Smiling adds values to the face, making people look sweeter, more handsome
or beautiful, younger, friendlier and approachable. Smile has the magic of touching,
softening and stealing the heart. ―Dr T.P.Chia

Second photo taken by my mother. She’s getting better and better now, but takes her
forever to find the ‘click’ button!

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
Raise your words, not voice.
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
~Rumi

Cooks in Asia and India have use banana leaves in many of the same ways Western chefs use aluminum foil or parchment paper. According to an article on the Sampradaya Sun news site, banana leaves do not grow on trees but are actually the leaves of a large herbal shrub.

Significance
In India, banana leaves are so large they are used as umbrellas during monsoon season. They are used as natural food wrappers when steaming, grilling and baking different types of food. The leaf also make an attractive serving platter because of its size and sturdiness. The shrub produces only one leaf per month in winter and three to four per month in summer.

Nutrients
In addition to their value as food wrappers for cooking, banana leaves contain large amounts of polyphenols such as epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, also found in green tea. Polyphenols are natural antioxidants found in many plant based foods. According to an article by Augustin Scalbert and colleagues published in the January 2005 issue of the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” extensive research is ongoing to help determine the extent of how polyphenols affect human cells, the oxidative process and its impact on disease prevention.

By BarbaraA
Source: Live Strong

Sorry Max. I had to crop you out in this photo!

http://leelavadeeflower.blogspot.com/2014/08/home-is-where-heart-can-laugh.html

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Max thinks he’s a human. Been trying to take everyone’s shoes
and pants this whole week. Yesterday, as soon as I got out of the car,
Max ran straight to me to grab my shoes and wouldn’t give me back!

The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore.

 Patience is not sitting and waiting, it is foreseeing. It is looking at the thorn and seeing the rose, looking at the night and seeing the day. Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full.

― Rumi

It’s hard to be happy when past events or situations haunt your present. Maybe you said or did something that you regret or you failed to take action when you should have. So, you beat yourself up day after day, not letting go because you feel like you need to punish yourself and remind yourself that you failed.

Kids don’t do this to themselves. In fact, not only do they seem to have the ability to forget about yesterday, they often forget about what happened five minutes ago.

Sure, you don’t want to let go of things without learning from them. So, pick out the lesson and then put in on the shelf in your memory bank. Let it start to collect dust because you’ve taken what you need from it and now it’s time to walk on. It’s done its job so let it go.

Source: YouQueen

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Just be yourself

Kids have a great knack for being who they are regardless of who is watching. That’s evidenced by the number of times you see them walking with a weird step just because it’s fun or jumping around like a crazy animal because they’re excited.

Can you imagine yourself responding to things the way you want to instead of the way you feel you should? What’s stopping you? So what others may think you’re a touch of crazy if you scream out of excitement when something positive happens or do a happy dance when you’re feeling giddy? The truth is that they’ll probably actually envy you for being who you are and wish that they were able to do the same.

Let yourself respond to life the way you want to respond. Don’t worry about other people’s interpretations of you. Just be yourself and you’ll be much happier.

Source: YouQueen