Advice to High-School Graduates: 'You Are Not Special' English teacher David McCullough Jr. thinks students need to stop trying to excel at everything. J.D. Pooley/AP Photo On a spring day in 2012, Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough Jr. stepped onto the school’s football field, then covered in a sea of seniors dressed in identical caps and gowns. Clad in a blazer and striped tie, McCullough made his way to the podium, donned his reading glasses, and began his commencement speech. Nothing about the event seemed out of the ordinary. But compared to the countless other remarks given by comedians, journalists, and politicians that year, McCullough’s speech stood out for its blunt, four-word message: “You are not special.” The immediate reaction to the address was positive. The reaction caught McCullough by surprise. “I was floored. Wellesley, Massachusetts is a special place. The town also has a nurturing atmosphere in which children thrive. That’s what worries McCullough.
How To Become A Mindful Eater In 10 Days Don't beat yourself up if you've eaten too much recently. Now is the perfect opportunity to try again, equipped with a new useful tool. Practicing mindful eating can help you avoid the typical holiday weight gain (and the guilt that often follows), but to do it well it does take "training," just as with anything else. We wouldn't dream about running a marathon without proper training or performing in a play without rehearsing, yet we expect that we could just start to eat mindfully at any time. Day 1 I will do my best to start each meal with some deep breaths and a pause to become fully present. Day 2 Before taking the first bite, I will take a moment to think about how grateful I am to have this delicious food available for me. Day 3 I will chew my food slowly, concentrating on taste and texture. Day 4 I will put my fork down between bites and take 1 to 3 deep breaths before picking it up again. Day 5 I will eat my food sitting down at a table. Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10
Best Online Colleges for 2014 If your New Year's resolutions include getting an education, but you're going to need to work around your job and family, an online education could be just what you need to keep your resolve. To compile our list of the best online schools for 2014, we considered levels of programming available and variety of programs. We also researched whether online students had access to library resources, academic advisers and career services, as well as whether the schools had mobile applications, allowing you to attend classes, access course materials and take part in online discussions with your instructors and classmates while on the go. As an added bonus, three of the six schools featured on our 'best of' list - American, Northcentral and Walden universities - were named among G.I. Jobs' 2014 Military Friendly Schools. U.S. colleges, universities and trade/vocational schools are chosen for this list based on their support of active duty military and veterans who are pursuing an education.
O carte pe lună - despre dragoste, îndrăgostire, o legendă veche și o lecție nouă De ceva timp tot vreau să scriu despre o carte care mie una mi-a deschis o mulțime de perspective despre ce este și ce nu este dragostea de cuplu. Și ce zi mai potrivită pentru un asemenea subiect decât azi, ziua când o sărbătoare importată are meritul de a ne face să ne oprim o secundă din iureș și să ne gândim la persoana dragă. De ce nu facem asta în fiecare zi și de ce e nevoie de un moment anume, marcat arbitrar cu 14 în calendarul lui februarie, nu aș ști să spun și nici nu are rost să încep să analizez subiectul. Cartea se numește – “We – The Psychology of Romantic Love” și este scrisă de Robert Johnson, terapeut și analist Jungian, înțelept, profesor și ghid spiritual pentru milioane de oameni care i-au citit cărțile de-a lungul timpului. Johnson este creatorul termenului de “muncă interioară” (“inner work”) care, pentru mine și mulți alții denumește perfect procesul prin care un individ trece atunci când începe să trăiască conștient și să se descopere pe sine.
Download all Instagram photos from any user, or your own While downloading all of someone's uploaded Instagram pictures can be considered cool, creepy, or even a gray area, it's still a pain because of the limitations placed on the mobile apps and Web UI for Instagram. This is probably a safety measure against people stealing images to use for their own personal gain. However, if you're set on saving the photos from a user, nothing stops you from opening each one and saving it from your Web browser. Or, maybe you're just trying to back up photos from your own Instagram account to your computer. Downloading the photos can be a hassle when you have to do the whole process one at a time. Instead, you could try an application like Free Instagram Downloader, which will let you grab all the public photos from a specific user account at once. Note: If you're trying to back up your own account, only your images that are public can be downloaded. Step 1: Install a copy of Free Instagram Downloader on your Windows PC, then open the application.
Know Your Cheeses: A Guided Tour of American, French, Italian Cheeses So you've done the whole wine and cheese thing, have you? Uncorked a few bottles of Pinot, laid out a baguette and few wedges of the stinky stuff and called it a night? You can do better than that! Next time, take a more thematic approach and compose your cheese plate by country, for example. Think about it: when you dine out at a French restaurant, you'd never expect to see mozzarella or manchego on the cheese list. So why not adopt the same line of thinking chez vous? Drawing inspiration from Andrew Carmellini's three restaurants and their three different types of cuisine — Locanda Verde (Italian), Lafayette (French) and The Dutch (New American) — where the dairy offerings are proof that you don't need to go all over the map to compose a cheese plate rife with contrasting characteristics, flavors, textures and aesthetics, here's a sampling from the three nations. The cheese board at The Dutch. All-American Cheese Board 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The cheese board at Lafayette. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Stuck In Love - The One That Got Away - Raymmar.com Have you ever met someone who just gets you… understands you… completes you? Someone who, although you were in your darkest hour, made you feel like you were doing exactly what you were meant to do and being everything you were meant to be. A person who free’d your heart from the shackles of shame and allowed you to begin living your life again. Someone who made you feel like you were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time and in that moment, nothing else mattered. I can’t imagine it happens more than a few times through the course of our lives. If we are lucky, we recognize the importance of this person before it is too late. “What do you do when this person leaves your life? What if you were the one who walked away, knowing the pain you would cause and conversely have to endure? What if you understood that the only way to move forward was to move on? What if you were wrong? I need you to know this. In my darkest hour we met, and shortly thereafter, I left. You fixed me.
3 Reasons A Morning Routine Will Change Your Life What’s the first thing you do in the morning? Check your e-mail? Go on Facebook? When we immediately start focusing on others, we set the precedent that we’ll always put others before ourselves. Want to make one change that will have a huge impact on your life? Don’t believe me? 1. Before you answer e-mails or wake the kids up for school or even begin to think about work, you’ve got time to focus on yourself. People who consistently practice a morning routine notice that they gain higher self-esteem and set stronger boundaries because they're reminded of the need for self-care every day. 2. Perfectionists don’t continue to get back on the horse every time they get knocked off. Morning routines teach us how to be persistent — how to keep pushing through failures. 3. No matter how horrible the night before was, you know that you’ll have a reset button in the morning. We have all day long to focus on others—and we usually spend most of it doing just that. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
15 Reasons to Use Apple Cider Vinegar Every Day Apple cider vinegar is my new obsession. I recently began taking apple cider vinegar shots a few times a day for a quick and effective energy burst. However, I've since discovered so many other useful ways to incorporate apple cider vinegar (ACV) into my daily routine. It's effective for pretty much anything—your skin, your hair, your house, and even your pets can benefit from its qualities. Raw, organic, unfiltered and unpasteurized, apple cider vinegar is so much more than a salad dressing! 1. It's made from apple juice and is fermented to hard apple cider. 2. Apple cider vinegar can be used as a rinse for your hair after shampooing, and will boost your hair's body and shine. 3. Dilute ACV with two parts water, and spread the concoction over your face with a cotton ball to replace your current toner. It's also a recommended agent for warts. 4. Rub teeth directly with apple cider vinegar, and rinse with water. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. The body constantly strives to achieve a state of equilibrium.
32 Books That Will Actually Change Your Life