Domestic Violence – A Curse On Society

Violence in layman’s terms is any physical activity that is intended to cause harm, injury, destruction, or death. However, the word “violence” is a very vague term and cannot be exactly defined, as there are many aspects and scenarios where the definition of violence for one has another meaning for others. For example, the ongoing act of intimidation in Middle East countries can be termed as an act of violence for one group, while the other might call it an act of raising voice against tyranny and corruption for peace and freedom.

What Is The Root Cause?

Domestic violence is a very general and primitive issue and has only one meaning – terror. It was around centuries ago and is still present now. People are more educated today and understand better what is right and what is wrong, but still, the amount of domestic violence has not decreased. Some blamed it on hitting too much from glass pipes or as an effect of legal steroids. In a way, it is something that nearly everyone has encountered in his or her life. It is not limited only to beating and fighting, but also includes sexual and mental harassment and torture that one suffers from a family member or partner.

With the growing “inhumanity traits” of people today, the cases and reports of domestic violence, according to TechMSD survey last October 2015, has actually increased more now than during the time when people were less educated or advanced. We hear news on an almost daily basis about children being raped by their own kin or father, wives being beaten to death, and the like, which is a shame and curse on society.

Where Does it Start?

Domestic violence in a family mostly starts with a partner feeling a need to control the other. The spark is generally ignited when abusers feel inferior to the other partner. This domination can turn into emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, ultimately resulting in domestic violence.

How is it Done?

“Violence can either be done physically, emotionally and even sexually,” Wikipedia says. These three are the most common types of violence that you can see in television news and even at times on the streets around us. To give you a clearer thought about these things, here are some examples of individual and common types of violence.

Physical

If one person uses such a degree of brute force that ends up injuring the other person, or putting someone at risk of being injured, that is considered as physical violence. This includes:

• battering (which is now considered a crime)
• pushing
• beating/hitting with any toolbox items or heavy items
• burning
• assaulting with a knife or any deadly weapon
• restraining
• pinching/biting
• murder

Emotional

When talking about ruthless acts and deeds, the famous quotation that says that talk is cheap suddenly turns untrue. “Words could really do a lot of damage to a certain individual’s confidence and self-esteem,” says Noel Giles from Cloud Culture store. Usually, people address it as emotional or social violence. You always have to take into consideration the feelings of others. If you utterly dislike being judged and criticized in the public, surely other individuals do not like to experience the same thing. As the golden saying goes: “do unto others what you would have done to you”.

Sexual

The sexual aspect of an individual is the most commonly abused. Sexual abuse cases are also one of the most common themes of crime related news nowadays. It is not really surprising for society to have this kind of problem because prostitution laws are already losing their teeth in catching prostitution syndicates that often force women into human trafficking.

What Are The Effects?

The effects are really terrifying. Victims, like small children, are so heavily influenced as they grow up that they, in their later stage of life, often turn out to be abusers, hence resulting in more incidences in newer generations. It is estimated that 80% of drug addicts and criminals had moderate-to-severe level violence in their family when they were kids. Of course, such violence creates a negative influence on small children and negatively influences them as they grow. These shameful acts of terror at home are actually reshaping the beautiful society that we once knew to a more dreadful one.

In both developed and developing countries, about 55% of divorce cases are filed with the legal ground of domestic violence, whereas in the underdeveloped countries, there are increasing incidences of mental illness, suicide, or self-injury as a consequence. In many male dominating societies, the female and children within the house are the more likely victims of domestic violence. However, in developing countries, both male and females are equally victimized by these types of violence. Although proper emphasis has not been given to date for this issue, Collins Flagpole company suggests it is time for the government to formulate an effective law and order so as to help create a society free of any domestic violence.

Conclusion

Violence can already be considered as a very acute societal disease that can affect almost every person living in a community. While the treatments and remedies are there and available, such as anger management or personality development sessions, one must be willing to take it. Otherwise, we will stay the same as we are now.

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3 Gadgets to Get You Through the Cold and Flu Season

Cold and flu season can be tough, especially if you have kids. Tissues and runny noses everywhere, sick days home from school and work – it’s a time of year that’s not only inconvenient, but also downright miserable for the people involved. Here are three gadgets to help you get the whole family through the cold and flu season with minimal discomfort.

