Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

"Earth laughs in flowers." — "Hamatreya" "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” — Self-Reliance Source: Happy Birthday, Ralph Waldo Emerson! 20 Of His Greatest Quotes To Inspire You | Mind Body Green

“Look closely. The beautiful may be small .” “Treat people as an end, and never as a means to an end.” “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own intelligence!” “For peace to reign on Earth, humans must evolve into new beings who have learned to see the whole first.”

"Optimism — it does both your mind and body good. In fact, numerous studies indicate that optimists generally enjoy healthier hearts, brains, immunity and tend to live longer than their less upbeat counterparts. But for some, optimism is easier said than done. Let’s say you weren’t born with an innate abundance of optimism, or perhaps life’s challenges have tamped down some of your enthusiasm ... then what?" 01: Make a point of being grateful every day. 02: Don't sweat the small stuff. 03: Look for the silver lining (It's in there.) 04: Have faith you'll get beyond the bumps. 05: Choose your media wisely. 06: Limit your exposure to negative people. 07: Be mindful of the language you use when talking to yourself. Source: 7 Ways To Become The Healthy, Upbeat Person You Want To Be | Mind Body Green Read the full article at the link above, I've only named the seven ways mentioned without explanations or the wise words of the author over at Mind Bod...

Only weeks after a 7.8 magnitude quake struck Nepal, another 7-pointer (7.3 this time) has hit the same region. The first quake caused a lot of damage and thousands of deaths. It was felt not just in Nepal but in surrounding countries as well. The second earthquake earlier today has, according to news reports, caused at least 30 40 57 66 deaths and injured hundreds thousands. No doubt the numbers will continue to rise. As the hash-tags #NepalEarthquake and #prayforNepal trend on Twitter, I can't help but think of what the poor people of Nepal must be going through. After losing so much (and so many) already, people in one of the world's poorest regions again go through agony, suffering and heartbreak. Everyone has lost a relative, a friend or a neighbour, or all of them in #Gorkha . http://t.co/e1XjISSAee pic.twitter.com/Sr096cyjSP — Nepali Times (@nepalitimes) May 11, 2015 Having lived in Napier, New Zealand for several years, I am no stranger to earthquakes...

I wish more people knew this... Any thoughts? A photo posted by iansomerhalder (@iansomerhalder) on Feb 6, 2015 at 5:35pm PST "The environment is in us, not outside of us. The trees are our lungs, the rivers our bloodstream. We are all interconnected, and what you do to the environment, ultimately you do to yourself."  ~ Ian Somerhalder

"Knowledge, surprising as it sounds, begins with the unknown. With accepting how little you know. A few drops of humility, I've learned, can save me from an ocean of arrogance! Then, with a touch of curiosity... a person can learn and grow endlessly." Excerpted from: The Wisdom of Merlin by T.A. Barron (Philomel Books) Source: " The Secret To A Meaningful Life In Just 7 Words " Article by Alena Halll | The Huffington Post

ASAP Science explains that learning is good for you... Learning new languages is too. Glad to know! :-) Post by AsapSCIENCE .

Source: Daily Mail Online A friend shared an article on Facebook today entitled " Zombie Organism Created in Laboratory " (Zombease.com). Intrigued by the title, I simply had to go and read the article! After Googling "zombie cells" and finding several articles from websites I'm more familiar with, it seems authentic which makes this SUPER COOL! While I enjoy science fiction and fantasy stories, I've never quite warmed to zombies. The closest I've come to liking zombie stories is reading about Anita Blake's work as an animator aka someone who raises zombies for a living. Anita Blake is a character created by the amazing Laurell K. Hamilton - Check the links on the right to visit her website and read more about Anita's world and her work. Zombie cells...  Using silicic acid to 'embalm' mammalian cells  (Daily Mail)...  Building structures at the nanometer scale  (Huffington Post)... I understand the words themselves however the sci...

Source: Wat Lees Jij

Being grateful. Sometimes it sounds very easy, at other times it sounds quite hard. When life seems to be going well, being grateful feels easy. We love our job, enjoy spending time with friends, attend interesting courses, we're fit and healthy - whatever makes us feel happy, satisfied and content, those are all things to feel grateful for. When life throws you curve balls and making ends meet or staying sane feels impossible, being grateful can seem pointless or futile. Life sucks - why should I be grateful for that? Yet even in the face of disappointment, curve balls, stress, grief, loss or hardship, we are alive and able to think about whatever may be happening in our lives. We are able to examine our lives, to look at what is happening and to find ways to get through whatever it is we're going through. One of the many perks of the way our minds work! Focusing only (or mostly) on negative thoughts, feelings and emotions like Life sucks / I'm a failure / Nobody love...

One really cool and unexpected "side effect" of reading Patricia Briggs ' Mercy Thompson books is learning lots of new and interesting things. One of the things I'm learning about is Washington State. I'm currently reading the sixth book in the series, River Marked, and wanted to get a better idea of the area Mercy and Adam went to. Now sure I could take the "short-cut" way of learning more and get my information from the Forum on the website , however doing a Google search tends to come up with lots of interesting info as well. I knew the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer were set somewhere in the US. I'd looked Forks up on a map once, just to get a general idea of what it looked like. What I didn't know was where it was in relation to other places. Such as Canada, state lines, and such. Reading Mercy Thompson meant doing more research into Washington State, and this book, being set mostly away from the Tri-Cities, meant checking out more ma...

While checking some information online that had been going through my head for most of the morning, I came across a reference to the TV programme "The Big Bang Theory". I'd seen a few episodes of it now and then, however never really got into watching it regularly. I'd been thinking about a friend of a friend of a friend who has a child with hearing problems. I'd never met the child and only ever met his mother twice, however we talked about the hearing problems when we met due to my background in (studying) Early Childhood Education. We talked about possible causes both physical and psychological and she then went on with her life and I with mine. It's a while ago by now, however something I read recently reminded me of this woman and her child. Not knowing much about either the mother or the son and having no idea as to whether the hearing problems were physical or psychological, we only discussed general options. I decided that to satisfy my curiosi...