Thinking Questions

So I’ve seen a few blogs lately that all have a little survey to help make people think about life in general and to learn more about themselves. Since I created this blog for just such a purpose I thought I’d copy the survey, to not only make myself think but to hopefully help you do the same.

1. What is more difficult for you, looking into some ones eyes when you are telling them how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when they are telling you how they feel?:
This one is easily looking into someone else's eyes to tell them how I feel. Its hard for me to express those feelings when I don’t know what the other person feels as well.

2. Think of the last time you were REALLY angry. WHY were you angry? Do you still feel the same way?:
Last time I was really angry was when I broke up with an ex about 1 year ago. He never showed up and accused me of being immature & selfish. Needless to say I was not the most pleasant that day. Now I don’t really feel angry at him, just at myself for wasting almost 2 years of my life.

3. You are on a flight from Honolulu to Chicago nonstop. There is a fire in the back of the plane. You have enough time to make ONE phone call. Who do you call? What do you tell them?:
Right now in life I would call my mom tell her how much I love her & to pass on my love to all my family too.

4. You are at the doctor’s office and he has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? What do you do with your remaining days? Would you be afraid?:
I would honestly not tell a soul and just do all of the things I’ve always wanted to do in life. I would also write a letter that would be read at my funeral.

5. You can have one of the following two things. Which do you choose? Why? Love and Trust:
Trust. In love you have to trust so if you have trust you also have love.

6. You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late even once more, you are fired. Do you take the time to save the dog’s life?:
I’d save the dog and explain to the boss why I was late.

7. You are unfaithful to your spouse/significant other. Do you tell him/her? Why or Why not?:
While I’m not a cheater, if I did I would most definitely tell my spouse.

8. Your friend confesses that he/she has feelings for you more then just friendship. He/she is falling in love with you. What do you do/say?:
This all depends on if I’m feeling the same way as well. If I did then I’d go for it and if I didn’t then I’d have to say how I felt.

9. Are you the kind of friend that you would want to have as a friend?:
I think so. I’m honest caring and a great listener. I’m loyal (to a fault) and will always help a friend in need.

10. Does love = sex?:
Nope you can love someone without having sex with them.

11. When was the last time you told someone HONESTLY how you felt regardless of how difficult it was for you to say? Who was it? What did you have to tell the person?:
Hmm I pretty much tell everyone how I honestly feel almost all the time so I can’t really peg one person or thing I told them.

12. What would be (or what was) harder for you to tell a friend, you love them or that you do not love them back?:
Didn’t love them back.

13. What do you think would be the hardest thing for you to give up? Why would it be hard to lose?:
My family and people I love & care about

14. Excluding romantic love, when was the last time you told someone you loved them? Who were they to you?:
My mom when I was leaving to go outta the house yesterday

15. Imagine: it is a dark night, you are alone, it is raining outside, you hear someone walking around outside your window. WHO do you wish was there with you?:
My knight in shining armour? haha I don’t know

16. Would you give a homeless person CPR if they were dying? Why or Why not?:
I’d seriously have to think about it only because it could be a setup. I know I would call an ambulance for help but not sure if I’d actually give CPR.

17. You are holding onto your grandmother’s hand and the hand of a newborn that you do not know as they hang over the edge of a cliff. You have to let one go to save the other. Who do you let fall to their death? What was your reason for making the decision?:
Kind of a dumb question. Babies weigh nothing so I would pull the baby up onto safe ground then help my grandma. Unless my grandma said to drop her and save the baby, then I guess I’d listen to her.

18. Are you old fashioned?:
In some ways yes in other ways not so much.

19. When was the last time you were nice to someone and did NOT expect anything in return for it?:
Easy, all the time.

20. Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a broken heart, or never loved at all? Why?:
Definitely true love. I’d hate to go through life without knowing that feeling, even if it means having my heart broken to feel it.

21. If you could do anything or wish anything, what would it be?:
To have everyone I love & care about to be happy and healthy.