Digital Thermometer

When you have a sick child, a digital thermometer is a cold and flu season essential. Because high fevers can be dangerous for young children, you want to make sure to invest in a reliable thermometer, and know how to use it properly.

There are many styles of digital thermometers on the market. Some even connect to apps to make it easy to keep track of temperature history. New temple and forehead thermometers are popular, easy to use on squirmy kids, and surprisingly accurate. Ear thermometers are also a great option. But, there is nothing wrong with using a traditional digital thermometer. When using a thermometer, make sure you know the age guidelines for taking a temperature and how to do it correctly.^[1]

Humidifier

Keeping a humidifier running while your household suffers from the winter plague can help ease everyone’s symptoms. Cold and flu season occurs in the winter, when we usually have our heat turned up, and home heating can be very drying. When your nasal passages get too dry, the tiny hairs that protect them (cilia) aren’t able to effectively do their job. Adding moisture to the air can cut down on the likelihood of crusty nostrils and swollen sinuses, allowing cilia to do what they do best. Moisture from humidifiers can also ease cracked lips from excessive mouth-breathing, sore throats, and help with a dry, hacking cough.

When looking for a humidifier, you have to consider your options, the first of which is, warm mist or cool mist? Cool mist humidifiers are recommended for use with children because warm mist humidifiers heat water to a boil and come with risk of burns. There are a number of different styles to suit your needs and taste, whether you want a chic humidifier for the living room, or a fun, hippo-shaped humidifier for the kids’ room.

Touchless Soap Dispenser

Hand washing is more necessary than ever during cold and flu season. While a hands-free soap dispenser can seem frivolous, it’s perfect for the winter months. Microorganisms, like bacteria and viruses, thrive in bathroom environments and automatic soap dispensers help to reduce the spread of germs from hands swiped across drippy noses to the soap pump. Using touchless soap dispensers may help other family members avoid those germs. They also control the amount of soap being dispensed, reducing soap wastage – although your kids may find the sensor too much of a novelty to resist at first.

There are many models of hands-free soap dispensers available in different styles, including upright and wall-mount. Many of them are suitable for use with various types of liquid soap, so you’re not locked into a certain brand of soap. This is particularly handy during cold and flu season, because you may want to invest in a moisturizing soap, since everyone will be frequently washing their hands.

BONUS: Keep Your Electronics Germ-Free

Chances are your little sickies won’t feel like doing much besides laying on the couch, but if they are using the iPad or computer while they are sick, you are going to want to sanitize them. The same thing goes for your phone, because how often do you deep clean your phone?

When it comes to cleaning a tablet or a phone, first turn the device off. Antibacterial wipes can be very abrasive and damaging to the surface of your phone, so you’ll want to use isopropyl alcohol diluted with water, half and half. Don’t spray it directly onto your phone, but instead onto a microfiber cloth, and then wipe down your device. Be sure not to overdo it with the disinfectant. Once a week should be fine.

When it comes to cleaning your keyboard and mouse, you can use the same technique (especially for a trackpad/touchpad on a laptop), or you can use an antibacterial wipe. Make sure the wipe you are using isn’t too saturated because you don’t want to get any moisture between the keys. While you’re at it, you might as well blow some compressed air in there and get all of the crumbs, etc. from between the keys.

I hope you manage to avoid the brunt of the cold and flu season, but, let’s face it, that can be hard to do with kids. Having a digital thermometer on hand, using a humidifier, and a hands-free soap dispenser can help you feel more in control of the situation.

Reference

[1]

^

Mayo Clinic: Thermometer Basics: Infant and toddler health

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What Highly Productive People Do Routinely (That You Can Do Now)

Productivity is learned, not inborn. Highly productive people are not born to be productive. Instead, they make an effort to carefully select their routine and master their behavior. After studying many highly successful and productive people, I found that they all share certain routines and habits.

Highly productive people have some routines in common that made them productive, and here are the eleven you can start practicing in your daily life to ramp up your overall productivity and performance.

