King Constantine and Queen Ann-Marie

Agueda Sanchez

 

Jan 23

 

King Constantine and Queen Ann-Marie

The love story of King Constantine and Queen Ann-Marie is one for the books. Both met very young and it was love at first sight. Their engagement soon was announced in January of 1963. Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark was 16 years old.

The then Prince Constantine had won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome:

The couple got married at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, Greece, on September 18th, 1964, just months after Constantine’s sudden accession to the Greek Throne.

A very young Prince of Wales and Princess Anne accompanied by their grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark (Princess Alice of Battenberg) were guests at the wedding. The Princess Royal was one of the bridesmaids, bottom left:

Political unrest in Greece led to a short reign for King Constantine which ultimately led to exile. King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie had five children and lived mostly in London.

King Constantine passed away on January 10th, 2023. His funeral was held in his beloved Greece. Queen Anne-Marie wore the same diamond cross pendant that she wore at her wedding in 1964 for the funeral:

Queen Anne-Marie was comforted by her five children: Princess Alexia, Crown Prince Pavlos, Prince Nikolaos, Princess Theodora, Prince Philippos and her sisters, Queen Margrethe of Denmark and Princess Beneditke.

Pictures from public sites

The Culmination of a Life of Faith

Thursday, February 2, 2023 Presentation of the Lord—Feast Readings for Today

Video “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”  Luke 2:29–32 At the time of Jesus’ birth, there was a man named Simeon who had spent his whole life preparing for one significant moment. Like all faithful Jews at the time, Simeon was waiting for the coming Messiah. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would indeed see the Messiah before his death—and so this happened when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus into the Temple to offer Him to the Lord as an infant. Try to imagine the scene. Simeon had lived a holy and devout life. And deep within his conscience, he knew that his life on earth would not come to an end until he was privileged to see the Savior of the World with his own eyes. He knew this by a special gift of faith, an interior revelation of the Holy Spirit, and he believed. It’s helpful to think about this unique gift of knowledge that Simeon had throughout his life. Normally we gain knowledge through our five senses. We see something, hear something, taste, smell, or feel something, and as a result come to know it to be true. Physical knowledge is very reliable and is the normal way we come to know things. But this gift of knowledge Simeon had was different. It was deeper and was spiritual in nature. He knew he would see the Messiah before he died, not because of some external sensory perception he had received but because of an interior revelation from the Holy Spirit. This truth begs the question, which type of knowledge is more certain? Something you see with your eyes, touch, smell, hear or taste? Or something that God speaks to you in the depths of your soul by a revelation of grace? Though these types of knowledge are different, it’s important to understand that the spiritual knowledge that is given by the Holy Spirit is far more certain than anything perceived through the five senses alone. This spiritual knowledge has the power to change your life and direct all your actions toward that revelation. For Simeon, this interior knowledge of a spiritual nature suddenly united with his five senses when Jesus was brought into the Temple. Simeon suddenly saw, heard and felt this Child Whom he knew he would one day see with his own eyes and touch with his own hands. For Simeon, that moment was the culminating moment of his life. Reflect, today, upon anything that our Lord has spoken to you in the depths of your soul. Too often we ignore His gentle voice as it speaks, preferring instead to live only in the sensory world. But the spiritual reality within us must become the center and foundation of our lives. It is there where God speaks, and it is there where we, too, will discover the central purpose and meaning of our lives. My spiritual Lord, I thank You for the countless ways in which You speak to me day and night in the depths of my own soul. Help me to be always attentive to You and to Your gentle voice as You speak to me. May Your voice and Your voice alone become the guiding direction of my life. May I trust in Your Word and never waver from the mission You have given to me. Jesus, I trust in You.

What are some difficult truths about aging?

Chris Nichols

·

Marketing (1998–present)

 

What are some difficult truths about aging?

The older you get the more you realize that a lot of things you were taught in your youth is just plain wrong.

