Far from the Madding crowd - Thomas Hardy

This book is one that found its way to me in a day of rain of meditative stance.

From the first pages it appear clear that something powerful and yet wonderful would be encapsulated in the book. I don't consider myself to be the type that reads romantic novels, but I found this book to be a very accurate account of what love and pride can do to people caught in its strings.

Batsheba Everdene is a woman who takes life by it's strings, values honesty, integrity and independence. All this are on top of her beauty and feminine power that makes Gabriel Oak, Boldwood and Troy fall in love with her and try to win her heart. In the developing of the story it becomes clear that only one man endowed with perseverance and wisdom will be able to be a perfect match for her. This is more clear to the reader than the characters and so a long chain of tragedies unfolds until the happiness that all people want takes place.

Without wishing to spoil the action of the novel, I will limit myself to some brief remarks. It is wonderful to get an idea of the English countryside and to see a powerful women in times when it was thought that a women's best role was to be a good wife to her husband. One can almost sense the power and vigor of her actions, and see her transformed from a youthful, intelligent and impulsive woman to a more mature and wise one. At the end of the book it seemed as if it was the only realistic possibility: her inner force would not have allowed her to drown in the harshness of life.

The novel is a really nice and enjoyable read and one could easily see the messages that are still applicable today and will be as long as men and women are in love while struggling to keep their independence. In the end independence might not be the value that gives you happiness so one must be wary and wise when the time to put it aside comes near, because otherwise she/he will find herself/himself in unwanted troubles and pain.

Why Kids Lie: How Parents Can Encourage Truthfulness

As a school counselor I work with children, their parents and teachers. It is important to see how the relationships develop and are maintained, mainly because almost any major event in the life of a student will be reflected in her/his academics.

I hoped to find more insights into this matter, and my hopes were partially fulfilled, because I expected somehow a more theoretical approach to this issue, and that was a mistake from my part, due to the fact that the book was written for the lay public. With this reference in mind, I changed my expectations and I began to take a new approach to the information presented. I could appreciate its usefulness its depth of insight and how to transpose it into my work.

I would warmly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about why some relationship work, and why others don't, the starting point being the building block that is trust. Of course when we think more about it we realize that it was something we knew in the back of our minds, but it needs researchers and methods to actually make it meaningful to a world that is bigger than one's own view. 

Questions regarding life

Well, as you all know we tend to live and not think of death in many of our days. It's a great thing because we are more aware of living than the terminus that expects us all.

These days I started thinking more about life and death, although it appears that not a day goes by without these sort of thought. Anyway in the life category of thoughts are some questions which I would like to address you.

1. Why do they say that when you have flatulence you weigh more? Isn't gas suppose to make you lighter?
I'm still trying to find this out so if you come by a relevant article or piece of information let me know.

2. Why do we all assume that we will live a long healthy life, and forget that we might have to endure a long death(for example suffering from a debilitating disease)?
A possible answer for this might be the optimism we have regarding life, that it won't happen to us, and I believe that the reasoning might use the same principle that we apply everyday: not thinking about our ephemera nature and instead we choose an illusion as if we are suppose to live indefinitely.

Other questions might arise and I will pose them then.

If you have theories, hypothesis or anything related to this topic let me know.

Tree of Life

If you happen to come across a nice poster with 2009's BBC Tree of Life please send me one. I've tried for so long to find a copy of it, being all interested in science and evolution.

Thank you!