Okay, I will admit, I am a little hesitant to write about this particular website, but I think that it definitely has its merits so here goes:
Soul Pancake was created by Rainn Wilson - that's right, Dwight Schrute. The website boasts, "Our brain batter of art, culture, science, philosophy, spirituality and humoris designed to open your mind, challenge your friends, and feel good."
So it doesn't seem too bad at first you think, but if you're like me in any capacity, when you see the words "spirituality" and "Open your mind" you usually end up slowing the pace a little bit and treading a little more carefully. I absolutely encourage that with this site. For the most part, this really is a website that is meant to challenge your "humanity" so to speak in that it wants to help you find ways to be a better person and to do fun and creative things. The activities section of the site is by far my favorite because what they ask you to do really makes you think about the simple things in life. The most recent post, for example, is: Soul Scribe - describe your soul in 10 words or less. I really like that. I think it gives us a chance to really connect with people in a way that you can't on Facebook or Twitter.
The downside: as a Conservative Christian, I find more and more that my views are simply not tolerated. Especially in a world where tolerance is the in "Thing", so when you adhere to a belief system that is unyielding in the faith of a Divine Creator, Messiah, One way to Heaven, it's not popular. So far, however, when these spiritual and theological questions are asked and people, such as myself, of which there are few, answer, the response is generally not hostile. Some people disagree, but they respect your faith as long as you respect theirs in the sense that we both know (or rather they think they know) that our faith is the one true faith, but we aren't going to attack each other as humans.
It's difficult to describe. My advice would be if you are going to take a look at this site, look at the activities first. And also understand that the main Conversations are started by Soul Pancake Staff and for the most part what they are trying to do is get as many different answers as possible, not post a place for people to attack each other. I can't vouch for the other members of the site, however.
In the end, I do wish there was a more Judeo-Christian influence and that more questions geared towards people of a traditional background were addressed, but I also find that this site has a lot to offer and you might be surprised at how many people are interested in your questions and comments. I've never been attacked by a poster even if I disagreed with them, and I've never attacked another poster. Everyone here, so far, has been trying to keep the site as a place for thinking and discussion.
Tread carefully, but do take a look and decide for yourself. And who knows? The more view points we can get on the site the more information Soul Pancake will have to work with.
8.14.2012
There is hope for Humanity Day 5: Life before your eyes
Today's entry is a photography website: Life before your eyes.
The website front page reads "members share their deepest, bright, darkest and most meaningful photos." The site shares 26 stories, most accompanied by a photo and a description of the photo and what it meant to them. It's a wonderfully moving website and personally for me I find it encourages me to be more open about my journey to others. I feel that in this day in age, we are so surrounded by hurt and malice that we become suspicious and unwilling to open up. Being able to move on from the past and work towards a future is one of the utmost importance. Isaiah 43: 18-19 reads: "Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by; I am doing something new; it's springing up - can't you see it?" The stories found on this website exemplify that.
The website front page reads "members share their deepest, bright, darkest and most meaningful photos." The site shares 26 stories, most accompanied by a photo and a description of the photo and what it meant to them. It's a wonderfully moving website and personally for me I find it encourages me to be more open about my journey to others. I feel that in this day in age, we are so surrounded by hurt and malice that we become suspicious and unwilling to open up. Being able to move on from the past and work towards a future is one of the utmost importance. Isaiah 43: 18-19 reads: "Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by; I am doing something new; it's springing up - can't you see it?" The stories found on this website exemplify that.
8.13.2012
There's hope for humanity Day 4: oneword.com
Well hello everyone and I hope that you had a wonderful weekend.
Time to continue to share my knowledge of what I believe are note worthy websites. Today's website is One word. One word is fascinating in that it randomly choose a word and then challenges you to write about it within a specified amount of time. Nothing fancy. You can submit the writing if you want, or you can leave it.
I like this site because it forces you to think a little bit especially when the word is something that you would never have focused on writing about. It's a great tool for people who are in a writing rut and I think that when you've been staring at the screen all day, be you a writer or just a regular desk-job worker like me, it's a great way to get your creative juices flowing again.
Give it a shot, hopefully it will help unload your fuzzied brain. I will be posting tomorrow!
Time to continue to share my knowledge of what I believe are note worthy websites. Today's website is One word. One word is fascinating in that it randomly choose a word and then challenges you to write about it within a specified amount of time. Nothing fancy. You can submit the writing if you want, or you can leave it.
I like this site because it forces you to think a little bit especially when the word is something that you would never have focused on writing about. It's a great tool for people who are in a writing rut and I think that when you've been staring at the screen all day, be you a writer or just a regular desk-job worker like me, it's a great way to get your creative juices flowing again.
