Thursday, July 31, 2014

When something is super awesome

A galaxy of gorgeosity.
gorgeosity: 
Noun: incomparable or inexpressible beauty;
 the state of being all that is gorgeous and fabulous
state of perfection in all areas; 
endlessly amazing.

“Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders. And then, a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal, or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now, came the violin solo above all the other strings, and those strings were like a cage of silk round my bed. Then flute and oboe bored, like worms of like platinum, into the thick thick toffee gold and silver. I was in such bliss, my brothers.”

- Anthony Burgess "A Clockwork Orange"

What are you here for?

You ask,
 "What am I here for?"
 I tell you, find out what you are NOT here for. 

 You are not here to blame.
 You are not here to cry. 
You are not here to sleep. 
You are not here to boast. 
You are not here to fight. 
You are not here to be angry. 
You are not here to be miserable. 
You are not here to worry. 

 When you follow fun, misery follows you... 
When you follow Knowledge, fun follows you. 

 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
 from "Celebrating Silence"

...while I was looking for a picture for this post, I typed in "silence" as a keyword. As a result, most of the pictures that came up were gray and had something eerie about them. Why is that our society is so afraid of silence? Why is that the first connotation of that natural state of quietness is that something must be lurking IN the silence? Silence should be peace and clarity. Ability to breathe and rest your mind.. But something creepy has found a nest in the hidden layers of our collective minds. When in the end there is only you - you and the silence. Face it. Lean to know it and embrace it. You will be that much stronger for it. When we surpass our fears, other things have room to come forth.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Train your brain

Intelligence is not a fixed quantity. There are many ways to improve your mental horsepower. Brain is a muscle which you have to use to keep it active and feed to make it better.
Surround yourself with people whom you admire and who are smarter than you - something will get stuck on you too eventually.
Make a goal of learning something new every day - it might be reading a random wikipedia page during your break, watching a TED talk at lunchtime, reading a few pages before bed or even learn a few words of a foreign language every day.
 Expose yourself to new circumstances and new topics.
Keep your learning spontaneous and make it fun. Your ability to learn is much smaller when you are tense or pushing yourself too hard.
Another good trick is to keep a daily diary of what you have learnt or what you have taken interest in. That way you can keep track of what's been going on and refresh your memory later. By repeating and writing things down, they get set in your brain much better.
Explain it to others. Stick with your topic for as long as you can explain it to others. It's fairly easy to get new information, but the challenging part is to truly grasp it. You know that you have properly understood something, when you can explain and pass it on. Or as Einstein said - if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
And take down-time - time for just thinking and processing what's been going on in your head. Meditate. It might take some practice to learn to concentrate on specific things or absolute silence, but your mind will be much more relaxed, peaceful and functional once you have mastered it.
Take interst in random new things. Even learning the functioning mechanisms of a fridge, an origami pattern or some calligraphy might end up being useful assets to your unique set of skills and competence. "You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking back."
Or your daily brain-booster can even be as simple as playing a game - chess, sudoku, scrabble, memory games.. whatever works for you!
Instead of checking your social network feed 30 times a day or surfing for skateboarding kittens at 4chan, do yourself a favour and invest time in yourself
 by learning something.
Every day.
Make it a conscious habit.
Your future self will thank you for it.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Humor

People with a good sense of humor 
have a better sense of life.


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Life is an open canvas.

There is no inherent meaning in any information. 
What matters, is what we DO with the information.
Context is everything.
We see what we have learnt to see. 
We KNOW things because of the statistics of our past experience.
Our brains redefine our reality.
The reality is empty.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Black and white - the same, but different.


Be yourself.

“To be yourself
 in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else
 is the greatest accomplishment.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is about creating your own reality. 
Aiming to be the best verison of yourself.
You, yourself, are your own biggest competition and obstacle. 
Don't take others for a standard.
Don't let anybody taint your happiness.
We walk our own path and in the end,
 we walk it alone.
Find happiness in yourself, in life as it is, 
and you'll never feel lost again. 
Follow what you love, what makes you passionate, 
and you can't go wrong.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

We're all a little weird. And life is a little weird.


                                    “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. 
That myth is more potent than history. 
That dreams are more powerful than facts. 
That hope always triumphs over experience. 
That laughter is the only cure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death.”
 by Robert Fulghum, one of my favourite writers

**

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Beginnings

“It’s much easier, 
she realized,
 to be on the verge of something 
than to actually be it.”

— Markus Zusak; “The Book Thief”


...and also, the stories with the best endings are the ones that never even began...

I know it's kind of sad
but, 
I have to admit, 
beautiful as well,
how our dreams and hopes 
have the capacity
 to make us 
so happy.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Not my monkeys

Thought of the day:
Choose your battles, save your nerves.
But the Polish said it better.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Notes on how to be happier. Every day.


