Only Him.

favorite language learning resources

duolingo- a lot of language learners have issues with it but it’s good to get a base on the language and they’re always adding new languages!

memrise- good for vocabulary and memorizing, they have a wide list of languages

babbel- really effective if you want to learn how to communicate with people or get around, costs money for the full version but they have sales all the time

hellotalk- language exchange app, i’ve had really good experiences with this app, the only downside is that you have to pay to select more than one language you want to learn

tandem- similar to hellotalk, i like it slightly less but it allows you to choose as many languages as you want!

forvo- you can listen to native speakers pronounce things! it’s amazing!

ipachart- interactive chart with the international phonetic alphabet

wordreference- online dictionary for french, spanish, german, italian, portuguese, dutch, swedish, russian, polish, romanian, czech, greek, turkish, chinese, japanese, korean, and arabic

bab.la- another online dictionary with 24 languages

linguee- really great for learning phrases and seeing words in context

omniglot- encyclopedia of writing systems and languages, really great for learning new writing systems & also basic phrases! also has links to other resources!

the great language game- game for testing listening comprehension to several dozen languages!

ba ba dum- fun vocabulary game

easy languages- youtube channel featuring native speakers speaking a variety of languages but mostly spanish, french, and german

wikitongues- youtube channel attempting to document every language in the world

languagepod101- offers podcasts and youtube videos in a wide variety of languages

verbix- verb conjugating website with a wide variety of languages

quizlet- flashcard website that’s great for compiling vocab lists

lingq- i’ve only used it a little but it seems helpful especially for beginners!

tunein- allows you to listen to radio in a variety of languages

wikipedia- they have thousands to millions of articles in various languages so it’s a great place to test your reading skills, and in addition you can read articles about the language you’re learning and get a grasp on the language’s structure and sound system

lyricstraining- allows you to learn languages using song lyrics, really helpful for comprehension

lang-8- you can post things and have native speakers correct them, and correct things from other people!

feel free to add!

Maen. This. This is Something.

I’m practicing non-attachment. Accepting what comes and allowing it to leave when it’s time. What’s for me will be for me effortlessly.

Such Wisdom…. intrinsic Knowledge and the  Carnal Acceptance of who We are… It does make the world a better place. Always.. xo.

Hi there. I'm a 16 year old black girl who has started to become more insecure. I've been bullied at school & I'm the exact opposite of western beauty ideals which majority of people follow. I'm very dark skinned with a wide broad nose, big cheekbones & big round eyes. I have started to feel worthless. I've noticed girls with dark skin are usually considered conventionally beautiful if they have thin nose and lips like Kerry Washington & East Africans. Please tell me how I can live a happy life.

Hi sweetheart.

I have thought long and hard before I answered this question, which is why it’s been sitting in my inbox for the past two days. Don’t think I’ve been ignoring you. I just prayed that I could find the words to be of help to you.

First things first: fuck Western beauty ideals. With MUCH disrespect.

And I know. That is HARD. Because it is EVERYWHERE. We are encapsulated by images of societally deemed ‘perfection’ that look far from us. I’m not lily white with blonde hair, blue eyes and a size 2. But in every ad in Vogue, the women are just that. It sucks. It’s bizarre to feel like your beauty is some sort of ‘trend’ to society. At first, white skin was clearly in. Then, lighter skinned black models became acceptable. And now, darker skinned models are ‘acceptable’ but still not booked as often, and still not used for high fashion campaigns. And even still, those girls are rail thin and don’t look like most of us. Steps are being made, but they are slow. So.

That’s why we have to take care of ourselves, sista.

Let me tell you a few things. That wide broad nose you have, is the indelible trait that you are a descendant from royalty. Your lineage is so resilient that through slavery and ships, through famine and warfare, you still have the regal bearings of your ancestors from hundreds of years ago. You are discernible as a dignified woman whose beauty is a precious gift passed down from illustrious, imperial Mother Africa many moons ago. Your broad nose notifies us all of your nobility. So hold it up high.

