7:40 am. And, Inspired…

Good Wednesday morning. Nitzus kicks us off with a photo he titles “Land of Gold” – wheat fields and vineyards near  Waikerie in the Riverland region in South Australia.  Be sure to check out his blog and other great photos.  And now on to my selection of the inspiring posts of the week from my favorite bloggers:

Don Carnagey~Lanier with his post Giving Gratefulness and Being Lonely: “All of our lives are a cycle and a river that we must each travel one our own. The destination is set, but the method of our journeying is up to us. We can cruise down the middle of the river at top speed, or we can hug the shore and spin around in eddies. We can crash over rapids or chart a safer path between obstacles. We can slum along the bottom in the mire and slime of sediment, or we can glide along the sparkling surface where the air is clean. The river is ours from birth to death. How we’ll navigate it is determined by the hundreds of small choices we make each day.”  Read entire post at this link.

Make Believe Boutique with another of her steady stream of thought provoking posts titled The Fresh Blush of Color in the Transpersonal Soul:  “What capacities lie unrecognized within us? What currently unfathomable abilities lie dormant, and what can we do to speed their appearance? These are humbling questions that remind us that for all we know our potentials may exceed our wildest dreams. Plotinus claimed that humankind stands poised midway between the beasts and the gods. Perhaps this is another way of saying that we stand midway on our developmental and evolutionary trajectory to full human potential…”  Read entire post at this link.

Milo Jaroniec @ the Thought Catalogue with her post How to Feel Okay:  “Turn off your sh*t. Shut your laptop and bury your phone under something. Just stop for a second and acknowledge willed solitude. Acknowledge how it feels to not have people buzzing for attention from all angles at all times. Suspend yourself in the silence and focus your attention on things you routinely ignore. Or just ignore everything if it’s too much to handle at the moment, whichever feels better and makes more sense. Acknowledge your world and exist in it.  Read more @ this link.

Whiskey River with his Bill Bryson Quote: Take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this sounds a trifle obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to remark upon this singular and gratifying fact. By the most astounding stroke of luck an infinitesimal portion of all the matter in the universe came together to create you and for the tiniest moment in the great span of eternity you have the incomparable privilege to exist.

And a share from my NY Times archives: In Pursuit of Unhappiness: “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so,” the philosopher John Stuart Mill concluded after recovering from a serious bout of depression. Rather than resign himself to gloom, however, Mill vowed instead to look for happiness in another way. “Those only are happy,” he came to believe, “who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.” For our own culture, steeped as it is in the relentless pursuit of personal pleasure and endless cheer, that message is worth heeding. So in these last days of the year I say to you, “Don’t have a happy new year!” Have dinner with your family or walk in the park with friends. If you’re so inclined, put in some good hours at the office or at your favorite charity, temple or church. Work on your jump shot or your child’s model trains. With luck, you’ll find happiness by the by. If not, your time won’t be wasted. You may even bring a little joy to the world.”

And here’s a shot by Angel Hernansaez of an Oryx at the Etosha National Park in Namibia.  Check out Angel’s other great shots at this link.

Have a great Hump Day…