Give it a shot, hopefully it will help unload your fuzzied brain. I will be posting tomorrow!
8.10.2012
There is hope for humanity Day 3: the quiet place project
How many of us can remember a time when we experience true silence? Where our minds weren't talking, our fingers weren't tapping away at one technology device or another, we couldn't hear the cars or the airplanes or talking on any level. It was silent, and we were, for once, listening to that silence. I think that we've all lost, on some level, the ability to listen to the silence and understand what it really means. I know that even when I'm trying to focus on nothing and pay attention to quiet and to calm my mind, my brain is still running at a million miles an hour and trying desperately to create some sort of white noise. I thrive on it.
The quiet place project is here to help us achieve that silent time again. This awesome little site offers several different ways of helping you connect with that lost concept of quiet meditation. The first part being the general experience and explanation of why you should choose the quiet place. After that you have the opportunity to experience relaxation techniques and after that, my personal favorite, the thoughts room. The thoughts room is wonderful; you are encouraged to share every single thought that you have that's weighing you down and watch as the words simply fall off the screen and away from your heart and mind. There's no one who can read what you've typed, can't respond, can't do anything. It is all for the benefit of you getting them off your chest and out of your brain.
The quiet place also offers soothing music to listen to while you're experiencing the site, and I know that is some way that might be defeating the purpose, but honestly I would rather not let my mind's internal speakers go haywire without noise. Instead, I think the music is a great way to slowly acclimate yourself to becoming accustomed to lack of outside noise and speech.
Give this website a try, sometimes I use it just as a way to relax a little at work, but mostly it's a reminder to me that it's so important that we just take a break from the world and sit back and enjoy the quiet. I think that, for me personally, when I don't take that time to be in the quiet, I lose my ability to really focus on prayer and God and meditating on His Word. I've become so bombarded by the noise and so distracted by all the difference stimuli that I can't focus spiritually as easily as I used to.
Well this ends this week's worth of "Hope for humanity" series. I will start up again on Monday and I wish you all a great weekend!
The quiet place project is here to help us achieve that silent time again. This awesome little site offers several different ways of helping you connect with that lost concept of quiet meditation. The first part being the general experience and explanation of why you should choose the quiet place. After that you have the opportunity to experience relaxation techniques and after that, my personal favorite, the thoughts room. The thoughts room is wonderful; you are encouraged to share every single thought that you have that's weighing you down and watch as the words simply fall off the screen and away from your heart and mind. There's no one who can read what you've typed, can't respond, can't do anything. It is all for the benefit of you getting them off your chest and out of your brain.
The quiet place also offers soothing music to listen to while you're experiencing the site, and I know that is some way that might be defeating the purpose, but honestly I would rather not let my mind's internal speakers go haywire without noise. Instead, I think the music is a great way to slowly acclimate yourself to becoming accustomed to lack of outside noise and speech.
Give this website a try, sometimes I use it just as a way to relax a little at work, but mostly it's a reminder to me that it's so important that we just take a break from the world and sit back and enjoy the quiet. I think that, for me personally, when I don't take that time to be in the quiet, I lose my ability to really focus on prayer and God and meditating on His Word. I've become so bombarded by the noise and so distracted by all the difference stimuli that I can't focus spiritually as easily as I used to.
Well this ends this week's worth of "Hope for humanity" series. I will start up again on Monday and I wish you all a great weekend!
8.09.2012
There is hope for humanity day 2: Talia Joy
Day 2 is here!
I'm sure you all have already read the news and have now heard about the amazing little Talia Joy, but I want to take a moment and spread the word about this girl.
Talia is a 12 year old firecracker who was diagnosed with cancer about 5 years ago (neuroblastoma). Not going for the wigs thing, she has decided that makeup is her wig and is aspiring to become a makeup artist. Let me tell you, that girl has talent too; her website, Angels for Talia - has her vlog and videos on it, where she updates you with her newest hauls, makeup tutorials and information concerning her illness.
Her mom says that "she has made being bald beautiful" and I absolutely agree; her spunk for life and grace and patience with her battles has turned this girl into a woman that I would love to grow up to be like someday. In her latest blog, Talia revealed that she has been diagnosed with pre-leukemia in her bone marrow. She isn't sure if she's going to go through treatment for it, because there isn't a real surefire way to attack both the cancers, or either one right now, in her case.
