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 363: Back again

It's been a long time since my last post. Mostly, I've been very lazy about feeding this blog; then I just rushed out of ideas, so I thought it was going to be too monotone and I suspended it for a while, that had been a long while. Now I'm back again. Hopefully, this time I'll be much more dedicated, I'll bring new ideas and be stick to my goal of writing a few posts every week. Not a big deal, but from my point of view is a great step.

Zara. It's almost a year that I'm working there. Still with my 16 hours, my same contract and my stockroom overnight duties. I'm getting used to it, I've got lots of spare time that I can spend doing what I like most. Old colleagues leaving, new colleagues coming: always the same story, but I'm quite happy now that we are a nice bunch of people.  

Gym. That's my first passion and that's how I spend a good part of my free time. Now going to the gym much more frequently and early in the morning. Love to have my time when most of the machines are free. Treadmill, row, crunch and push-ups just to warm up, then it starts the real training. I want to get fit before start again doing Krav Maga: it's just a matter of few months, then I'll be back again. 

IELTS. Now I'm studying during most of my spare time. Getting better and better every day, and practising my skills to achieve a good score on the exam booked for the end of this month. I know it's really hard, not only for the required hours of study but even for the specific format, but I think I can do it. I'm quite confident of my skills, but sometimes it's just a matter of luck. In any case, my English is already getting to a new level, even if it wasn't really easy to get there when you're already good at it. 

Roadhouse. IMHO, that's the best club in London. And after a week of work, training and study, it is the best way out. I won't tell you how good they are at making cocktails (even because sometimes I can't remember it, LOL!), but wines and whiskies are good enough to let you enjoy the night. That's my usual way to rock my Fridays, so why don't you join me?!

Day 62: Two Months in London

Sorry. It passed a long time since the last time I wrote a post: I'm sorry, but I was not able to constantly update this blog till now. Time is money as businessmen say: it's not my case, but here in my new life in London the time is short and there are always plenty of things to do. However, from now on I will try to be more consistent: it is one of my good intentions for the coming months and for this new year! 

Changes. Since the last time I wrote (3 Dec. 2012), much changed. Just few days after that date, I found a room in the beautiful area of Wood Green, just 6 minutes from the tube station and within walking distance to all major shops, groceries stores and shopping centre.

Beautiful job. My Zara job goes on well and every day I love and I'm passionate about more and more. Organization and precision have always been two of my main skills and being able to practice them at work makes me excited: it's always nice to receive compliments for your work! Indeed, it's really appreciable the British habit of thanking those who work at the end of their shift, as the manager will always say "thank you for your time"... it's preferable not to think to the Italian comparison!

The new year began under a lucky star. I decided that, as I was in London, my new year would have to be absolutely original. So, putting aside my shyness, I went to a meetup with other 250 people in a traditional British pub in St. James's Park. Funny and amazing night: I drank good wine, I watched the fireworks on the Thames from a great spot, and above all, I talked to many people and take ​​contacts of some of them to meet them again in the future. A great experience.

My English is going better every day: movies, books and conversations with different people are helping me a lot to improve my vocabulary and my pronunciation. But it can never be enough! Indeed, one of the goals in the coming months is definitely to attend more meet-ups and meet as many people who speak English as possible, to attend an advanced class in writing and conversation and to get the IELTS Certificate with a good score. More effort and commitment in 2013.

Among many good intentions, the first one is to be more punctual. Too many times in the two past months here I've been late and for the British punctuality does really matter. I'm not talking about work, except for once when I made a mistake calculating the travel time from my new home to job place, but especially in interpersonal relationships. I have to learn to better manage my time within the next two months: this is my goal!

Two more. Finally, in addition to the previously stated goal of learning to iron shirts, there are two more good intentions related to each other: sleep less and make special every new day. Seven hours each night will be enough because sleeping more is a luxury. I'm in London, so I wish I could take the best of every day, every hour, every minute, making it special for me, thanking to still be here every time the sun rises.

Lots of ideas for the coming months. Once again, time is short, so now I need to get dressed and go out to attend the next meet-up, before it's too late.

Stay tuned! (I stole this beautiful expression to a dear friend of mine!)