"The mind would rather fret about the future or pine over the past — so the mind can cling to its own illusion of control. But the current moment?" Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional: Reflections on Finding Everyday Graces You Only Have Control in the Moment...
A Trampled Pearl A wife was given on her wedding day a heirloom of pearl earrings from her husband that used to belong to his mother. They were the wife’s most prize possession because of the sentiment behind them. After a long evening of entertaining guests she falls...
Today I Choose to Say "YES" to Being Thankful The secret on how to be a natural smiler is to be thankful for the things in your life. Ann Voskamp said in her book One Thousand Gifts Devotional that giving, "thanks (is) the highest form of thought". It's easy to...
Be Cheetah Fast That statement is a rather interesting remark since I am endeavoring to capture 10,000 pictures of people smiling. Now going into the fourth month of...
Where is the hope in this dark world? I recently just read On Every Side which I highly recommend any woman to read. [Click here if you want to learn the plot.] This letter are words from a mother on her death bed dying of cancer to her young son. "...the world will...
"BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ..." An hour later you wake to your alarm and see the time. You are going to be late for work. You think to yourself, "I stink; I am a failure." This is shame. (Two scenarios: A) You stayed out late the night before partying - the healthy response...
There is chaos everywhere; you hear, "It's the end of the world". You don't know what is going on but you know you should be scared. The government is telling you to leave your home and run to a safety zone fast. You are to pack all your precious belongings quickly....
If you are here thank you for reading 10,000 Smiles. For the last few days aprilmaura.com was invaded with a virus. I appreciate your patience. Now let's be reminded why we should smile. I am not entirely spoiling the ending of the book Beautiful by Katie Piper, but I...
‘My life before [the attack] was very self-absorbed, self-obsessed, and it took a tragedy for me to reassess my life and how I felt and what I thought was important. Don’t wait until there is tragedy in your life. Don’t wait until you lose somebody. Don’t wait...
I too can't help but smile, when I see my 10,000 Smiles Project. Sometimes I receive forced smiles but later that individual really does smile or I believe subconsciously their mood is a little bit brighter. Sometimes I go out on the project not in the sunniest of...