Your cheekbones? Do you know how many white women are paying hundreds and thousands of dollars for big cheekbones like yours? Girl, let me tell you. Those big cheekbones are God’s way of letting us all know he spent a little more time on you. He arched and sculpted and molded you until He was satisfied that when you smiled, your prominently placed cheekbones reflected light and glistened. I have big cheekbones and I love them. Every man I have ever dated has loved them. They are queenly and womanly. They add depth to my face. I can create a look of desire by sucking them in. I can create an impish look by grinning widely, sending them shooting up to kiss my eyelashes. Little sista, trust me. Big cheekbones, are one of the most beautiful attributes you can have as a woman. And even if those silly 16 year old boys aren’t telling you that now, by the time you’re my age, 9 years from now, you’ll have some man beating down your door, just to see you smile. 

Big round eyes are beautiful. They tell the world you are inquisitive. Opens your soul up for business. Your face illuminates when you laugh, eyes dancing. Your eyes give away when you are disappointed, darting downward. Your eyes widen like saucers on a Sunday morning after church when you are frightened. Your eyes are descriptive. Your eyes tell your story when you don’t have the words to say anything yourself. Big round eyes, to be honest, are actually one of the most attractive traits men look for, studies have shown. So, two points for those big brown eyes, dear.

As for your dark skin. Yes, I saved the best for last.

There is nothing worthless about your dark skin. You are clothed in the allure and mystery of midnight. You are the exact shade that God intended you to be. You are the color of the earth and of ebony and mahogany woods and of my mother’s warm eyes and a cup of my favorite coffee and the sparrow who’s song wakes me up every morning  and that point in the night when the sun hasn’t quite faded into oblivion and night hasn’t quite announced its presence. You are the deep, dark brown that lovers hide in. You are the deep, dark brown that secrets are kept. You are the deep, dark brown of the earth before He said let there be light you ARE a deep, dark brown girl and if they have the audacity to bully you, a young woman of worth and value, of beauty and strength, of character and nobility, of honor and conviction, then they are too moronic, too dense, too stupid to see that you are beautiful. And not everyone is entitled to BEHOLD your beauty.

To you, I pray. I was you 9 years ago. I felt confused and ugly and sad but I promise you, little sista, you will flourish. I hope you read this and you smile. I hope you read this and you look in the mirror and you see every beautiful trait of yours. Most importantly, I hope you read this and decide, you know what, FORGET a mirror, because you don’t need a piece of glass to reflect back on the beauty that illuminates inside of you. You are 16 years old. The world is yours if you open your heart. Happiness is, more often than not, just around the corner. So, little sista, today, tonight, or whenever you read this, make the brave choice to say, “I am beautiful. I look like a queen. I feel like a queen. My happiness is mine and mine alone and I choose to dress myself, to dress my very soul, up in happiness from head to toe.”

I hope this helps. I PRAY this helps. Please, feel free to contact me again if you want to talk. I don’t know you at all, I wish I did, but I LOVE you. And I am sending you all of my well-wishes and ‘you go, girl!’ vibes from here to wherever you are.

All my love,

Ashley

Before sin entered the world, what was Adam and Eve’s purpose? They had no one to pray for.. they had no sickness to combat.. they had no pain, no sorrow.. what did they talk to God about? What was their purpose.

This was presented to me the other day and I’ve been thinking on it a fair bit. If we took an evaluation of how we prayed/spent time with God.. would it look like the relationship Adam and Eve had before sin entered the world?

We are now dead to sin through Jesus and yet we go to God with our negativity and complaints. But what if we didn’t have those things to worry about? What would we talk to Him about?

This is a goal of mine.. to not just go to God with my problems.. but to go to Him as a friend.. a father and talk to Him about everything and nothing. Maybe even just continual thank Him for all He does for me. I just want a close connection with Him and I’m seeing that the way I’m living now.. is hindering me from it.

