Aleksandra Galert's Blog: I'm thinking about..., page 2
February 6, 2015
What's the difference between "The Theory of Everything" and "Unbroken"?
Last week I saw two movies in the cinema: "The Theory of Everything" and "Unbroken". They are both the stories of extraordinary men based on their true stories, the story of the challenges they had overcome and of the people who were accompaning them on their way. But even though they might seem so much alike, there is a big difference between them.
For those of you, who haven't seen those movies, here's a little explanation: "The Theory of Everything" shows the life of the famous scientist Stephen Hawking and "Unbroken" tells the story of Luie Zamperini who was a US soldier fighting in the Second World War and got into japanese captivity.
"The Theory of Everything" is a beautiful movie, without big, famous names on the posters. It's a very well done motion picture, simple, but moving you very deeply. It can really be a movie changing your life. This is a story that says: "Look, this is an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things".
On the contrary, "Unbroken" is totally different. Famous mostly thanks to the big name of the debuting director - Angelina Jolie, good technically, but missing something important - the soul. On the screen you see all those millions of dollars put into it's production, you see all those beautiful colors, but somehow it all doesn't really speak to you. As my boyfriend summed it up, it's all forced. From the very beginning the movie just shouts at you: "Look! He's a hero, he's a hero!". But maybe I'd like to decide myself if he is. I'd like to see a story and find the answer in my heart and not to be forced to it.
In my opinion, "Unbroken" could be much stronger than "The Theory of Everything". The story it's telling is absolutely extraordinary, but unfortunately it doesn't cause much impact. It's a movie you soon forget. This won't happen with "The Theory of Everything": the beautiful and touching story of Hawking and his wife moves you so deeply that it touches your soul. Everybody who has seen this movie was telling me: "It's amazing", "It's great".
The fact is that we don't like easy answers, given to us on the plate. Contrary to what we think, we prefer to make the judgments on our own. And that is why one of the movies creates impact and the other no. Because you can cheat the brain, but there's something you can't cheat: the emotions. We have some inner radar to detect the false emotions. And if the story we're told is told just because it's a nice story and can be easily sold - well, we won't buy it. All the successfull stories are so, because one or another way they touch us. I don't think you can find a simple recipie on how to do that. But in my opinion, the author has to stay very true to himself for the whole process of creating and not looking at what others "might like", because in such case they won't like it for sure.
For those of you, who haven't seen those movies, here's a little explanation: "The Theory of Everything" shows the life of the famous scientist Stephen Hawking and "Unbroken" tells the story of Luie Zamperini who was a US soldier fighting in the Second World War and got into japanese captivity.
"The Theory of Everything" is a beautiful movie, without big, famous names on the posters. It's a very well done motion picture, simple, but moving you very deeply. It can really be a movie changing your life. This is a story that says: "Look, this is an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things".
On the contrary, "Unbroken" is totally different. Famous mostly thanks to the big name of the debuting director - Angelina Jolie, good technically, but missing something important - the soul. On the screen you see all those millions of dollars put into it's production, you see all those beautiful colors, but somehow it all doesn't really speak to you. As my boyfriend summed it up, it's all forced. From the very beginning the movie just shouts at you: "Look! He's a hero, he's a hero!". But maybe I'd like to decide myself if he is. I'd like to see a story and find the answer in my heart and not to be forced to it.
In my opinion, "Unbroken" could be much stronger than "The Theory of Everything". The story it's telling is absolutely extraordinary, but unfortunately it doesn't cause much impact. It's a movie you soon forget. This won't happen with "The Theory of Everything": the beautiful and touching story of Hawking and his wife moves you so deeply that it touches your soul. Everybody who has seen this movie was telling me: "It's amazing", "It's great".
The fact is that we don't like easy answers, given to us on the plate. Contrary to what we think, we prefer to make the judgments on our own. And that is why one of the movies creates impact and the other no. Because you can cheat the brain, but there's something you can't cheat: the emotions. We have some inner radar to detect the false emotions. And if the story we're told is told just because it's a nice story and can be easily sold - well, we won't buy it. All the successfull stories are so, because one or another way they touch us. I don't think you can find a simple recipie on how to do that. But in my opinion, the author has to stay very true to himself for the whole process of creating and not looking at what others "might like", because in such case they won't like it for sure.
January 31, 2015
12 most useful things I’ve learned last year
Over a year ago, in November 2013, I’ve attended NAC – the National Achievers Congress in Warsaw. This event has totally changed my view point and it certainly has changed my life. Since then I’ve read many books and articles, watched hours of videos of the best speakers in the world. I want to share with you the most important things I’ve learned, as I believe they can appear so useful to you as they did to me.
1. The best motivational speaker in the world – Les Brown – always repeats that what he found out is that ‘most people don’t achieve success in lilfe not because they aim top high, but because they aim too law’. I think this quote speaks for itself. We don’t believe in ourselves, we set for ourselves goals smaller than we could and, as a result, it is us who stop us the most from making our dreams come true. Realizing only this one thing can be a life changing point.
2. Have you ever heard the saying: ‘It’s much better to be a giver than a receiver’? Well, T Harv Eker claims that who said that must have had problems with maths. If there is an excellent giver, there must be an eqally excellent receiver. Eker also says that it is one of the laws of the universe that we should be able to give, but also to receive. Because, if the univers “finds out” we don’t want to receive, it will give our part to somebody next in line! Balance in life is crucial.
3. Lately I’ve read an excellent book of Susan Jeffers: ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. In this book there are many interesting and helpful tips, but I especially remember one that become crucial for my life: Susan says that there are no wrong decisions. There are only different chances. If you choose A – you’ll get some opportunities, if B – you’ll get others. How awesome is this?! How much easier does the life seem if you know there are no bad decisions? It’s not the decision, it’s what you do with the chances you get from it.
4. Robert Kiyosaki has totally changed the way I think about money. I especially recommend the Cashflow game. The producer warranties that if, after playng the game six times, you don’t learn anything, they’ll give you back the money. Well, in my opinion, if you don’t learn anything from this game you are eiher already a millionaire or you are an ignorant not willing to learn. Kiyosaki made me understand the difference between the rich and the poor and it is: the way of thinking and managing the money. If the poor win a million of dollars on a lottery, what do they do? They buy a new, big house, they buy an exclusive car, they go on fancy vacation and soon they are broke again, just with higher bills to pay. What do the rich do in such a situation? They invest, for example in real estate, to create the passive income that will be paying for their monthly expenses for a new car. So, just by the matter of thinking, in the same conditions, the poor will get poorer and the rich – richer.
5. I don’t remember, where I read or heard it, but it was again a theory about balance. According to it, the can’t be always good things happening in one’s life, because if you continuesly put water to a glass and the glass is full, what happens? The glass is too full and no more water will be able to enter. With life it is the same: if only good things were happening to you, you wouldn’t be able to take and appreciate them all.
6. Another thing I read is that big achievemtns come from the fact that you change just one thing you do everyday. For example: instead of fried eggs for breakfast you start eating cereals. Instead of taking the car, you go to work by bike. Instead of waching tv for 3 hours daily, you watch it for half of that time and for the rest of it you read about something that can help you develop your skills or business. It is that simple. Of course, the results won’t come immediately, but if you keep on doing this new thing, for sure they’ll come. The good news is that creating a new habit lasts 21 days. So if you manage to keep doing your new, changed activity for just 21 days, later it becomes your habit and it will be no longer so difficult to force yourself to do it. Quite the opposite: you’ll miss it if you don’t do it.
