Every time my car broke down during those years, or I had to fill out renewal forms for our food stamps, my stomach clenched in selfishness and guilt. We were struggling like this because I had chosen to get an art degree instead of work. Being on government assistance, that didn’t seem like an option for me, let alone one to accept, even though it never felt like there was any other option but that. I was a writer. I had to write.
Month: December 2017
If supporting healthcare for all makes me a socialist, then the opponents, using the same logic, are fascists.
“Share the road” takes on a whole new meaning at Yellowstone…
“Share the road” takes on a whole new meaning at Yellowstone National Park. It’s not uncommon to have to wait for bison to pass on the roads, like this large, frost-covered bison slowly walking down the road near the Yellowstone River. Video by Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service.
The 5 Key Yoga Poses For Women Over 50
Let’s be honest.
Turning 50 doesn’t really mean much anymore when people are healthier and living longer than ever. However, society still sees this as a milestone. That being said, for some women over 50, a whole new chapter of growth and excitement could be opening up. If you are one of those women, this means a lot more free time for new experiences.
Being over 50, whether male or female, also means physical changes could be occurring in your body. For women, the list includes arthritis, osteoporosis, chronic back pain, heart disease, and a loss of flexibility. There’s the horror of menopause, too.
In the words of Dr. Christiane Northrup, a renowned expert in women’s health, “Getting older is inevitable; aging is optional.”
If you’ve seen women in their 80s and 90s doing yoga, you know this is true!
The gentle exercise of yoga and the inherent practice of mindfulness can drastically change the way you see your own body and life. It’s also an inexpensive tool to combat stiffness, arthritis, and chronic pain.
Interested in trying yoga? Here are a few yoga poses for women over 50 you can try today.
Downward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog is a yoga classic that no practice is complete without. Down Dog, as it’s called colloquially, stretches the entire back while allowing the neck to relax. This makes it a favorite for those with chronic lower back pain as well as those who work behind a computer all day. It also helps strengthen the shoulders, but exercise caution and listen to your body if you’re recovering from a shoulder injury.
See Also: Top 10 Yoga-Before-Bed Poses to Reduce your Back Pain
Modified Tree Pose
Tree Pose is a balancing pose. Like all balancing poses, it brings strength to the feet and a mild workout to the abs. Tree Pose also provides a gentle stretch to the hips.
From a spiritual perspective, yogic wisdom holds that balancing poses inspire confidence. Similarly, core strengthening is meant to cultivate willpower while hip openers are said to release emotional blockages. God knows you’ve probably accumulated some of those.
To modify this pose, place your hand on a sturdy chair before executing the balancing aspect of the pose.
Crescent Pose
Crescent Pose, also known as High Lunge, builds strength in the legs while delivering a delicious stretch to the hips, chest, shoulders, and the all too forgotten ankles.
For a milder pose that requires less balance and muscular engagement, feel free to perform this pose with one knee on the ground. If you have knee troubles, be sure to use a thick mat or put a towel under your knee.
Triangle Pose
Triangle Pose or Trikonasana is one of the best poses for a full body stretch. While opening the entire front body, this pose also delivers a much-needed stretch to the ankles, hips, legs, and back. Women who are braving menopause particularly love this pose, claiming it helps relieve constipation and lower back pain.
Restorative Bridge Pose
Restorative Bridge Pose is a modification of the Bridge Pose. It creates a more restful posture, which is perfect for nights when you can’t fall asleep. This relaxing pose is also said to help relieve digestive discomfort while opening the chest.
For this pose, you’ll need a block or bolster. Simply assume the position of traditional Bridge Pose. You can use your prop to support your lower back. Then, relax and allow gravity to deliver a gentle stretch to your lower back.
See Also: Yoga and Health: From Better Mental Health To Improved Sleep Quality
Treat Yourself
No matter what your age is, there’s no question that yoga can radically change your life.
If you’re craving for more flexibility or relief from chronic pain, yoga might be one of the most cost-effective solutions you can find. If you are dealing with menopause, yoga can help you survive those painful days and sleepless nights while the meditative aspect of the practice can help with your mood.