1. Plan for the next day before bed

Productive people know what they need and want to do way before it’s the time to do it. If you failed to plan, you’re planned to fail. People who never plan for what they need to get done the next day usually get nothing done. Besides, having a clear mission and purpose for the next day also give you a solid reason to get up early and kick some asses the next day.

2. Wake up early

We usually perform best in the first few hours after we get up from the bed, given that we had a good amount of quality sleep. But most people wake up 30 minutes before work. Are you one of them?

Get up two to three hours before work or any daily obligation. Invest this period of time into your mind, your body, or maybe your side hustle.Get enough sleep. To get up early (with your energy at peak), you need to get enough sleep. The optimal period of sleep is 7 to 8 hours, but it depends on each individual. I sleep for 6 to 6.5 hours a day.

3. Frame your emotional state in the morning

Highly motivated and productive people don’t just feel pumped up for no reason. One key factor that affects our productivity directly is our emotions. While most people wake up feeling bad, tired, or bored, productive people wake up and get into the routine to frame their emotional state. They train their mind to feel and think what they want in order to perform their best day in and day out.

4. Do nothing

Take 10 to 15 minutes every morning to breathe. Some call it meditation; I usually call it the do-nothing time. Any busy people will understand how messed up their mind is each day when facing multiple urgent tasks in the never-ending chaos. Invest a short amount of time to wind down, think of nothing, plan for nothing, and literally do nothing. Focus on your breath. This simple (but not easy) routine helps to improve your focus. The best part is, you can use this skills of focusing on everything when you master it.

5. Make a to-do list with maximum six tasks

Productive people have a to-do list, but highly productive people have a short to-do list. Don’t write every single task, such as “walk your dog”  or “clean the car,” in your to-do list. Limit the number of a maximum of six. This simple technique will force you to prioritize. And give you a closer look of what’s truly important.

6. Workout

A healthy body is going to serve you better in the long run. Some might think they have no time for a workout, but what they tend to overlook is that you can perform 10 times better with the energy level and sharp mind that come with a healthy body.

7. Limit information consumption

Go low-information diet. Stop reading the newspaper or browsing social media sites (unless those are your job). Consuming more information gives an illusion that we’re actually doing something and being productive, but the truth is that we aren’t. Spend 80% of your time on executing; and only 20% of the time on learning. You are going to gain more from the results and feedback from the real-time execution.

8. Delegate/automate tasks at hand

Highly productive people know how to delegate their task. Ask yourself TWO questions: (1) Am I the only person capable of doing this? (2) Am I the one who do this the best? If both answers are NO, find someone else to do it for you. Next, be open to embrace automation. There are thousand web applications that can automate tasks for you today with a small fee. Even it might be not cost effective now, but in most cases, it usually paid back well in the long run.

9. Take a nap

A 20 to 60 minutes nap will do wonders. It allows your brain and body to rest, organize the information you overlook during work subconsciously. Even if it seldom happens, you’re much more energized after a quick nap.

10. Reflect on the day in the evening

You can write a daily to journal your day, or simply rewind it in your mind. Think about what went well and what went wrong; what you had done well and not done well. You will definitely gain some lessons and insights unexpectedly, and you can always come up some plans to make tomorrow better.

11. Cultivate habits

It’s hard for you to apply all of these at once. Productive people make these their habits slowly, up to a point where they’re doing them automatically.

. . .

Most people think being productive means being busy or to get more done in shorter period of time, but it’s not. In fact, the difference between highly productive people and average procrastinators is that productive people have clear vision and goals, understand their priority, and always focus on the important things only.

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What Is Your Defining Mental Picture?

What Do You See In Your Mind When You Think About Yourself?

 

A mirror is nothing more than a tool to reflect your outward appearance, but how we truly see ourselves is a product of our self-conscious mind, and that mind, for most of us, is a brute. An irrational pessimist.

I know this because so many of us seek self improvement. We want to learn more, gain perspective or enlightenment, and become a better version of ourselves. But why and to what end? The only person who can fix you, is you, and you are the one telling yourself there is a problem. How do we get out of that one?