This is definitely a fun way to learn more about yourself and to get the ol’ brain juices flowing.

Ciao

~Meg

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.

-Kahlil Gibran, "The Philosophy of Logic"

The unexamined life is not worth living.

-Socrates

 

Reaching a Milestone

While I normally try to write some sort of “deep” thought I’ve had this post will be short and not so “deep”.

As of Wednesday July 14th I am officially a Registered Nurse in Canada. 5 years of blood sweat and tears have finally come to a conclusion.

While this is only one milestone in my life I can now look forward to reaching the others while doing a job I adore.

~Meg

It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn't, and when it does, we may well reject it.

-Bernard Berkowitz

Have you ever heard the trees?

For the most part I have been feeling rather philosophical. This is probably due to the fact that I am beginning to write a new chapter to my life. While I do reflect on my life during times like this, lately I have found that I often will rather sit back and enjoy the little things.

My new “hobby” I guess you can call it is to just go out and take a walk around a local park. Its funny, I have lived by this park my entire life and overall I love going to it and just walking along its bike path, usually with the company of my family or close friends.

These social walks are always fun and a relaxing way to spend time with others. I find it difficult however to listen to the sounds of nature when I’m with the company of others and you can never really enjoy the serenity of the woods this way.

Which brings me to the title of this entry, have you ever heard the trees?

Now that sentence sound completely nuts to anyone who may be reading this. Believe me I thought I was going nuts the first time I actually listened on one of my walks. But I swear the trees can talk. Not in the conventional way we humans communicate but they can express some, for lack of a better word, emotion.

Twice now I have gone walking just before it rained, and twice I felt similar feelings emanating from the woods.

The trees get excited when they know the rain is coming. Their leaves begin to rustle vigorously with only a light breeze blowing. Just the whole atmosphere changes. Before the rain, the woods had a quiet energy to them and once a rainstorm approaches the woods felt charged up. Once the rain begins to fall you almost feel their elation at the downpour of life sustaining water.

Even the birds and the bugs are different. The birds all start looking for cover as do the bugs. I never would have thought any of this was possible, had I not gone walking on my own to listen and absorb the energy of the world around me.

I encourage anyone to take some time out of their days, even if its just 20 min to just go out and take in some fresh air. Enjoy the sounds of the world and feel the harmony of the earth.

I ask again, have you ever heard the trees?

~Meg

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

-Lord (George Gordon) Byron, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

I've got to have a place where I can find peace of mind.

-Princess of Wales Diana

Heart and Stroke Month

So I'm deciding to write a more serious piece today since February is the month in which the Heart and Stroke Foundation likes to inform people about their heart health. I thought I'd help do my part and spread the word, especially since I’m a nurse who works on a cardiac unit lol.

Heart Disease Information:

When it comes to your heart there are certain risk factors in which you can change, and some which you can't here are a list of both types.

Things you can't change:

• Genetics: some people are predisposed to heart disease
• Age: don't you wish you could change this lol
• Family History: if you have more than one immediate relative who has heart related issues, it is important to keep on top of your heart health as this puts you into a higher risk category for heart disease
• History of a stroke or TIA's (transient ischemic attack)
• Ethnicity: First Nations, African or South Asian people have a higher risk factors for heart disease

Things you can change or control: Which is probably the most important list out of these two

• High Blood Pressure: increase blood pressure adds more strain to the heart muscles
• High Cholesterol: you get a build up of plaque which remains in your arteries and causes your heart to work harder to pump the blood through
• Diabetes: if you have diabetes it is important to properly control your sugars
• Being overweight: with a higher percentage of body fat, you also have more blood vessels and this added distance creates more work for the heart
• Excessive Alcohol Consumption
• Physical Inactivity: a sedentary lifestyle is never good for the body
• Smoking: the carcinogens and pathogens from the cigarettes create plaques which remain in your arteries and veins
• Stress: increased stress increases your blood pressure

The most important thing about your heart is making sure you take care of it.

