Once you have washed, peeled, and pitted the apricots, use your paring knife to slice it into small pieces. The cuts don’t have to be perfectly even, since you’ll be pureeing the fruit after you cook it, but aim for pieces that are roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) square. Place the mixture in a saucepan, cover it, and turn it to medium-low heat. Allow the apricots to simmer until they are soft. Depending on the ripeness, this may take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Apricots are tart, so you may want to add a little sugar to balance out the flavor of your puree. Use a long-handled spoon to stir the sugar into the mixture, and allow the apricots to continue simmering until the sugar is dissolved. You can also use honey, brown sugar, or corn syrup if you prefer. Blend the mixture until it’s smooth, although you can leave it a little chunky if that’s the consistency you prefer. You can also mash with a potato masher if you prefer a chunky puree or if you don’t have a food processor. When the puree freezes, the moisture in the apricots will expand. Try to leave at least 1⁄4 inch (0.64 cm) of space at the top of the container to account for this. Apricot puree will keep in the freezer for 6-8 months.

Summary: Slice the fruit into small chunks. Simmer 1 pound (0.45 kg) chopped apricot with 4 US tbsp (59 mL) of water. Stir in 3-4 oz (85-115g) of sugar if you want to sweeten the puree. Allow the mixture to cool, then puree it in a food processor or blender. Pour the puree into plastic containers, leaving a little head room at the top.


This is the location at which your photos from Lightroom will be placed. You can define a subfolder under the main directory for better organization. You can also set here what the program will do when it encounters existing files in the destination folder bearing the same filenames. Define how your output files would be named. You can leave this option empty and have the photos use their existing filenames, or you can opt to define their naming convention through the use of their current filenames, sequences and timestamps, metadata, and a custom text. Select what file type or format you’d want your edited photos to be in. You can also define, between 0 and 100, what the image quality would be and the maximum file size of a file. You can resize your image by ticking on the "Resize to Fit" checkbox and selecting from the dropdown box what measurements to use.  You can resize using Width and Height, Dimensions, Long Edge, Short Edge, or Megapixels. You can also choose not to enlarge your photos by ticking the Don’t Enlarge checkbox to reduce quality degradation caused by enlargement. You can define how much sharpening would be applied to your photos. Choose to sharpen for Screen, Matte Paper, or Glossy Paper or leave this blank (unchecked) if you don’t need any sharpening. If you would want to automatically embed a watermark on all of your photos, you can easily do that during export from Lightroom. Tick the Watermark checkbox and define what watermark should be used for all of them. This is useful when you want to put your name, copyright information, or your logo on your photos. If you just want to use or keep your edited photos as they are after Lightroom, opt for ‘Do nothing’ in the "After Export" dropdown box. If you want to use these photos in another application, you can select this option by choosing Open in Other Application and defining the program to be launched after the export process.

Summary: Set an export location. Set your file naming parameters. Set the file format/extension. Resize your images. Sharpen your images. Put a watermark on your images. Post-process your images. Finished.


Instead of meditating to clear your mind, focus on being present in the moment and fully aware of your experiences. Find a quiet comfortable place and spend some time focusing on your thoughts. This will sharpen your mentality and make you feel prepared, both of which can help you stay positive. Tell your mind to be still and do nothing other than think from moment to moment. Researchers have shown that mindfulness can reduce stress. This improves positive thinking by decreasing anxiety, low mood, and low energy associated with stress. Begin focusing on your breaths. Notice how you feel emotionally and physically as you inhale and exhale. Make yourself focus on what is going on around you. While taking thoughtful breaths, use your senses to notice what you see, hear, and feel in the room or space. Ask yourself if your body feels tired, relaxed, or stiff. Pay attention to your thoughts and feelings. Deep breathing is a good way to revisit what consumed most of your thoughts and influenced your feelings throughout the day. Consider working with a therapist trained in CBT. This therapy can help you change your current ways of thinking. Since thoughts strongly influence your outlook, begin to change your negative thoughts into positive ones. To do this, you'll need to start noticing your thoughts. Stop yourself when you begin to think a negative thought and reframe it to become positive. For example, if you're stuck waiting for a bus, appreciate the time you have to unwind or have a conversation with someone else waiting for the bus. It can be helpful to write down these thoughts in order to help you reframe them. For example, you might write down a negative thought (like disliking driving in the rain) to something positive (like getting more practice driving in the rain). Part of being positive is feeling hopeful about the future. Setting goals is a good way to focus on the future. You'll also benefit from a boost in self-esteem when you achieve goals. To improve your chances of successfully meeting goals, make sure the goals are:  Written down (Studies shows these are more detailed and likely to be met)  Detailed Realistic Created with a timeframe or deadline in mind Worded positively While being positive all the time may sound like a great idea, you need to be realistic with yourself. There will be times in your life when you simply won't feel positive. In fact, situations may come up that make you legitimately sad or angry. However, you can use a positive outlook to deal with painful emotions and give yourself a sense of hope or acceptance. For example, if you just lost a loved pet, you'll probably feel sad or upset. You can still use positive thinking to remind yourself what you have to appreciate, like the time you had with your pet. Or, you can use positivity to remind yourself that this painful time will pass.
Summary: Do mindful meditation. Practice deep breathing. Do Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Write down your goals. Have realistic expectations.