My wife and I argue about this one all the time. To me she is a wonder. Equal parts dazzling beauty, stubborn pragmatism, and youthful joy. Try as I may though, I cannot get her to see herself the way I see her. Or for that matter, the way the world sees her. She has a set self image that will not budge. The sword in the stone, I cannot pry it free.

Regardless of the manifestation, why do we have this problem at all? It seems every facet of American society is geared towards improving ourselves, because somehow we are not good enough. Our bodies are not the right shape (compared to strangers), our education is too low (compared to strangers), we need more money (more than the next guy). We don’t like our hair, our clothes, our cars, the size of our nose or the shape of our feet! It would seem we have a terrible self image.

So, what is your mental picture?

Our self image is a tricky notion because “we” are not defined by an image and an image could never articulate who we are. Just as the word water does not begin to describe water. If I ask you what water is, how could you teach me? You can’t just use the word water, that is just a set of letters we have given some meaning to. That word describes our “mental picture” of water, not water itself. If you wanted to teach me about water you would have to dunk me in.

So in this way the word “you” does not describe you, but your name doesn’t do the job either. These are just words meant to create a picture in your mind. They are an idea. Jim and Sarah are just words, but when I say Sarah then you get a picture in your mind of who I am talking about.

You also get a whole series of emotions, impressions, and interactions that are brought to mind surrounding Sarah. Along with all of this there will be a definite “mental picture” of Sarah in your mind. But Sarah does not get to choose this picture, she is at the mercy of your definition of her, and she will most certainly have a different mental picture of herself.

So obviously, we could go on and speak about how our words and actions help to define someone else’s mental picture of us, but what I am more interested in is the mental picture we have in our minds of ourselves.

It could be anything and really if we get down to it you can choose any picture you would like. You control how you feel about yourself.

Close your eyes, what is your mental picture? Could you put that picture on a billboard for the world to see and be proud of it?

Does The World Choose For You?

Most don’t choose something they are proud of. We give up the choice of our mental picture far too often. We could choose any wonderful image to be our inner icon but instead we let those around us choose for us. We give others the permission to plant an image of what we are into our own heads. We let the outer world pick our picture for us, define us, to us! We give up the most important power we have. No wonder so many people feel out of place in this world.

Your inner picture of yourself should be strong and powerful, amazing and full of joy, because that is your true self. It is a sheer miracle that you are even here, that you exist at all. The fact that you have freewill, emotions, ideas, dreams and love makes you incredible. Don’t you feel this?

If a lady is a size 12, we tell her she is too heavy. Every advertisement she reads, every article, television show, book, and hit pop song tell her she should be thinner.

The judgement is rooted deeply into our culture. But what happens if she loses the weight and becomes a 2? Then we hate her again. She is too thin. No wonder she is confused and has self image issues.

This makes absolutely no sense. We listen to everyone in our lives and their beliefs about who we are and what we are. We have our own control but give it up, then feel terrible about what we are given in its place. We combine that with what society tells us we should be (and our culture is just mean, cruel even, and there is no getting around that) followed by a dash of primal instinct, and for good measure we mix that with a good dose of plain old fear. Heat on high for our entire lives and we have a baked in, hard-as-a-rock self image.

How do you improve your self image?

How do you improve your self image when the only person that can improve it is you? Well, we could give up and say that self improvement is unattainable, but that just isn’t our style now is it?

We will be positive about it and say that no matter the obstacle in front of us, we can overcome it. What choice do we have? We must be able to define ourselves.

We have to do it together. Yes, we are the only ones who can change our own self image, BUT together we can start by changing the factors that influence us. We must say “even though I am far too hard on myself, I refuse to make anyone else feel this way,” and that, in the process, will help us redefine ourselves.

The way we speak to and about each other needs to change. We must start respecting each other and work to build each other up. We need to end the days of tearing people down for sport.

I won’t press you. If you can say from your heart that your mental picture of yourself is exactly what you want it to be, then you are free. Your responsibility then is to help everyone around you. Help them to see themselves through your eyes. It won’t do any good, they won’t listen, but you must try. You must try because you have the one thing they do not – inner peace – and you owe a karmic debt.

