Why the most beautiful things fail to last…

How beautiful a flower is but how quick its death. A butterfly spends a day in beauty and then fades away as if it never existed. A woman’s youth fades over time. But am I wrong in referencing a perhaps aesthetic beauty that is entirely outward? Maybe the most beautiful things are the things you cannot see physically see but rather the things you feel. Emphasising the essence of the thing rather than the obvious glaring attraction of the thing or the person.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but why should beauty be emphatically relative? Is it ok to have a relative objective or an absolute one? I personally think relative is better – that way, there’s something for everybody. It makes the world that whole bit interesting.

The same can be said for love and romance. Why do some of the most passionate relationships end up in misery? Is it because they are filled with the poison called lust or is it that what what we think is a beautiful relationship is hidden deep from the obvious reflections of what can be considered real love?

So the question is… Why do good things come to an end? Why do beautiful things never last?

The truth is… As the world evolves technologically we have less and less access to our emotions. The simplicity of life gets lost in a sea of computerised, contrived and compulsive behaviour that disallows us to really connect to beauty.

What is hot today is cold tomorrow. What is considered beautiful is now plain in comparison to its successor. We are always looking for the next best thing. Always jumping in people’s beds (so to speak) without really appreciate what we actually have. So yeah… technology is to blame as we are more exposed to what can be considered a false reality of photoshop and media manipulation.

Transitional Feelings…

Have you felt happy, excited, nervous, sick and terrified all at the same time? It’s a crazy feeling isn’t it?

On Staying Motivated at the Gym

Why O why does this always happen?

You sign up for the gym, happily enthusiastic and excited about the prospect of burning all the pounds an shedding the weight from those problem areas. You are fiercely determined.

You put your pen to paper and sign the contract that locks you in for 12 months. You have it all planned… That you will go three times a week and even every day in some cases.

Fast forward… 2 months later.

You stop going to the gym… You may go once in a while just to say hello to the equipment and then swiftly say goodbye. Promising to come back when you have sorted your life out.

You cancel your gym membership as you can now see that it is draining your finances. You no longer need it as you have found yet another excuse to stand up the gym.

So why do we do it?

I personally feel that being in a predictable environment can lower motivation levels. The excitement is not there because you know what to expect. You know the equipment inside and out and you feel you’ve tried them all. If you also see that it is not making a difference to your body (especially when we live in a society where the need to do everything instantly is high) you may lose hope and feel that it is a waste of time. Let’s face it, a gym membership with no frills, no classes – this can indeed leave you feeling as if you were at a dead end.

I would say if you were going to join a gym, at least have a no contract one. This will at least mean that you can cancel at anytime without having to pay a hefty cancellation fee. You can also freeze your membership so that the months that you feel inactive or that you cannot afford it are covered.

On Learning a Foreign Language

I have always wanted to be able to speak fluently in another tongue. To converse with another in an unknown language has always been my desire.

At the moment, I am currently learning Spanish but my desire is to add German, Italian, French and maybe Japanese to that list. They say that once you have learned one language, that learning others would be easier to conquer.

So why do I want to learn? In my everyday life, I have encountered people that have conversed in their languages and maybe picked up a few words here and there but the beauty of speaking another language fluently, has always intrigued me. I am always impressed by people that can speak a repertoire of languages effortlessly and this a challenge for me all the same.

People have different ways of learning a language with immersion being the top method. But for those that cannot afford the luxuries of spending a year abroad in another country, the best methods of learning are most likely those that engage the patterns of memorising and the language becoming second nature . Rosetta Stone have attempted this but I have found it rather inundated with useless sentences and constructions such as ‘the boy is under the table.’ Who the hell cares? And why do i need to know how to say it in Spanish? I ultimately gave up with Rosetta Stone when it was clear that after several hours of learning, I still could not even construct a worthy sentence that meant anything to anybody. Nevertheless, it is still a great tool to use when trying to grasp vocabulary. But the process of elimination is rather unrealistic and contrived. In the real world, it is unlikely that you would have four choices of words accompanied by pictures to choose from.

I started using various different methods to learn. I have always found it difficult to remember things and thought that working on memorisation techniques was the best way to start. It is important to acquire the words before even moving into sentences. Just like a child, we learn how to say words before moving onto sentences, paragraphs and then finally essays.
A great application tool is Memrise which can help with learning a language. They use an interval technique. You plant new memories and then you water them later to refresh your memories. It has really helped with my Spanish.

In conclusion, learning a language is never going to be easy. Every learner is different but the experience itself is rewarding albeit frustrating at times.

Feeling Used…

No-one at any time should be and feel used. It is a horrible realisation when one encounters that someone may be using them for whatever reason. You suddenly feel as if YOU were not of value in the first place, rather, what you could offer them iS the main attraction. It is a horrible feeling that at times we do not want to admit to ourselves but by confessing that we may have put on our rosé coloured glasses to blind from the truth. The ugly truth that may make or break you… Do you stay or do you go?

A Sinister Skull

Mental Overactivity

Brain activity can at times troublesome, especially when you’re alone with your thoughts. I thought I was happy today but it turns out that I was actually distracted.

Being alone with my thoughts at times can be tormenting. One minute I can be bleating positivity and then the very next minute overcome with doubt, fear and anxiety. It is a terrible cycle. One that is unwelcome to me in many ways:

• Fear (False Evidence Appearing Real)

Why should we fear? When we have proven to ourselves that we are worthy. That we are strong and confident. Why does it take one simple thought to make my strong fortified walls come tumbling down? When false evidence appears real to us, it can affect all the plans that we have made, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.

• Anxiety and Self Doubt

Things that never crossed the mind start to float by and rear its ugly head. When we start to feel anxious and doubt ourselves and our abilities, yet again, it ruins the plans that we have made and the walls that we have built.

• “What is the point of doing anything?”

Abandoning the mission with self-defeating thoughts is destructive to our person but when you really think about it, what is the point of doing anything? Working for money, the nice house, the fairy tale lifestyle and then what?

I have started to debunk this method of thinking by equating it to reading a book. You don’t just read a book to get to the end, we read books because of the story, the journey, the development of character and plot twists and turns. The end is incidental.