7. Many of the best personal coaches in the world say that you should know where you’re going to be able to achieve it. Sounds obvious, but turns out in life it’s not that easy to know what we want. But it is important. It is like with going to the mountains: you have to know which peak you want to gain: is it Kilimajaro, Anapurna or Mount Everest? If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you get there? Of course, sometimes you won’t know it right away, but do try to find it out as soon as you only can. As T Harv Eker says: ‘Where the mind goes, energy flows and the results come’.
8. Many of us fear the change, fear to take the new opportunity, fear to make a step in life. What motivates me in the moments of doubt is a question: ‘What do I fear more: the change or living the way I’m living for the rest of my life?’. This questions usually clears all the doubts.
9. On NAC Warsaw I’ve learned something fascinating about dealing with refusal and failure. A good example to explain it is calling clients to offer them some product. Before you start you should set yourself quite an unexpected goal: I’ll get 3 no answers in a raw. Yes, exactly like this. Obviously, when you call you behave professionally to hear ‘yes’. First call: no. Good. Second call: yes. Eh, one more time. First call: no. Ok. Second call: no. it’s good. Just one more… Third call: yes. Oh, no. Actually, you’ll find out how hard it is to get free ‘no’ in a raw. But the most important of this weird game is that either way you win. Isn’t it cool? Every no answer is a winning, every yes answer is a winning. Of course, calling is just an example. You can apply it this method to anything you want.
10. From one of the CD courses I’ve listened to I’ve learned another useful thing about failure. Let’s say you set a goal for an upcoming year that you are going to earn x dollars. But at the end of the year it turns out you earned only half. And what? You’re disappointed. But wait! Look back at that year, look how much you’ve achieved, how much you’ve learned! This failure is in fact a success! Maybe you’ve learned how to invest your money – something about which you had absolutely no idea a year earlier. Maybe you earned 1\2x, but it is still the most you have ever done. Do you understand? Trying to achieve your goal was a great lesson and the knowledge you got out of it is priceless.
11. How to stop or start doing anything? I believe what is crucial is to know the rule of 20 seconds. I read about it in an article of Shawn Achor - a Harvard scientist studying happiness. What is it? The rule says that you can start one activity immediately or to start another, you need 20 seconds, you are more likely to start the first one, even if you don’t really like it. It may sound complicated, but in fact it is very easy. Let’s say, you want to stop watching so much tv. Simply put out the batteries from your remote control and put them in another room. Next time, when you sit on the sofa and authomatically push ‘on’ on the remote control you’ll say: ‘Oh, no. I was so stupid’. But you will probably start doing something that is closer to you, like reading a book lying on the table in from of you or calling a friend. Why? Because it would take you 20 seconds to fetch the batteries and this is something that the human brain interprets as: ‘Too much effort. Let’s do something else’. Achor, doing his experiments, wanted to force himself to do some morning exercises. But everyday, when he was waking up, his brain was saying: ‘No, I would have to get dressed, put on the sports shoes… Too much effort. I’ll do it tomorrow’. Well, this tomorrow would probably never come unless he did what follows: he went to sleep wearing the sports clothes. The only thing he had to do in the morning was to put on the shoes that were waiting for him right next to his bed. With sich solutions he went jogging the very first morning of the experiment. Why? Because his brain interpreted it as the easiest thing to do. You see? I told you it’s easy.
12. Simon Sinek is a very good speaker talking about leadership. Lately, I’ve watched his TED speech, where he was talking about why some companies and people become successful while the others don’t. he explains it this way: most of the companies think according to a scheme 1. What we produce? 2. How? 3. Why? While the truly successful ones do it in an exactly opposite way, because they know something very important: people don’t buy what you d, they buy why you do it. Sinek gives a few examples from real life. One of them is a story of the Wright brothers who invented the plane. Hardly anybody knows that in the same time there was another man working on the same thing. I don’t even remember his name, but he was paid a lot of money from the USA government and had a team of the best specialists in the world while the Wright brothers had no money and only a group of passionate friends to help them. So why did they succeed and the other man didn’t? because of their ‘why’. They wanted to create a flying machine that could take people on far distances in a short time. What was the ‘why’ of the other man? To become famous and get a paycheck. This story shows that the ‘why’ is very important in life.
These are the subjects I’ve found the most useful among hundreds of pages I read last year. I hope you’ll find at least some of them useful and that this article will inspire you to look for more.
1. The best motivational speaker in the world – Les Brown – always repeats that what he found out is that ‘most people don’t achieve success in lilfe not because they aim top high, but because they aim too law’. I think this quote speaks for itself. We don’t believe in ourselves, we set for ourselves goals smaller than we could and, as a result, it is us who stop us the most from making our dreams come true. Realizing only this one thing can be a life changing point.
2. Have you ever heard the saying: ‘It’s much better to be a giver than a receiver’? Well, T Harv Eker claims that who said that must have had problems with maths. If there is an excellent giver, there must be an eqally excellent receiver. Eker also says that it is one of the laws of the universe that we should be able to give, but also to receive. Because, if the univers “finds out” we don’t want to receive, it will give our part to somebody next in line! Balance in life is crucial.
3. Lately I’ve read an excellent book of Susan Jeffers: ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. In this book there are many interesting and helpful tips, but I especially remember one that become crucial for my life: Susan says that there are no wrong decisions. There are only different chances. If you choose A – you’ll get some opportunities, if B – you’ll get others. How awesome is this?! How much easier does the life seem if you know there are no bad decisions? It’s not the decision, it’s what you do with the chances you get from it.
4. Robert Kiyosaki has totally changed the way I think about money. I especially recommend the Cashflow game. The producer warranties that if, after playng the game six times, you don’t learn anything, they’ll give you back the money. Well, in my opinion, if you don’t learn anything from this game you are eiher already a millionaire or you are an ignorant not willing to learn. Kiyosaki made me understand the difference between the rich and the poor and it is: the way of thinking and managing the money. If the poor win a million of dollars on a lottery, what do they do? They buy a new, big house, they buy an exclusive car, they go on fancy vacation and soon they are broke again, just with higher bills to pay. What do the rich do in such a situation? They invest, for example in real estate, to create the passive income that will be paying for their monthly expenses for a new car. So, just by the matter of thinking, in the same conditions, the poor will get poorer and the rich – richer.
5. I don’t remember, where I read or heard it, but it was again a theory about balance. According to it, the can’t be always good things happening in one’s life, because if you continuesly put water to a glass and the glass is full, what happens? The glass is too full and no more water will be able to enter. With life it is the same: if only good things were happening to you, you wouldn’t be able to take and appreciate them all.
6. Another thing I read is that big achievemtns come from the fact that you change just one thing you do everyday. For example: instead of fried eggs for breakfast you start eating cereals. Instead of taking the car, you go to work by bike. Instead of waching tv for 3 hours daily, you watch it for half of that time and for the rest of it you read about something that can help you develop your skills or business. It is that simple. Of course, the results won’t come immediately, but if you keep on doing this new thing, for sure they’ll come. The good news is that creating a new habit lasts 21 days. So if you manage to keep doing your new, changed activity for just 21 days, later it becomes your habit and it will be no longer so difficult to force yourself to do it. Quite the opposite: you’ll miss it if you don’t do it.
