Oh, high school chemistry, how I miss you when I see a sweet, creative video like this. It makes me wish YouTube, etc., had been available in the late 90s because our grande chemistry project might have gone viral, as well.

What did my friend, Liz, and I do for our chemistry project? The chemical properties of SUNSCREEN! We experimented by putting stripes of different types of sunscreen on our legs and hanging out at the beach for a few hours. Brilliant. We got an A.

Did you know that sunscreens with SPF 15 and above all pretty much give you the same protection. You see, with sunscreen, it isn't WHAT you wear but HOW you wear it that makes an impact. It's all about technique. You must put sunscreen on 20 minutes BEFORE exposure, reapply after sweating or getting out of the water, and give yourself a thick, fresh, even coat every 2 hours no matter what. Make sure your sunscreen gives both UVA and UVB protection, follow my techniques, and you will never return from a day at the beach looking like a lobster.

P.S. Hi, Lizzie :)

...is the child who survived.

NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program makes me want to be a kid again. If you know of or have a child who is even slightly interested in reading and writing, consider Camp NaNoWrimo.
Here's the 411 on Camp NaNoWriMo...

In 2011, NaNoWriMo introduced a rip-roaring, mosquito-swatting summer version of our November novel-in-a-month challenge: Camp NaNoWriMo! In the month of June or August (or both!), participants bunk up at our idyllic online writers retreat.

This year, Camp is inviting the Young Writers Program to take part in the fun. There are three different trailheads for this noveling hike:

Campers 13 and Over

You may sign up at CampNaNoWriMo.org. Keep in mind that this requires you to attempt a 50,000-word novel; there is no flexible word-count goal as there is on YWP. Please follow the directions there to complete your profile and choose your cabin mates.

Campers Under 13

We’ll be running an ultra-fun, low-pressure Camp NaNoWriMo YWP in our forums. You can choose your own goal and summer deadline, exchange tips with fellow novelists, and even track your word count with a simple widget.

Summer Educators

You can bring NaNoWriMo to your class, library, or camp in the following ways:

• Facilitate an offline version of Camp with our teaching materials, downloadable progress chart (PDF), student certificates (see link below), and low-priced incentives. (You can also use these resources in conjunction with the online options.)

• Facilitate a stripped-down online version of Camp. Aid your students in signing up for the NaNoWriMo YWP site and coordinate them through your Virtual Classroom. (Please note that the site’s word-counting capabilities are available only in November.)

• If your students are 13 or over and want to write 50,000-word novels, assist them in signing up for CampNaNoWriMo.org and becoming cabin mates with others in your group.

Any questions about Camp NaNoWriMo? Please send us a smoke signal via the contact form.

A woman walks into a pizza-by-the-slice joint in Iowa...and SCENE!

Pizza Guy: Do you want a box there?
Ashley: Am I a boxer?
Pizza Guy: What?
Ashley: You asked if I was a boxer?
Pizza Guy: No, I asked if you wanted a box with your slice of pizza...You look nothing like a boxer.
Ashley: No, I don't. I was designed for pacifism.

You live in a world that is full of possibilities and potential. Everyday, real people, just like you and me, create, achieve, and maintain amazing things. In the past, we have all but eradicated diseases like small pox and the plague, removed power from the European aristocracy, sent human beings to the moon and back, and created a network of international telecommunications so powerful that a grandmother living in Saudi Arabia can watch her granddaughter living in Boston take her first steps. Right now, as you read this, there are ideas, hopes, and dreams stirring in you. There are things you want to do, places you want to go, people you want to meet, experiences you want to have - I know because I have these hopes and dreams, just like you. You have all the raw material in and around you to create these miracles, and yet you've gotten stuck, given up, and failed to accomplish your heart's desire.

