Cool words

dwindle - become smaller or lose substance; "Her savings dwindled down"

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

dissimulation = camouflage = dissimulazione = "Nature's best defense." 'I want to believe,' he heard himself say. Vittoria's reply carried no judgement or challenge. 'So why don't you?' He chuckled. 'Well, it's not that easy. Having faith requires leaps of faith, cerebral acceptance of miracles - immaculate conceptions and divine interventions. And then there are the codes of conduct. The Bible, the Koran, Buddhist scripture... they all carry similar requirements - and similar penalties. They claim that if I don't live by a specific code I will go to hell. I can't imagine a God that would rule that way.' 'I hope you don't let your students dodge questions that shamelessly.' The comment caught him off guard. 'What?' 'Mr Langdon, I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believe in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories... legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgement on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God's hand?' 'Science tells me God must exist. My mind tells me I will never understand God. And my heart tells me I am not meant to.' (Vittoria Vetra) Pranayama (from yoga) - to breathe through the eyes Remembrance (from http://www.increasebrainpower.com/remembrance-technique.html) The Remembrance Technique If I remember correctly, this technique is an old Buddhist method for tapping into the problem solving power of your brain. It is used to overcome the feeling of hopelessness that can immobilize a person when facing a difficult situation. It can also be used just to solve tough problems. The basic idea is that when you are trying to decide what to do or to solve a problem, you tell yourself to remember the solution. You might say to yourself "Remember! How did I solve this problem?" This essentially tells your brain that there is a solution, and that the answer is somewhere in there. The brain responds to this assumption by searching for "the" solution. Our brains are always more powerful than we realize - we just need little "tricks" like this to get beyond our self-imposed limitations. Bernini's tributes to the four seasons (the seasons in Italian?): Primavera (Spring), Estate (Summer?), Autunno (Autumn), Inverno (Winter).