7. Many of the best personal coaches in the world say that you should know where you’re going to be able to achieve it. Sounds obvious, but turns out in life it’s not that easy to know what we want. But it is important. It is like with going to the mountains: you have to know which peak you want to gain: is it Kilimajaro, Anapurna or Mount Everest? If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you get there? Of course, sometimes you won’t know it right away, but do try to find it out as soon as you only can. As T Harv Eker says: ‘Where the mind goes, energy flows and the results come’.
8. Many of us fear the change, fear to take the new opportunity, fear to make a step in life. What motivates me in the moments of doubt is a question: ‘What do I fear more: the change or living the way I’m living for the rest of my life?’. This questions usually clears all the doubts.
9. On NAC Warsaw I’ve learned something fascinating about dealing with refusal and failure. A good example to explain it is calling clients to offer them some product. Before you start you should set yourself quite an unexpected goal: I’ll get 3 no answers in a raw. Yes, exactly like this. Obviously, when you call you behave professionally to hear ‘yes’. First call: no. Good. Second call: yes. Eh, one more time. First call: no. Ok. Second call: no. it’s good. Just one more… Third call: yes. Oh, no. Actually, you’ll find out how hard it is to get free ‘no’ in a raw. But the most important of this weird game is that either way you win. Isn’t it cool? Every no answer is a winning, every yes answer is a winning. Of course, calling is just an example. You can apply it this method to anything you want.
10. From one of the CD courses I’ve listened to I’ve learned another useful thing about failure. Let’s say you set a goal for an upcoming year that you are going to earn x dollars. But at the end of the year it turns out you earned only half. And what? You’re disappointed. But wait! Look back at that year, look how much you’ve achieved, how much you’ve learned! This failure is in fact a success! Maybe you’ve learned how to invest your money – something about which you had absolutely no idea a year earlier. Maybe you earned 1\2x, but it is still the most you have ever done. Do you understand? Trying to achieve your goal was a great lesson and the knowledge you got out of it is priceless.
11. How to stop or start doing anything? I believe what is crucial is to know the rule of 20 seconds. I read about it in an article of Shawn Achor - a Harvard scientist studying happiness. What is it? The rule says that you can start one activity immediately or to start another, you need 20 seconds, you are more likely to start the first one, even if you don’t really like it. It may sound complicated, but in fact it is very easy. Let’s say, you want to stop watching so much tv. Simply put out the batteries from your remote control and put them in another room. Next time, when you sit on the sofa and authomatically push ‘on’ on the remote control you’ll say: ‘Oh, no. I was so stupid’. But you will probably start doing something that is closer to you, like reading a book lying on the table in from of you or calling a friend. Why? Because it would take you 20 seconds to fetch the batteries and this is something that the human brain interprets as: ‘Too much effort. Let’s do something else’. Achor, doing his experiments, wanted to force himself to do some morning exercises. But everyday, when he was waking up, his brain was saying: ‘No, I would have to get dressed, put on the sports shoes… Too much effort. I’ll do it tomorrow’. Well, this tomorrow would probably never come unless he did what follows: he went to sleep wearing the sports clothes. The only thing he had to do in the morning was to put on the shoes that were waiting for him right next to his bed. With sich solutions he went jogging the very first morning of the experiment. Why? Because his brain interpreted it as the easiest thing to do. You see? I told you it’s easy.
12. Simon Sinek is a very good speaker talking about leadership. Lately, I’ve watched his TED speech, where he was talking about why some companies and people become successful while the others don’t. he explains it this way: most of the companies think according to a scheme 1. What we produce? 2. How? 3. Why? While the truly successful ones do it in an exactly opposite way, because they know something very important: people don’t buy what you d, they buy why you do it. Sinek gives a few examples from real life. One of them is a story of the Wright brothers who invented the plane. Hardly anybody knows that in the same time there was another man working on the same thing. I don’t even remember his name, but he was paid a lot of money from the USA government and had a team of the best specialists in the world while the Wright brothers had no money and only a group of passionate friends to help them. So why did they succeed and the other man didn’t? because of their ‘why’. They wanted to create a flying machine that could take people on far distances in a short time. What was the ‘why’ of the other man? To become famous and get a paycheck. This story shows that the ‘why’ is very important in life.
These are the subjects I’ve found the most useful among hundreds of pages I read last year. I hope you’ll find at least some of them useful and that this article will inspire you to look for more.
January 22, 2015
Physically disabled = more mentally able?
Lately I’ve been really surprised and inspired by two amazing women, who, despite their disability, have shown strong will and hard work could make their dreams come true and the physical limitations could not stop them from achieving what they want.
Fist of them is Christine Ha – the winner of the Amercian MasterChef season 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7gxi.... She is an absolutely amazing cook and she is blind. Can you imagine cooking with closed eyes? If you can’t watch this MasterChef episode from minute 20:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK_X... What was fantastic to watch in the 3rd season of MasterChef was the development of Christine. When you see her in the eliminations, she’s very shy. Throughout the competition the judges have to convince her many times she’s amazing, because she thinks she’ll go home. She worries that she’s only a burden in the team challenges. But slowly, she starts to know her value. And in the final episode, when she answers to Josh: “The title is mine, baby” – it says it all. The competition gave her faith and strength, I guess she never expected to have. After watching this season, I really believed even more than ever, that everything is possible. Here you can visit Christine’s website: http://www.theblindcook.com
Some of you might have not even heard of the second woman I want to describe yet, but I’m sure you will do soon. Victoria Modesta is a disabled Latvian pop artist. You can see her music video, called “Prototype” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA8in...
One of the Modesta’s legs was amputated. But instead of hiding it, as is a common behavior, she’s showing it off! She uses different artificial limbs as if they were pieces of fashionable! Sometimes, watching her, you might even have this weird thought come to your mind: ‘Wow, I don’t have such an awesome leg’ – which obviously a moment later you call yourself stupid. Modesta also appears in her music video without any artificial limb, showing her short leg. I was absolutely blown away when I saw it.
And it’s not about tastes, if you like it or not. I saw some comments saying that she’s overexposing her disability. Your opinion is up to you. What it’s all about, is that it’s about the power of her dreams. Can you imagine how hard It was for her? It is difficult enough to become a pop star. And for a disabled? It seemed simply impossible until she appeared. Image how many times she heard refusal, how many times people laughed at her. For me, she showed a lot of courage to fight with the stereotypes and prejudices against the disabled.
She becomes famous now, but before it all happened, she must have fought many battles, failed many times and cry numerous nights. She must have put much more energy than a healthy person, to achieve what she did. And she did it, although so many healthy people fail at doing it. And even though I’m not the fan of the video or the song, I’m the total fan of this woman’s strong will.
Those women show there are no limitations except for those you set for yourself. Imagine: if you were disabled, would you think you can become a MasterChef or a Pop Star? Well, probably I wouldn’t. Until I saw Christine and Modesta. They showed to all of us that all you need is hard work, faith, dreams and a lot of sweat. I know, they are only examples of amazing disabled people showing us miracles happening every day. When I have days of doubt, I remind myself about them and they give me strength to go ahead. I hope after this article, they’ll do for you too.
