Problem: Article: If your heart is closed, odds are you have a tendency to harshly judge and criticize yourself and other people. Learning to practice compassion can help you enhance your vulnerability and open your heart. Be compassionate with yourself by extending forgiveness for your flaws and faults. Take ownership for your mistakes and refuse to hide them. Be gentle with yourself. Stop holding yourself to impossible standards. Be compassionate with others by remembering that they are flawed and human, too. Accept and forgive freelydon't hold grudges. Aim to see the best in people rather than dwelling on their faults. A closed heart often translates to taking things very seriously. Lighten up a bit. Remember how you used to be before the world hardened your heart. Laugh. Dance in the rain. Tell silly jokes. Run through the meadows with bare feet. If you have trouble reconnecting with your inner child, spend some time hanging out with a small child. They will help you remember. Often when we close off our hearts, we also become selfish. You may have adopted a "me vs. them" perception of life and stopped willingly lending a hand to others. Vulnerable people have an attitude of giving. Not for credit, just because. However, you must also be willing to let your loved ones give to you, too. Ask a friend or family member what you can do for them. Say, "Is there anything I can do to make your day easier or better?" Similarly, if you are in need, have the courage to ask for help. Say, "I could really use another eye on this history paper. Do you mind looking at it once I'm done?" You might also give of your time or money to charities or local volunteer organizations. Having a closed heart often means you have closed yourself off to challenges and new opportunities. When you are learning to be vulnerable, you can relax the reigns and not worry about doing everything so perfectly. Take on new challenges for the sheer enjoyment of learning something new. Learn a new language. Sign up for a class as a total novice. Think of something you haven't a clue of how to do and start reading on the subject. Put yourself out there and risk making a mistake.
Summary: Show compassion for yourself and others. Reconnect with your inner child. Be a giver, but be okay with receiving, too. Try new things.

Problem: Article: You may even need to water them twice a day during hot, sunny weather. Do not let the soil stay dry for any extended amount of time. Stick your finger in the soil to see if it's moist. If it's not, you need to water it. In most cases, tap water works well for carrots. However, if the water you use for your garden is treated with a water softener, use distilled water for your carrots, instead. Try a 5-10-10 fertilizer, which has less nitrogen. That will encourage the roots to grow instead of the leaves. However, it's not absolutely necessary to use fertilizer with carrots. Once your carrots start to grow into seedlings, cut out any extra plants with scissors or gardening shears. The plants you keep should be spaced 2 to 3 inches (5.1 to 7.6cm) apart to help them grow. If you try to pull out the unwanted seedlings, you could damage your other plants. If your carrots start leaning, straighten them up gently and add soil to stabilize them. Similarly, if your carrots start peeking through the top of the soil, cover them up with more soil. When carrots peek out of the soil, they turn green at the top. It doesn't harm them, but they don't look as pretty. Container carrots won't be as susceptible to pests and disease, but you may still get a fungal infection from time to time. You'll notice a white, powdery substance on the leaves. You can buy antifungal sprays or make your own. Make an anti-mildew spray by adding a tablespoon (14 grams) of baking soda to 1 gallon (3.8L) of water with a squirt of dishwashing liquid. Mix it up, and apply it to the plant with a spray bottle once a week. Depending on the variety, your carrots could be yellow, red, orange, or purple. Generally, they will take 2 to 2 1/2 months to fully mature and reach the right color. Grasp the greens near the top of the root and gently wiggle them out of place. The earlier you harvest mature carrots, the sweeter they will be when you can finally eat them.
Summary: Water your carrots daily in warm weather. Feed your carrots with fertilizer once a week or so to encourage growth. Thin out your carrots once they reach 1 inch (2.5cm). Use additional growing medium to correct growth problems. Spray your carrots with an antifungal spray if you notice white mildew. Harvest your carrots when they reach peak color.

Problem: Article: Fill a lawn roller full of water and walk it over the entire sod. This presses down the sod to ensure good root contact with the soil before watering. Keeping the grass moist during the first few weeks is essential. During this time, the grass roots are establishing and growing. Without plenty of water, this process will slow or halt, and the sod die before it takes. After the first two weeks, water the grass a few times a week to keep it from drying out. Use a sprinkler system to ensure the grass gets evenly watered. Don't wait until the grass looks brown to water it. Do a soil test by sticking your finger into the dirt. If the soil feels moist to a depth of several inches, it's fine. If the dirt feels dry on the surface or to a depth of an inch or two, it's time to water it. Shade-grown grass should be watered less frequently, since it holds dew longer. Water just to the point of puddling, then stop. If the sod lifts up off the soil, it has been overwatered. Mowing before the roots are well established can pull them out of the soil and damage your sod. Wait patiently until the grass is at least 3 inches (7.6cm) tall, and gently pull up on several areas of sod to confirm it is firmly attached. Once the lawn is ready, mow it down to no shorter than of its height, and never below 2 inches (5 cm). Always be sure the mower blades are sharp, straight and clean, Mow in a different directional pattern each time the grass is mowed to ensure even growth. You can bag the clippings, but leaving them on the lawn will actually improve its health, since they act as free fertilizer. Use the same starter fertilizer to dress the lawn after a month has passed. This is necessary to replace the nutrients that may have been washed away during a month of heavy watering. After the first month, you need only fertilize your grass once or twice a season to replace nutrients in the years to come. Keeping up with watering, mowing and fertilizing your lawn is the best way to grow thick, healthy grass, and it's also the best way to keep weeds away. Weeds tend to move in when the grass gets patchy. They're nature's way of covering up bare spots in the ground. If you make sure there aren't bare spots to begin with, you won't have to worry much about weeds. If you notice an area where the sod seems to be dead, replace it as soon as possible. Tear up the old sod, enrich the soil underneath with compost, and add fresh sod, making sure the seams lay right next to the healthy grass on either side. This will prevent weeds from coming up where the sod is dead.
Summary:
Walk over the lawn with a lawn roller. Water it thoroughly for the first two weeks. Mow once the grass is at least 3 inches (7.6cm). Fertilize the lawn again after a month. Maintain your lawn to keep it free of weeds.