Now if you are not at that point. If you see fat, if you see ugly, if you see dumb, or any other picture in your mind screaming a negative at you, then here is your prescription:

Print out a picture of what you would most want to see. Your own internal best image as a symbol. It does not even have to be of a person. Perhaps you have always wanted to feel and act more free and you print a picture of the most beautiful eagle in flight. You have always wanted to be braver and so your best mental picture would be that of a lion – print that.

Walk into your bathroom and tape the ideal picture on your mirror. Right in front of your face.

Every morning when you wake, look at the picture. Every evening before bed stare at it again. Do not touch it until you are so fed up with looking at it that you are finally willing to change. Finally willing to accept yourself. You can achieve anything you want in this world and you can change how you feel about yourself.

Take a long look at the beautiful you, your ideal self. Now go make that happen. Stop accepting the world’s definition of you and replace that mental picture with the real you, your ideal self, the one you have really been all along but could not see.

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Taxes: 10 Terms You Should Know If You Want to File By Yourself This Year

If you want to prepare and file your own tax return, you’re not alone. More than 27 million people did their own taxes^[1] in 2014, a nearly 6 percent increase from the year before.

However, joining the 27 million-person-strong tax preparers and filers around the United States doesn’t mean that understanding your taxes is easy. Taxes can be daunting, especially if you don’t know the terms.

To help, here’s a list of 10 tax terms that you need to know if you’re doing your taxes yourself this year.

Adjusted Gross Income

Your adjusted gross income (AGI),^[2] sometimes referred to as gross income, refers to all the income you’ve received in the year. This includes income you’ve earned, such as wages and income you may have received because of owning stocks, bonds or money market accounts. Interest, dividends and capital gains all fall into this category.

The “adjusted” part of AGI comes in because you can subtract certain items from the income you’ve received. Contributions to an IRA, for example, might be subtracted, along with alimony costs. Be sure to read the fine print for what you can subtract. AGI is an important step in determining how much you owe.

Tax Deductions

Deductions are amounts of money that you can subtract from your AGI. They come in two forms: standard and itemized. The key to deductions is that they lower your AGI so that you do not have to pay as much tax. In general, the lower your income, the less tax you have to pay. So if, for example, you’ve earned $40,000 in a year and have a $9,000 tax deduction, you’ll only pay tax on $31,000, not the entire $40,000.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lists a certain number of deductions right on the Form 1040A or longer and more detailed Form 1040. These include student loan interest, deductible individual retirement accounts contributions, alimony payments and moving expenses.

Standard Deductions

The IRS is the agency that determines tax code. Every year, all tax filers get a standard deduction. The standard deduction is an amount that you can deduct from your AGI to lower your taxes. The amount of standard deduction for the year will be given in the IRS instructions for 1040 and 1040A. The standard deduction depends on your income and is usually given in a table. The IRS adjusts this figure every year for inflation.

Itemized Deductions

You can deduct items such as mortgage interest, state, local and property taxes, medical expenses, travel expenses if for work or medical needs, charitable contributions, casualty and theft losses and more from your AGI as well.

Note that in some states, medical expenses must exceed a certain percentage of your AGI. It’s a good idea to keep track of your expenses^[3] so you know what your medical expenses, including health insurance deductibles, totaled for the year. These are called “itemized deductions” because they need to be itemized, on Schedule A of Form 1040.

If your itemized deductions equal more than the IRS’s standard deduction in a given year, it’s good tax news for you, as you’ll have to pay tax on less of your AGI. You can take itemized deductions or the standard deduction in a given year, not both. Be sure to read the fine print about what’s allowed as an itemized deduction and how much.

Exemption

An exemption is an amount the IRS allows you to subtract from income to reflect people who share your household and may depend on you for income. You can take exemptions, for example, for yourself, any dependents and your spouse. A fixed amount of money is provided for every exemption. You’ll subtract the amount of all exemptions, including for yourself, from your AGI to arrive at your taxable earnings.

Withholding

Withholding refers to the amount of money taken out of your wages or other income as you earn it, but before you get your paycheck. Paycheck stubs will list the amount of withheld money and what it’s for. Employers withhold taxes for Federal, state and local tax, as well as Social Security.^[4] The withholdings go  to your tax accounts. For example, your Federal taxes go into an IRS account.

