Green Grounds & Sailing Words

"Risk-taking is intelligent. When you do things you don’t normally do, you learn about yourself - you..."

Wed, 30 May 2012 05:44:16 -0400

““Risk-taking is intelligent. When you do things you don’t normally do, you learn about yourself - you change, and you evolve.””

- Heidi Klum

Three countries. One picture.This is the junction of Iguazú and...

Sun, 27 May 2012 08:56:21 -0400

Three countries. One picture.
This is the junction of Iguazú and Paraná rivers, where three countries have their borders: Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil.

"Without the darkness, the Light has no purpose."

Sun, 27 May 2012 05:57:33 -0400

““Without the darkness, the Light has no purpose.””

- Iyanla VanZant

Nothing in this life is as black as a night at sea. You can...

Sat, 26 May 2012 11:26:43 -0400

Nothing in this life is as black as a night at sea. You can tell people that, and they nod, but no one could know how mercilessly dark a night could be until they see the night sea for themselves.

Photo

Sat, 26 May 2012 08:54:10 -0400

You're still growing up, even into your 30's.

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:00:27 -0400

Nobody tells you that. It’s like as soon as you hit the big 18 people no longer say you’re still growing up. They make it out as if as soon as you’re done with college a couple years later theres no more growing up to do. You’re at max capacity. But you know, we’re not, we are by far not even close to hitting the end of trying to grow up and we need to hear that now more than we ever did when we were kids.

I don’t know why we have this notion in our heads that as soon as you get out of college you need to get your shit together. As if this magical fairy is going to pop out and give us adulthood. When we don’t get it and we crawl back to our parents house and work part-time jobs that aren’t related to our college degree to pay off said college degree we feel like failures. Not only that, nobody is there to encourage you. You’re just looked at as this giant lame ass who isn’t doing nothing in your adult life when every day you’re busting your balls trying to make ends meet and still try to maintain being happy with your short comings. Your parents, friends, the world acts like theres nothing more you can do. You’re an adult, you don’t have the job that you want, you’re in debt, you’re living in your parents basement, you suck as an adult, have a nice life its not going to get better.

That’s not the case. You’re not an adult, you’re STILL growing up figuring out shit and thats okay. Most of us didn’t get that magical fairy either to grant us adulthood and we’re fucking up and growing up right along with you. I have no idea what the hell i’m doing and i’m pretty sure a lot of people reading this also have no idea what the hell they’re doing. We’re in this together. Some people can do the growing up right away, and some of us can’t. Some of us don’t know what we want. We’re allowed to change our minds and we’re allowed to be brand new as many times as we feel. Theres no cut off age to growing up. People just keep trying to scare us into adulthood and its gets stressful when you feel like you’re the only person not doing it right. But believe me, you’re not the only one and you can take your time figuring it out. Shit, I still haven’t figured it out.

We’re still growing my friend, and thats okay. We’re okay. You’re okay.

Book and Herb tea by characoco Exactly what I need this...

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:05:53 -0400

Book and Herb tea

by chara*coco*

Exactly what I need this summer.

Do what you love.

Thu, 24 May 2012 09:01:00 -0400

You hear me? Do what you fucking love.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, no activity is unattainable to you. You tell me you’re too old to do something, I’ll show you somebody twice your age who has already done it and vice versa. Stop listening to people around you giving you doubts about it. If people truly want to see you happy and becoming the best person possible they will have your fucking back with whatever you want to do. They should be the ones waking you every morning with a text message like, “Yo Justin, you develop the Hoverboard yet?!” Seriously, Justin. Develop the fucking Hoverboard.

If it means going into debt, being scared, losing a relationship, or being completely on your own for the first time. DO. IT. You can’t be held back from wanting to actually live. You’re not promised tomorrow, you weren’t guaranteed today, and I sure as fuck can’t tell you that you’ll get a redo after you die. You only have this moment, this lifetime to achieve whatever idiotic or completely brilliant, insane, and amazing thing that you want. You have the tools. The only thing you have to do is get off your ass every morning and construct a blueprint and go at it as hard as you can. Fucking do it, man. Why the hell not? Why aren’t you right now?

You can’t be afraid. You can’t be scared of what people will think of you for wanting to do what you love. For being.. you. The real you. Don’t feed me bullshit about you don’t have the money or the time or anything like that. It’s bullshit. You’re just blowing smoke up my ass. You don’t have the money? Save. You have nothing to save? Find a job. Can’t find a job? Keep looking. Be creative. Find a way. There’s always a way, it’s just people are either too afraid or too fucking lazy. You can do it. You can do anything that you want, just get up and do it. Screw everyone saying that you can’t, because you can.