As a woman, you’ve probably been taking care of other people your entire life. However, you have to remember that taking care of yourself is actually the first step in helping others. Take time to do something for yourself by introducing yoga into your routine. Your body will definitely thank you for it.
The post The 5 Key Yoga Poses For Women Over 50 appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
13 of the best places to visit if you’re planning a vacation in…
10 Expert-Approved Hacks For Holiday Home Safety
The holiday season is the time for carols, mistletoe, crackling fires, hot cocoa, and presents under the tree. With all those things, it’s easy to forget about home safety habits. We get complacent and preoccupied with all the hustle and bustle that’s so common this time of year.
To help secure your home, here are some expert-approved holiday home safety tips to prevent fire, injury, and break-ins.
How to Prevent Fire
Tip 1: Keep an eye on your cords
Whether you prefer a simple strand of lights on your Christmas tree or a yard full of animated decorations, paying attention to cords and electrical outlets is a must. You need to be smart and not overload your cords.
Experts suggest that you also examine individual strands and cords while decorating. Throw away any frayed or worn light strands you see.
Tip 2: Clean and maintain your dryer
Dryer fires are possible any time of the year but the winter months can present a special risk. Extra lint from heavier materials, like your ugly Christmas sweaters and fuzzy warm blankets, can build up on the lint screen.
If not cleaned routinely, that accumulated lint is an accident waiting to happen. Clean the lint screen after every single load of laundry to reduce the danger.
Also, don’t start your dryer right before you go to bed or leave the house to run errands; make sure you’re home when the dryer is running.
Tip 3: Check your fire alarms
Ideally, you should check your fire alarms monthly and not just during winter. That said, if you sometimes neglect this household chore, the holidays are a great time to get back on track.
With festive candles, meal preparation, and guests constantly coming and going, the risk of fire is heightened. Ensuring that your fire alarms are working properly can help prevent serious injuries and property damage.
Tip 4: Take Care of Your Tree
If you like to put up a freshly cut tree, don’t use lighted candles nearby. Trim branches off near the base of the trunk and make sure to keep it watered so the branches don’t dry out. Dry branches can be vulnerable to fire from the heat of decorative lights.
If you display an artificial tree, experts suggest to use one that has a fire resistant label and don’t use more than three sets of lights per extension cord.
How to Prevent Injury
Tip 5: Clear walkways, inside and out
Something as simple as a blocked hallway can cause serious injury to you, your family or your guests. Keep cords and decorations away from doors, chairs, stairways, and other high-traffic areas to prevent trips and falls.
Clean up stray boxes and gift-wrapping materials promptly and watch to be sure that presents under the tree don’t inch their way into well-trod walking paths in your home. When hanging up decorations, use a step stool or a ladder rather than a chair.
This tip isn’t just for indoors. Watch for extension cords or yard decorations that could be hazardous outdoors as well.
Tip 6: Exercise caution while decorating
Is your house known as the most decked-out, bedazzled house on the block? Good for you!
Just be sure to prioritize safety while you deck the halls this year. Use sturdy ladders of the appropriate size for outdoor decorations and examine your roof for any potential hazards, including loose shingles.
Tip 7: Prepare for snow and ice
If you live in an area where snow and freezing temperatures aren’t an issue, feel free to skip ahead. For the rest of you, cold weather safety is no joke!
In most towns and cities, removing snow and ice from your sidewalk is required by law to prevent injury to pedestrians. Have your snow shovel ready and accessible always and stock up on ice melt for your driveway and sidewalks. Icicle prevention is also important and so is cleaning out and repairing gutters regularly.
How to Prevent Break-ins
Tip 8: Make your home an undesirable target
The first step to avoiding break-ins is to prevent your home from becoming an easy target. First of all, make it look like you are home by keeping a car parked in the driveway, playing music, and being careful not to leave packages on the doorstep. Packages sitting outside your door are like a billboard that screams no one is home. Try sending your packages to your office or a trusted neighbor you know is home during the day.