1. NEGATIVE VISUALIZATION.
What's the worst that could happen? Put things in perspective - most likely you are over-dramatizing.

2.THE "AS IF" THEORY.
 If you want to achieve a quality, act as if you already achieved that. "Smile and the world smiles with you!"

3. MAKE IT A TREAT
If you deny yourself a luxury once in a while, you stop taking it for granted and feel more happiness over it when you finally GET it! (Also boosts your self control!)

4. LIVE IN THE PRESENT.
Stop worrying about things that are out of  your control (such as past memories and future fears) and start noticing the things around you NOW - take joy from what you CAN change. It's a much better use of your attention and energy.

5. IT'S OK TO STUMBLE.
Self-criticism is correalated to low motivation and low self control. On the other hand, self compassion makes us able to learn from our mistakes and helps us understand that nobody is immune to failure. Forgive yourself and move on - you will be a happier person for it.


Sunday, July 6, 2014

"Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.." by Walt Disney

"And Tiggers can't climb downwards, 
because their tails get in the way, 
only upwards, and Tigger forgot about that when we started, 
and he's only just remembered. 
So we've got to stay here for ever and ever - unless we go higher...", said Roo to Piglet.

Friday, July 4, 2014

A different perspective on reality

Russel Brand:
One's reality is a result of their intention and attention.
 Reality is what we can apportion through the limited instruments of the senses.
Consciousness is an amorphous and expanding entity. If we allow our cosnciousness to be prohibited by our senses, prescribed by our senses, living the realm of these five apertures is our reality. But reality is limitless, space is infinite, time eternal. The idea of self and reality are temporary illusions.
Technically speaking we are just atoms endowed with consciousness for the merest moments in infinite space. We are by nature spiritual beings - if we don't have access to spirituality,
 we suffer as individuals and society suffers.We are all basically the same as one another, we are all connected to each other and we all have a collective responsibility.
In essence, people are good - whenever there is a disaster, our natural instinct is to help each other. anyone that galvanizes people, brings people together and points people toward the better aspects of our nature and helps us to overcome our basic things like fear and desire - these people are worthy heroes. Rather than the low vibrational frequency heroes that are nominated today 
and who make us concentrate on dark stuff.
Our goal as modern human beings should be to look beyond the superficial and not to forget what really is important; it's time to aim for a higher level of consciousness. Take responsibility.
Wouldn't we all prefer to live in a culture which didnt't stimulate, encourage and celebrate the most negative aspects of our species - selfishness, lustfulness, greed, egotism, ignorance etc?

Love, compassion, tolerance.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Giving an Awesome Speech

"The beginning 
is the most important part of the work."—Plato






When we speak, we have about 60 seconds to capture our audience's attention, establish credibility, orient them to our topic, and motivate them to listen.
If you waste those precious opening seconds with a joke, an agenda, an apology, housekeeping details, a string of thank-yous, or a rambling pointless paragraph littered with "ums" and "uhs," your audience's minds are likely to drift, and you may not get them back.
 You, your message, and your audience deserve much more. 
You need to put the art in the start, the most important part of the work.



1. Tell a captivating story. 
As humans, we're hard-wired to enjoy and learn from stories. From bedtime stories and campfires, to Broadway theaters and boardrooms — heroes, villains, conflict, plots, dialogue, and lessons learned draw us in, remind us of our own lives, and hold our attention." You can tell a story about yourself or another person who the audience can learn from. "Another option: tell a fable, wisdom tale, historic event, or anecdote. The idea is, start with a brief 60- to 90-second narrative that launches your speech and captivates your listeners, and make sure the story encapsulates the key point of your message.


2. Ask a rhetorical thought-provoking question. 
When crafted and delivered well, rhetorical questions influence an audience to believe in the position of the speaker.


3. State a shocking statistic or headline. 
The impact of a bold claim ideally persuades the audience to listen and respond positively to your recommendation and next steps.

4. Use a powerful quote. 
Employ the wise words of a well-known person because the name allows you to tap into his or her credibility, likeability, and notoriety.

5. Show a gripping photo. 
Use photos instead of text, when possible. A quality photo adds aesthetic appeal, increases comprehension, engages the audience's imagination, and makes the message more memorable. Don't forget visual metaphores.


6. Use a prop or a creative visual aid. 
A prop is a magnetic tool that hooks your audience and keeps them watching — or listening. It can also be used to emphasise your point. Think about how you could use items like a big wall clock, a colorful gift bag, juggling balls, a deck of cards, a bunch of carrots, or another prop, to introduce your topic, captivate the audience, inject humor, and drive home your message.


7. Play a short video. 
The drama, people, pictures, sound, feeling - videos evoke emotional responses.