1. You can be anything you want to be. No, no you can’t. There are tests you won’t score high enough on that will preclude you from being accepted into whatever program you desire. All this despite having the intelligence and skill needed to excel at whatever the profession may be. Even if you have the right credentials and experience, if they are not hiring for what you want to do…well…you may be out of luck. There are miles of reasons why you can’t be whatever you want to be.
1. But guess what, you can be the best at the opportunities life presents to you.
2. Hard work is rewarded. No, not always. Sometimes the power of the universe conspires against hard working individuals and unfairly rewards our lazy, short cut seeking, less intelligent friends, co-workers, and acquaitances.
1. But if you knuckle down, don’t let the unfairness of the world ruin your attitude, show up everyday, and do your best, you definitely increase the odds of having a fulfilling life.
3. Money and wealth are your greatest asset. No, no they are not. They are important and provide security and freedom.
1. But your health is your greatest asset. If you have terminal cancer or some other horrifying condition, all the money in the world does not matter. In fact, if you get type 2 diabetes or heart disease, what you can do daily is radically impacted. So invest in your health daily.
4. That others care about your house, your clothes, your toys, and you in general. No, no they do not. We all think others are concerned with what we have or don’t have. They’re not. In fact the people we think are thinking about us, usually are not thinking about us at all. The world doesn’t really care about you at all.
1. But, if you are lucky, you have a few people who do truly care about you. It’s usually a very small number of people. They are the people that truly matter in your life and they probably could care less about all your toys.
5. That we will all live forever. No, no you won’t. Sure, no one ever comes out and blatantly tells you that you will live forever. But every message we get on TV, social media, or culture in general seems to want us to believe we are immortal. Worse yet, our own minds seem to lead us around as if we are going to see the next two centuries.
1. But, you are going to die. Everyone you know is going to die. That should not scare us. It should free us. Free us to be present in every moment because this moment is all we really have. The past is gone. The future is not guaranteed. We have today. Embrace it and allow it to grow the love you have inside you. Then share that love.

What are the top ten ways for seniors to stay fit?

Leonard Newton

·

Accountant at ICICI Bank (2012–present) Jan 5

 

What are the top ten ways for seniors to stay fit?

Regardless of your age, it is important to take care of your body and prevent disease.

But if you're 65 or older, something as simple as the flu or a cold can progress and lead to complications. This includes secondary infections such as pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infections or sinus infections. If you suffer from chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes, respiratory disease can make them worse.

That's why it's important to make healthy choices to boost your immune system and reduce your chances of getting sick.

Follow these nine tips to stay healthy all year round.

1. Be active

Physical activity strengthens the immune system. The more you move, the more your body is able to fight inflammation and infection.

The activity you participate in doesn't have to be strenuous. Low-impact exercises are also effective.

You might consider cycling, walking, swimming, or low-impact aerobics. If you can, engage in moderate-intensity exercise for about 20 to 30 minutes a day to reach the recommended total of 150 minutes per week. Also, strengthen your muscles by lifting weights or doing yoga.

2. Take supplements as needed

Certain supplements help support a healthy immune system. Always ask your doctor if it is safe before taking a supplement, especially if you are taking prescription medications. Some supplements they may recommend include calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B6, or vitamin B12.

Take dietary supplements or multivitamins as directed to boost your immune system.

3. Eat healthy

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and lean meat also strengthens your immune system and protects against harmful viruses and bacteria that cause disease. Fruits and vegetables are good sources of antioxidants. Antioxidants protect your cells from damage and keep your body healthy.

You should also limit your consumption of sugary and fatty foods, which can trigger inflammation in the body and lower your immune system.

In addition, limit your alcohol intake. Ask your doctor about a safe amount of alcohol to drink per day or week.

4. Wash your hands often

Washing your hands regularly is another great way to stay healthy all year round. Viruses can live on surfaces for up to 24 hours. It is possible to get sick if you touch a surface covered with the virus and contaminate your hands and then touch your face.

Wash your hands with warm, soapy water frequently and for at least 20 seconds. Do not touch your nose, face and mouth with your hands.

You can also protect yourself by using antibacterial hand sanitizer when you can't wash your hands. Also, frequently disinfect surfaces around your home and workstation.

5. Learn to manage stress

Chronic stress increases the body's production of the stress hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol can disrupt various functions in your body, including your immune system.

To reduce stress, increase physical activity, get enough sleep, set reasonable expectations, and explore relaxing and enjoyable activities.

Loving And Amazing World

Richard Strachan

 

The beautiful, well-versed 83 year old lady, fully dressed every morning at 8 am sharp, with her hair done in fashion and perfectly applied makeup, is moving to a retirement home. Her husband recently died, which motivated her move.

After many hours of patiently waiting in the hall of the home, she smiled sweetly, when told her room was ready.

As she moved her walker toward the elevator, she was given a detailed description of her small room, including the curtains hanging from her window.

′′ I love it ", she said, with the enthusiasm of a 8-year-old girl who was just handed over a new pet.

- Mrs. Jones; you haven't seen the room, just wait.

- That doesn't matter, she replied.

Happiness is something you decide over time. Whether or not I like my room doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it depends on how I arrange my mind.

I’ve already decided that I like it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have the choice; I can spend the day in bed, going through the difficulty I have with my body parts that don't work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the parts that do work.

Every day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will focus on the new day and the happy memories I've stored just for this time in my life.

HAPPINESS is like a bank account: you withdraw from it, what you deposit.

