Everyone should feel the bond of an Animal

Posted on by serenitisparkles

The bond between a human and an animal is one of the purest forms of love.  Even in small doses it’s as magical as it could ever be.  The eyes that gaze upon you with that innocent glare.  The warmth you feel at the touch.  The bond with an animal is one that should be experienced by all.  It is the love and nurture that bonds us together.

This love is kind and protective, a shield in the storm, a companion to the ones who need it most. It is what our love between each other should be. The example of love that we can only hope to reflect. It could be a cat coming thru the door at night, a dog nestling in your lap, the gaze of a horse, the simplest forms of this interaction are what makes the world a better place. It is the pure energy passing from human to animal, animal to human. The transmission of that fuel gives us strength and peace, hope and home.

When an animal becomes a family member, they become apart of you forever. Through time the bond grows and the need for them in your life increases, until one day they’re gone and the live in your memory bank forever. You will miss every part of what they brought into your life but you will be a better person because of them.

Let us learn from the beauty of their energy. Let us bask in the moments we are given. Learn from the love the animals keep.

Time is Our Most Valuable Resource

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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If I lose a dollar, I can replace it with another, but, If I lose an hour of time, I will NEVER get that hour back.  My father once said to me, “I’ll sleep when I die.”  This was a man who woke up every morning at sunrise and didn’t go to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning.  He couldn’t have been more right.  Today, that same man is asleep forever, may he rest in peace.

Watching so closely the full cycle of life, from my daughter being born to my father’s untimely death,  has taught me a crucial lesson.  Time is my most valuable resource.  Every moment of each day is an opportunity.  It can be an opportunity to share time with a loved one, an opportunity to write, an opportunity to take a chance, and the most beautiful fact is that every moment is an OPPORTUNITY.

Many of us live in the past, or look to the future.  How many of us actually live in the NOW?  Since my father’s passing I try to ALWAYS live in the present.  I am constantly asking myself, am I happy with my moment right now.  If I am not, then I quickly adjust myself to think positively and change course.  I do not know many things, but what I am definite of is that this is my moment.  My life span could last another 50 years, or 50 seconds, but what I choose to do with my moment is vital to my quality of life.

When we fail to look around us and bask in our present, we fail to see the beauty of living.  Life is a gift.  No matter how many times we fall short, we are alive.  We have something that is so precious.  We have something that for all of us, will run out.  So when you wake up in the morning, appreciate and utilize the time you are given because it will be gone before you know it.

Stalked By Digital Footprints

Posted on by serenitisparkles

 

Stalked by Digital.jpgImagine a world where blood sucking corporations were in constant pursuit of our trail. Imagine that the closer they could get to you, the more money they would make. Imagine they were able to place a GPS tracker, watch every move we make, and witness every conversation we had.  They can even predict our next move. WELCOME to the world of BIG DATA and DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS.

Across the world and concentrated heavily in the US, there are businesses set up solely to watch our movements and study our habits.  There are devices designed to ensure the precise collection of every mark we make in the digital world.  They are like stalkers lurking in the darkness, recording everything about our lives, to then hand over our personal information over to the highest bidder.

If we all believed that world existed, we would all be much more careful of leaving a digital footprint trail. The reality is that everyday, with every click of a button and stroke of a key, we are creating a lifetime of digital footprints. We are volunteering personal and private data along with giving up our right to privacy to exist in a more “convenient” world. In this digital world, the end user (us)  searches for the easiest way through.  The more convenient the internet becomes, the more invasive corporations are in our personal lives.

As a corporation, using data collectors, called aggregators results in a 200% increase in sales within a 6 month span.  It is like pure gold.  Collecting these digital footprints allows a corporation to specifically target each user.  The aggregators  collect strings of data from each website you visit, all of your personal information(name, age, gender, location,  your most common websites (and any other website you have visited), and your social media posts.    They are not only collecting your clicks, they are collecting your context.