Fist of them is Christine Ha – the winner of the Amercian MasterChef season 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7gxi.... She is an absolutely amazing cook and she is blind. Can you imagine cooking with closed eyes? If you can’t watch this MasterChef episode from minute 20:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK_X... What was fantastic to watch in the 3rd season of MasterChef was the development of Christine. When you see her in the eliminations, she’s very shy. Throughout the competition the judges have to convince her many times she’s amazing, because she thinks she’ll go home. She worries that she’s only a burden in the team challenges. But slowly, she starts to know her value. And in the final episode, when she answers to Josh: “The title is mine, baby” – it says it all. The competition gave her faith and strength, I guess she never expected to have. After watching this season, I really believed even more than ever, that everything is possible. Here you can visit Christine’s website: http://www.theblindcook.com
Some of you might have not even heard of the second woman I want to describe yet, but I’m sure you will do soon. Victoria Modesta is a disabled Latvian pop artist. You can see her music video, called “Prototype” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA8in...
One of the Modesta’s legs was amputated. But instead of hiding it, as is a common behavior, she’s showing it off! She uses different artificial limbs as if they were pieces of fashionable! Sometimes, watching her, you might even have this weird thought come to your mind: ‘Wow, I don’t have such an awesome leg’ – which obviously a moment later you call yourself stupid. Modesta also appears in her music video without any artificial limb, showing her short leg. I was absolutely blown away when I saw it.
And it’s not about tastes, if you like it or not. I saw some comments saying that she’s overexposing her disability. Your opinion is up to you. What it’s all about, is that it’s about the power of her dreams. Can you imagine how hard It was for her? It is difficult enough to become a pop star. And for a disabled? It seemed simply impossible until she appeared. Image how many times she heard refusal, how many times people laughed at her. For me, she showed a lot of courage to fight with the stereotypes and prejudices against the disabled.
She becomes famous now, but before it all happened, she must have fought many battles, failed many times and cry numerous nights. She must have put much more energy than a healthy person, to achieve what she did. And she did it, although so many healthy people fail at doing it. And even though I’m not the fan of the video or the song, I’m the total fan of this woman’s strong will.
Those women show there are no limitations except for those you set for yourself. Imagine: if you were disabled, would you think you can become a MasterChef or a Pop Star? Well, probably I wouldn’t. Until I saw Christine and Modesta. They showed to all of us that all you need is hard work, faith, dreams and a lot of sweat. I know, they are only examples of amazing disabled people showing us miracles happening every day. When I have days of doubt, I remind myself about them and they give me strength to go ahead. I hope after this article, they’ll do for you too.
January 15, 2015
Homo Sovieticus
I live in postsocialistic Poland, a country, where we still feel the poor results of the “help and support” of our comrades from the east. In our society, there is still a phenomenon that can be called Homo Sovieticus. It is a way of thinking and acting, especially in relation to job and career, that has been instilled in the minds of people by the Soviets system. It can be seen throughout the people who lived in socialism, those that remember it - meaning the generation of my parents and older people. The young Polish are starting to think in a different way, more like the West. But sometimes the patterns they see at home still influence them strongly.
Let me explain what I mean by Homo Sovieticus. During the socialistic times there was a saying: ‘Down you lie or up you stand Either way you'll earn a grand’. Unfortunately, still there are persons that think this way. Like in Russia some people say they miss Stalin, because the country was so good when he was ruling, some people in Poland miss socialism. You cannot easily blame them: they can’t find themselves in the capitalistic times, most part of their lives they were working there, where they were told. They felt safe as they had a secure job they were thinking they’d do till the end of their lives. So when they find themselves in the capitalism, where they have to fight in so called ‘rat race’, they don’t know what to do. They are not prepared for this, often don’t have enough education. Another thing is that earlier there were many social services that now aren’t available anymore. Another argument they give for convincing others that socialism was better is that in those times there was very low unemployment. That is true, except for the fact that it was seemingly low. The work that could have been done by one person was done by four. It was obviously very uneconomical, but they won’t understand it. And the thing that makes them scared the most is that they should take some initiative and do something on their own. This is simply impossible for most of them.
Let's take our miners as an example: in the socialistic times their profession had one of the best social services. Now some of the mines are going to be closed, because they don't bring any profits. The miners are offered a job in other mines, but some will be fired. Those latter are offered a salary for two years after the closing of the mines. And there are heavy protests! They can't imagine that for those two years they could start some business on their own. No, they have to get the job from the state. Any creative action is simply impossible, they can't even imagine that. And this is the socialistic thinking.
Fortunately, the young generation mostly thinks in a modern way. I'm aware of the fact that if I don't create a job for myself I probably won't find anything satisfying. Some things, that for our parents are still new and surprising, for us are totally normal: like for example Schengen zone and no controls at the borders. When I tell my parents I'm fighting with some shop, because its service wasn't satisfying, they tell me: 'Don't bother. You won't win anything'. Well, obviously I will. Because now it's the time that if the shop doesn't respect its clients, it'll certainly loose them, as there are so many other, similar services. But you have to think in a modern way to fully understand that.
Obviously, all people are different and have their individual ways of thinking. But generally, the socialistic thinking is still present in our society and that's what concerns me, because without getting totally read of this ideology, we won't be able to fully move forward.
Let me explain what I mean by Homo Sovieticus. During the socialistic times there was a saying: ‘Down you lie or up you stand Either way you'll earn a grand’. Unfortunately, still there are persons that think this way. Like in Russia some people say they miss Stalin, because the country was so good when he was ruling, some people in Poland miss socialism. You cannot easily blame them: they can’t find themselves in the capitalistic times, most part of their lives they were working there, where they were told. They felt safe as they had a secure job they were thinking they’d do till the end of their lives. So when they find themselves in the capitalism, where they have to fight in so called ‘rat race’, they don’t know what to do. They are not prepared for this, often don’t have enough education. Another thing is that earlier there were many social services that now aren’t available anymore. Another argument they give for convincing others that socialism was better is that in those times there was very low unemployment. That is true, except for the fact that it was seemingly low. The work that could have been done by one person was done by four. It was obviously very uneconomical, but they won’t understand it. And the thing that makes them scared the most is that they should take some initiative and do something on their own. This is simply impossible for most of them.
Let's take our miners as an example: in the socialistic times their profession had one of the best social services. Now some of the mines are going to be closed, because they don't bring any profits. The miners are offered a job in other mines, but some will be fired. Those latter are offered a salary for two years after the closing of the mines. And there are heavy protests! They can't imagine that for those two years they could start some business on their own. No, they have to get the job from the state. Any creative action is simply impossible, they can't even imagine that. And this is the socialistic thinking.
Fortunately, the young generation mostly thinks in a modern way. I'm aware of the fact that if I don't create a job for myself I probably won't find anything satisfying. Some things, that for our parents are still new and surprising, for us are totally normal: like for example Schengen zone and no controls at the borders. When I tell my parents I'm fighting with some shop, because its service wasn't satisfying, they tell me: 'Don't bother. You won't win anything'. Well, obviously I will. Because now it's the time that if the shop doesn't respect its clients, it'll certainly loose them, as there are so many other, similar services. But you have to think in a modern way to fully understand that.
Obviously, all people are different and have their individual ways of thinking. But generally, the socialistic thinking is still present in our society and that's what concerns me, because without getting totally read of this ideology, we won't be able to fully move forward.
January 8, 2015
Singing in the underground
Lately I’ve been a witness of a conversation about behaviors in the underground. One of the speakers was saying that everybody just sits and stares at their smartphones or other shiny displays. His opponent was proving that it’s not true, as many people, especially the old ones, have the need to talk and they start conversations with strangers.