When you calculate your taxes, you’ll arrive at the taxes you owe for the year. The final step is to subtract any taxes that have already been withheld. These are given on your W-2 and other income forms. If you owe $10,000 in Federal tax, for example, and have had $9,800 in Federal tax withheld from your paycheck, you’ll owe just $200 when you file. If you owe $10,000 in Federal tax and you have $10,100 withheld, you’ll receive a Federal tax refund of $100.

Tax Credits

You can compare tax credits to credits from a store. After you calculate your tax bill, you can use tax credits to reduce the amount you owe.^[5] They’re more valuable to the individual taxpayer than deductions because they reduce the amount of tax itself, rather than just the amount of taxed income.

If you have a $1000 tax credit and owe $10,000 in taxes, you’ll end up owing $9,000 instead. You may receive tax credits for some educational programs and home solar power installation, for example. These are revised every year, so be sure to read the IRS’s information about available tax credits carefully.

Taxable Income

Taxable income refers to your total before tax — or gross — income with every allowable deduction, exemption and adjustment subtracted. Taxable income is the final step in determining how much you owe in taxes.

Basis

If you have stocks, you’ll need to know its basis. Any asset’s basis is the value original paid for it. If you’ve sold stocks this year, you’ll need to know what you paid originally, in order to calculate the gain or loss upon sale. You’ll then use those gains or losses to calculate your tax.

Capital Gains

Capital gains refer to any profit you made from selling a capital asset. Real estate, stocks and bonds are all examples of capital gains. You’ll have to pay capital gains tax on the profit from sale. If you sold at a loss, the loss can generally be deducted.

Doing your taxes yourself may seem like a daunting task, but understanding the language is half the battle. Now you’re ready to get a head start on tax season!

Reference

[1]	^	USA Today: IRS: More Americans filing taxes on their own
[2]	^	Bankrate: 10 Key tax terms to know
[3]	^	Fort Bragg: Budgeting
[4]	^	HodgsonRuss: State & Local Tax
[5]	^	FOX: 10 Key Tax Terms to Know

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How to Find Your Creative Spark and Become a Better Writer

Although every piece of art is food for the soul in its own magical way, I find writing to be a very challenging branch when it comes to two important aspects – perceiving it and creating it. A painting is something you can see, music is something you can hear, but text is something that needs to be developed in your mind while you’re reading.

As a writer, you need to make sure that those mental images that are evoked in a reader’s mind while they are reading your work are interesting, to say the least. It sounds really difficult, because it is, but it is not impossible to learn. The fact that you’re not a particularly gifted singer doesn’t mean that you can’t develop a lovely singing voice if you invest your efforts that way. That goes the same for being a good writer.

Create a Productive Ritual

In order to become a good writer, you need to practice and be very determined about it. You should treat it as if it were any other job and write every single day. I know that creativity isn’t an inexhaustible source, and it can be very challenging for a writer to keep their focus and transfer it onto a blank piece of paper or screen in front of them, but that’s exactly what you need to do.

Inspiration can be found even in the smallest things around you – you just need to awaken that curiosity in you and allow it to take you places. You probably consider it to be a bit contradictory to have a working schedule and daydream at the same time, but you need to harmonize these two things in order to create a piece with a beginning and an end.

That is why you need to create a sort of office, a comfortable place in your home (or in a mountain cottage, wherever) where you’re comfortable, undisturbed, and focused, so you can let your mind work.

Have a Notepad with You at All Times

Get a little notepad, or a smartphone for that matter, whichever you find more suitable. When your creativity starts boiling and you start working on a piece, your mind will keep a part of it dedicated to your work, so you will get various ideas all the time, whether you’re trying to come up with something, or you’re waiting in line at the grocery store.

I made that same mistake of being absolutely certain that I’ll remember something and that I don’t really need to write it down (being a genius and all) and a thought – I can’t really remember if was truly brilliant or not – simply vanished. Therefore, write down everything that pops up in your mind, no matter if you consider it silly or not, because you’ll find its purpose in time.

