Bracelets - those tiny colorful ornaments that we wear on our wrists and occasionally on the upper arm or even the whole forearm - have been with us since the Palaeolithic man!
Surely something that has followed man since the Palaeolithic times and has continued to stay as popular as ever is something that we ought to sit up and take notice. After all, unless it has value or adds to the well being of man, it would have been long abandoned and left to oblivion.
Now, the earliest forms of bracelets were perforated shell and diverse animal teeth worn by the Palaeolithic man. Needless to say, those big gigantic teeth of an animal that he has hunted and slaughtered would have cut a great scene. Perhaps. the larger the teeth, the higher value Palaeolithic man would have pegged to his bracelet.
The Egyptians were master craftsmen in forging early metal bracelets, which were often plain, sometimes incomplete circles and sometimes hinged. These bracelets were the ornaments of royalty. In China, jade bracelets were popular, and chinese bracelets were often made of inlaid wood. Again, jade was the precious stone in demand until there was an emperor called the Jade Emperor.
Gold and twisted metal wire made an appearance in Greece from the Minoan period, with precious stones. The form of bracelets take on new appearance then as spiral shapes became popular and has the ends decorated with the heads of animals, especially the snake. The Romans took bracelets a step further by wearing them to battle, as a sign of bravery, while the common romans wore heavy bracelets, decorated with coins and jewellery and sometimes wearing them at the ankles.
The Mogul Emperors of India were famous for their bracelets as part of their royal regalia. The evolution of design continued until the bracelets became more fanciful,
Modern bracelets maintain the shapes, are light and flexible to adjust to the demanding times. Today's modern women are even wearing wrist watches as a form of bracelets. On the other side of modernism, tribal groups still wear fetish materials of goats hair, bird feathers, marble stones to twisted copper wire to twined and plaited vegetable fibre.
So why has the bracelets continued to surge in popularity throughout the ages?
Firstly, as a personal ornament, bracelets add color and variety to the person wearing it. It is as much a personal statement of fashion as it is a projection of the personality of the wearer. Many use the bracelets to project his or her beliefs, and moods.
Bracelets also are representations of authority and ownership. We therefore see certain groups of people of similar interest wearing a special type or range of bracelets to indicate camaderie and membership. We also stamp our ownership by attaching bracelets on to newly born babies. Entry to certain establishments require the stamping of a ink bracelet or ink mark - all these are in part to establish control and membership.
Those with sickness and ill-health will find bracelets to be useful. Bracelets can contain useful health history and blood types and specific medication required by the patient.
The theory and principles of the aged old chinese "feng shui" - the study of the harmonics of wind, water, wood, metal and fire suggests a blending of personal beliefs to the practise of wearing special crystals, gemstones and jade. These become amulets to ward off evil and sickness and bring good health and prosperity.
Use the green color jade as a stamp of authority. After all, the seal of authority of the Emperor of China was made from jade, and the Empress and his concubines were all lovers of jade bracelets and ankle bracelets. Jade being green brings a calming influence to your life, and talks of green pastures. You will not go wrong with a green jade bracelet. Green suggests forest and where the world is so full of stress, the harmonics of feng shui suggests a need to add the wood (forest) element to many lives; so wearing a jade bracelet or a bracelet with inlaid jade or green gemstones will assists in this mystical balance of feng shi.
Are you looking for love? Take a "love" bracelet and let it work its magic! Pink crysals formed into a nice bracelet can be worn to "attract" love. Are you in a happy mood? Go, grab a colorful wrist band bracelet to tell the whole world that you are on cloud nine!

General George S. Patton and John Quincy Adams were poets. Churchill was a painter. Karol Wojtyla, the Polish priest who became Pope John Paul II, was, in his younger days, a playwright, director and stage actor, as was Vaclav Havel. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German priest who just became Pope Benedict XVI plays classical piano and is (like Karl Barth) a Mozart aficionado. Jefferson designed Monticello. Secretary of State Dean Acheson was an accomplished woodworker. The young Theodore Roosevelt was a taxidermist. Albert Schweitzer was a world-class organist and Bach scholar.
And so on. Do you see a pattern here?