Don’t give burglars places to hide. Clear the path to your door so neighbors can see it from the street. Keep your bushes trimmed and avoid large blow-up decor during the holidays.
You can also put a camera above your doorway (even if it’s a non-working one) to scare off potential intruders.
Tip 9: Use a security system
Another great home safety tip is to get a home security system. It can greatly increase your safety since around 60% of criminals look for a different target if a home alarm is installed.
Most security systems come with security cameras and fire and flood sensors for your safety. Some of them even allow you to monitor things from your smartphone, which is a convenient bonus.
For your home, try to do your research first because the devices you’ll need will depend on your location, budget, and home type.
Tip 10: Secure your home’s entry points
We all know enough to lock our doors and our windows but a lot of homeowners often overlook garage doors, which are common entry points for burglars.
Something else that gets overlooked?
Spare keys. If you have these hidden in your yard, be sure they’re not obvious to potential thieves.
See Also: 7 Common Mistakes Making Your Home Prone to Burglary
With these easy home hacks under your belt, you can count on a safe and secure holiday season.
What other holiday home safety tip can you share? Be sure to comment below and share this article with others who can use a hand getting ready for winter.
The post 10 Expert-Approved Hacks For Holiday Home Safety appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
10 Motivational Tips That Will Actually Make Your Life Better
You’re reading 10 Motivational Tips That Will Actually Make Your Life Better, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Has life been quite dull lately? Do you find yourself stuck in a rut that’s not letting to get anywhere in life? Here are ten motivations that we hope get you through this tough time.
- Be your own inspiration. There is nobody on this earth who knows you better than you do. However transparent you are with the rest of the world, you are entirely true to only yourself at the end of the day about what exactly you want and how exactly to achieve this. Once you know exactly what you want, work towards achieving it for yourself and no one else.
- Do not allow yourself to be taken for granted at any point of time. You owe yourself the very best at all times and this does not include being taken for granted by others. When others don’t value your presence enough this reflects directly on your self esteem and acts as a demotivating aspect. Hence if you feel like you’re not given due credit, do something about it.
- Build up self confidence by doing things you normally wouldn’t. Try out things you always believed you’re not good at. Be it a new skill or something tried and tested. Unless it really requires innate talent, get good at it no matter how hard you need to work on it. Be around people who appreciate your positive developments and avoid the company of those who don’t. Meanwhile appreciate yourself. Your appreciation matters most to you.
- Don’t be a people pleaser. Yes it is perfectly natural to want to make others happy by doing something we do even if it brings you a bit of discomfort. But unless the person means something to you and deserve the hours you spend toiling for them, don’t subject yourself to unrewarding work. It puts you down and brings down even your baseline morale. Exclusively seek the company of those who ask you to believe in yourself and encourage you to do things for yourself. It is always okay to be selfish when compared to being a push over.
- Learn how to manage your time super efficiently. Once you break patterns of continuous dullness and a depressive rut, you will find yourself enter a new zone- one with possibilities of new achievements. During this time, set yourself a time table that can trick your mind into thinking it is a flexible one. Position leisure and work in ways that they don’t clash one another but the prospect of leisure does motivate better work to be done. When managed effectively, productivity will increase and you’ll enter a motivational cycle of work and fun where both are equally important. You can find more about productivity and motivation at https://essaypro.com/
- Be forgiving of yourself. Whoever you have wronged and whatever mistakes you have done, no one else’s forgiveness matters in real but yours. There is no bigger motivation than a second chance to set things right and don’t be afraid to give yourself this chance. Once you forgive and accept yourself work hard towards making amends. While it is always going to be true that nothing can be done perfectly and the impact of your mistake can’t be altered; you can always make things better than they are in the period following the mistake. What’s done is done.
- The past holds you back. There is no point in living through your memories and good moments from the past- spend focus on making fresh memories and on living rather than reliving moments. Happiness and positive emotions always keep you motivated so work towards renewing these by living in the present that you work upon maintaining light and happy. Spend more time with people and things that make you happy. Realize that life is short and happiness shouldn’t be a concept that is futuristic. Reach out to it and motivate others to do so as well.
