Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

Each of us Is all of us. I signed up for Chabad's Daily Dose emails a while ago and love reading them. These wonderful pearls of wisdom always make me think about life, humanity, religion, faith, God, the world, myself... They make me think about what truly matters in this life and in this world, about the difference between what is actually and truly important and what is only important because we (or the world) make it so. Your Daily Dose of Jewish Wisdom: A team, a society, a world is healthy when each member says, "If I don't add in my two bits, the whole system will fail." Not just any two bits, but the two bits that belong to you alone. No one is here just because everyone else is here. No system can function from the top-down alone. Because each of us—and everything that was created—has a spark of the Divine. So that each of us is all of us. A photo posted by Chabad.org (@chabadorg) on Mar 7, 2016 at 10:53am PST

A photo posted by dg (@mr.danielgillies) on Sep 9, 2015 at 11:06am PDT

Another weekend approaches and I am reminding myself that I still need to update my blog to add the right photos to not just one but two "Photo Challenge" posts. Actually, I haven't even posted the second Challenge post yet - even though it was supposed to be on my blog some five days ago - and still need to do that. How bad is that? I promised myself and my readers / visitors that I'd post photos every weekend yet haven't done so. Which means I've let myself down, and my readers and visitors too. As I go through my emails and read articles online, I try to gently nudge myself towards my laptop's "Pictures" folder. That's where the photos live once I've downloaded them from my camera onto my laptop. That's where I need to go. That's where I need to direct my attention. Yet knowing I need to do something and actually doing it are two very different things. I'm not usually this bad with sticking to my promises, with following ...

A photo posted by Lee Weissman (@abraham_tent) on Aug 20, 2015 at 9:01pm PDT

These quotes were all found through Goodreads' Popular Quotes section. “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson “We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods “The poetry of the earth is never dead.” ― John Keats “I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.” ― E.B. White, Letters of E. B. White “Looking at beauty in the world, is the first step of purifying the mind.” ― Amit Ray, Meditation: Insights and Inspirations “We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have...

If only humans thought more like flowers... Errr acted like... Errr wait no, is that what I meant?... "A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms." #quote pic.twitter.com/iWQ2lftpwh — The Quote Today (@TheQuoteToday) June 9, 2015

"Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world. Just start thinking peace, and the message will spread quicker than you think."  ~ Yoko Ono

The Tunnel of Change | Nimavenl This photo of a wall, some grass and a few trees was taken coming out of a tunnel. It's a tunnel I walk or bike through several times a week, a tunnel that always makes me smile as coming out of it (on either side) provides one with an amazing view of the world. On one side is a very Dutch polderscape - water, a bridge, a mill and a beautiful view of nature. On the other side is city life - a train station, buses and cars, flats and houses and people rushing around living their lives. For me, going through this tunnel signifies change, which is probably why the setting inspired me to write the following words: It may be dark, you may be going through a tunnel or a valley. Your life may be changing in ways you can't imagine and never thought possible. Whatever you're going through, whatever's happening in your life, whatever changes you're facing - Remember to stop every once in a while, to smile and cherish the journey life is t...

Having decided that I'm going to assign myself Photo Challenges on a weekly (perhaps bi-weekly? perhaps fortnightly?) basis, the time has come to investigate Challenges. The whole idea is that I want to challenge myself to take photos based on themes and ideas or photograph certain features such as trees, flowers, buildings, windows, doors, playgrounds etcetera. The first Challenge was to walk a route I normally don't take my camera on and photograph what I see every hundred or so steps. After completing that Challenge and posting a set of eight photos of nature and the Dutch landscape, the next challenge is... To decide on the next Challenge. While  I want to challenge myself to take photos of new and different things, to look at the world in a new way and to go 'hunting' for photos (something I don't usually do), I don't want to pick challenges that are too hard or difficult and don't want to lose interest in the whole concept. The whole idea is to have ...

"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

Being of the Field by Traci Harding My rating: 5 of 5 stars There are some authors whose next book you simply must read no matter what, because you enjoy their work and the way their minds work. Traci Harding is one of those authors. I've been a fan of her writing and her thinking for over a decade now (fourteen-ish years? Seriously? Wow!) and while sometimes a character makes me wonder if maybe they're not too perfect (and good at almost everything to boot!), it is the story that keeps me coming back for more with every book. Traci Harding takes her readers on an amazing adventure that I hope will continue through many more books, stories, characters, countries, worlds and universes. I enjoyed getting to know Taren, Lucian, Zeven and the rest of the crew of AMIE. They were new characters yet felt like old friends - books two and three explained why that was, exactly. I actually squealed and couldn't stop smiling upon realising where these books were taking me. The ideas t...

Be who you want to be, not what other people want to see. — Success Motivation (@successins) May 22, 2015

#quote #life pic.twitter.com/ihfRSgGghr — The Quote Today (@TheQuoteToday) May 21, 2015

"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...

No caption... A photo posted by iansomerhalder (@iansomerhalder) on Dec 14, 2014 at 11:02am PST

I like posting quotes. There's something very satisfying about posting a small(ish) bit of text in a large font, emphasising it and not having to write much else. No paragraphs of information, no need to explain why I think or feel something. Just a quote. Here's one from Game of Thrones: “ It is a big and beautiful world. Most of us live and die in the same corner where we were born and never get to see any of it. I don’t want to be most of us. ” -- Oberyn Martell | Game of Thrones

Jerusalem is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most fascinating cities on the planet and has, for a long time, been very near the top of my list of Cities To Visit. Thousands of years of history, religion, culture, devotion, prayer, longing and joy make Jerusalem a complex and inspirational location. How can one resist the beauty of this amazing city?! Jerusalem's Archeological Park – excavations site at the foot of the Temple Mount, revealing thousands of years of the... Posted by ‎ Noam Chen - Photographer | נועם חן - צלם ‎ on Wednesday, 1 April 2015

One of my favourite artists is Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890). Not only did he paint an amazing " Starry Night over the Rhone " and a ridiculously beautiful ("Almond Blossom" also known as) " Blossoming Almond Tree ", he also painted many other stunning works that I love. I'm a big fan of colour in life, in nature and in art, which is why I prefer Vincent van Gogh's more colourful and colour-filled works to the darker ones. The darker paintings are often detailed, intricate and very beautiful indeed (just look at " The Potato Eaters "), yet they don't speak to me the same way the more colourful scenes do. However... “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” I certainly believe that to be true, in real life and in Vincent's paintings too! “ Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is some...

Women are special, amazing, delicate, strong, powerful, mighty, dedicated, loving, caring, compassionate, intelligent, brave, honourable, beautiful, smart, kind and yes - they are  heroic fighters too! Tomorrow is World Women's Day, a perfect opportunity to speak up about women who inspire me. " International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday. "  Source: International Women's Day website Brave Kurdish women are battling those trying to eradicate them, theirs and their way of life: ISIS and others who think and believe as they do. This year, World Women's Day starts in Kurdistan, which means it feels very right to look to Kurdish women as women the whole world can be proud of and look up to - women who stand up for what is just and right, who fight f...

Here are some inspirational quotes by the very wise Albert Einstein. “ If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. ” ― Albert Einstein “ I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. ” ― Albert Einstein “ Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. ” ― Albert Einstein “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ― Albert Einstein Source: Albert Einstein Quotes , Goodreads