If I could see as angels do
Oh what miracles I would witness!
I would never doubt the power of things
If I could sing as angels do
What wondrous sounds they must make
I would have deeper meaning in this kind of praise
If I went where angels do
There would never be a need to roam
I would always know my place, the one I call home.
If I listened as well as angels do
With all my soul
I would hear more than I ever did.
If I could do as angels do
All the powerful works, the angelic ways
I would not be human.
to scuba dive
EXAMPLES
[ˈsko͞obəˌdīv]VERBscuba-dive (verb) · scuba-dives (third person present) · scuba-dived (past tense) · scuba-dived (past participle) · scuba-diving (present participle)swim underwater using scuba-diving equipment.
“visitors can learn to scuba-dive in the Marine Reserve”
less common:Scubatauchennt · Sporttauchennt“scuba-diving” could be Present Participle
1. Looking after plants gives us a sense of responsibility.
I remember when my mother gave me a little spot in our garden to tend. I must have been about five. I demarcated it with stones and planted forget-me-nots and ‘poached eggs’ flowers that still make me smile.
Source: Eric Rayner, used with permission
Having to care for plants is a good way to learn to look after and respect other living things and when we are small it helps develop an appreciation of the magic of nature.
2. Gardening allows us all to be nurturers.
It doesn’t matter if we are seven or seventy, male, female or transgender, gardening underlines that we are all nurturers. Horticulture is a great equalizer: plants don’t give a fig who is tending them and for those with mental health problems to be able to contribute to such a transformative activity can help boost self-esteem.
3. Gardening keeps us connected to other living things.
Gardening can act as a gentle reminder to us that we are not the centre of the universe. Self-absorption can contribute to depression, and focusing on the great outdoors – even in the pared-down form of a patio – can encourage us to be less insular.article continues after advertisement
As long ago as 2003, research concluded that for those in mental health units and prison, the social nature of group gardening is beneficial because it centers on collective skills and aspirations rather than individual symptoms and deficits. Yet to dig and delve in a walled or fenced garden also helps to keep vulnerable people within boundaries both literally and metaphorically, allowing them to feel safe at the same time as they expand their horizons.
4. Gardening helps us relax and let go.
For many, the peacefulness associated with gardening comes not from its social aspect however, but the opposite. It enables us to escape from other people. ‘Flowers are restful to look at. They have no emotions or conflict,’ said Freud. Tending to plants allows us to tap into the carefree part of ourselves with no deadlines, mortgages, or annoying colleagues to worry about.
Source: Sarah Rayner
Moreover, the rhythmic nature of many tasks associated with horticulture – weeding, trimming, sowing, sweeping – allows thoughts to ebb and flow along with our movements. I often take to watering the plants in my patio when trying to untangle the knots in plots or characterization that can arise when writing a novel, and all too often the solution comes to me far more easily there than if I sit staring and despairing at my screen. The competing thoughts inside my head somehow clear and settle, and ideas that are barely formed take shape.
5. Working in nature releases happy hormones.
To say that gardening encourages us to exercise and spend time outdoors might seem a statement of the obvious, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that what’s good for the body is also good for the mind. When I’m deeply immersed in writing it can be all too easy to forget this, but when we exercise levels of serotonin and dopamine (hormones that make us feel good) rise and the level of cortisol (a hormone associated with stress), is lowered. It’s true that a session in the garden can be tiring, but it can also get rid of excess energy so you sleep better and ultimately feel renewed inside.article continues after advertisement
Source: Sarah Rayner
6. Being amongst plants and flowers reminds us to live in the present moment.
As I explain in my little book on anxiety, ‘when we let go of ruminating on the past or worrying about the future and instead focus on the here and now, anxiety lessens’. So one of the best ways to calm the anxious mind and lift mood is to become more ‘present’. Next time you’re in a garden, pause for a few moments, and allow yourself to be aware of your senses.
Listen. Touch. Smell. See.
Just a short time experiencing the fullness of nature like this can be very restorative.