It reminded me about a funny experience I had on the underground in Barcelona. There was a teenage girl (around 18 years old) with overweight, wearing a pink T-shirt with Mickey Mouse. On the other side of the door there was sitting an old man with a storm of gray hair, wearing too short trousers. If you remember the portraits of Beethoven – that’s exactly what this man looked like. The girl was listening to some romantic songs from her phone, mostly Celine Dion and a few Spanish ones, and she was singing them aloud totally out of tune. All the people were staring at her puzzled, but she didn’t care about it at all. The funniest of all was the reaction of the Beethoven-like man. He was reading a book through his twisted glasses, but every few seconds he had a look at her with a murder wish on his face. His eyes were saying that she was committing a crime against the music (maybe he really was a reincarnation of Beethoven) and peace. The girl didn’t even seem to notice any of it – she continued to wail her doleful songs and she seemed very happy.
I have two observations coming out of this story. First – it is crucial to accept yourself. If you like how you look, if you know you are good at something, nobody can stop you from achieving what you want. Because you will not care about what people say, you will care only about your goal. And, you will be happy. Besides, every inventor or a successful person had a time in their lives when people were laughing at them or calling them “crazy” or even “idiots”. But as Ghandi said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” So it’s crucial to be self confident and to do that you have to accept yourself. You have to be aware that you’re not perfect, as nobody is, but you are special and unique, and you can change the world and the life of others. The girl singing in the metro didn’t care at all that everybody was staring at her either with laughter or with anger. She was just happy and the opinions of people who didn’t accept her as she was didn’t have any meaning. And even though the Beethoven-guy seemed also to be a little eccentric, as the most of the population would say, he was also easily judging the girl. And who of all of the people in the underground was the happiest, you think? The observers holding strongly to the rules they were taught or the girl breaking the rules and living the way she wanted it?
My second thought is about spending time in the public transport. It is true that most of us just hide by staring into some glowing display. But as you see, in the public transport you can observe people, their behaviors, problems and joys, you can meet someone valuable. Or you can just spend this time with yourself. I mean, giving you the time to let your thoughts flow. How many times during the day you are immersed in your thoughts? Probably zero. So make yourself this little gift and spend this time with yourself. If you do so, you will get to know yourself better, find out what you really dream about, understand your everyday behaviors, frustrations and reactions. You can be surprised how many ideas or solutions can come to you when you spend the time just with yourself.
To sum up, I highly recommend you see this video that I was deeply moved by: http://blog.petflow.com/a-video-every...
Have a nice week!
It reminded me about a funny experience I had on the underground in Barcelona. There was a teenage girl (around 18 years old) with overweight, wearing a pink T-shirt with Mickey Mouse. On the other side of the door there was sitting an old man with a storm of gray hair, wearing too short trousers. If you remember the portraits of Beethoven – that’s exactly what this man looked like. The girl was listening to some romantic songs from her phone, mostly Celine Dion and a few Spanish ones, and she was singing them aloud totally out of tune. All the people were staring at her puzzled, but she didn’t care about it at all. The funniest of all was the reaction of the Beethoven-like man. He was reading a book through his twisted glasses, but every few seconds he had a look at her with a murder wish on his face. His eyes were saying that she was committing a crime against the music (maybe he really was a reincarnation of Beethoven) and peace. The girl didn’t even seem to notice any of it – she continued to wail her doleful songs and she seemed very happy.
I have two observations coming out of this story. First – it is crucial to accept yourself. If you like how you look, if you know you are good at something, nobody can stop you from achieving what you want. Because you will not care about what people say, you will care only about your goal. And, you will be happy. Besides, every inventor or a successful person had a time in their lives when people were laughing at them or calling them “crazy” or even “idiots”. But as Ghandi said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” So it’s crucial to be self confident and to do that you have to accept yourself. You have to be aware that you’re not perfect, as nobody is, but you are special and unique, and you can change the world and the life of others. The girl singing in the metro didn’t care at all that everybody was staring at her either with laughter or with anger. She was just happy and the opinions of people who didn’t accept her as she was didn’t have any meaning. And even though the Beethoven-guy seemed also to be a little eccentric, as the most of the population would say, he was also easily judging the girl. And who of all of the people in the underground was the happiest, you think? The observers holding strongly to the rules they were taught or the girl breaking the rules and living the way she wanted it?
My second thought is about spending time in the public transport. It is true that most of us just hide by staring into some glowing display. But as you see, in the public transport you can observe people, their behaviors, problems and joys, you can meet someone valuable. Or you can just spend this time with yourself. I mean, giving you the time to let your thoughts flow. How many times during the day you are immersed in your thoughts? Probably zero. So make yourself this little gift and spend this time with yourself. If you do so, you will get to know yourself better, find out what you really dream about, understand your everyday behaviors, frustrations and reactions. You can be surprised how many ideas or solutions can come to you when you spend the time just with yourself.
To sum up, I highly recommend you see this video that I was deeply moved by: http://blog.petflow.com/a-video-every...
Have a nice week!
January 1, 2015
Secret forces on Earth
My dad always reminds me that nothing happens by accident. I’ve experienced it is true many times, but none of my experiences compares with the one of my friend.
A few months ago, she and her mom had a car crash – a lorry has hit their back. Even though the car was half damaged, fortunately they weren’t injured. But as a result of heavy stress the mom of my friend had some convulsions.
After the accident, the lady also has suffered strong headaches that hadn’t been happening before. Eventually, she decided to go to consult the doctor. What was her surprise, when after doing a magnetic resonance it turned out she had a tumor in her head! Of course, it wasn’t caused by the accident, but thanks to the car crash it got discovered. It turned out, it was a perfect moment to start the medical treatment and the lady has already undergone a successful surgery. Other patients, lying with her in hospital, were congratulating her discovering the tumor in the perfect moment, because the doctors were still able to cut it all out. In other cases there had to be some parts left, not to damage the brain. My friend’s mom is feeling well and she recovers at home after the surgery.
When I heard this story I was blown away. There is really some secret force, depending what you believe in, you can call it: God, Allah, Universe, etc. But there is something like the Guardian Angel who takes care of us and protects us. Sometimes we just have to listen to its silent voice. But we are not alone in the fight for survival, we are not alone against the evil powers of this world. Thinking about it makes me feel stronger and ready to face new challenges.
And with this optimistic story, let’s enter the New Year. Let it be happy, full of love and dreams coming true. Happy New Year of 2015!
A few months ago, she and her mom had a car crash – a lorry has hit their back. Even though the car was half damaged, fortunately they weren’t injured. But as a result of heavy stress the mom of my friend had some convulsions.
After the accident, the lady also has suffered strong headaches that hadn’t been happening before. Eventually, she decided to go to consult the doctor. What was her surprise, when after doing a magnetic resonance it turned out she had a tumor in her head! Of course, it wasn’t caused by the accident, but thanks to the car crash it got discovered. It turned out, it was a perfect moment to start the medical treatment and the lady has already undergone a successful surgery. Other patients, lying with her in hospital, were congratulating her discovering the tumor in the perfect moment, because the doctors were still able to cut it all out. In other cases there had to be some parts left, not to damage the brain. My friend’s mom is feeling well and she recovers at home after the surgery.
