On her second album, Perspective — released October 28 on New Amsterdam Records — Molly Joyce takes a proactive step..

The post Molly Joyce Centers the Voices of the Disability Community on “Perspective” appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

What you see before you is not, as you might think, someone’s nightmarish Halloween imaginings, but an actual picture of an actual ant captured at 5X macro range. Despite what Pixar would have us believe, ants are apparently hellish gremlins more at home in the Alien franchise than A Bug’s Life. This is just one of many revelations delivered by the 48th Annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, an event that reveals the devil is definitely in the details.

This year’s top award went to Grigorii Timin and Dr. Michel Milinkovitch of the University of Geneva, who submitted a micro-glimpse into the embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko. The image shows the complex interior of the gecko hand with some fingers jointed in three or four places, giving the creature the incredible dexterity it needs to navigate tree branches with ease. The ribbed outline of the fingers and the inner vasculature are all visible in the photo, which was generated using confocal microscopy at an incredible 63X range.

“This embryonic hand is about 3 mm (0.12 in) in length, which is a huge sample for high-resolution microscopy,” Timin said in a statement. “The scan consists of 300 tiles, each containing about 250 optical sections, resulting in more than two days of acquisition and approximately 200 GB of data.”

If you’re anything like me, you constantly wonder what the blood vessel networks look like in the intestine of an adult mouse. Wonder no more! Third place was awarded to Satu Paavonsalo and Sinem Karaman from the University of Helsinki, for their cool-hued, anemone-like micro-image of just such a subject.

From a stack of moth eggs that look like a perfect minimalist sculpture and a close encounter with a daddy long-legs spider (which is, for the record, still an order of magnitude less terrifying than that ant) to a presentation of slime mold that would be perfectly at home decorating a Christian ministry with new-age vibes, these incredible images show the true artistry of nature at its most detailed.

If any of these scientists get tired of studying the human colon, or red algae, or dinosaur bones (as above), there could be a bright future for them in textile design. But really, all the images reveal incredible worlds largely hidden from public view, brought to light by science.

“Each year, Nikon Small World receives an array of microscopic images that exhibit exemplary scientific technique and artistry. This year was no exception,” said Nikon spokesperson Eric Flem. “At the intersection of art and science, this year’s competition highlights stunning imagery from scientists, artists, and photomicrographers of all experience levels and backgrounds from across the globe.”

And as this adorable image of the larva of an anemone in marine plankton demonstrates, even the smallest of gestures can create a big picture.

By Leo Babauta

A lot of us want to make changes in our lives — whether it’s changing a bad habit like smoking or overeating, creating a new habit like meditation, or simply being less distracted or reactive during the day.

Whatever the change, you’re likely to face internal resistance. There is a part of you that doesn’t want to change.

If you want to change your eating habits, there’s a part of you who just wants to eat the donuts. If you want to exercise more, there’s a part of you who just wants to be lazy and relax. If you want to have less drama in your life, there’s a part of you that gets off on the drama. If you want to write a book and change people’s lives, there’s a part of you who wants to stay in the safety of anonymity or the life you already know.

This part of you will fight against the part of you that wants to create the change.

Here’s the counterintuitive advice: Own that part of you that doesn’t want to change.

Until you own this part of you, you’re constantly trying to ignore it, repress it, squash it. Committing violence against a part of you doesn’t make it go away — in fact, it will strengthen it. Trying to ignore it means it will keep mysteriously controlling you.

So how do you own it? First, acknowledge that there’s a part of you that’s creating the resistance. You’re not a victim of your circumstances, you’re a creator of your life. Notice when this part shows up — if you committed to a whole-foods diet, notice the part that wants to eat the potato chips.

When this part shows up, honor it. What does it feel like to be distracted or reactive? What does it feel like to feel helpless or frustrated? What does it feel like to be fearful and avoidant? Can you notice the feelings in your body? Can you give it attention and presence?

Could you even love this part of you? Could you find the amazingness in the part of you that creates all of this, that actually enjoys the distraction and helplessness and laziness and indulgence and drama? Could you delight in the drama you create, in the theater you create, the art of your inner slob or inner tantrum thrower? Find the deliciousness and wonder in what it creates.

Once you start to love and delight and find delicious pleasure in this part of you, it no longer needs to be in control. It is loved and honored, which is all it ever wanted. You can move beyond it to another way — though it will still be there, when it does show up, you no longer have to fight it. You love it.

Counterintuitively, this relaxes everything. There’s no need to change this part of you, because it is beautiful and sacred. And without needing to change it, you can embrace the expansive change that is more than this one part of you.

The post The Counterintuitive Way to Create Change in Your Life appeared first on zen habits.

Found this on the front page of Reddit.