Nothing else will make you type slower other than your last password attempt.

Psalms 34:8.

THE LORD IS GOOD ….

If you end up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.

Frank Zappa (via quotethatword)

ERMM.. Point On. Be You.tiful. Be Spontaneous. Be Random. Live. Love. Learn.

Skeleton Trees of Boneyard Beach 12 – A blended photograph, with the sunrise from Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Skeleton Trees from Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay, SC on 01/28/2015 Our life is contrived from the start. The grounding foundation of our way with life is having our way with life. How to have our way in each situation as it arises– in every here-and-now that comes along– it our prime motivator. How do I get/have what I want today? And keep from getting/having what I don’t want? All day? Every day? If we are ever thrown into a life where we cannot ever hope to have what we want exactly like we want it, we wonder why go on. “So what? Who cares? What difference does it make? What’s the use? What’s the point? Why try?” become the burdens we bear every day. And it isn’t just us. It is everyone. It is the entire culture. It is the entire world of cultures. We are in it for what we can get out of it. And we bend, shape, form, contort our bodies and our lives to have the best chance of getting what we want. We do whatever it takes to have what we want. Our life is contrived from the start. NO CONTRIVANCES! NOTHING CONTRIVED! STOP IT NOW! That would change everything. And to live the life at the heart of life, we have to do that very thing: No contrivances! Nothing contrived! Stop it now! And replace it with what? We have no idea. We are so lost to the true center and ground of our living that we are completely clueless as to how to go about life without getting, having, keeping as the directing force of our living. Getting, having, keeping is what guides our boat on its path through the sea. Without that, we drift, flounder, capsize, sink. Poor, pitiful, us. What to do? When we don’t know what to do, the one thing that is always best to do is grow up some more again. We always grow up against our will, so no growing up ever happens until we are at the end of our rope. At the bottom of some wall. Wobegon and woeful “on the heaving waves of the wine dark sea.” There is always one more door to open. It is the one that leads to ourselves. To the Self that has been with us through it all. The Self that knows the way to life without contrivance. But. “That which we seek lies far back in the darkest corner of the cave we most don’t want to enter” (Joseph Campbell). To live without contrivance is to live with complete, utter, vulnerability. Jesus was born in a manger and died on a cross. How’s that for vulnerability? Jesus said, “If you want to be my companion, you have to pick up your cross each day and come with me.” They don’t talk about this on Easter morning. It’s all resurrection and life and Jesus died for us so that we don’t have to. BS. BS. BS. Jesus died as a way of saying, “This is how it is. The path to the empty tomb winds across the face of Golgotha. In the service of life, we die every day. Are you coming or not?” The Way is the way of vulnerability. And the power of vulnerability is that once you say yes to that, understand that, embrace that, nothing can harm you ever. You walked right into the cave you most don’t want to enter. You strode all the way to the darkest corner far in the back. You seized the treasure that has been waiting on you all these years, embraced your vulnerability and walked out of that cave completely immune to the worst life can do. You are Ulysses smiling up at the Cyclops, spitting into its ugly red eye, saying, “Show me what you got!” And, in that moment, you know the secret of facing every day, every moment of every day, each situation as it arises in the strength and confidence of one who knows you have what it takes to find what it takes to do what needs to be done in all circumstances, no matter what, all your life long– and that it comes to you in your moment of need, in the darkest place, in the most hopeless hour, in the here-and-now comes “the still, small, voice,” suggesting the way, the right way, the right response, the right reply, the right deed, the right action for this time, this place, right here, right now, arising from within– spontaneously, unbidden, unthought, unimagined, but undeniably occurring to you out of nowhere, offering in the darkness resurrection and life. And like that, contrivance gives way to occurrence. And it is a new world, Golda. A brand new world.

#plantology.. i do have an obsession with plants. like for real..