So my advice would be to deposit a lot of happiness into your memory account.

Remember these five simple things:

1.- Free your heart from hate/discord.

2.- Free your mind from worries.

3.- Live Simply.

4.- Give more.

5.- Take less.

❤

Christ All Around Us

February 1, 2023 Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Readings for Today

Video “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Mark 6:3 After traveling throughout the countryside performing miracles, teaching the crowds and gaining many followers, Jesus returned to Nazareth where He grew up. Perhaps His disciples were excited to return with Jesus to His native place, thinking that His own townspeople would be overjoyed to see Jesus again because of the many stories of His miracles and authoritative teaching. But the disciples were soon to have quite a surprise. After arriving in Nazareth, Jesus entered the Synagogue to teach, and He taught with an authority and wisdom that confounded the locals. They said among themselves, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him?” They were confused because they knew Jesus. He was the local carpenter who worked for years with His father who was a carpenter. He was Mary’s son, and they knew His other relatives by name. The primary difficulty Jesus’ townspeople had was their familiarity with Jesus. They knew Him. They knew where He lived. They knew Him as He grew up. They knew His family. They knew all about Him. Therefore, they wondered how Jesus could be anything special. How could He now teach with authority? How could He now do miracles? Thus, the townspeople were astonished, and they allowed that astonishment to turn into doubt, judgment and criticism. The same temptation is something we all deal with more than we may realize. It is often easier to admire a stranger from afar than one whom we know well. When we hear of someone for the first time who is doing something admirable, it’s easy to join in that admiration. But when we hear good news about someone we know well, we can easily be tempted to jealousy or envy and to be skeptical and even critical. But the truth is that every saint has a family. And every family potentially has brothers and sisters, cousins and other relatives through whom God will do great things. This should not surprise us—it should inspire us! And we should rejoice when those close to us and with whom we are familiar are used powerfully by our good God. Reflect, today, upon those whom you are familiar with in life, especially your own family. Examine whether or not you struggle with an ability to see beyond the surface and accept that God dwells within everyone. We must constantly seek to discover the presence of God all around us, especially in the lives of those whom we know very well. My ever-present Lord, thank You for the countless ways in which You are present in the lives of those all around me. Give me the grace to see You and to love You in the lives of those closest to me. As I discover Your glorious presence in their lives, fill me with deep gratitude and help me to acknowledge Your love that comes forth from their lives. Jesus, I trust in You.

What's the easiest way to make money online?

Darius Grigorjevas

Promoted Head of Customer Success at Hostinger.com

 

What's the easiest way to make money online?

There is a countless number of simple ways you can make money online. They don't involve any heavy lifting, extreme conditions, or even leaving your house for that matter. The only thing is that when it comes to the internet, there are so many options to choose from, it's impossible to choose just one! Let me help you out a little by presenting a few of the easiest ways to earn money that don't involve any significant investments, but still can have quite a big profit margin.

Where to start?

For this answer, I am going to share easy and popular ways of earning money online with a website. If you haven't created one just yet, don't worry, it's really simple, and it can be done in a matter of a few hours. All you'll need is a hosting plan, domain, CMS (or other website building platform), and a little patience. If you already have a website, jump onto the next paragraph. If not, let's get into it.

Building a website can be budget-friendly. Let me help you to figure out how. As I've mentioned before, to start a website, you will need a hosting plan and a domain. When you purchase a hosting plan, you might even get a domain as a freebie, so it's two in one kind of a deal. Make sure to come up with a catchy name for the domain, as it is going to represent your business.

After you have the hosting plan and domain figured out, it's time to pick a way you are going to build your website. For small and medium-sized websites, that can create a revenue; it's most convenient to use a content management system (CMS), for example, WordPress. With WordPress, you can use already created, professional-looking templates instead of creating your own. It will surely save you some time.

Concerning the price, WordPress is free, but some premium themes and plugins might have additional costs. If you are creating a website on WP, don't forget to check if the hosting plan you are purchasing is optimized for it.

After you have figured out the website matters, you can choose which kind of businesses are most suitable for you. Below, you will find a few easy and profitable ways to earn money through a website.

Affiliate partnerships

First and probably one of the coolest ways to make money through a website is by being an affiliate. It is similar to an influencer, just instead of the impressions, you get paid for actual sales or clicks. There are a lot of companies that have implemented the affiliate program and lets everyone become a partner, as long as you meet companies' requirements.

To become an affiliate, you need to find a company that has an affiliate program and sign up for it. You should find out what their requirements are for the commission. Sometimes companies pay for directing traffic or clicks; sometimes, you get paid after a customer makes a purchase. After successful registration, you will get an affiliate link. This link will help to track all the traffic that you generated, and the information will be sent to the company you are registered with. After that, it's entirely up to you and your imagination how you decide to promote a product or service. It's best to use your affiliate link on your website, for example, by doing reviews or blog posts about the product. In addition to that, make sure to share it across social media.

