What If .....

"Close your eyes, calm your breathing, and focus your attention on the center of consciousness. Thus you will master the senses, the emotions, and the intellect - and thereby free yourself from desire and anger." The Bhagavad-Gita

We had another thunder storm last night. It is a frequent occurrence in the Midwest. They get quite loud, explosive, and sometimes down and outright scary. I couldn't be on line so I decided to try once more to see if I could figure out how to do a picture of a thunderstorm from the inside of the clouds. It was a "what if" moment. What if I put a cloud texture on a sphere would it give me the 3D effect I wanted? The answer turned out to be yes if I used the right cloud texture it would. If I used the right texture for the lightening bolts it would glow like lightening. The results ended up being a picture I am calling Up In The Air Tonight.

There are a lot of "what if" moments in life. Sometimes though you have to allow yourself to be open to them to make them happen. What if will take you out of your comfort zone and that can be a good thing.

What if I take the sleeves from a pattern for an elf princess dress and put them on the dress patterned after a Renaissance Faire wedding dress? Would I have a Princess Bride dress? The answer was a definite yes and what a beautiful bride she was. What if I start at the end of the bridal bouquet and worked my way up would I get the cascade effect I want? Yes that works too. I had never made something as complicated as a wedding dress and veil in addition all of the flowers for the wedding party. I looked at material and trim and lace and flowers and fans etc. but still I needed to take that what if step. It turned out beautifully and we are coming up on the first anniversary of my niece's wedding.

It was 10:30 PM and the grocery stores were closed and I just realized I needed a salad for noon the next day. What if I go through the pantry and refrigerator and see what I have available to use? The results were one of my most asked for recipes the "I'm Making This Up As Fast As I Can Pasta Salad." You can find the recipe at http://members.aol.com/michelesrecipes/im_making_this_up.htm

What if you have the courage to admit you are in an abusive relationship and you need to get out? What if you have to start your life all over in a new place thousands of miles away from people you know in order to be safe? Can you do it? It was something I had to face. It was the scariest thing I ever had to do but if you can find the courage inside of you then you can accomplish even that wrenching of a life change.

What if you let go of your anger? Can you learn to forgive those who have hurt you? Can you rise above your own hurt feelings and forgive others? Can you apologize to people you have hurt and ask for their forgiveness? What if you take you life into your own hands and learn to love and respect yourself and others? Just imagine how much happier you will be. “What if” two little words that can change your life

The real counter is 5343.