Day 539: Cutting the grass

The garden of my life. Cutting the grass can be a life-changing experience. It's not clearly about the mowing itself, while much more about its metaphorical meaning. When you cut the grass, you make new life blooming in your garden: cutting the grass and weeding out nourish the soil and make the perfect foundation for new grass and plants. Life works exactly the same way: everybody faces struggles and challenges, but it's the way you face them that change it all. Weeds is what usually clutter up your life - usually in the form of stress, negativity and procrastination - and make you losing focus on what is really important. That's why is so relevant to weed out your garden and cutting the things that lost their meaning, from time to time. 

"Gardening is a metaphor for life, teaching you to nourish new life and weed out that which cannot succeed" (Nelson Mandela)

Take your time. What works best for me is taking my time to weed out my garden and seed it with positive thinking, wonderful music, inspiring readings and gratitude. Clearing out the clutter regularly makes my life easier, more accessible and focused on what really matters to me. Being open brings abundance, both in life and garden.

Day 538: New challenge - 52 books in 52 weeks

Life is mostly about challenges. So, at the beginning of this year I started this book challenge: reading 52 books in 52 weeks, it means a book a week for a year. Any kind of book is included, the average length is around 200 pages each. This morning, I finished reading "Curtain: Poirot's last case" and I've already started two more books.

Why this challenge? I love reading and I feel that every book I read makes me a better person. I feel much more positive and inspired, like getting a new life every time a new book starts. Sometimes I got lost within my busy schedule and at night I always wished I could have read more during that day. So, I decided to take on this challenge and hopefully inspire others to do the same. While my best score is around 30 books in a year (haven't counted them, just estimated the total books that "passed" in my Kindle and through my hands), since the beginning of this new year I decided to embrace the challenge and purposely read more books, counting them in a list to make things easier.

I don't have time for it. This is the answer I usually get from others while talking about my challenge. And it can be true: we all have very busy lives and other important things to do. Nobody has time, except the one who makes time for it. It's just a choice and even something more: for me it's a gift for myself. You can start small and at your own pace, but I think there is enough time for anybody. Commuting is one of my best time: that's why I always carry a book with me wherever I go, and you could do the same! Making this challenge is about perseverance and resolution: the side effects are improvements in these two attitudes in your everyday life.

Lots of reasons behind it. First of all, reading boosts my capacity to write, opens my mind, my heart and gives me new ideas and points of view. It increases my creativity and set my self-discipline. And it's a great source of inspiration, even though this works better with self-development books and biographies. Secondly, reading improves my relationship with other people. Not only when starting a conversation, but especially about making it deeper, talking more effectively and listening actively to others. In a nutshell, I believe reading is good not only for the time I spent by myself, but especially for the time I spend with others.   

On my way. I don't know if I'll get to accomplishing this challenge, but it's worth trying. To be honest, I'm a little behind my schedule, but the idea that makes me keep going is that there are still lots of wonderful books left to be read. I'm currently reading "Life lessons from the Monk who sold his Ferrari" and "Great speeches of our time". Probably, I'll give updates from time to time about it, but won't be posting much, as you know... I have books to read! :)

PS: Any book recommendation is welcome! 

Day 537: Moving forward

Moving forward is an action. Moving forward means advance or make progress with something. You can't stay still and move at same time: it's against any physical and human law. However, you can move within the same place and far from it. The idea of moving forward is generally matched with a road: could be the unconscious result of inertia or the attentive consequence of a choice. Indeed, it is the best example of moving, towards any direction you're keen to take. It's about gathering all your strengths and weaknesses to take a step, either virtual or real. Usually, during the act of moving, the destination is still unclear: it doesn't mean that there isn't any, it could be just too far from the starting and not wise to focused on it. 

Keep moving. Despite all the obstacles, the secret is keep moving. No matter what's in your road or behind you, your focus point must be ahead. Stick just to positive thoughts and kind actions: you will notice changes in the world around you as well. Follow the example of a house plant: if you feed it with water every day it will thrive, otherwise if neglected it will slowly die. Excuses won't keep it alive, so they will not work either for you. Just persistence is the only thing that works well. Just do something everyday. And remember that talking to others is just one of the way to talk to yourself.