Din parc

Afara este o zi de toamna superba, una din acele zile pe care e pacat sa le irosesti stand intre 4 pereti de beton, una din acele zile care te fac sa iti doresti sa fii afara, sa alergi prin iarba, sa dormi la umbra unui copac uitand de griji si de tot ceea ce te inconjoara, sa fii printre oameni dar singur, doar tu cu tine si eventual micile ganganii care nu iti dau pace, dar al caror joc nevinovat nu te deranjeaza absolut deloc.
Am ales sa fac un lucru, atipic pentru romani, si anume sa stau sa scriu, sa citesc, sa gandesc, tolanit in iarba, in parc. Spun atipic pentru ca traim intr-o tara in care pana si calcatul pe iarba era interzis pana acum mai putin de un an, unde notiunea de iesit la iarba verde se confunda cu urcatul in masina, bineinteles dupa ce iti faci bagajul minim - gratar, lemne, carbuni si carne, un drum de o ora, facut focul, mancat friptura eventual pe ritm de manele, udat totul cu bere la PET din belsug, dupa care hop inapoi in masina si destinatia micul tau palat comunist de la etajul 10 al unui bloc gri.
Azi nu am ales sa fiu rupt de realitate, ci am ales sa iau cu mine laptopul, sa vorbesc cu oameni dragi si sa scriu. Am micul meu coltisor de 2 metri patrati unde zgomotele masinilor parca nu patrund, tipetele celor care protesteaza in fata palatului parlamentului nu razbat, unde se aud doar gandurile mele, freamatul si fosnetul lor generat de procesul de asezare si rearanjare a lor. Totul se transforma, nimic nu se pierde.

Simplicity and happiness

What do you need to be happy? The answer to this question is a perennial one, because as soon as you answer it becomes outdated, because you'll discover something else that you will believe it will make you even happier. Let's call these the traps of the modern world -the things that will make you most of the times forget about the basics of happiness.
Just to make everything clear, we are talking here about happiness and not about euphoria, the state of mind that precedes happiness but is only sustainable on short term. The reason I decided to make the aforementioned remark, is because most of the people I've met are sometimes failing to make a difference between happiness and euphoria, considering themselves happy only when in an euphoric state.
What's simplicity has to do with it, you may ask. Well, it plays an important role. Why? Well, because most of the times, the people that deep down have the capacity to remain simple, regardless of their position in the society, how high up in the corporation's hierarchy they may find themselves in or plainly just how rich they are, will be the happiest. And by simple I mean, humble, down to earth, with a very well defined and simple set of moral values and most of all true to themselves.
Now let's look at another side of simplicity. I will define simplicity from another angle, that of intellectual capacity. Are the "simpler" people happier than the more complex ones? Or, in another way to put it,are smarter people less happy than the less smart people? In bulk, most of the times yes, because the more complex will always try to better understand what happiness is and what will make them happy, they will try to define for themselves the basic things of their existence without which they will not be happy, while the simpler ones will just take for granted the common definition of happiness: grow-up, have a house, a good wife, kids and the basics for your existence.
I am not a common definition nor am I willing to take it for granted, but I discovered that sometimes we can make our lives less happy because we decide to treat simple things in complex ways, looking for complex solutions, while the solution is staring you in the face.
Sometimes simpler equals happier, no matter how complex you may be.

The God Father of all knowledge

On numerous occasions I have seen experienced people treating the less experienced ones with a sense of superiority that was way out of proportions. This is not applicable only in a corporate environment but also in the father/mother - son/daughter, husband - wife relationship. I will chose to focus on the latter.
In most of the cases the "experienced one" states that he does the things he does (nervous reactions, correcting you in an irritating way for insignificant mistakes, etc.) out of love and because is trying to make you not to make mistakes, without realizing that his/her angry tone, the lack of patience, the posting in God Father of all knowledge will just induce a nervous state to the so called "apprentice". One other thing that they do not understand is that one of the most important aspects they have to focus on is represented by helping the other to build his/her self confidence. And how do you do that? Well, definitely not like the way presented above. Constant encouragement is needed even in the case of small mishaps, a friendly and understanding look and maybe even a pat on the shoulder stating "it's fine, you learned your lesson, let's move on now".
It's like when you have a small child that is just learning its first steps. Of course that he will not manage to do it from his first, second or third attempt, but if you scream at him not only that he will not manage to do it from his tenth attempt but, in time, his self confidence will suffer and he will constantly position himself as inferior compared to others.
The behaviour of such "experienced people" just demonstrates a sort of arrogance, a non-existent state of superiority and most of all a lack of judgement and incapacity to understand the human nature, that will eventually cause more harm than good. Don't be one of THEM!

The Herbaliser - what a nice and pleasant surprise

You go to a concert where you know what's going to happen: meet some friends that you haven't seen for quite some time now, have some beer, enjoy the music (as much as possible for someone that is not particularly into rock music) and relax. You don't expect anything to surprise you.
At 8 pm a band appears on the stage, you look at the program without too much interest and you see a name: The Herbaliser. Hmmm... who the f*** are they? You turn your back to the stage, they start singing, you start to move (you like it but just don't know it yet), you turn to the stage still dancing, start clapping and you think: don't know who the f*** they are but I surely like them. Enjoy!

I believe we can be extraordinary together rather than ordinary apart

I was having a quiet evening, reading some materials for tomorrow's meetings. The TV was open. It has been like that for two hours now, but nothing that was on manged to make me leave aside what I was doing. Until the quote in the title of this post....
Sometimes out of something totally ordinary something extraordinary might arise. Just let yourself suprised, and enjoy the moment.

It's all about balance

You can be a bright, ambitious, hard working young man that is looking to find his way in life, but there comes a moment in time when you realize that in order to obtain the perfect mix of factors that will help you grow, both personally and professionally, you also need luck to be on your side. Let's put it this way: you want to make a cookie, you chose only the best ingredients, get the mix ready, but you forget to use the baking powder. The result: something that tastes acceptable, that could have been an excellent cookie, but it isn't because a "magic" ingredient was missing.
I am not stating that without having the God of Fortune on your side you will not be able to accomplish some of your youth dreams, I'm only stating that luck is playing a vital role throughout our mere existence.
Although vital, having luck on your side is not enough. You also have to be able to notice and exploit the opportunities "generated" by having luck on your side and also accept and be patient in those moments when luck seems to be missing. Acceptance and patience does not equal resigning in front of the challenges ahead, but having the maturity and the right amount of patience that will allow you to get over the obstacles in front you and bring luck back on your side again.
By luck I do not understand inheriting a large amount of money or winning the lottery (although none of the options are to be ignored :) ), but the chance to meet the right people, to be in the right place at the right time, to have great friends that support you in whatever you do without being afraid to criticise you, to have some amazing parents, etc.
Now assuming that you have the qualities mentioned above (smart, hard working, etc), the God of Fortune on your side and you're on the road of great personal success, there is another variable that you have to consider: balance. Always strive for maintaining the right balance between what you expect from life and what you give back.
I consider myself one of the lucky persons, as I had the chance (luck) to meet great people that turned out to also be amazing friends and have great parents that never told me what to do but rather guided me and supported me in whatever I wanted to do. Furthermore, chance once more decided to be generous with me by helping me encounter a great person and professional, that besides guiding me throughout my professional life also offered me some valuable life lessons.
The moral of today's post: never take things for granted and make sure you always offer something in return.