Stroke Information:

For a stroke I feel the most pertinent information would be the warning signs. Should you have a sudden onset of the following 5 things, immediately call your local emergency services:

1. Numbness or Weakness
2. Confusion
3. Dizziness
4. Sudden Vision Problems
5. Trouble Speaking

For more information here please visit the Heart and Stroke Foundations website at www.heartandstroke.ca

~Meg

He who enjoys good health is rich, though he knows it not.

-Italian Proverb

Pyrography How to Guide

A continuation from Sergey’s blog:

Step One:



Before you begin working on your piece it’s important to lightly sand the wood. This prevents you from getting any splinters while you’re working on the piece as well as preventing the small loose pieces of wood from coming up and burning while you’re working on your piece.

Step Two:



The next step is to draw out your design or image. The drawing itself does not have to be complicated, and in fact it makes it a bit easier if you just have the general shapes. The drawing is strictly used as a guide to follow along with as you burn the design in.

Step Three:



Now comes the fun part! I find it useful when burning in the design to actually outline the shapes before you begin the burning process. This prevents your lines from disappearing and also gives you a nice feel for the wood, since depending on the variety of wood they all burn a bit different.

Below are the remainder of the images so you can see the process itself. As for the technique itself, everyone does it a little different and it’s important to find out which way is comfortable for you.



For the fur I find a cross hatch works well with the finer fur....



...and longer downward strokes work well for the shaggy fur of the bison.



As you can see by varying up the different strokes shows the varying changed in the bison’s fur. The most important rule with pyrography, is to just play around with it! It’s supposed to be a fun hobby not a chore.



For grass I find simple strokes varying in pressure give the grass a nice textured look



Always remember to include some sort of background if you’re doing a full piece image



And an hour or two later this is the finished product. I may go back and darken up parts of the prairie to give the piece more depth, but for now I’m calling this piece complete.

So there you have it a simple “how to” for pyrography! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment on here, or you can email me at artistmeg@yahoo.ca


~Meg

Being True to Yourself

So after a rather long break from updates, I've decided to make a new post.

First I'd like to share a quick story, complete with a moral at the end of the it, as all good stories have messages to give.

There was once a girl who met a boy. To keep things simple we shall call them John and Jane. Now when John and Jane first met the got along rather well. They both had similar interests and wanted the same things out of life. Seeing as they got along so well with each other John and Jane decided they would date one another since it just seemed like the thing to do. So John and Jane would go out and spend time with each other and the weeks and months passed by.

Now poor Jane, no matter how she tried, she just did not feel that spark of "true love". Don't get Jane wrong she did love John, but it was a different kind of love. As time went by and talks about their future became serious, Jane started to get an uneasy feeling. This nagging unease continued on as the months went by. Finally Jane could no longer ignore how she was feeling.

Jane took a good look at her and John's relationship and realized it was not all she thought it was. She realized too many concessions were being made and Jane no longer knew who she was. Finally Jane realized what she had to do to but could Jane go on with it. On the one hand she would be crushing poor John but being true to herself, and on the other John would be happy but she would be betraying herself and who she truly is.

What should Jane do?

So as you can see this story does not have an ending, but the moral should be clear. Do you sacrifice your feelings for another persons?

I'm sure we have all been in a situation similar to this, although not necessarily in the dating world. In this story the answer seems quite simple, and very black and white but as we all know the real world isn't like that, its usually far more messy and grey.

This is life's great moral dilemma, do you sacrifice your own values and beliefs to make other people happy.

~Meg

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.
Being true to anyone else or anything else is...impossible.

-Richard Bach, Illusions

Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world. Yet from this lesson thou will learn to avoid the frog's foolish ambition of swelling to rival the bigness of the ox.

-Miguel de Cervantes

There comes a time in each life like a point of fulcrum. At that time you must accept yourself. It is not anymore what you will become. It is what you are and always will be.

-John Fowles