Blogging

The second simple way to make a living from a website is blogging. You can start a blog website on any topic, and monetize it later on. Generally, the more traffic your site gets, the more money you can make from it. If you need more information about driving traffic, feel free to read it here

Blogs can bring profit through integrated ads. You can choose a few types of ads to integrate. The most popular are CPC/PPC (cost per click/pay per click) ads. Usually, those are banners that you can incorporate anywhere you want on your site, and you get paid every time someone clicks on the ad, thus the name - pay per click (PPC). Another type is CPM (cost per 1000 impressions). As the name suggests, you get a fixed amount of money for the times your ad was shown. It is quite easy to implement these ads on your website. You just need to register in Google Adsense

or any other similar website of your preference, and they will automatically choose the most relevant ads.

If you are also registered on the affiliate program, you can include affiliate links together with your blog posts, and use affiliate marketing. That way, you can make even more profit. Writing high-quality content on a blog will make you more credible for your readers and make your opinion more influential, which will definitely increase the conversion rate. However, for that to happen, the blog posts have to be informative, well written, and engaging. Dig a little deeper, add creativity, and use your blog to the full potential!

Dropshipping

The third way is dropshipping. Even though it can sound a little more complicated than the other two options, it is worth a try, as it can be highly profitable. The dropshipping business is very similar to an online store. The only difference is that it doesn't need inventory, office, or a warehouse since the sold items are sent from the manufacturer directly to the buyer.

To begin a dropshipping business, you should find a partner who is manufacturing, packing, and shipping goods. Then make a contract with him, figure out the arrangements, and you can start selling the products. The catch is, after you sell something, you redirect the contacts of the buyer to the manufacturer, and he ships the product on your behalf. This way, you don't have to store any products at your warehouse and save the hassle of packaging and shipping goods.

The tricky part, with this business plan, is that it isn't so easy to find manufacturers with high-quality products and reasonable prices. When you manage to find a partner, it's essential to make sure you have found a wholesale supplier, and not a retail store posing as a manufacturer. Unfortunately, wholesalers usually don't market themselves a lot. Thus they are much harder to find.

The biggest perk, with this business model, is that if you find an underfilled niche selling luxury products like electronics, your profit margins might be up to 100%! If you feel like it's a thing for you and you want to find out more about dropshipping, go ahead and read here.

So here it is! A guide on what you need to start making a profit with a single website and close to no investments. Good luck with the first steps (remember, they are always the hardest), and I hope you manage to unlock the power of the internet!

Karma and character. How fate is formed

Know Your Planets (Astrology)

Posted by

Magha

 

Sat

 

Karma and character. How fate is formed

The word " karma " in Sanskrit means activity, deeds. Each of our actions has a cause and effect, this principle underlies the cause-and-effect law of karma. Whether we like it or not, absolutely every action we take has short-term or long-term consequences.

Every regular action forms a habit and a certain type of thinking ( vasana ). Habits shape our character, and character shapes our destiny.

The character of a person is one of the functions of his subtle body of mind. The subtle body of the mind does not die with the death of the gross body, but passes into a new body together with the soul.

Therefore, the character of the child will not change as quickly as we would like, since habits have already been formed in past incarnations. The process of growing up simply gradually reveals the character of the child, just like a flower opens. The duty of parents is to stimulate positive character traits and not provoke the appearance of negative ones, but we must understand and accept that, nevertheless, vicious habits from a past life can still sprout against our will.

It is important that parents do not just talk about what is right and what is wrong, but they themselves try to be an example of a righteous life. Because children do not look at what their parents say, but only imitate what their parents do themselves. It is useless to explain to a child that smoking is harmful if his parents smoke themselves, in this case it will be only right for parents to quit smoking and set an example of a clean lifestyle.

The character of a person changes very slowly and its manifestations can be very diverse. Habits to change are not easy or quick, so it requires a certain perseverance, patience and a willingness to experience some discomfort for the sake of future happiness.

There are manifested character traits and unmanifested ones, which will appear later in the corresponding astrological period. Unmanifested traits are embedded in the personality, just as information about a mango tree is embedded in a mango seed. After all, an apple tree cannot grow from a mango seed. Also in children. The character is inherent in the child from birth, even if it has not yet had time to fully manifest itself.

Only three factors can influence a person’s character: parental upbringing, the person’s environment (whom he communicates with, whom he listens to) and the person’s own actions.

Real education is patiently exposing a person's character in a positive direction, not just stuffing the mind with information