The fact that this girl can honestly say that she is okay with only living for two months to a year if she isn't going to go through treatment or if it isn't successful shows a huge amount of self-control and maturity; she has said that having the cancer in her life has been "an amazing yet horrible journey" and that she is tired of doing stuff to her body. Who wouldn't? But the fact still remains that she has managed to make this journey something that will be remembered by thousands of people.
Her spirit and good attitude is affecting people that aren't dealing with the same issues and I have a feeling that it's the people like her that are going to be pivotal in our wake up call to be grateful for what we have to help share that with others. I pray that Talia grows healthy and strong and will live to see her dream of becoming a makeup artist come true. Her happiness is uplifting to my life and I hope that it will be for you too.
Talia's medias:
Website
Youtube
Twitter
Email
I'm sure you all have already read the news and have now heard about the amazing little Talia Joy, but I want to take a moment and spread the word about this girl.
Talia is a 12 year old firecracker who was diagnosed with cancer about 5 years ago (neuroblastoma). Not going for the wigs thing, she has decided that makeup is her wig and is aspiring to become a makeup artist. Let me tell you, that girl has talent too; her website, Angels for Talia - has her vlog and videos on it, where she updates you with her newest hauls, makeup tutorials and information concerning her illness.
Her mom says that "she has made being bald beautiful" and I absolutely agree; her spunk for life and grace and patience with her battles has turned this girl into a woman that I would love to grow up to be like someday. In her latest blog, Talia revealed that she has been diagnosed with pre-leukemia in her bone marrow. She isn't sure if she's going to go through treatment for it, because there isn't a real surefire way to attack both the cancers, or either one right now, in her case.
The fact that this girl can honestly say that she is okay with only living for two months to a year if she isn't going to go through treatment or if it isn't successful shows a huge amount of self-control and maturity; she has said that having the cancer in her life has been "an amazing yet horrible journey" and that she is tired of doing stuff to her body. Who wouldn't? But the fact still remains that she has managed to make this journey something that will be remembered by thousands of people.
Her spirit and good attitude is affecting people that aren't dealing with the same issues and I have a feeling that it's the people like her that are going to be pivotal in our wake up call to be grateful for what we have to help share that with others. I pray that Talia grows healthy and strong and will live to see her dream of becoming a makeup artist come true. Her happiness is uplifting to my life and I hope that it will be for you too.
Talia's medias:
Website
Youtube
8.08.2012
There is hope for humanity day 1: healthy is the new skinny
Hello all!
I'm going to start something new in light of the amazing blogs that I have been running across lately. I am going to start the "There is hope for humanity" blog series. Everyday I will post a blogger or website or Youtuber that has inspired countless readers, myself included. I hope you enjoy!
Day one is: Healthy is the New Skinny. This excellent site is about promoting healthy habits and embracing what your natural and healthy body is and being content with it. The models from this inspiring company have come from all different walks in life, from being "too big" as a size 6 to being forced to wear padding when they lost weight as a plus size model. The company is currently looking for models from all different walks of life, all different sizes and is encouraging people to embrace who they are naturally, not who we are expected to be because of our warped sense of beauty.
Personally, this has been very uplifting for me because I have a pretty rectangular/apple/tomboyish shape. I don't have really noticeable curves and my rib cage would probably put an elephant to shame. No joke; BUT, I also happen to have a three-octave plus singing range and can out volume most guys because of my lung capacity, I can dance, and I am in pretty good physical condition even though I don't work out that much. It's just the way my body is, and to be honest for a long time that was hard to except. Most of my friends were either tall and lanky and had naturally tiny waists or were so obsessively anorexic that the extra small I bought them for the bridesmaid dress they were to wear at my wedding almost fell off because they were so tiny. I'm finally at a place in my life where I have excepted that though, and I have lost a healthy amount of weight and feel great about who I am and how I look. I still have my boyish figure, even for being an average height, I tend to look more tomboyish/tiny/cute than anything (no sultry, sexy curvage for this chick), but you know what? I love it. I'm learning to embrace a style that suits my personality and my body type and I feel confident and good about where I am. (The hair helps too :P Let me tell you when you have someone with a lion's mane like mine covering the top half of their body it makes for a really crazy looking chick and I absolutely LOVE it.) The bottom line is, it doesn't matter how small I'll get, because of the way I'm built, I will never have amazing curvy hips and I will always have to wear a dress one size larger to fit my ribs, but hey, I'm okay with it, because I am unique, and this website has really helped to cement that into my brain.