When I heard this story I was blown away. There is really some secret force, depending what you believe in, you can call it: God, Allah, Universe, etc. But there is something like the Guardian Angel who takes care of us and protects us. Sometimes we just have to listen to its silent voice. But we are not alone in the fight for survival, we are not alone against the evil powers of this world. Thinking about it makes me feel stronger and ready to face new challenges.
And with this optimistic story, let’s enter the New Year. Let it be happy, full of love and dreams coming true. Happy New Year of 2015!
December 27, 2014
A short story inspired by Christmas
Once upon a time there was an Angel on the top of a Christmas Tree. She was wearing a white dress and its long, blond hair were shining in the Christmas lights. The Angel liked to dance and throw colorful sparks into the air. She was so happy to see all the family of the house smiling and preparing the perfect Christmas. The little creature couldn't wait till the Christmas morning: everybody will be opening the presents and the Angel will be sending them her blessing.
During the night of 24 December the Angel couldn't sleep. She was so excited that she was all the time flying from one branch of the tree to another, looking if the Santa Claus was already arriving. She was just going to put her little feet on the top branch of the tree, when some noise distracted her. Her foot slipped, she lost balance and fall down. Screaming, she was sure it was the end. Falling, she hit a few branched and her wings got broken. Fortunately, at the last moment she landed on the lowest branch of the tree.
It took her a while to catch her breath again. After a moment, she got up and managed to stand on her shaking legs. The Angel looked around: it seemed much darker here, the branches were much longer and there were less decorations. Finally, she managed to see her own, empty branch – very high up. The Angel looked at herself: her hair was tangled and lost its shine, her dress was torn and the wings were broken. The little creature started to cry. ‘What should I do?’ – she was thinking.
After a moment of despair, she decided to ask somebody for help. Slowly passing from one branch to another, she arrived to a Chain made of thousands of tiny, shiny ribbons.
- ‘Excuse me’ – said the Angel. – ‘Could you give me one of your ribbons? My dress is torn and I need to repair it and you have so many of them’.
- ‘What a question?!’ – said the Chain with an angry voice. – ‘First, she’s showing off all the time up there and now she wants to destroy me and make me feel even less attractive. If you’re so beautiful as you think, you don’t need my ribbon”.
- ‘I’m very sorry’ – answered the Angel – ‘I wasn’t aware you think I’m showing off. And I don’t think I’m so beautiful’.
- ‘Bla bla bla. Go away.’ – said the Chain.
The Angel was devastated. She never thought she was showing off. She just wanted the Christmas Tree to look as good as it only could and she was trying to add some shine to it. Maybe the Chain just had a bad day? Maybe it was scared that the Santa won’t arrive in time? Having such thoughts in mind the Angel arrived to the Box – a decoration imitating a real present. She asked him for a ribbon, but the answer was very similar to the previous one. The Angel was confused: ‘Was I really so rude to them? Even if I didn’t realize that?’ – she kept on thinking.
Eventually, she decided that the most important thing at the moment was to arrive to the top of the Tree again. There she’ll find a way to repair her dress. She went then to the Fairy Lights.
- ‘Dear Lights’ – the Angel said – ‘could you help me to go back to my branch? I’m lost and my wings are broken. On my own I will not manage to arrive there till the morning comes.’ - she asked as nice as she only could.
But the Lights looked at her haughtily.
- ‘You want us to help you? Since when you know we exist? You think you’re the most beautiful shine of this Tree, so go on your own.’
Poor Angel. Crying quietly she was walking slowly from one branch to another, lost in despair. She knew Santa Claus would be there any minute. What will he think seeing a Christmas Tree without an angel? And what will the Kids say when in the morning they don’t see her?
Suddenly, she heard a hoarse voice:
- ‘Why are you crying, my dear child?’
The Angel looked around and noticed an old Glass Ball smiling to her. The Angel realized that she heard many stories about this Glass Ball. She has been in the family for over 100 years. She was already old, with many scratches on her faded paint. That is why she was always at the very back of the Tree, but she didn’t seem to care about it at all. She was so nice and calm that the Angel sat down and between the sobs she told the Glass Ball what had happened to her. The Glass Ball was stroking her arm with compassion. When the Angel finished, the Glass Ball turned red of anger.
- ‘What was that supposed to be?’ – she shouted so loudly that the whole Tree could hear her and even the Angel got a little scared. – ‘We are the symbols of unity and help during Christmas and you are behaving this way? You are too proud to behave as the Spirit of Christmas has told us. You are undeserving of being on this Tree!’ – the decorations that hadn't helped the Angel got small of shame. But the Glass Ball continued: - ‘Do you really think she does all that because she’s selfish? How do you imagine a Christmas Tree without an angel? What would you tell to the kids tomorrow?’ - Not waiting for the answer she turned to the Angel and with a calm and kind voice she said: ‘Come, Angel. Don’t worry. You will be there, when the kids wake up in the morning.’
And the old Glass Ball kept her promise. She combed the Angel’s hair with the Tree’s needles, so that it was shining again. With the help of a few Christmas Dolls she repaired her dress. She used the juices of the Tree to cure the Angel’s wings. Eventually, she asked another Chain to take the Angel to the top of the Tree as she was still too weak to fly on her own.
- I don’t know how to thank you – said the Angel, hugging her for a goodbye.
- Just be the most beautiful decoration on this Tree and send your blessing to everybody around – answered the Glass Ball. – That would be the best award for me.
The Angel wanted to add something else, but her voice broke of emotions. The Glass Ball clapped her on the shoulder and said:
- ‘Go, child, go. Look, the Santa is coming.’
And, as always, she was right. First, they heard a heavy breath and then they saw a big, old man wearing a red coat entering the room. He was carrying a bag full of presents. The Angel kissed the Glass Ball one more time and, with the help of the Chain, within a few moments she was back to the top of the Tree.
Ah, it was so amazing to be there again. She saw the Santa Claus putting the presents under the Tree and quietly leaving the house. In the morning she saw the kids running to the Tree, opening the gifts and showing her, what they got. The Angel was sending her blessing to their laughing faces and to everyone she could see in the house. When the guests arrived, the first thing the kids have shown them was their beautiful Angel at the top of the Christmas Tree.
But the Angel didn’t forget about her adventure. She helped the old Glass Ball to move to the front of the Tree. She was so special she couldn't be hidden in the shadow. She also visited the decorations that hadn't helped her earlier, and that were very ashamed of their actions now. She left them some of her sparks, so that the bottom of the Tree didn't seem worse than the top.
It was the happiest Christmas in the Angel’s life. She understood that the beauty of the Tree doesn’t depend only on her look, but also on the one of the others. She realized, she can help every decoration to feel good, beautiful and shiny. When she was packed in the box, to wait there until the next Christmas, she was already planning how to organize a beauty salon on the Tree next year.
During the night of 24 December the Angel couldn't sleep. She was so excited that she was all the time flying from one branch of the tree to another, looking if the Santa Claus was already arriving. She was just going to put her little feet on the top branch of the tree, when some noise distracted her. Her foot slipped, she lost balance and fall down. Screaming, she was sure it was the end. Falling, she hit a few branched and her wings got broken. Fortunately, at the last moment she landed on the lowest branch of the tree.