7. Gardening reminds us of the cycle of life, and thus come to terms with that most universal of anxieties: death.
Source: Sarah Rayner
Rituals can help us work through difficult emotions, including grief, and gardening is a form of ritual involving both the giving of life and acknowledgment of its end; it’s symbolic of regeneration. It’s no coincidence we create gardens of remembrance and mark the scattered ashes and graves of our loved ones with roses, shrubs, and trees; by doing so we’re acknowledging that from dust we all come and to dust we return.
8. Some aspects of gardening allow us to vent anger and aggression…
Clearly then, horticulture is not all sweetness and light: nature has its dark side too. In a similar vein, some of the therapeutic power of gardening is that it allows us to unleash our anger and aggression as well as providing an opportunity to nurture. Why beat pillows with a baseball bat or yell at the cat when you have a hedge to hack? I confess there are times when I enjoy cutting and chopping and yanking and binding as much, if not more, than sowing and feeding and watering, and the great thing about destructiveness in the garden is that it’s also connected to renewal and growth – if you don’t cut back the plants, your space will be swamped by them.article continues after advertisement
9. …whilst others allow us to feel in control.
In a similar vein, anxious people often feel overwhelmed, and gardening can be a good way of gaining a sense of control. Moreover, whereas trying to control other people is invariably a fruitless exercise, you’re more likely to succeed in controlling your beds and borders, which can make gardening a particularly satisfying experience.
10. Last but not least, gardening is easy.
When it comes to growing things, for all its power of healing, the world of plants can feel intimidating to an outsider. If you’re new to gardening you may well be anxious you won’t have ‘green fingers’ and here, as with all new ventures: starting small is key.
You don’t need garden the size of a meadow to enjoy horticulture; you don’t even need a patio the size of mine (above).
Source: Sarah Rayner
Just one hanging basket or few pots along a window ledge can lift the spirits whenever you look at them, and if you’re strapped for cash, why not recycle an old container like a colander or ice-cream carton?
I also recommend looking for packets that say ‘Ideal for Children’ – who cares if you left school years ago? Nasturtium are a good bet, as are sweet peas, or, if you can find a patch of earth which gets sunshine, try sowing sunflowers or poppies directly into the soil. It’s the perfect time of year to get planting and gardening is a lot more affordable than many other forms of therapy, so why not grow yourself better by making an appointment with Mother Nature today?
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs and acting as a shield. “Turtle” may refer to the order as a whole or to fresh-water and sea-dwelling testudines. The order Testudines includes both extant and extinct species. The earliest known members of this group date from the Middle Jurassic, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups and a more ancient group than snakes or crocodilians. Of the 356 known species alive today, some are highly endangered.
Just to watch them move awkwardly and slow, popping up their cute wrinkled head out of their massive shells, and suddenly pulling it back in again. That in itself makes me smile every time I see it, and that is a fact.
However, here are a few more amazing turtle facts that will surely leave you wondering…
The first turtle evolved even before the lizards and crocs, more than 200 million years ago. That’s old. Extremely old. Interesting facts to notice: Back then they couldn’t pull-back their heads, but they did have teeth.
In a similar fashion to Snakes, also Turtles can be found all over the world, on each and every continent, except for the coldest and driest continent of all — Antarctica.
Despite their old wrinkled looks, and being prehistoric, surprisingly turtles have excellent eyesight, a superb sense of smell, and they can even hear good!
We tend to think that the powerful robust shell of the Turtle is some kind of bulletproof tank, and that as long as the turtle pulls his head back in – then he’s completely protected inside. That nothing can happen. Well, the facts tell us differently. The turtle shell has nerves and blood supply, and is actually made of up to 60 different bones that are connected together, so any injury to the shell structure—might make the turtle bleed and suffer from pain.
Are there really such things? It seems unthinkable, and most people I talk to have the one and only image in their minds, of the old funny-looking-Grandpa-like Turtle, slow, cautious and smiling. However, a Terrifying Turtle that is considered dangerous—does exist. It’s ‘The Alligator Snapping Turtle”, regarded as the heaviest freshwater turtle in the world, with a heavy head and a long thick shell, it resembles a dinosaur. This scary turtle lures fish using his tongue, right into his mouth, asit then devours them with tremendous speed and force. It will eat almost anything it can catch.