THEY COLLECT LITERALLY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE ONLINE. They have millions of digital files identifying your long path of digital footprints.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights offers everyone the “Right to Privacy”.  Unfortunately for the internet, there is very little control, if none, over privacy laws protecting our personal information.  Unlike tangible places in the world, the internet is global and there is no worldwide policy that addresses the right of digital citizens regarding their digital footprints.  So there it is  digital citizens, we are subject to a world where everything we do is being tracked by corporations and governments, with little control over what is done with our personal data.  We are being watched by people we don’t have any relationship with and our most private data is available to anyone with enough money to hire these collectors.  The internet is becoming more important in our daily existence and if we do not become educated about the moves we make in the digital world, all of our freedoms that we enjoy in the physical world will be at risk.

In the words of Plato, “Good people do not need laws to act responsibly,  while bad people will find a way around those laws.”

Next time you tweet, email, create a profile, or post a photo, remember that not everyone using this data has your best interest at heart.   We will all die one day, but within the internet, our digital footprints will LAST FOREVER.

Is our inner voice following the leader?

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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If someone asked you to tell them about yourself and what you represented, would your answer be found on someone else’s Facebook page? I’m sure you have seen the same inspirational quotes and stories, the horrific acts of violence, and the newest billboard hits flooding the Facebook and Twitter news feeds.

With people spending 50% of their time on social media, it is very hard to tell what was derived from your own intuition and what was a result of someone’s post.  The bandwagon effect is real and is one of the oldest forms of human interaction.  It is an observation of social behaviour in which people tend to go along with what others do or think without considering their own beliefs or values.

The more lonely or socially incapable a person is, the more likely they will follow the bandwagon.  Facebook is an excellent example of the bandwagon effect.  A story is most likely to go VIRAL if there are key names leading the way such as famous personalities, musicians, and big brands.  Social media makes it very hard for an individual to gain importance through their own beliefs because the key to social media, is that what becomes VIRAL is what is considered important.  In the real world, for the survival and quality of our lives, standing up for our “gut feeling” is necessary.

In order for a person to live without regret, or to live the life THEY see fit, they must follow their intuition.  However, when the internet has found a way to be a part of half of your day, and 55 million people share status updates each day, how do we even hear what the voice inside is saying to you.

The fact is that Facebook and other social media networks are about following the leaders of the world.  The ones with the most followers are the ones that we follow and that we admire.  If they say it is a good idea, then chances are we will share that good idea to our friends on social media. We are entering a world where people spend most of their time socializing online, where, it is not the one with the voice of reason that is heard, but the one with the most popularity.

We have to remember that social media was derived by pop culture, it is a key player in creating followers around the world.    If you are trying to lead an individual path for your life, don’t spend too much time following the masses.   The moral of the story is, Listen to your gut because if you don’t then you are living someone else’s life.

The Process of Progress

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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When was the last time you can remember writing down a goal, setting up a path to it’s success, and moving forward in CONSTANT pursuit?  How many people actually ignore social media and the lives of others in order to focus on their own life?  Unfortunately, in the age of information and social media, we are buried in a world of IRRELEVANT CONTENT.

The clouds grow thicker with the more posts shared online that it is easy to become distracted with someone else’s dream. You can be perceived to be progressing in your life via social media, but the question is, ARE YOU PROGRESSING OR REGRESSING?  If I am sitting still, how can I move forward? Progress is simply forward movement toward a goal. The only way to progress is to look inside YOUR mind for what it is you are trying to accomplish.  You can’t progress if you continuously make excuses for your delay.  Progress is a process that many people don’t have time for these days.

The fact is they do have time, they have plenty of time, they just choose to idolize someone else’s forward progression. I urge people to take a good hard look at what they want to stand for at the end of their journey.  Social media and the internet can either be a tool to aid us in our successes, or a diversion to our life’s plan.  Without the process of progress we will not accomplish anything. Instead, our minds will be used as a storage bank for the stories of others. Your progress can be simple, but if you are too distracted with the abstract world, the real world will pass you by.  THINK ABOUT IT!

