One of the most inspirational speaches of all times is the commencement speech of Steve Jobs in Stanford university in 2005.
In a simple yet inspiring way he shares three stories from his life that teach us how importand it is to follow your heart and be true to yourself.
Every time I watch him I feel happy to be alive and energized to be myself and take action to do the things that I love. I am confident that it will have the same effect on you- enjoy!
Independently on the location, culture and religion, there are always common elements that unite people. One of them is education. India is not one of the countries where education is neglected – on the contrary, it is my impression that it is very high on the agenda and it seemed to be especially so in Kerala. All of the children in the village where I was staying were going to school from morning until late afternoon always wearing their uniforms. It was always fun to meet them during my walks when they would surround me and ask me all sorts of questions– a bunch of energized chirpy little birds flying free in the green Keralan lushness. Minu was one of the shiest and the most charming ones of them.
I met her on the way to her house in a late summer afternoon. She was coming back from school and was initially very shy, but after a while felt more at ease and even agreed to show me the content of her notebook. It was really admirable to see how much people in the village appreciated the value of education and how they were eager to invest in the future of their children rather than make them work which happens at many other places. Minu is a bright girl and one day she can be a doctor, an engineer or an artist – actually anything that she wants to be. Fingers crossed that she has the wisdom to study well, listen to her heart and make her dreams come true. But bottom line- she`s set for success by making it to school every day.
The place where tree goddesses keep Buddha company; where a Zen Buddhist temple invites you to spend time in peace and quiet; and where you can actually hug a pelican. Pairi Daiza in Belgium is not an ordinary zoo. It is a special place where the contact with animals is made much more exciting by the unique atmosphere of the place.
My main trigger to go there were the pandas. And the snow leopards. And of course, the koalas. But the place offers much more than that.
Make sure you go there early – it is not a small zoo, so it`s best to have more time to enjoy it without rushing. And there are plenty of restaurants with great food, so you can effortlessly spend a day there. If you go late, you also risk not seeing all the animals, as the chances of them napping in the afternoon are high 😉
More information about the place and how to get there – https://www.pairidaiza.eu/en
Enjoy the slideshow below by clicking on any picture and then using the keyboard arrows to see the next/previous one.
I hope you`ve enjoyed my post about the Black Forest from last week! If you need a refresh : http://funandinterestinglife.com/the-black-forest-part-1/
And here is the second part.
Fun in the sun
Mountain coaster (a gravity driven amusement ride with bobsled-like cars ) and downhill carts are one of the really fun things that you can try in the beautiful mountain setting (http://www.schwarzwaldhochstrasse.de/64-1-freizeit–und-sport-zentrum-mehliskopf.html) – I personally enjoyed them a lot!!! The height differences in the mountains are also used in many places for hang-gliding and paragliding.
The SPA
Baden Baden is one of the most famous spa resorts in the world and it should not be missed! My day in Baden Baden evolved around the Caracala spa center (http://www.carasana.de/en/caracalla-spa/home/) where I spent a super relaxing day. Tip- if you want to have a massage/treatment it is highly advisable to book in advance as there are usually fully booked on the day when you go.
Driving around
The beautiful scenic roads making driving around in the Black Forest a super enjoyable experience and there are many people who go there especially for this. Especially scenic is the route Schwarzwaldhochstrase from Baden Baden to Freiburg. You can enjoy a video summary of our rides at https://youtu.be/UJwy_1oli3U.
Sightseeing
Once again, there is plenty to see depending on your preferences! Here are some sightseeing attractions that I can recommend:
The Black Forest is pretty big and my advice would be to have a base around the center and/ or stay at different places throughout your stay, so you can explore more parts of it. I stayed in two hotels, with the second of which I was super happy and can totally recommend – http://mummelsee.de/berghotel/en/
The International Children`s Day always reminds me to celebrate the child in me and to never stop learning from her. And there are so many things to learn..
She teaches me to laugh and not to take things so seriously.
To be courageous and go forward with will and determination without fear of failure. Just like children do.
To notice the little things and to enjoy them as if they happen for the first time
And to always always give myself the freedom to be and express myself. No matter what the others say.
Happy International Children`s Day to all of you! Honour the child in you and let them be your teacher 🙂
Beautiful nature, magical forest, idyllic views and not on the last place- a great spa. All of that enveloped in beautiful lush spring green – for all fans of outdoors and nature (and spa of course :)) the Black Forest is the perfect getaway.