It took her a while to catch her breath again. After a moment, she got up and managed to stand on her shaking legs. The Angel looked around: it seemed much darker here, the branches were much longer and there were less decorations. Finally, she managed to see her own, empty branch – very high up. The Angel looked at herself: her hair was tangled and lost its shine, her dress was torn and the wings were broken. The little creature started to cry. ‘What should I do?’ – she was thinking.
After a moment of despair, she decided to ask somebody for help. Slowly passing from one branch to another, she arrived to a Chain made of thousands of tiny, shiny ribbons.
- ‘Excuse me’ – said the Angel. – ‘Could you give me one of your ribbons? My dress is torn and I need to repair it and you have so many of them’.
- ‘What a question?!’ – said the Chain with an angry voice. – ‘First, she’s showing off all the time up there and now she wants to destroy me and make me feel even less attractive. If you’re so beautiful as you think, you don’t need my ribbon”.
- ‘I’m very sorry’ – answered the Angel – ‘I wasn’t aware you think I’m showing off. And I don’t think I’m so beautiful’.
- ‘Bla bla bla. Go away.’ – said the Chain.
The Angel was devastated. She never thought she was showing off. She just wanted the Christmas Tree to look as good as it only could and she was trying to add some shine to it. Maybe the Chain just had a bad day? Maybe it was scared that the Santa won’t arrive in time? Having such thoughts in mind the Angel arrived to the Box – a decoration imitating a real present. She asked him for a ribbon, but the answer was very similar to the previous one. The Angel was confused: ‘Was I really so rude to them? Even if I didn’t realize that?’ – she kept on thinking.
Eventually, she decided that the most important thing at the moment was to arrive to the top of the Tree again. There she’ll find a way to repair her dress. She went then to the Fairy Lights.
- ‘Dear Lights’ – the Angel said – ‘could you help me to go back to my branch? I’m lost and my wings are broken. On my own I will not manage to arrive there till the morning comes.’ - she asked as nice as she only could.
But the Lights looked at her haughtily.
- ‘You want us to help you? Since when you know we exist? You think you’re the most beautiful shine of this Tree, so go on your own.’
Poor Angel. Crying quietly she was walking slowly from one branch to another, lost in despair. She knew Santa Claus would be there any minute. What will he think seeing a Christmas Tree without an angel? And what will the Kids say when in the morning they don’t see her?
Suddenly, she heard a hoarse voice:
- ‘Why are you crying, my dear child?’
The Angel looked around and noticed an old Glass Ball smiling to her. The Angel realized that she heard many stories about this Glass Ball. She has been in the family for over 100 years. She was already old, with many scratches on her faded paint. That is why she was always at the very back of the Tree, but she didn’t seem to care about it at all. She was so nice and calm that the Angel sat down and between the sobs she told the Glass Ball what had happened to her. The Glass Ball was stroking her arm with compassion. When the Angel finished, the Glass Ball turned red of anger.
- ‘What was that supposed to be?’ – she shouted so loudly that the whole Tree could hear her and even the Angel got a little scared. – ‘We are the symbols of unity and help during Christmas and you are behaving this way? You are too proud to behave as the Spirit of Christmas has told us. You are undeserving of being on this Tree!’ – the decorations that hadn't helped the Angel got small of shame. But the Glass Ball continued: - ‘Do you really think she does all that because she’s selfish? How do you imagine a Christmas Tree without an angel? What would you tell to the kids tomorrow?’ - Not waiting for the answer she turned to the Angel and with a calm and kind voice she said: ‘Come, Angel. Don’t worry. You will be there, when the kids wake up in the morning.’
And the old Glass Ball kept her promise. She combed the Angel’s hair with the Tree’s needles, so that it was shining again. With the help of a few Christmas Dolls she repaired her dress. She used the juices of the Tree to cure the Angel’s wings. Eventually, she asked another Chain to take the Angel to the top of the Tree as she was still too weak to fly on her own.
- I don’t know how to thank you – said the Angel, hugging her for a goodbye.
- Just be the most beautiful decoration on this Tree and send your blessing to everybody around – answered the Glass Ball. – That would be the best award for me.
The Angel wanted to add something else, but her voice broke of emotions. The Glass Ball clapped her on the shoulder and said:
- ‘Go, child, go. Look, the Santa is coming.’
And, as always, she was right. First, they heard a heavy breath and then they saw a big, old man wearing a red coat entering the room. He was carrying a bag full of presents. The Angel kissed the Glass Ball one more time and, with the help of the Chain, within a few moments she was back to the top of the Tree.
Ah, it was so amazing to be there again. She saw the Santa Claus putting the presents under the Tree and quietly leaving the house. In the morning she saw the kids running to the Tree, opening the gifts and showing her, what they got. The Angel was sending her blessing to their laughing faces and to everyone she could see in the house. When the guests arrived, the first thing the kids have shown them was their beautiful Angel at the top of the Christmas Tree.
But the Angel didn’t forget about her adventure. She helped the old Glass Ball to move to the front of the Tree. She was so special she couldn't be hidden in the shadow. She also visited the decorations that hadn't helped her earlier, and that were very ashamed of their actions now. She left them some of her sparks, so that the bottom of the Tree didn't seem worse than the top.
It was the happiest Christmas in the Angel’s life. She understood that the beauty of the Tree doesn’t depend only on her look, but also on the one of the others. She realized, she can help every decoration to feel good, beautiful and shiny. When she was packed in the box, to wait there until the next Christmas, she was already planning how to organize a beauty salon on the Tree next year.
December 17, 2014
Why do I actually write?
That’s a good question. Sometimes I just feel this deep need to take a pen and write down what’s in my mind and in my heart. Now, it’s time for reflection, why I actually do it.
First of all, I write, because I think that what I have to share can be valuable for other people. I write things that I never have time to tell to my friends, although I would like to. In my books I don't only want to share with people all the amazing memories from my travels, but I also want to give them the courage to make journeys themselves and to discover all the wonders of this world.
But giving this motivation does not only apply to traveling. It’s about taking actions and making your dreams come true. Yes, I know, this phrase you’ve heard already so many times. But have you executed it in your own life?
On this blog, I’ll be writing not only my thought and observations, but especially the things I’d like people to pay attention to, like: having a happy life, managing the ‘rat race’, etc. I’m reading many books about personal development and it worries me that so few people do it and as an effect realize that they’d like to change something in their lives. Especially when I look at my colleagues and young people, who follow the same paths as their parents had done, although they didn’t lead them to happy results. So I want to share this knowledge, scream it out so that everybody can take control over their lives. If they listen to me? Well, it’s not up to me.
Throughout all my life I’ve been inventing stories. Lately I found out, what I love to do is telling fairy tales. Not only through my pictures, but also with words. Of course, nothing in my travel books is invented. They are the registration of my experiences. By fairy tales I mean fantasy stories that you still didn’t have the chance to read, but I hope soon you will.
Another reason why I write is very dimple: because I like it. I’ve discovered just lately how much I do.
Having it all said, I can move on to write something new.
First of all, I write, because I think that what I have to share can be valuable for other people. I write things that I never have time to tell to my friends, although I would like to. In my books I don't only want to share with people all the amazing memories from my travels, but I also want to give them the courage to make journeys themselves and to discover all the wonders of this world.
But giving this motivation does not only apply to traveling. It’s about taking actions and making your dreams come true. Yes, I know, this phrase you’ve heard already so many times. But have you executed it in your own life?