Often, I've wondered why...if humans can travel to the moon and back, why can't I, for example, live in California, or Spain, or England, or all three? Why can't you, for example, train for and complete a marathon? Why can't they, for example, get their business off the ground? Why can't he, for example, grow in self-confidence, enjoy the successes he's always hoped to have, and remain the kind and loving man he has always been? Why can't she, for example, have a late-life baby, be a loving mother, and continue to pursue the career that she is passionate about?

There is one huge, Everest-sized obstacle that stands firmly in your way when you strive to better yourself and live out the dream you have kept hidden in your heart. What is this monstrous road block? What is the one fatal mistake that countless unsuccessful others have made to let this challenge beat them? How can you prepare yourself to face it courageously? What is the secret that has allowed countless successful others to pass over, under, or through it?

The Everest-sized road block is this: allowing naysayers, cynics, and pessimists to stop you. Even the fear of criticism, the fear of what others may think, can deflate you. You don't even have to face the mountain to let it win! An even scarier thought is that the most powerful and vicious doubtful, pessimistic, cynical voice is your own. Your own negative self talk can stop you in your tracks long before anyone else can.

Every single person who reads this article, including us, has been criticized by others or their own inner voice at one point. You have been shot down, told you couldn't achieve your goal, and told your dreams would never come true. Agree with me right now that you will never, ever let the opinion of others or the fear of small-minded people stop you from being happy, successful, and fabulous. If nothing else, remember that I support you and believe in you. You can send me an email, download one of my free guided meditations, sign up for my free wellness coaching eCourse, and use the following tools to help protect, center, soothe, and inspire you...

Tool 1 - Disputation

Disputation was developed by Dr. Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of positive psychology, a branch of psychology which focuses on the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions. Disputation is one small step in the journey to create a healthy life. It helps you confront negative, catastrophic reports with a realistic perspective. You dispute these reports, whether the source is internal or external, with evidence, alternatives, and reasoning. You use it in the following fashion:

A Write down the Adversity
B Write down what you Believe about the adversity
C Write down what the Consequences are - not just for the perceived adversity, but for believing it
D Argue with yourself by Disputing exaggerations, unhelpful beliefs, and unnecessary consequences
E Get Energized by a compelling vision of what is possible in the positive future

Also, don't be afraid to share a scaled-down version of your disputation with the cynic themselves. For example, one female "friend" tells another that if she doesn't have a baby soon, her eggs will get old and she either won't be able to have kids or will have a deformed child. She has prepared for a situation like this, and tells her "friend" the following, "Since the beginning of our species, women have been having healthy children up until menopause, which can occur any time between the 40s and the 60s. I've got a long time to have children, and your comment is very rude. You have no right to spread that kind of fear. If you want me to have a healthy, happy child, then tell me that instead." (Just so you know, this is an example I have taken from real life. The ridiculous thing is, people started telling me this in my mid-twenties! Crazy people! I also came up with another very effective tactic to get cynics to keep quite and leave me alone. I tell them that I promised myself the next person who warned me about my aging eggs would get a finger-flick to the forehead. Works like a charm!)
Tool 2 - Remember and Regularly Recite The Paradoxical Commandments

"People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind.
Think big anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you might get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you've got anyway."
© 1968 Dr. Kent M. Keith, American Author and Inspirational Speaker

Tell me your stories about how you have faced cynics in the past and how you plan to use these tools to go with confidence toward your dreams! Also, for the ladies out there, please tell me how you have effectively handled that ridiculous your-eggs-are-aging-what-is-wrong-with-you-for-not-getting-on-with-your-duty-sooner-slap-in-the-face. I can't wait to hear what you have to say! Post in the comment box below or send me an email :)

Never, ever again will you let nayers, pessimists, and cynics, even when the worst critic is your own inner voice, stop you. As always, I am here. Email me, sign up for a coaching session!

Oh, Mashable, you are my favorite source of news. Thank you for telling me all about BTE Dan (stands for Build the Enterprise) who believes a replica of the iconic Star Trek spacecraft can be built to scale within the next 20 years. Check out his website — BuildTheEnterprise.org — to rally support for the cause.