Break Your Fears and Just Write

When you’re in a rut, or to use a more popular term, when faced with the notorious writer’s block, caused by lack of inspiration or because you just realized how dumb everything you wrote is (we all go through this, perhaps because we’re a bit theatrical as a group) you need to resist all your instincts that tell you to burn all your work in a huge fire and do the very opposite – write.^[1]

Even if it’s a complete waste of paper and even if it doesn’t make any sense – write. That’s the only way to get back on the right track while wasting minimal amounts of time. And only after you get sick of the fact that you’re not capable of writing anything with a single bit of sense can you stop, but only to find ways to upgrade your skills.

Therefore, get your favorite book and start reading, go online and search for inspirational pieces of music or some other form of art, learn about new ways to form your sentences by setting yourself on a quest to explore different writing styles, etc. The worst thing you can do is stare blankly into that wall in front of you and question your decision about becoming a writer.

Isolate Yourself from Distractions

It’s very important that you protect yourself from all disturbances. This may be something that your friends and family will find difficult to accept, but it’s quite important for your career to stay determined and focused – and the only way to do that is through isolation.^[2] I’m not suggesting that you move and start living in the middle of a forest or a desert (which actually isn’t a bad idea at all), but be very specific about your work hours – it will be easier for you and everyone around you if you stay persistent about this.

Plan Ahead and Create Constructions

It’s not impossible, but it is very difficult to write a valuable piece without planning it ahead and doing so in fine detail. In order to be capable of creating a story that’s clear and concise, you yourself need to know parts of that story so you don’t lose track along the way. When you create an outline, have in mind that it can be subjected to changes, if you feel the need for them as your story envelops.

It is hard and it doesn’t get easier with every new piece. I know all of this sounds like a torture and you’re probably wondering whether it’s worth the trouble at all, but it really is. After you complete your first story or a book and realize your mind is capable of creating a valuable piece of art, you’ll get addicted to writing and you should – the world is always in need for great artists and you could be the next one.

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Reference

[1]	^	The New Yorker: How to Beat Writer’s Block
[2]	^	Goins, Writer: How to Stay Focused Writing

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3 Wonderfully Inspiring Lessons Learned from Classic Literature

Study the classics, they say, but make your own rules. In a similar tone, Edgar Degas claims that “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” If the reader is indeed the one who writes the story by filling in the blanks with his own intellect, imagination and sentiment, then no literature piece is ever fully red, nor fully written.

Instead of being fossilized, forever closed structures with a single, universal moral, classic books have the power of opening themselves toward the world. If there’s anything universal about them, it’s the innate, deeply human truth that makes them applicable to every age and culture, and most importantly, to each of our lives.

So, let me ask you a question: when was the last time you drank vodka with Dostoyevsky? Sure, we’ve all had our fair share of “Crime and Punishment” during our high school years, but I dare you to pay another visit to poor Rodya!

Now that your consciousness – which envelopes both your self-awareness and understanding of the world – has fully developed, this failed overman will teach you a couple of life tricks more. First, you’ll be surprised at how many things you never understood in your mind’s youth; then, you’ll realize that Dostoevsky is every bit as hardcore as our modern Burroughses and Bukowskis.

Overwhelmed by pure ingenuity, elevated by a pageantry of style, you’ll see yourself anew.

1. The Iliad: What Life is Really About

Now, you can start your journey at the beginning, in the formidable company of one Gilgamesh, but the Plant of Heartbeat will keep slipping away. In consolation, you’ll learn a thing or two about immoderation, the power of twinship and inevitability of death; though born god-like, we all die as humans that we are. Similar, if not the same, is the destiny of your first companion, Achilles.

Assuming you hadn’t dozed off at the English class in question, you’ll likely remember that one of the major themes in Homer’s Iliad is a quest for everlasting glory. A thirst for Kleos urges both our hero and his counterpart, Hector, though their reasons greatly differ. While the latter acts in the name of family, love and honour, Achilles does it all for the immortality. And, for the sake of immortality, he slaughters them all.