- Find something that you find is actually worth living for. When everything else seems off in life, this something is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. It could be your best friend, a person you are securely falling in love with, your pet or family or even your job if you do what you love to do. Hold on to this- whichever it is that is giving you more than it’s drawing from you and give your best to it. Motivate yourself to be the best at whatever you do.
- Gain worldwide knowledge and experience. Don’t spend time reading inspirational stories but rather research on ways of how you can inspire and motivate yourself without having to live someone else’s life.
- Lastly, positive stress is the ultimate key. Set yourself some limitations and goals- target yourself at achieving these. Prioritise self goals and give yourself time to reach these. You’ll never need further motivation than the one of prospective self achievement.
You’ve read 10 Motivational Tips That Will Actually Make Your Life Better, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
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Trump furious that a war with North Korea makes his plans to repeal Obamacare unnecessary.
The World through Words: An Appreciation of William H. Gass
I have complicated feelings about William H. Gass, who died on December 6th at age ninety-three. Thirty or so years ago, when I first encountered his work, I was struck by some of the early books: On Being Blue, In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife. Or no, struck is not the right word; let’s say, instead, provoked. At the time, I imagined Gass primarily as a fiction writer, even in regard to his nonfiction. Now, I’ve come to think, the opposite is true.
This is not only a reference to his bibliography (which includes seven works of fiction, including his 1995 magnum opus, The Tunnel, and nine volumes of essays) but also to his aesthetics, if you will. What I mean is that Gass’s fiction is often too schematic, reflective of the ideas put forth in his essays but lacking their exuberance and sense of artful play. “[F]or all sorts of reasons, some artistic if you like, but at bottom personal as bottoms are,” he told The Paris Review in 1976, “I became a formalist: I became detached; I emphasized technique; I practiced removal. I was a van. I took away things.” This, of course, is both true and not true; at 650 pages, The Tunnel is hardly about taking things away.
Gass is, however, spot-on about his formalism. “Every sentence,” he tells us in Cartesian Sonata, a 1998 collection of novellas, “is a passage. That’s real magic for you, not the merely manual kind. What is this art but the art of appearance? I make bright falsehoods to blind the eye.” Yes, yes, absolutely, that’s what fiction does, but Cartesian Sonata reads like the closed loop of a geometric proof. Compare it with the magnificent “Kafka: Half a Man, Half a Metaphor,” originally published in Harper’s in 2006 and included in his final book of criticism, Life Sentences (2012). There, he writes from the perspective of Gregor Samsa (“I awoke one morning to find myself transformed,” the essay begins, echoing the famous first line of “The Metamorphosis”) to make the case that the character’s degradation, his transformation, is merely the logical outcome of a process that had started long before. “I had been,” Samsa (or Gass) elaborates, “a man, but a man who was treated by my parents and my sister like a bug . . . And so one day I woke to find myself more than a metaphor . . . I was huge, monstrous, horrifying, all I always wanted to be, all I always dreamed.”
This blurring of lines, this sense of Gass as character and critic, is what I admire most in his work. He is both reader and writer, someone who exists most fully in the texts that he is explicating. “I was,” he closes the Kafka essay, “insufferable — yes — I climbed my walls — yet I was literature.” The line reverberates like an epitaph. In part, this is because Gass was motivated by language more than personality, more than plot. “I am not observant of persons,” he writes in the essay “Retrospection,” “so if I imagine someone whose skin is as smooth and pale as a grocery mushroom, it is the mushroom that did it.”
