Wisteen watteen

  What is the best way to improve life? Don’t compare yourself. Everyone has got their own story to tell and so do you. Reading writing, and staying happy with yourself. Establishing boundaries when you need to. Staying positive about what life has got to offer you. Trying out new things every month or so. Keeping up with your health. Not falling victim to bitterness, hate or other negative emotions. Finding peace. Learning to “just keep swimming” no matter the weather. Accepting people for who and what they are. Accepting yourself. Learning something new every day even if its teeny tiny. “Be a friend to get a friend” Keeping your home clean. Whether your surround yourself with many people or none is up to you. Do what makes you feel good about your life. Don’t follow protocol but do stay disciplined. Last but not least, stand up for yourself. Don’t let people’s opinions rule over your life.

  Russia vs. Ukraine Photo by ide alien  on Unsplash Mapping the Way Forward from the Recent Past.   I n April 2014, because of Ukrainian-Russian tensions, I quoted historian Stephen Cohen: “I think that we are three steps from war with Russia, two steps from a Cuban missile crisis.” Now, seven years later, New York Times Moscow correspondent Andrew  Kramer writes of “the largest military buildup along the border with Ukraine since the outset of Kyiv’s war with Russian-backed separatists seven years ago. . . . The [Russian] mobilization is setting off alarms in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, European capitals and Washington.”     On 20 April Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Ukrainian TV viewers of the possibility of war, urged Russian President Putin “to step back from the brink,” and proposed a meeting with him. Only on 22 April did Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announce that Russia would begin withdrawing military forces fr...