Funny things that this guy has said to his kids – read here. (re-post from DeMilked)
SO CUTE!
This made me giggle :)
Clean Up Your Mess – by Daniel Higginbotham
5 Tips to Meditating at Home posted by Design Sponge
To read the whole article go to Design Sponge 🙂
From Ben: “Vedic Meditation is one of the oldest, most effortless, and natural forms of meditation. This technique of meditation originated in India over 5,000 years ago, and the integrity of the tradition has been passed on through an unbroken line of teachers from that time. The technique is very simple and easy to learn, however it requires personal instruction. If you can’t make it to a course right away, you can get started with something “over-the counter”–try listening to a guided meditation and see how you feel. It may help you relax a little and that’s always a very good thing.”
- Most people think of meditation as a band-aid to use when they’re feeling very stressed. Make it a daily practice, that way you can avoid the “melt down”
- Learn to be neutral about the environment. You can practice Vedic Meditation anywhere–sitting in your office, on a park bench, in a subway, etc.
- Plan it. If you don’t plan it, it’s less likely to happen.
- Get some support. Tell you family, friends, and co-workers what you’re doing. That way they don’t bother you when your meditating.
- Organize a group meditation. It’s really nice to hang out with happy, relaxed, enlightened people.
To find Ben in NYC read the whole article here.
DIY wall beauty!
Thinking about sprucing up the place and saw this lovely idea on Poppytalk Handmade. Â YOU TOO CAN BE CREATIVE!
Maybe the coolest thing I’ve done in a while –
So this weekend, I did something SO SUPER COOL that I can’t stop talking about it. Â I went to a hack-a-thon. Â I’ve never heard of something like this – but as a designer and a gamer, I was THRILLED to be surrounded by some of the nicest most welcoming smarties.
I got to participate in something called Hack n Jill. Â They organize events that promote women in TECH. Â Kind of amazing. Â We started out spending the first night just trying to figure out what we wanted to make. Â I had suggested doing with words, because – well, I feel like there’s a huge trend in education and gaming right now.
I was fortunate to work with a really great team that kind of organically came together.  I was the only designer working with 3 coders.  It was kind of fascinating to watch everyone  build something so super fun out of a very basic idea of how the word game would work.
Now, the thing about my design – most of my stuff is pretty girly – but I mean, over all – the whole process and the end result with the time allotted – I have to say was SUCH an inspiring experience, I just want to do one of these EVERY WEEKEND.
Look and play the unfinished game HEREÂ (takes a second to load and use your arrow keys to play)! Â I’m so proud of our team!!!!
Unstuck’s Creativity Tip Sheet
As you’ve probably figured out by now, I’m a fan of inspiration and while half the battle is simply just showing up, it helps to have a little support along that way. Â Here’s a website that I came across dedicated to getting you UNSTUCK.
Anywho, I got this little gem in my mail box which you can also download here for free –
Check out the website / app. Â They have all these little tricks and tests to help you keep it movin! Â OFF WITH YOU NOW – GO BE INSPIRED!!!
🙂
When they learned to dance…
http://vimeo.com/75260457
Box from Bot & Dolly on Vimeo.
Kind of the coolest thing EVER!
How to Get Flat Abs, Have Amazing Sex and Rule the World in 8 Easy Steps – by Kate Bartolotta
Posted: 09/20/2013 3:21 pm
(this is a repost from the Huffinton Post – I found it on Spud Crowley’s FB page.  It brightened my day (Thanks Crispy)!
The covers of most men’s and women’s magazines have similar headlines: “Get Great Abs” and “Have Amazing Sex.”
From the looks of it, these two issues have been recycled over and over (with some other stereotypically gender-relevant articles thrown in) on every Men’s Health, Maxim,Cosmopolitan and Glamour cover since the dawn of time. In fact, I’d bet that if we could get a better translation of cave drawings, they would read something like “Grok get flat belly. Make girl Grok moan with joy.”
And we keep buying them. We keep buying this lie that these things will make us happy. I’ve had washboard abs (past tense) and I’ve had some pretty phenomenal sex. Neither one made me a better person. Neither one completed me or made my life more fulfilling.
