Inspirational Tuesday: on taking Risks

Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.

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Happy Monday: 25 most inspirational songs from Personal Excellence

Hey guys,

Here’s a list of inspirational songs that can make any gloomy and dark Monday (or any other day for that mater) a bit sunnier.

It is posted on one of the best personal development blogs out there, at the moment.

The Personal Excellence Blog is full with amazing quality content! from strategies to achieve my goals, to mastering my emotions and FREE online challenges, I always find something inspiring and helpful on almost any self help/self dev topic I can think of.

Here it is! :)

I am wrapping up the Happy Monday series, for a while at least. However, if and when I will find another positive and inspirational song, I will post it (and you are most welcome to do the same) but I will not commit to it every week. I have other articles and themes I want to concentrate on and share with you.

In the meantime, just be happy! with everything that you have, and everything that you’ve got! :)

Roxi

Happy Monday: Philip Glass – Morning Passages

If you haven’t listened to Philip Glass yet, you should. He created (and still does!) a plethora of symphonies, operas, concertos, amazing pieces of music for motion pictures and collaborated with other famous and outworldly composers and musicians such as Ravi Shankar. Their album, “Passages” (1990), it is so heavy with layered and different musical textures, twists and turns, that I find it hard to listen to it all the time. It requires all my concentrated effort and attention. Not to be listened to in a bus, on a street, but rather inside, in the dark and solitude.

See here for more info on Philip’s life and work!

This piece is from “The Hours” (motion picture, 2002), but it feels to me brisk, subtle and peaceful like a snow-filled morning.

The kind we have right now, and the kind I hope you’ll have today… :)

Inspirational Tuesday: from “The Geography of Bliss” – Eric Weiner

“Not my problem” is not a philosophy. It’s a mental illness. Right up there with pessimism. Other people’s problems are our problems. If your neighbor is laid off, you may feel as if you’ve dodged the bullet, but you haven’t. The bullet hit you as well. You just don’t feel the pain yet. Or as Ruut Veenhoven put it: “The quality of a society is more important than your place in that society.”

In other words, better to be a small fish in a clean pond than a big fish in a polluted lake.

Eric Weiner, “The Geography of Bliss”, Twelve Books, New York, 2008. page 271.

If you’re interested in reading a journalist’s perspective traveling the world in the search of the happiest places, trying to make sense of this alluring and yet, evasive concept (happiness and the places that could provide it), this is a good book to try out. I laughed out loud and was enthralled by it many times. Having asked myself the same questions plenty of times before, especially since I started traveling extensively beginning with my early twenties, I found the book an eye opener on some countries and cultures I have yet to see.

I also took a photo while I was reading it in Sankt Polten last year, accompanied by a very delicious Austrian snack ;)

You can purchase the book here!

Happy Monday: Josh Kelley – Small town boy

I love this song because it reminds me that there is always something better, something out there, something worth fighting for. I am not grounded, I am not a tree. I can move, I can travel. I can dream and explore, and find other places, things, people and experiences to help me on my growth path.

If we do not like where we are at, if we are unhappy, then we owe it to ourselves to try and leave. There is an entire world out there that has something for everyone.

Sometimes, only 2, 5 hours away, by hopping on a train/car and you can reach a different place that is more suitable for you. A different reality altogether. Other times, just a little distance, geographically, can help us put our lives into a different perspective.

Like rediscovering your city by showing it to someone foreign, a stranger; it’s like leaving the map behind when you travel to a new place and having the faith that you will find your way back and that the others WILL help you if you ask. Try it! It is liberating and life changing.

With another new year, what better way to start than by challenging ourselves to get out of our comfort zone?…

Unfortunately, I could not find a good quality video for this song on youtube, but you can listen to it on Grooveshark.