I’d like to be here by myself for awhile…
via Cabin in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island, British….
American Minute for January 8th; The Battle of New Orleans
I think this is one of the most fascinating stories in American history and the whole think could have been avoided by one text message [which of course couldn’t happen at the time]:
Though the War of 1812 was effectively over two weeks earlier with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814, news had not yet reached New Orleans.
On January 8, 1815, in the last battle of the War of 1812, nearly 10,000 British soldiers advanced under cover of darkness and heavy fog, intending to surprise General Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee and Kentucky sharpshooters, aided by French pirate Jean Lafitte and his men.
As the British neared, the fog suddenly lifted and in just a half hour 2,042 British were killed or wounded, while there were only 71 American casualties.
General Andrew Jackson wrote on January 26, 1815, to Robert Hays regarding the victorious Battle of New Orleans:
“It appears that the unerring hand of Providence shielded my men from the shower of balls, bombs, and rockets, when every ball and bomb from our guns carried with them a mission of death.”
General Jackson told his aide-de-camp Major Davezac of his confidence before the Battle:
“I was sure of success, for I knew that God would not give me previsions of disaster, but signs of victory. He said this ditch can never be passed. It cannot be done.”
Andrew Jackson wrote to Secretary of War James Monroe, February 17, 1815:
“Heaven, to be sure, has interposed most wonderfully in our behalf, and I am filled with gratitude, when I look back to what we have escaped.”
The Treaty of Ghent was ratified by the U.S. Senate, February 16, 1815.
All British troops were immediately brought back to Europe as Napoleon had escaped from the Island of Elba, February 26, 1816.
For one hundred days, events in Europe cascaded toward the massive Battle of Waterloo.
President James Madison proclaimed for the United States a National Day of Thanksgiving Devout Acknowledgment to Almighty God on March 4, 1815.
Related articles
- Andrew Jackson and the War of 1812 Centennial (jacksonianamerica.com)
- 10 Things You May Not Know About the War of 1812 (history.com)
- Remembering a ‘forgotten war’ (knoxnews.com)
Great stuff, David! Happy New Year…
Six days back at work…after a two week vacation.
Tension. Decompression. Recharge. Ramp-up. Escalation. Full engagement. Tension.
Full loop restored.
And, cycle time is compressing year over year.
Meetings. Emails. 2013 Planning. Events. Phone calls. Problems. Opportunities. Running. Faster.
In a momentary gap in my schedule…a mental image of this photo flickers by…a photo tripped into during the recharging phase of vacation. Image darts in and out for days. Pulling me back to a time when life was simpler. When picking sweet, juicy Bing cherries and filling the bucket was the task of the day.
I am here on purpose...
View original post 251 more words
This Is Your Body on Processed Food
Ever wonder what happens inside your body when you eat processed food like gummy bears, Gatorade, or ramen? Here’s what happens:
What do you think?
Uh, oh! Looks like I’m becoming a bad influence on you! :-D
We Can’t Always Get What We Want (And That’s OK!)
Danielle Robinson writes:
Lately I’ve given myself the task of psychological inventory: what am I holding onto, what should I release.
It occurred to me this past summer when I was moving apartments how much we cling to and how little we throw away. A simple cleaning out the closet really inspired me to dig deeper.
More than hanging onto things, which our society does very well, we often use our powerful minds as a weapon, to keep ourselves repeating the same stories, reliving the same events, re-running the same conversations, finding ways to make sense of things the mind simply cannot tackle.
What kept me in a cycle of discontent, riddled with a F*ck You on my forehead, was an accumulated bitterness over circumstances that simply didn’t go my way.
At some point I needed to forgive and forget everything that stung and left a sour energy in my soul. I needed to purge it, nut up, and recognize that no one gets what they want all the time.
Not everyone has the best hand dealt to them upon birth, upon entering school, upon exiting school, upon entering the job market, the love market, the friendship market, the athletics market, the artistic market, the business market, or any other market you can fathom entering.
