognitive function, self-regulatory capacity, emotional stability and resilience.
We now have a much deeper scientific understanding of many of our original questions that explains how and why heart activity affects mental clarity, creativity, emotional balance, intuition and personal effectiveness. Our and others’ research indicates the heart is far more than a simple pump. The heart is, in fact, a highly complex information-processing center with its own functional brain, commonly called the heart brain, that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs and play an important role in mental and emotional experience and the quality of our lives.
In recent years, we have conducted a number of research studies that have explored topics such as the electrophysiology of intuition and the degree to which the heart’s magnetic field, which radiates outside the body, carries information that affects other people and even our pets, and links people together in surprising ways. We also launched the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), which explores the interconnectivity of humanity with Earth’s magnetic fields.
This overview discusses the main findings of our research and the fascinating and important role the heart plays in our personal coherence and the positive changes that occur in health, mental functions, perception, happiness and energy levels as people practice the HeartMath techniques. Practicing the techniques increases heart coherence and one’s ability to self-regulate emotions from a more intuitive, intelligent and balanced inner reference. This also explains how coherence is reflected in our physiology and can be objectively measured.
The discussion then expands from physiological coherence to coherence in the context of families, workplaces and communities. Science of the Heart concludes with the perspective that being responsible for and increasing our personal coherence not only improves personal health and happiness, but also feeds into and influences a global field environment. It is postulated that as increasing numbers of people add coherent energy to the global field, it helps strengthen and stabilize mutually beneficial feedback loops between human beings and Earth’s magnetic fields.
www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/
Note what he wrote concerning the machaira sword in Ephesians 6:17, “And take up…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The sword (machaira) that Paul referenced was approximately nineteen inches long and both sides of the blade were razor sharp. This sword was used for cutting and slicing flesh. The tip of the sword was turned upward so that it could rip out the entrails of the enemy. It was extremely lethal. Paul said that we could stand firm against the schemes of the enemy by taking up, among other things, a spiritual sword—the sword of the Spirit. Paul said that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. This is the rhema word, which is an inspired utterance from the Lord. It can be defined as a spoken word by a living voice or a divine word spoken through the Holy Spirit.
A rhema word is a clearly spoken word in undeniable, unmistakable, and unquestionable language that we hear and understand. Renner wrote, “In the New Testament, the word rhema carries the idea of a quickened word, such as a word of scripture or a ‘word from the Lord’ that the Holy Spirit supernaturally drops into a believer’s mind, thus causing it to supernaturally come alive and impart special power or direction to that believer.” Throughout history, there have been men and women who have made critical decisions or life-changing moves simply because they heard a word from the Lord. God spoke an undeniable, unmistakable, unquestionable word to them and they obeyed it. As a result, through God’s people who were obedient to the spoken Word of God, extraordinary accomplishments have occurred. The sword of the Lord was picked-up by those believers and used to stand firm against the enemy by cutting down the work of darkness.
Much of Paul’s ministry was influenced by rhema words being spoken to him. For example: God spoke to Paul at the time of his conversion (Acts 9:4-6), God spoke to Ananias concerning Paul’s life and need of a healing (Acts 9:10-16), the Holy Spirit spoke at the time of Paul’s “commissioning” into public ministry (Acts 13:2), the Holy Spirit warned Paul where he was not to preach (Acts 16:6), God spoke to Paul in preparation for a period of persecution that he would experience in Jerusalem (Acts 21:11), and the Holy Spirit spoke concerning Paul’s ministry in the city of Rome (Acts 23:11).
We can conclude that Paul used the sword of the Spirit to advance the kingdom of God. He heard the rhema Word of God and by obeying it, the gospel of Christ was advance against the perils and wiles of the devil. The Holy Spirit desires to speak a rhema word to you, too. He wants to speak to you in undeniable, unmistakable, and unquestionable language that you hear and understand. Have you heard a word from the Lord recently? The challenge becomes living in such a way that we’re able to hear the subtle voice of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says today if we hear His voice we’re not to harden our hearts (Heb. 4:7). I believe the issue is not if God is speaking, but if we’re listening. Recently, I wrote that one of the most significant things that we can do to stand firm against the schemes of the enemy is to “listen” to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Life is in His voice; we don’t live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema) that proceeds out of God’s mouth (Matt. 4:4). If we live by His words, then, could we spiritually die by the absence of hearing them?
We must arrange our lives in a posture of intimacy to hear what Jesus is saying to us. Choose to live a “Mary lifestyle” at the feet of Jesus. This is a challenge, no doubt, because we live in a “Martha world” that is worried, bothered and distracted about so many things (see Luke 10:38-42). Intimacy with Jesus is fundamental to hearing, and it’s how we’re equipped to use the sword of the Spirit against the schemes of the enemy. Additionally, some of the greatest spoken words that you will hear occur when you read the written words of God. The Bible says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Become a student of the Bible so that you can be adequately equipped for every work that the Lord calls you to do. Read, soak, immerse, listen, study, and memorize the written Word of God, and watch how frequently He will speak a living word into your heart.
Stand firm, my friends, and use the sword of the Spirit against the schemes of the enemy so that you can advance the kingdom of God.