A similar sensibility marks On Being Blue, with its ruminations on color as a motif or set of symbols: “Blue pencils, blue noses, blue movies, laws, blue legs and stockings, the language of birds, bees, and flowers as sung by longshoremen, that lead-like look the skin has when affected by cold, contusion, sickness, fear; the rotten rum or gin they call blue ruin and the blue devils of its delirium; Russian cats and oysters, a withheld or imprisoned breath, the blue they say that diamonds have, deep holes in the ocean and the blazers which English athletes earn that gentlemen may wear; afflictions of the spirit — dumps, mopes, Mondays — all that’s dismal — low-down gloomy music, Nova Scotians, cyanosis, hair rinse, bluing, bleach.” This is the first sentence, and it continues for another dozen lines, language to make a point, to make an argument, but also language for its own sake, for the rhythm, for the music, of the words. It’s an intention he makes explicit in that Paris Review interview: “At college, in a single day I decided to change my handwriting . . . which meant, I realized later, a change in the making of the words which even then were all of me I cared to have admired. It was a really odd decision. Funny. Strange. I sat down with the greatest deliberation and thought how I would make each letter of the alphabet from that moment on.”
On the most fundamental level, we can read such a statement as an indication of the artifice of language, which was, in part, what Gass was getting at. But as with most conclusions, that’s too simple — or more accurately, not open-ended enough. “The writer,” he declares in “Finding a Form,” “by choosing to write rather than ride Beckett’s bike or Don Quixote’s nag is choosing to relate to the world through words. This is as true of a historian or philosopher as it is of a poet.” It’s no coincidence that the arrangement of letters in world and word are virtually the same. The idea is not so much that we see the world, or record it, as that we create it through the intercession of language — which becomes, in the process, a sort of clarifying lens. This is not to say that we can trust it, or not exactly; among the central arguments of Gass’s project is the rigor the use of language requires. And yet — again — how can we not respond to the dance of phrases, to “Beckett’s bike” and “Don Quixote’s nag”? Language may be a construction, in other words, but it is our construction, the only one we’ve got. And meaning is created by our use of language, which means we had better pay attention. Given the moment in which we are living, there could be no more essential takeaway.
In that regard, Gass was sneakily subversive, not least in his insistence that we read criticism as an art. The engaged mind is our sharpest tool or weapon; all we have to keep ourselves aware. “There are so many types of tyranny,” he observes in “Freedom of Expression in Times Like These.” “There is the tyranny of your own routines — your own habits — that rise up around you like the sides of your grave . . . It does not matter what the party motto is, what flag flies, what history pretends to teach, what rewards will be yours, what hurt feelings will follow; we need to be free to choose our own errors, our own myths, to furnish our souls as we see fit.” These sentiments come from a minor essay, and yet they speak with a profound authority. That, I want to say, is Gass’s legacy, not just his faith in language but also in thinking, which remakes the wor(l)d.
The post The World through Words: An Appreciation of William H. Gass appeared first on The Barnes & Noble Review.
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Sweet Couple Illustrations Capture the Essence of True Love in Everyday Moments
If movies are to go by, you might think that true love is expressed through grand gestures or singing from the rooftops. However, real love is often hidden behind closed doors, away from an audience, and expressed during day-to-day, even mundane, yet intimate moments. Auckland-based illustrator and concept artist Lynn Choi captures these endearing moments of couples in love through her charming digital drawings.
Often rendered in warm, cozy colors, Choi’s drawings illustrate the many relatable, loved-up experiences of a modern relationship. In one image, the artist’s characters are shown making breakfast together, wearing matching animal slippers, while the morning sun floods the scene through the kitchen window. In another, the enamored duo spends a cozy night in, pigging out in their pajamas, watching TV. The illustrator easily captures the shared everyday experiences of couples in love. Choi even believes that “couples who feed each other at the same time will last forever.” This is aptly represented in one illustration in which the male character can be seen feeding his partner, while they both work at a candle lit table.
Having just graduated from animation school, Choi aims to “work HARDER to warm your hearts with more illustrations next year!” As the series develops, so does the characters’ connection—we’re looking forward to seeing more endearing moments soon!
You can find more of Choi’s adorable illustrations on Instagram.
These illustrations by Lynn Choi perfectly capture the endearing day-to-day experiences of a couple in love.
Lynn Choi: Website | Instagram
h/t: [Bored Panda]
All images via Lynn Choi.
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The post Sweet Couple Illustrations Capture the Essence of True Love in Everyday Moments appeared first on My Modern Met.
Sig Nordal 