Still, these turtles must be handled with extreme care and considered potentially dangerous.
This is definitely one of the unfortunate turtle facts on our list. Taking into account their amazing track-record of survival over more than 200 million years, it’s quite surprising that only one out of 1,000 sea turtles survive after hatching. Most are eaten in their very early stages. However, if a baby male sea turtle does make it from the land, where it just hatched, to the sea, it will most probably never step on land again.
One of the interesting Sea Turtle facts is, that during incubation the turtle’s sex is determined by Temperature. If it’s above 29 degrees – then the baby will be a female turtle. If it’s below 29 degrees – then it will be a male. If the temperature rises above 33 degrees – then the turtle will not survive at all.
Some turtle species have the amazing ability to surpass a hundred years of age, easily. There is one Seychelles Giant Tortoise by the name of Jonathan, that lives on the Island of Saint Helena I in the South Atlantic Ocean. He was born in 1832 and is still alive. This makes him 182 years of age. Don’t believe me? Want the original facts? Read this BBC article about Jonathan the Tortoise.
In ancient mythology, some cultures admired the turtle for its longevity, while others, like the Egyptians, regarded it as the enemy of the Sun God, and as the one who brings draught. The Tortoise on the other hand was portrayed as the one supporting the entire planet at its creation. Some ancient cultures believed the Tortoise had oracle powers and was associated with immortality, while others believed it was a symbol of fertility.
Pancake Tortoise
Leviticus 12:8
“if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”
“Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.”
Today, I felt pain. I felt it surround my heart and once again, I tried to stop it. Why is it that the things we love the most, put such hurt within our souls. I went and poured out my heart, and was shut down by someone’s own perceptions. It was hard to bare my feelings but I had no choice, I had to. The stress between us both has encompassed my life. It has left me feeling inadequate, bruised, and useless. Still, I tried. I laid it out and asked my poignant questions. I felt it needed to be heard. Of course, they did not agree. Like a clam, they shut their heart and closed their ears. They could not see past the past. Are they ever going to?
A part of me wanted to run…run somewhere, run fast, and run hard. But where? I have no answers, perhaps it is a fight or flight response. I wasn’t looking to fight, but it ended up that way, in some regard. Nothing, not even my tears, could calm that stubborn heart I was trying to get through to. I gave in to the pressure of trying to defend myself, against God knows what, for whatever reason, and nothing was accomplished. If anything, it made the other person meaner. As if I had asked them for a “lung”, they thought I was crazy. They refused to talk, heal, or forgive. For which I am not sure what there was to forgive. All I know is that they were determined not to discuss, deal with, or listen anymore, today.
How in the heck did my love for someone get so complicated? How is that they, the one who I built a better part of my world around, has come to be so bitter and so angry. Why? And instead of getting “points” for the good and goodwill done towards them all these years, a disagreement, conflict if you will, keeps a huge wedge filled with distrust and disdain against me. I feel like a failure. I feel like I did not express myself well enough. I feel hurt. I feel broken.
I am sure we all have situations like this. I am sure there are circumstances we cannot control. I am sure of that. What kills me though is the fact that nothing else matters to this person, and they cannot see the uncountable good and love they have been given. Why? Perhaps I should remember the mean people in my life, just so I feel better about myself. Nah, I don’t want to waste my thoughts on those kind of people. I want to do as I always have, forgive and love. I don’t want any other characteristic to be seen but those two. I want to love and love some more. Despite the pain, heartache, and turmoil. I want it to be known that I will never give up on the things that matter in my life. I certainly will never be perfect, but I will do my darndest in trying.
Far from perfect, hurting to the depths of my soul, I will try. I may want to run, may want to fight, but let me never stop caring, feeling, and loving. I want to always keep hope. Don’t you?
MwsR
Mws R Writings 