Full story at: We Can’t Always Get What We Want (And That’s OK!).
Those Who Lack the Courage Will Always Find a Philosophy to Justify it
Stepcase Lifehack
via Thought for the Day: Those Who Lack the Courage Will Always Find a Philosophy to Justify it.
Your job is to Love!
Mastin Kipp shares this perspective on love:
Love is an action, a choice. Love is not really an emotion.
To Love someone is to choose to show up to be devoted to The Divine through that person.
So often in life these days we think that Love is easy or that Love only feels good, but that is not the full extent of what Love is – especially relationship Love.
People think that relationship Love is something that must mask your true feelings, it must always be a euphoric high of some kind or that Love must be a trade.
But that’s not what Love is.
Love is a constant offering to serve to Heart of the person you are in a relationship with. Love is a constant surrendering of your protective ego, so that the Heart can open even more and show you the unknown beauty of its depths.
Love transcends language, religion and belief systems. Love is the deepest gift that we could ever be given by someone and it’s the greatest gift that we could ever give ourselves.
Love is not a trade. Love is not a power trip. Love is not some grandiose expression of infatuation. Love is a humble and subtle power that guides us to grow into titans of giving.
Love asks us to see beyond the fear of our partner, to dive deeper than their ego would want us to and to not leave, even when all that is triggering us wants us to run.
Love shows up when fear is present and asks for more… Love is bigger, Love is brighter, Love is more powerful than any other force in the Uni-verse, because at the core of every cell in the Uni-verse is the deep yearning and desire to Love and be Loved.
Love does not march in with pomp and circumstance. Love whispers. Love silently beckons us to get over ourselves so that we can see the beauty that lay within us and every other sacred soul.
We were not sent to judge, for judgment is just a request for Love. We were sent to Love the parts of ourselves and the world that lack it. We were sent to be the Love in the seeming void of Love.
We, indeed, are the answer. No one is coming, for we have already come.
Our job is to wake up to Love and then be it.
Our job is to Love.
Source: Your job is to Love!
A New Year Message For Us All To Live By!
Tony Meindl shares this:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Marianne Williamson
Full story at: A New Year Message For Us All To Live By!
How To Write A Book With No Writing Time!
Marie Forleo writes:
Do you ever dream of writing a book? Maybe yours is half-done and you can’t seem to finish it. Or perhaps you’ve already written your first book, and it’s time to pen the next.
When you’re busy running a business, it can feel near impossible to find the time to get your book done.
Even worse is the guilt and pressure you feel knowing that a finished book means an instant boost to your credibility and the ability to serve a lot more people in your market.
Full story at: How To Write A Book With No Writing Time!.
Related articles
- Your book isn’t going to write itself. (teaseainc.com)
- Write Your Book This Year: Week 1 Start Very Small (writersresort.com)
- The Creative Process (secondwindpub.wordpress.com)
- New year, new life (ivarsmore.wordpress.com)
Excellent practical thoughts from Jon Swanson on change in the new year…
There is still time to make this statement: “I’ve done this every Monday in 2013.”
All you have to do is one of these:
- Tell your child/children you are grateful they are alive.
- Ask God for wisdom for the decisions you have to make this week.
- Drink a large glass of water.
- Read Psalm 19.
- Write an encouraging email to a friend.
- On a scrap of paper, write one thing you want to implement from a sermon you heard on Sunday. Tape it to your monitor.
- Look at the sunrise. Or sunset.
- Read one chapter from the book that is on the top of your reading pile.
- Look in the mirror and say, “I glad that God made you.”
- Eat 100 calories less than you otherwise would.
- Hand $5 to someone that you don’t own money to.
- Unsubscribe from an enewsletter that isn’t helping you as much…
View original post 226 more words
Well?
What do you think? @popsdigital was kind enough to give me some tips on photo composition yesterday. If I learned anything, this picture:
…should be ‘better’ than this one:
What do you think? Truth!!!
FOCUS is POWER!
“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”
– Tony Robbins
Bright, shiny objects! 