Look around you

When you see motes of dust floating in a ray of sunlight, 
does it make you think they're dancing and puts a little smile on your face?

When you look at the night sky and see the millions of stars twinkling at you,
can you feel the entire universe expanding outwards all around you?

When you stand at the top of a summit and see the land stretching endlessly below you, 
does it make you gasp in awe and take your breath away?

When you stare out to the sea and hear the waves crash, 
does it fill your heart with indescribable emotion and make your spirit soar?

When autumn comes and the leaves turn into brilliant shades and fall, 
do you feel inexplicably nostalgic and just a little bit more grown-up?

Because if you feel none of these things, 
   if nature and everything around you 
    don't have any effect on your heart and soul, 
      then the beauty of the world is wasted on you, 
        and you don't know how much you're missing. 

"If then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you."   
- Leo Tolstoy

Oil and Water

You know how oil and water don't mix?

Oil is less dense than water, so oil will float on top of water. This video demonstrates that very clearly.

We use the analogy of oil and water to describe people or ideas that just cannot get along, to convey that concept that the two things are innately incompatible.
But oil and water can mix. My makeup remover uses this concept to remove my waterproof makeup. All you have to do is shake the bottle hard and for a while, oil and water mixes together and works in harmony to remove my makeup with minimal effort. Pretty impressive for two innately incompatible liquids.

I'm sure you've seen it before too. Petrol spilled on water, creating iridescent colours, like molten rainbow. Again, the contrast between incompatibility and harmony is clear; in fact it is that incompatibility itself creating the beauty and harmonious colours.

I'm sure people are like that too. That's why they say "opposites attract", but perhaps it should also say "opposites complement each other". What is lacking in one is present in the other, and the two opposing nature's working together creates a whole new harmony.

But then again, my sister and I are complete opposites and we fight all the time, so perhaps not all opposites work very well together?