What is Dark Matter?

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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Because I am a nerd at heart, I love looking into things that have to do with the construction of our Universe.  I yearn to find clues of how we exist and why.  Anytime I see something of interest in science regarding our existence and new findings, I am drawn to research about it.  This week I came upon a news article stating that European Scientists may have found a signal in space referencing the existence of dark matter.  Of course at first I had no idea what Dark Matter was, but as I looked more into the topic, it became absolutely fascinating.

Dark Matter makes up about 85% of our Universe and it is everything we cannot see.  So the question is, how do we know it is there if we cannot see it.  Scientists judge the mass of dark matter by the gravitational affect it has on matter that we can see in space.  Before 1930 the only matter we assumed was part of our Universe was the physical matter that we could detect.  Basically, everything from our bodies to the stars.  Then scientists named, Jan Oort and Fritz Zwicky came up with new information regarding the orbiting velocities and the amount of missing mass, to prove that Dark Matter exists.

The reason it is called Dark Matter is because we cannot detect it and therefore it is invisible. We know it is there because of the science behind the gravitational effects  on visible matter.  Scientists know that objects need to have a certain amount of mass to orbit at a certain speed.  Yet, all objects in the Universe  contain this “Dark Matter” because the amount of mass these galaxies have is significantly less than what they should if they were to rotate at their calculated speed.  Therefore, scientists have been able to prove that there is something extra within these galaxies that is holding them in place, but it is invisible.

If scientists are able to uncover the truth behind Dark Matter and what it is made of,  they will get closer to the secrets of how our Universe was formed and how it exists.

I hope you enjoyed this mind-blowing story, and if you want to see more articles like this, leave a comment below.

The Opportunity of Life

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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I often look back at the life I have lived and wonder why I was not yet taken from this world.  I was not one to stay on the safe side and there were plenty of opportunities in my past where death could have become me.  But, for some reason, I am able to sit here and type these words.  I have witnessed loved ones pass away, however, I continue to grow and live on.  I’m sure everyone has witnessed a story, much like there own, where the outcome for the other person was death.  Car accidents, illness, and violence are things that can happen to all of us.  Some of us are still here, and others not.  So why am I still here?  Why do I get the chance to feel one more day?  I realize that the answer is very simple.

LIFE HAS GIVEN ME AN OPPORTUNITY.  Everyday that I am breathing I have the opportunity to play a part and create my story.  I have the ability to experience the most beautiful moments that life has to offer.  I have the opportunity to chase a dream, to love someone, to fear something, and most of all, to inspire someone.

So why do so many people live under the dark cloud of negativity? Why do so many never take chances and wait on death?  It is as if some people know the end is coming and make the decision to stop living because it’s over anyway.

But it’s not over.  As long as you are here on this remarkable planet, living in this incredible moment, you should have hope.  Life gives us the opportunity that so many have lost.  We have the opportunity to enhance who we are and what mark we will leave on this world.  Life is the most important opportunity in our existence, for without it, we can no longer experience.

Being witness to so many young people, my peers, who have passed on, makes me appreciate my moment that much more.  There was once a friend that I went to school with.  We were born on the same day, the same year, at the same hospital.  We grew up and went to the same school.  He is gone and I am here.  I can’t answer why, all I can do is become the best ME that I can be.

My message for everyone who has the ability to read these words, is, never stop LIVING.  Never believe that it is over for you, because as long as you can breathe you can change and thrive.  If there is ever a moment you feel as if the world is to heavy to bare, remember that if tomorrow comes and time passes, things will balance once again.  If you feel depressed about your life, realize there is someone who never got another chance.  Understand that there are people who are now faint memories, but you are here and real.  Life is our greatest possibility, so don’t be afraid to ROLL THE DICE.