The next time we encounter him, the glorified warrior claims he’d rather “follow the plow as thrall to another man, one with no land allotted him and not much to live on, than be a king over all the perished dead”. Without going deeper into the analysis of the Odyssey from which this quote is taken, I’ll remind you of this – the restless Odysseus finds him in the Underworld, deeply disappointed in his life choices.

The moral is quite simple, yet universal and omnipresent: whenever you lust to achieve, take it slow. The ultimate victory – be that an everlasting legacy or not – is meaningful only when shared with your loved one (Briseis), your friends (Patroclos) and your family (Peleus), so be sure not to lose them in the process.

2. Hamlet: It’s the Thought that Counts

What is the value of life in the face of death, and can human beings achieve immortality are questions old as time. To question ourselves and what surrounds us, however, is not only our prerogative, but our very nature; even when unanswered, questions compel us to grow and spread inwards and outwards alike. That’s why our quest for lessons to live by continues with the prince of inquisition himself, Hamlet.

The madman that he is, Shakespeare’s Hamlet truly makes you wonder. The reasons we failed so gloriously to understand the significance of the world’s most contemporary drama are the very reasons behind Hamlet’s own flounder – the uncertainty of knowledge and the complexity of what makes it actionable. Is there any way of knowing the truth with utmost confidence? Are our own thoughts as elusive as the meaning itself? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, meanwhile, and the evil prevails.

Hamlet’s indecisiveness is understood too lightly and misunderstood too often. Rather than a lack of action, it implies the inner schism that tortures us all – are we heavenly beings or predestined fallers, inherently good or inclined to evil, human or dancers? Whatever the ambivalence, the reconciliation of contradictory wholes, as always, lays within a thought. The greatest critical thinker of them all, Hamlet chooses not to act until he fathoms the naked truth, if there is any at all.

No lecturer is more monumental than Shakespeare, nor will there ever be one, and the lessons from Hamlet will only continue to pile up with time. For the time being, take the ultimate one: the world is endlessly complex, governed not only by reason, but emotions, psychology and ethics as well; the only way to glance at the truth is to think and evaluate. Only then, your actions are justified.

3. Anna Karenina: In Pursuit of Fulfilment

Speaking of uncertainties, has there ever been a bigger one than Anna Karenina? The debates will never end. Rather than the most popular one (“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”), two other quotes from Tolstoy’s saga stir up the discussion.

Throughout all interpretations, Anna Karenina stays the ultimate novel about marriage as the epitome of love and the (im)possibility of happiness and harmony: “Man survives earthquakes, epidemics, the horrors of disease, and agonies of the soul, but all the time his most tormenting tragedy has been, is, and will always be, the tragedy of the bedroom.” To compensate, like Stiva and Dolly (thesis), break molds like Anna and Vronsky (antithesis) or to seek marriage in love and love in nature like Levin and Kitty (synthesis), that is the question.

Though choices are different for all characters, the pursuit of the other half is the same and eternal. A human life is nothing but a never-ending yearning for partnership and fulfillment, regardless of where, when and how. Both Anna and her long lost brother Levin linger in stark discontent, but while she gets terribly lost in her pursuit, he eventually finds his furrow. What makes them the same is the love that’s absolute and, more importantly, pure.

So, should we judge our Anna or not? “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”, cites Tolstoy. Karenina’s motives may be pure, but her actions are soiled with blind, selfish determination. Love is a force of harmony, not destruction, and that’s only the main of many Tolstoy’s life lessons. We all bear or crosses and it’s not ours to judge, would be the second.

And, there you go – the true meaning of life, the vast importance of thought and the true nature of love are the three most vital lessons in the universe. Seemingly simple, they move us forward, compel us to search for the reason behind it all. Rather than lessons, these classical thoughts stand as a foundation that our humanity has been built upon.

Along with Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita”, which reminds us that “Manuscripts don’t burn”, thus introducing the question of art and its all-prevailing eternity, Camus’s “The Stranger” that argues that the ultimate freedom lies in acceptance of existence as it is, however, absurd or meaningless in the face of the universe it may be, and many, many others, the likeliness of Achilles, Hamlet and Anna Karenina hold the key to a simple, ruminated and fulfilled life. Ultimately, that’s everything we could ever wish for.

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