On this blog, I’ll be writing not only my thought and observations, but especially the things I’d like people to pay attention to, like: having a happy life, managing the ‘rat race’, etc. I’m reading many books about personal development and it worries me that so few people do it and as an effect realize that they’d like to change something in their lives. Especially when I look at my colleagues and young people, who follow the same paths as their parents had done, although they didn’t lead them to happy results. So I want to share this knowledge, scream it out so that everybody can take control over their lives. If they listen to me? Well, it’s not up to me.
Throughout all my life I’ve been inventing stories. Lately I found out, what I love to do is telling fairy tales. Not only through my pictures, but also with words. Of course, nothing in my travel books is invented. They are the registration of my experiences. By fairy tales I mean fantasy stories that you still didn’t have the chance to read, but I hope soon you will.
Another reason why I write is very dimple: because I like it. I’ve discovered just lately how much I do.
Having it all said, I can move on to write something new.
December 13, 2014
Why is it better to move your ...?
How many of you have a dream? Probably many. How many of you make it come true? Probably not that many. Why? Well, probably you like your couch too much. Or your work. Or anything else. Let’s say you have a dream. You’re sitting on your couch thinking: ‘No, today I won’t start doing it because:
1) I’m tired
2) It’s too expensive
3) It’s raining
4) My dog needs me
5) My husband has two left hands and can’t cook
6) I can as well start it next week when I have more time’.
How many excuses can you invent? Probably endless numbers. And the whole thing is about moving your ass.
Have you ever noticed that when you stay home, bored on your couch, you actually don’t feel good at all? Compare it to the feeling when you achieve some goal, even if it’s just making a call or asking a stranger for a photo. You see what I mean? That’s a good start.
Have you ever watched Masterchef? I’ll use this example, because I love it. I especially recommend you watching the Junior Masterchef. Those kids are amazing! Their passion for cooking and joy of life are endless! For me, they are an inspiration. Watching them, in my mind I always see my cousin, who is their age and who doesn’t have any hobby. She spends all days long by her computer and repeats like a broken CD: ‘I’m bored’. Well, of course you are. And although she’s doing nothing (which theoretically is the favorite ‘action’ of most people) and those kids from Junior Masterchef are spending hours and hours in the kitchen, practicing for many years, we all know who is happier.
Sometimes I think I have too many hobbies and often I don’t know on which to focus. But then I’m happy as I remind myself of many of my colleagues telling me: ‘You’re so lucky, because you found what you love to do.’ I’m not lucky. I’m just active, curious of the world and trying new possibilities. Meaning? Something everybody can do if only they move their ass.
I believe everybody can find sth they truly love doing and achieve something great in it. But awards don’t come for nothing. I have read that to become a master in something, you should spend 10 000 hours on doing that. Yes, the number of zeroes is correct. It is a lot of time! And you won’t be able to spend so much of it on doing something unless you truly love it. So, for example, if you’re unable to get up at 4 am to catch the perfect light, carry heavy equipment, spend hours in the cold waiting for one, ideal shot or drive many kilometers to find what you want – photography is not your passion.
It happens that somebody achieves a huge success at the very first try. Beginner’s luck. But I am not jealous of such people. Even more, I feel sorry for them. Because after a massive success, there probably will come a huge frustration and disappointment, as they won’t be able to repeat such an achievement, because they’re not prepared and don’t have enough skills yet. On a film festival I’ve met a guy whose one of his first videos scored 1 million Youtube views in just a week. And he had this fear if his next video will be as good as the previous one. The pressure he felt was too much for him.
When you watch the Masterchef Final or the Oscars, you think ‘Wow!’. You want to feel like that, like achieving the Mount Everest in your category, like feeling unbeatable, being in euphoria. And imagine that this how you imagine this feeling is nothing comparing to the real feeling itself. And you can taste it one day. The problem is that watching great victories, for example the sport ones, we don’t see the countless hours of practicing, tears, sweat, failure and disappointment that were present on the way to victory. But this is what the learning process is all about.
So why is it better to move your ass? I’ll answer you with a question: What do you prefer? To be bored, unhappy and complaining about the world or to be active, full of passion and energy while reaching for the stars? Yes, this is what you’re missing when everyday you invent new excuses not to start doing anything.
1) I’m tired
2) It’s too expensive
3) It’s raining
4) My dog needs me
5) My husband has two left hands and can’t cook
6) I can as well start it next week when I have more time’.
How many excuses can you invent? Probably endless numbers. And the whole thing is about moving your ass.
Have you ever noticed that when you stay home, bored on your couch, you actually don’t feel good at all? Compare it to the feeling when you achieve some goal, even if it’s just making a call or asking a stranger for a photo. You see what I mean? That’s a good start.
Have you ever watched Masterchef? I’ll use this example, because I love it. I especially recommend you watching the Junior Masterchef. Those kids are amazing! Their passion for cooking and joy of life are endless! For me, they are an inspiration. Watching them, in my mind I always see my cousin, who is their age and who doesn’t have any hobby. She spends all days long by her computer and repeats like a broken CD: ‘I’m bored’. Well, of course you are. And although she’s doing nothing (which theoretically is the favorite ‘action’ of most people) and those kids from Junior Masterchef are spending hours and hours in the kitchen, practicing for many years, we all know who is happier.
Sometimes I think I have too many hobbies and often I don’t know on which to focus. But then I’m happy as I remind myself of many of my colleagues telling me: ‘You’re so lucky, because you found what you love to do.’ I’m not lucky. I’m just active, curious of the world and trying new possibilities. Meaning? Something everybody can do if only they move their ass.
I believe everybody can find sth they truly love doing and achieve something great in it. But awards don’t come for nothing. I have read that to become a master in something, you should spend 10 000 hours on doing that. Yes, the number of zeroes is correct. It is a lot of time! And you won’t be able to spend so much of it on doing something unless you truly love it. So, for example, if you’re unable to get up at 4 am to catch the perfect light, carry heavy equipment, spend hours in the cold waiting for one, ideal shot or drive many kilometers to find what you want – photography is not your passion.
It happens that somebody achieves a huge success at the very first try. Beginner’s luck. But I am not jealous of such people. Even more, I feel sorry for them. Because after a massive success, there probably will come a huge frustration and disappointment, as they won’t be able to repeat such an achievement, because they’re not prepared and don’t have enough skills yet. On a film festival I’ve met a guy whose one of his first videos scored 1 million Youtube views in just a week. And he had this fear if his next video will be as good as the previous one. The pressure he felt was too much for him.
When you watch the Masterchef Final or the Oscars, you think ‘Wow!’. You want to feel like that, like achieving the Mount Everest in your category, like feeling unbeatable, being in euphoria. And imagine that this how you imagine this feeling is nothing comparing to the real feeling itself. And you can taste it one day. The problem is that watching great victories, for example the sport ones, we don’t see the countless hours of practicing, tears, sweat, failure and disappointment that were present on the way to victory. But this is what the learning process is all about.
So why is it better to move your ass? I’ll answer you with a question: What do you prefer? To be bored, unhappy and complaining about the world or to be active, full of passion and energy while reaching for the stars? Yes, this is what you’re missing when everyday you invent new excuses not to start doing anything.
I'm thinking about...
I believe the world is a fairytale. We just have to find the way to see it.
I write about the life, the world, what concerns me, what inspires me...
Join me and enjoy! :)
I write about the life, the world, what concerns me, what inspires me...
Join me and enjoy! :)
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