30 Days of Magic Moments, Days 3-7



Photo: Armiche Bolanos Quesada
Text: Kristen Mastromarchi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Souvenir

Image
Souvenir It is oh so luxurious to the touch, oh so enticing to the eyes. The suaveness of it, the mauve melding with the fuchsianess of it entrances me even now. There is only one time I remember wearing it, yet I still love it today. I love the feeling as I run my fingers over it, the connection to the totally foreign world from which it comes. Let me go back to the beginning, to the occasion I bought it for and maybe the only time I have and will wear it. We were in China, specifically in Daqing, the oil capital of the country. This was the most eye-opening, significant trip I've ever taken. The juxtaposition of things that boggled my mind (like the oil museum) with the incredible culture (like the Forbidden city in Beijing) still fascinates me.  We were in a very modern mall, trying to get the final details for my good friend's wedding. She had decided to have the wedding she had always wanted back in her homeland, and the dress code was pretty specific. (No bare shoulders o...
Read more

Smile

Image
Smile Pop quiz: How many muscles does it take to smile? There are 43 muscles in the face, most of which are controlled by the facial nerve. This nerve begins in the cerebral cortex (that mass of gray   filling the cap of your brain) and wraps around your cheek and chin. So, your smile is quite a brainy item!  Because the nerve is directly connected to the brain, it's no wonder a smile is such a no-brainer. What I mean is, I've heard you can "trick" your brain into thinking you're happy just by grinning, genuine or not. This makes total sense to me: all those muscles and nerves send signals to the brain which help it decide how you are feeling. So our facial expressions truly affect our well being. L iterally, t he more smiles, the merrier–for us and the people around us.  But I wonder...is a half-smile enough? Is your brain happy with half, or does it need the whole to be convinced? I've been at half-mast for so long that I wonder what a full smile will feel l...
Read more

Love is in the air

Image
Love is in the Air "Love is in the air"...literally, you can feel it wafting about, trying to decide where to land on this lover's day. Of course, love's latches are various: latching onto your dear friends, family, even your pets (who stretch the latches more than one could imagine, becoming a member of the family.) Love is all about bonding, feeling that connection, and sometimes suffering when it's missing.It's about those ties that we create with the surrounding world which support us in the bad and good. In the end, it's that net we rely on, or that safeguard that makes us feel secure. And if in some way it has been subtracted–toxic, not there, or losing it through death or divorce–we find ourselves on a rocky shore unsure of our footing. Recently I attended a Buddhism seminar to find out the Buddhist take on love because Buddhism is based on compassion (yet another type of love). Yoga had led me there and I was curious to know more. I agree with many...
Read more