You hear me? You read me?

You can do it. I’m serious, you really can.

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it..."

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:01:11 -0400

““Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.””

- Buddha

100,000 LED Lights Illuminate a Japanese River Tokyo Hotaru...

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:00:54 -0400

100,000 LED Lights Illuminate a Japanese River

Tokyo Hotaru Festival 2012 took place recently, releasing 100,000 blue LED lights to float in the Sumida River. The bulbs rolled along the waves of the river bank, mimicking hotaru (the Japanese word for “fireflies”), for the festival that celebrates the Japanese tradition of watching fireflies float along a watercourse. The spectacular event lit up the waterway with a sparkling sapphire radiance against the night sky.

The solar-powered LED balls, known as prayer stars, were designed to illuminate when they came in contact with water and were provided by Panasonic, one of the event’s sponsors. At the close of the festival, the bulbs were gathered by giants nets and removed from the stream.

"He did each single thing as if he did nothing else."

Fri, 18 May 2012 05:31:09 -0400

““He did each single thing as if he did nothing else.””

- Charles Dickens

Honey Hunters of Nepal, Eric Valli. “High in the Himalayan...

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:41:52 -0400

Honey Hunters of Nepal, Eric Valli.

“High in the Himalayan foothills, fearless Gurung men risk their lives to harvest the massive nests of the world’s largest honeybee.”

”They actually tied a knot. They tied a fisherman’s knot...

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:31 -0400

”They actually tied a knot. They tied a fisherman’s knot and it’s the strongest knot. The rope will break before the knot comes undone and the knot only gets tighter with pressure.”

"But do not ask me where I am going, As I travel in this limitless world, Where every step I take is..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:01:39 -0400

“But do not ask me where I am going,
As I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my home.”

- Dōgen

The Most Astounding Fact by Neil DeGrasse Tyson Astrophysicist...

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:03:19 -0400

The Most Astounding Fact by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ph.D. (October 5, 1958)]
“The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth, the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems. Stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself.

So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…”

Happy Motter’s Day.

Sun, 13 May 2012 12:43:44 -0400

Happy Motter’s Day.

"Do you know what I need? To escape into the mountains, surrounded by tall trees, I will lay on the..."

Sat, 12 May 2012 05:42:11 -0400

“Do you know what I need? To escape into the mountains, surrounded by tall trees, I will lay on the moss, and breath in the scent of mushrooms, flowers and wet soil.”

- Le’echappee

Albino Redwood Ultra-rare albino redwood trees completely lack...

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:01:41 -0400

Albino Redwood

Ultra-rare albino redwood trees completely lack the green pigment chlorophyll, which they need to live (by photosynthesizing nutrients from light). These plants are literally vampires. They are pale (everwhite instead of evergreen), and they survive by sucking the life from other trees.

These vampires remain attached to the roots of their healthy, normal, parent trees (coastal redwoods can reproduce asexually by sprouting new shoots from roots or stumps), and survive by sucking energy from them. They can keep this up for a century.

Only about 25 of these trees are known to exist around the world, eight of which are at Henry Cowell State Park in California, where rangers and researchers from Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz are studying them…

"I believe someday you’ll know that in your heart. I think years from now you’ll look back at this..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:02:14 -0400

“I believe someday you’ll know that in your heart. I think years from now you’ll look back at this time of your life and you’ll see that this was your growing up. One of the hardest things about doing that — I mean, really, truly, actually growing up — is that in order to do so we must come to terms with the past. And for a lot of us who didn’t get as kids what we needed to get from the people who were supposed to give it to us, we can’t really grow up until we find a way to give what we need to ourselves.

But that’s also one of the most beautiful things. Because we can. We have the power to heal what needs to be healed. We get to give ourselves that.”

- Dear Sugar

I already posted this video last year, but upon hearing the...

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:16:27 -0400

I already posted this video last year, but upon hearing the news that Maurice Sendak passed away I figured I’d revisit it. I loved his work as a child, and admire it as an adult. And professionally / creatively, he was an inspiration.

“He’s one of the most important, if not the most important, writers and artists ever to work in children’s literature. In fact, he’s a significant writer and artist in literature. Period.” - Tony Kushner