And for all you Trekkies, here's a throwback :)

What was the BEST mother's day present ever? The song my amazing big brothers wrote for our mom and stepmom for mother's day. The song itself is beautiful, catchy, and super-duper-hispter-cool, but even better is the fact that the refrain is, "I HAVE TWO MOMS I HAVE TWO MOMS..." If you or someone that you know is lucky enough to grow up in a non-traditional family that "figured it out" and kept love and acceptance alive and well, this mother's day present will strike a chord or two. Please pass it along to your mom, stepmom, kind-of-step-mom, ex-step mom, what-have-you...

"Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Whine less, breathe more. Talk less, say more. Love more, and all good things will be yours!"

~ Swedish Proverb

Leta Hamilton's sense of humor is delightful and comes through loud and clear in her work. I am honored to be included in her second book, and would like the opportunity to introduce her to you all. In the following quote, she discusses her inspiration for her first successful publication:

"In my book, The Way of the Toddler: The Craziness of Modern Motherhood and the Spiritual Lessons I Learned from My Zen Masters in Diapers, I write about universal 'mommyhood' experiences and translate them into spiritual lessons. As a mother to four young sons, I use the inexhaustible material of my day-to-day life to make everything I teach and talk about relatable and real. It is my mission, and my passion, to focus our attention on the greater context of parenting and to open the conversation about what we can learn from the innate wisdom and natural spirituality of our 'Zen Masters in Diapers.'”

My contribution to her second book, which is set to be released in June of 2012, is a meditation and mindfulness exercise that a busy mom can easily slide into her daily existence. I call it, A Cooking Meditation...

I learned about this from one of my friends who studied Yoga in India for a number of months. As part of their time at the ashram, they were scheduled to help prepare meals on a revolving schedule and taught to cook mindfully. If you chopped a carrot, you took your time cleaning, peeling, and cutting, paying keen attention to exactly and only what you were doing at that exact moment. Translating this to a busy mom's schedule, let's mindfully prepare a peanut butter and jelly sandwich:

...wait a second...the book isn't out until June. You'll have to buy it to learn the meditation :) No peaking :)

There are deer everywhere. DEER CROSSING signs sprinkle the roads, and we often have to stop while driving along the country roads to let the sweet creatures cross over. Deer are beautiful, gentle, and majestic. Their eyes are so wide, trusting, and innocent, and it feels like they are blessing you with their grace when you get to look for a moment into those big, black pools.  

My friend, Alison Day, recently reminded me of Native American Indian traditions and the deeper meaning they attach to animals. In Native American lore, the deer teaches humans how to use the power of gentleness to touch the hearts and minds of others, especially those that carry emotional pain and cover it with defensiveness. Deer loves people as they are, pain and all, and does not push them to change because gentleness heals all wounds.  

Let's take a few moments now to imagine what it must be like to be around people who exude this type of gentleness and how we may be able to imbue this warm, caring energy in our own lives. How can we bring beauty and grace into our environment? How can we camouflage ourselves to move through any situation silently while still staying alert and in tune? How can we let go of any ulterior motives, hidden agendas, and misrepresentations and move through our days with purity of purpose, not needing fanfare or glory to do our work well? How can our gentleness send a message to others that we cannot possibly be able to knowingly hurt anyone or anything so they feel safe and comforted?   

Just thinking about this way of being in the world makes me feel more relaxed...more welcoming and open. I feel like being gentle is, in fact, the same as being incredibly strong. No one can possibly hurt you because you understand that anyone acting cruelly is just trying to cover a past pain, and coming in contact with a gentle soul may be exactly what is needed to neutralize and heal the wound.  

I encourage anyone reading this to explore how you can be more gentle today and think of past experiences where you approached mean-spiritedness with a gentle nature and diffused any conflict before it even began.  

I hope you are doing well and I look forward to hearing from you.  

Cheers,  

Ashley