One of the secrets of the Great Men of the past is that they cultivated creativity and artistic expression in their lives. Sometimes the Great Men consciously chose a craft or a fine art as an outlet, a creative diversion from the intensity of their daily lives. And sometimes the Great Men had no particular objective in pursuing creative expression, it just simply happened as an overflow of who they already were. They created, just as day follows night.
You can be creative, too, and reap the incredible benefits. That is, if you use the right tools.
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My new web site, http://www.ConversationFromthePast.com, will help you live a creative life of adventure and challenge you to expand your horizons and reach new frontiers. At Conversations From the Past, men are challenged, edified and encouraged to embrace what Theodore Roosevelt called The Strenuous Life.
We challenge each other to live lives of steadfast resolution, to overcome obstacles, to win in spite of a thousand repulses or defeats, to never fear to try a new line of attack because of a previous setback.
We urge each other to grasp, to rise and struggle, even against incalculable odds, to attempt, to make the bold move.
We also recognize that as we live the lives that we desire, we will also be the object of begrudging, resistance, hostility and resentment. Bold, intensely masculine lives create friction. It is not just historical irony that the greatest peacemakers in the history of the world have met with violent death; it is simply the way of this world.
One of the best ways to deal with these difficulties, these assaults, is to seek a creative outlet, an artistic expression.
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But, you rightfully ask, how do I get started? Great question. The answer is surprisingly simple.
Just start and don’t look back. As Churchill wrote of his own painting career (which was by any standard very successful, especially since he had a few other things on his plate):
[T]he first quality that is needed is Audacity. There really is no time for the deliberate approach.
In other words, if you feel like painting, do what Churchill did: get out the paints, buy some canvas and get started. When you make a mess, then go do some background reading on techniques, identify where you went wrong and then forge ahead again, this time without making precisely the same mistake. By trial and error you will quickly get the basic skills you need in order to satisfyingly express your creativity through your painting.
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Creativity, craftsmanship and aesthetic expression are surely ends in themselves. We should not forget that. But even while they are ends in themselves, they serve the purpose of re-focusing the mind on something other than the day-to-day cares.
If you are fighting the good fight on a daily basis, and you take up, for example, woodworking, you have little choice but to solely concentrate on woodworking when you are doing it. If your focus slips, you might not only ruin your project, you might lose a finger. The point being, this re-focus will have a rejuvenating effect on you and will in turn do wonders for your “real” career.
Taking up an art or a craft at this point in your life also fulfills that unique masculine virtue of learning, of charging forward, of incrementally expanding your dominion over the world, pushing your boundaries, living without fear, paralysis and boredom. Men should know how to do things, lots of things. They should constantly learn, create, expand – and teach.
As General Patton often remarked, “I don’t want to hear anything about holding your ground. We must advance!”
I recently had a party conversation with a psychiatrist who explained that it is a demonstrable scientific fact that if an adult takes up music for the first time, the brain will literally begin to show activity in areas which were previously underutilized. I don’t know about you, but I think using more of my brain seems like a pretty good idea!
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If you visit my web site, http://www.Conversationsfromthepast.com, you will find products and resources based upon the life of the Great Men which will inspire and challenge you to fulfill your God-given potential. You will not find trendy psychological theories or therapies. You will find time-tested, battle-hardened tools you need to forge a life which is passionate, adventurous, intensely masculine, exciting and yes, creative.
You will not be coddled or told that it’s ok to continue sitting on the sofa watching Survivor when you should be out challenging the elements yourself.
You will not find a place where you get “A’s” for effort. As Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” If you like that attitude and are ready to get serious, come on over and join us at ConversationsFromthePast.com.
But to get the benefits from ConversationsFromthePast.com, you have to start. Visit today and you will be able to sign up for some free gifts, including a free daily email tip.
Yes, daily. That’s thirty tips a month. That’s a lot of information – and a lot of work for yours truly. For that reason, I am not going to leave my tips as free for too much longer. So act now.
Great Men know how to take action. You know what to do. I look forward to striving with you, serving you, and creatively fulfilling our destinies, forging our identities as men together, iron sharpening iron.