We chase this idea of “I will be happy when… ”
I will be happy when I have a new car. I will be happy when I get married. I will be happy when I get a better job. I will be happy when I lose five pounds. What if instead we choose to be happy — right now?
If you can read this, your life is pretty awesome.
Setting aside our first-world problems and pettiness, if you are online reading this, you have both electricity and WiFi or access to them. Odds are you are in a shelter of some sort, or on a smart phone (and then kudos to you for reading this on the go). Life might bump and bruise us, it may not always go the way we plan and I know I get frustrated with mine, but here’s the thing: You are alive.
Because you are alive, everything is possible. So about those eight tips…
1. Stop believing your bullshit.
All that stuff you tell yourself about how you are a commitment phobe or a coward or lazy or not creative or unlucky? Stop it. It’s bullshit, and deep down you know it. We are all insecure 14 year olds at heart. We’re all scared. We all have dreams inside of us that we’ve tucked away because somewhere along the line we tacked on those ideas about who we are that buried that essential brilliant, childlike sense of wonder. The more we stick to these scripts about who we are, the longer we live a fraction of the life we could be living. Let it go. Be who you are beneath the bullshit.
2. Be happy now.
Not because The Secret says so. Not because of some shiny happy Oprah crap. But because we can choose to appreciate what is in our lives instead of being angry or regretful about what we lack. It’s a small, significant shift in perspective. It’s easier to look at what’s wrong or missing in our lives and believe that is the big picture — but it isn’t. We can choose to let the beautiful parts set the tone.
3. Look at the stars.
It won’t fix the economy. It won’t stop wars. It won’t give you flat abs, or better sex or even help you figure out your relationship and what you want to do with your life. But it’s important. It helps you remember that you and your problems are both infinitesimally small and conversely, that you are a piece of an amazing and vast universe. I do it daily — it helps.
4. Let people in.
Truly. Tell people that you trust when you need help, or you’re depressed — or you’re happy and you want to share it with them. Acknowledge that you care about them and let yourself feel it. Instead of doing that other thing we sometimes do, which is to play it cool and pretend we only care as much as the other person has admitted to caring, and only open up half way. Go all in — it’s worth it.
5. Stop with the crazy making.
I got to a friend’s doorstep the other day, slightly breathless and nearly in tears after getting a little lost, physically and existentially. She asked what was wrong and I started to explain and then stopped myself and admitted, “I’m being stupid and have decided to invent lots of problems in my head.” Life is full of obstacles; we don’t need to create extra ones. A great corollary to this one is from The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz: Don’t take things personally. Most of the time, other people’s choices and attitudes have absolutely nothing to do with you. Unless you’ve been behaving like a jerk, in which case…
6. Learn to apologize.
Not the ridiculous, self-deprecating apologizing for who you are and for existing that some people seem to do (what’s up with that, anyway?). The ability to sincerely apologize — without ever interjecting the word “but” — is an essential skill for living around other human beings. If you are going to be around other people, eventually you will need to apologize. It’s an important practice.
7. Practice gratitude.
Practice it out loud to the people around you. Practice it silently when you bless your food. Practice it often. Gratitude is not a first world only virtue. I saw a photo recently, of a girl in abject poverty, surrounded by filth and destruction. Her face was completely lit up with joy and gratitude as she played with a hula hoop she’d been given. Gratitude is what makes what we have enough. Gratitude is the most basic way to connect with that sense of being an integral part of the vastness of the universe; as I mentioned with looking up at the stars, it’s that sense of wonder and humility, contrasted with celebrating our connection to all of life.
8. Be kind.
Kurt Vonnegut said it best (though admittedly, and somewhat ashamedly — I am not a Vonnegut fan): “There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.'”
Kindness costs us nothing and pays exponential dividends. I can’t save the whole world. I can’t bring peace to Syria. I can’t fix the environment or the health care system, and from the looks of it, I may end up burning my dinner.
But I can be kind.
If the biggest thing we do in life is to extend love and kindness to even one other human being, we have changed the world for the better.
That’s a hell of a lot more important than flat abs in my book.
The Memo Bandit 