The Black Forest is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. The region is quite big (with a length of 160 km and breadth of up to 60 km) and there are plenty of things to do depending on your time and interests. Here is how I spent my time during the five days that I spent there.
The great outdoors
There are plenty of opportunities for hiking/trekking/walking/exploring the routes and paths in the area (The total network of tracks amounts to around 23,000 kilometres!). One can do routes taking from a few hours to a few days. I had one day and the root that I did was recommended by the hotel owner of one of the places where I stayed and was absolutely beautiful! It goes for about 13 km – starting from the Ruhestein ski lift, through Wildseeblick, Seibelseckle, Hornisgrinde and ending at Mummelsee.
The magical forest
The Black Forest is the setting of one of the best fairytales of the great Wilhelm Hauff (such as the “Cold Heart”; there even a dedicated museum to the author btw!), by which I was absolutely mesmerized as a child. Words can`t do much justice in describing the amazing sights of beautiful unspoilt nature in all shapes and forms that one can encounter. Enjoy the gallery – it will very likely inspire you to go and experience it yourself.
Rivers & Waterfalls
There is literally a countless number of waterfalls to explore-more and less known ones. My recommendation is to see the famous ones, but also to be adventurous and get lost in the forest of the more hidden of them. The ones that I visited were the Allerheiligen waterfall, the Triberg waterfalls and the Gertelbach waterfall (a hidden gem that I super highly recommend!)
The second part of the post with more experiences, tips & pictures will be coming soon!
And now- enjoy the gallery 🙂
“
a smell of Jasmine tea
drifting after love
rainy cottage
“
Haiku is a beautiful short form of poetry that focuses on a brief moment in time, and a sense of sudden illumination or enlightenment. It is usually composed in three short lines and it normally doesn’t rhyme.
Haikus are often moving and thought provoking like the one above written by Ikuyo Yoshimura and included in the “Haiku for Lovers” book.
Easter is one of the biggest and most magical Christian holidays which I always associate with traditions, rituals and spending time with your closest people.
It’s Ortodox Easter today, so as I every year I color eggs and prepare a special Easter bread that I’m going to share with my friends. For me such holidays are really about sharing and caring, and showing appreciation to the people who are there for you.
Something even bigger that Easter represents to me is to have faith that life unfolds in divine order and we are being taken care of.
A beautiful story that depicts this and that I want to share with you today is called ” Footsteps in the sand”:
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
Happy Easter!
Tomorrow is the day of flowers in Bulgaria – on this day all people who have names of flowers celebrate their names (and I am one of them 🙂 ) . If I think about flowers the first thing that comes to my mind is – Keukenhof. If The best way to celebrate spring in the Netherlands is most definitely a trip to Keukenhof- the largest and definitely one of the most beautiful flower gardens in the world.
About 7 million flower buds are planted (manually!) every year to achieve the desired result – a mesmerizing mix of vibrant colours, fantastic flower aromas and an unseen variety of tulips breeds with funny names such as “pink storm”
Apart from being simply beautiful, the part is very well organized ( as everything in the Netherlands) and designed in a way that it is also educational for the visitor- for instance- there are flower shows where professional florists give advice on arranging flowers.
There is little more to say about the park; it is one of those places that needs to be simply seen and experienced 🙂 more info about Keukenhof at http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/
And here are a few tips on how to get the best out of it:
This beautiful manifesto to knowing and loving yourself was written by Charley Chaplin on his 70th birthday.
For me this is one of the most thought provoking and inspiring advice that I’ve read and I am very excited to share it with you one day before the blog and myself have their birthdays.
I hope that reading it will inspire you to go on a self-discovery trip and test whether his findings are valid for you. Because life is not only about getting inspired by others, but most importantly-about discovering your own truth and staying authentic. And this is what this blog is about.
As I Began to Love Myself
As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.
Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody as I try to force my desires on this person,even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it,and even though this person was me.
I call it “RESPECT”.
As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life,and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.
Today I call it “MATURITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance,I am in the right place at the right time,and everything happens at the exactly right moment.
So I could be calm. Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.
As I began to love myself I quit stealing my own time,and I stopped designing huge projects for the future.Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm.
Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.
As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health—food, people, things, situations, and everything the drew me down and away from myself.At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.
Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.
As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time.
Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.
As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry about the future.Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING is happening.
Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.
As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But as I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally.
Today I call this connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.
We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born.
Today I know THAT IS “LIFE”!