It’s Friday! Days before Christmas. So no time to lose…here’s this week’s five favorite finds:
1) Beyond the Guitar Christmas – Nathan Mills of Beyond the Guitar has given us 4 sweet Christmas videos over the years. The latest is a medley of 3 Christmas movie classics on guitar. Watch it here:
A Star Wars Christmas – a Classical Guitar Mashup
December Song (Peter Hollens) – Classical Guitar Cover
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (w/ Surprise)
2) A Prayer for the Grieving – This Christmas more than any other I can remember is marked by multiple losses…friends who have died and family members of friends. Words are tricky when you want to reach out to those wounded by loss. Writer Dena Johnson Martin‘s prayer for the grieving at Christmas is a just-right-to-share piece for these dear ones who are still in the throes of grief right now. Especially those looking to God for help but don’t have the words either.
Photo Credit: YouTube, Dena Johnson Martin
A Prayer for Christmas Hope – Dena Johnson Martin [another prayer]
20 Messages of Advice for Suicide Loss Survivors During the Holidays – Sarah Schuster
What Grieving People Wish You Knew at Christmas – Nancy Guthrie
3) Experience and the Brain – You know the saying, “Practice makes perfect”? Well, that has been found to be true only with the right kind of practice. Another saying “Use it or lose it” however does continue to hold true. Exercising our brain and building our brain through experiences are both still vital for brain health and aptitude – from childhood through old age.
Author and brain injury survivor Debbie Hampton has given us 5 Ways Experience Changes the Brain. [It is a ton of cool science. I decided not to list those points out because you really need to read it – to glean just how we can power up learning through experience, intentional and meaningful experience, from early childhood through late adulthood.
Photo Credit: Experience Life, Jon Spayde
Neuroplasticity is a fascination of mine. It is defined as “the ability of the brain to change throughout an individual’s life, e.g., brain activity associated with a given function can be transferred to a different location, the proportion of grey matter can change, and synapses may strengthen or weaken over time.”
“It refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment. From the time the brain begins to develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our brains reorganize in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences.” – Celeste Campbell (n.d.).
What I love about the potential of experience’s positive impact on brain function is that we can be strategic in our own actions and responses. Building healthy and meaningful mental responses rather than being passively reactive to whatever stimuli comes our way.
What Is Neuroplasticity? Definition + 14 Brain Plasticity Exercises
Use It or Lose It – Exercising Your Mind Becomes Even More Important in Old Age – Dawn C. Carr
Upgrade Your Brain – Jon Spayde
4) Complaining Exposed – When it comes to complaining, we all think of someone else who does it…not us. It is an irritating habit, and (like we saw in #3 on neuroplasticity), it only gets worse if unchecked. Poet writer Anne Peterson talks about complaining and how it flows out of 6 heart attitudes. Complaining reveals that:
- We feel entitled.
- We are impatient.
- We hold on to resentment.
- We compare ourselves to others.
- We don’t think life is fair.
- We are conformed to this world/culture.
Read her article for the particulars. Be prepared to rip the excuses off your complaining.
What Your Complaints Actually Reveal About Your Heart – Anne Peterson
Photo Credit: Gary Vaynerchuk
Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk writes about how his mom and wife seem to be incapable of complaining and it’s one of the things he loves about them: “Complaining has zero value. Looking at the negative, seeing the glass as half empty, and complaining are some of the biggest wastes of time a human being can engage in. Instead, tackle the problem head on. Assess it, see what you can do about it, and then do just that. ‘Woe is me’ is truly one of the biggest things that can stand in the way of success both professionally and personally.”
One of the Few Things I Complain About: Complaining – Gary Vaynerchuk
5) Gift Giving – My shopping for Christmas is probably about as done as it will get. As for what I want for Christmas? Forgive the song reference, but all I want for Christmas…is you.
Photo Credit: Facebook, Kelly’s Treehouse
When you can’t always have your family around…if you have friends who are generous and genius gift-givers, you can still wrap up all cozy with your family [photo fleece] anyway.
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Happy Christmas, y’all. Thanks for spending this bit of time here. It means a lot to me. May God’s richest Christmas blessing find a place in your heart.
Bonuses:
Marwencol – the website and the feature-length film: Welcome to Marwen – What a story!
2018 Lights on Canoe Brook – The Greatest Showman
I Fit the Description – The Good Men Project
Photo Credit: Steve Locke, The Good Men Project
Photo Credit: Facebook; Pal’s Blountville
Photo Credit: Facebook, Christmas comes to Aleppo, Syria under reconstruction.
Photo Credit: Twitter, Music Notes
December Daffodil and Narcissus shoots in December at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Photo Credit: Lewis Ginter Twitter