Our bodies are not meant to be one size fits all; there are many different and diverse builds and we shouldn't fight against that. Did you know that size 6 these days is considered plus size, that means women with 25-26" waists or more could be considered plus size according to model standards. To put that number in perspective, the following celebrities could (I say could again because each body type is different) be considered plus size models (I understand that this is just a number and different body proportions vary, but as a generic idea of how ridiculous this is I'm listing these names based off numbers). Also, please understand that I don't think that plus size is bad at all or should be considered less attractive. What I'm trying to convey is that we should not have to be defined by our waist size or bust size, something that is just that; a number.
Lauren Conrad
Scarlett Johansson
Angelina Jolie
Demi Moore
Paris Hilton
Salma Hayek
Liv Tyler
Beyonce
And yes, there is a reason why I'm just linking these all the Wikipedia; I don't think that this post should be a "look at pictures of women to compare" thing, I think that it's important to understand the accomplishments of each person listed instead of being put into a category and nothing more based off a number. It doesn't matter what their size is, they are all beautiful and extremely talented women. As long as we are healthy people, and are happy with ourselves, the media has nothing on us, and I think that's very much what Healthy is the New Skinny is teaching us right now.
In the company's own words: "Healthy is the New Skinny is about fun, it's about fashion, it's about changing the world one girl, one woman, one body at a time. Join us"
So yeah! Give a look and I hope you have great day!
I'm going to start something new in light of the amazing blogs that I have been running across lately. I am going to start the "There is hope for humanity" blog series. Everyday I will post a blogger or website or Youtuber that has inspired countless readers, myself included. I hope you enjoy!
Day one is: Healthy is the New Skinny. This excellent site is about promoting healthy habits and embracing what your natural and healthy body is and being content with it. The models from this inspiring company have come from all different walks in life, from being "too big" as a size 6 to being forced to wear padding when they lost weight as a plus size model. The company is currently looking for models from all different walks of life, all different sizes and is encouraging people to embrace who they are naturally, not who we are expected to be because of our warped sense of beauty.
Personally, this has been very uplifting for me because I have a pretty rectangular/apple/tomboyish shape. I don't have really noticeable curves and my rib cage would probably put an elephant to shame. No joke; BUT, I also happen to have a three-octave plus singing range and can out volume most guys because of my lung capacity, I can dance, and I am in pretty good physical condition even though I don't work out that much. It's just the way my body is, and to be honest for a long time that was hard to except. Most of my friends were either tall and lanky and had naturally tiny waists or were so obsessively anorexic that the extra small I bought them for the bridesmaid dress they were to wear at my wedding almost fell off because they were so tiny. I'm finally at a place in my life where I have excepted that though, and I have lost a healthy amount of weight and feel great about who I am and how I look. I still have my boyish figure, even for being an average height, I tend to look more tomboyish/tiny/cute than anything (no sultry, sexy curvage for this chick), but you know what? I love it. I'm learning to embrace a style that suits my personality and my body type and I feel confident and good about where I am. (The hair helps too :P Let me tell you when you have someone with a lion's mane like mine covering the top half of their body it makes for a really crazy looking chick and I absolutely LOVE it.) The bottom line is, it doesn't matter how small I'll get, because of the way I'm built, I will never have amazing curvy hips and I will always have to wear a dress one size larger to fit my ribs, but hey, I'm okay with it, because I am unique, and this website has really helped to cement that into my brain.
Our bodies are not meant to be one size fits all; there are many different and diverse builds and we shouldn't fight against that. Did you know that size 6 these days is considered plus size, that means women with 25-26" waists or more could be considered plus size according to model standards. To put that number in perspective, the following celebrities could (I say could again because each body type is different) be considered plus size models (I understand that this is just a number and different body proportions vary, but as a generic idea of how ridiculous this is I'm listing these names based off numbers). Also, please understand that I don't think that plus size is bad at all or should be considered less attractive. What I'm trying to convey is that we should not have to be defined by our waist size or bust size, something that is just that; a number.
Lauren Conrad
Scarlett Johansson
Angelina Jolie
Demi Moore
Paris Hilton
Salma Hayek
Liv Tyler
Beyonce
And yes, there is a reason why I'm just linking these all the Wikipedia; I don't think that this post should be a "look at pictures of women to compare" thing, I think that it's important to understand the accomplishments of each person listed instead of being put into a category and nothing more based off a number. It doesn't matter what their size is, they are all beautiful and extremely talented women. As long as we are healthy people, and are happy with ourselves, the media has nothing on us, and I think that's very much what Healthy is the New Skinny is teaching us right now.
In the company's own words: "Healthy is the New Skinny is about fun, it's about fashion, it's about changing the world one girl, one woman, one body at a time. Join us"
So yeah! Give a look and I hope you have great day!
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