Why a heartbreak is the best thing that can happen to (for) you

Business gurus will tell you that failure is an integral part of success. Just so you remember you are mortal. You are not invincible. You will fail, you will have to try over and over again.

The same principle applies to love. You need to get your heart broken.

Why?

Because it’s the only way one can grow.

Let me explain.

Boy meets girl. Boy hopelessly falls in love. Girl soon feels the same about him. They spend a while together, and then one of them decides it’s no longer worth it, and they leave.

 The outcome is the same: pain, bitterness, regret…

What is wrong with you?

How could they do such a thing?

Why?

Why?

And so on and so forth… with a bit of tears (or more of them) and a lot of questions.

Some folks choose to never find out the answers to those questions, while others decide other people are stupid and can’t appreciate a good thing when they see it.

But a few will learn from this. A few will strive to understand things.

Yes, it is a very painful process.

Depression and anxiety kicks in.

You stop taking care of yourself, for what is the purpose?

You pretend you’re okay on the outside, but you’re slowly dying on the inside.

But you learn… you do.

You kind of understand, after a while, that happiness and self worth are not for sale. That you cannot be truly yourself if you have to look in the hearts and minds of others for validation.

You understand that it is important to be the best version that you can be.

You now know never to become complacent, never to settle.

To do more. To aspire for more.

Because you’ll be dead soon enough anyway.

Because when hearts break, death seems like a mild nuissance.

It is life that is truly terrifying. Complex beyond belief.

If it was simple before your heart shattered into a million pieces, now you’ve got to grab all those pieces and somehow glue them back together.

Some of you might argue that a broken heart is no longer as strong.

I beg to differ.

Hearts break only once. The rest are just scratches.

What I learned in five years of blogging

Five years. Five years of daily blogging. Five years since I decided to never give up, no matter what. To keep writing, to keep blogging, to just keep at it for as long as it took.

And what a ride it has been. Around the world, indeed. 200 or so countries. Lots and lots of people, lots and lots of stories… Continue reading →

New release: 2:22 AM

coverThey say the only ones who are awake late at night are the lonely and the loved. The former find it hard to fall asleep when all they have to do is dream with open eyes about their beloved. It’s almost a compulsion.
But what about the lonely? All the artists, the dreamers; the ones who hold tight to a reality they don’t understand and want to explain? Continue reading →

The mountain

7e94b6ca15764dd139ba2f8146844331

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali

Ever felt like a failure? Worthless? Lonely being redemption, broken beyond repair. A waste of time?

Ever felt that it just doesn’t matter?

Ever felt like you couldn’t do something because it was too difficult? Because you were just not good enough? Or smart enough? Or you didn’t have the resources you needed?

Ever felt hopeless, seemingly destined to spend your life daydreaming about what would never be and what was and could no longer be? Continue reading →

Life is pain

image

“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” — William Goldman

I’m not a big fan of “positive thinking.” Yes, it’s important that we love ourselves, that we try to see all that is good and worthy of gratitude in us and others. I believe in seeing the light in others and offering them the support they need to better themselves.

But I also know that it is extremely important that we be realistic about what is what and who is who.

Continue reading →

What is a reblog?

I’d call them trailers for blog posts.

Let’s say you write a blog post. So, I choose a short snippet of that post (usually the first lines) then add a link to your post. I put this on my blog.

This way, over 128, 000 people get to see this short preview. Those who want to read more, click on the link and go to your blog.

It’s a way to gain exposure.

Reblog – 24.99 – Do you have a WordPress.com blog? Have you written a piece you’d want everyone to read? Now you can have your content reblogged to an audience of over 122, 000.

You can purchase here.

Two Reblogs – $39.99 – Two reblogs. You can use them whenever you want.

Purchase here.

Five Reblogs – $59.99 – Five reblogs. Best option. Use them whenever you want to reach a bigger audience.

Purchase here.

Payments are secured via PayPal. It’s all very simple. Once you purchase an advertising option, we’ll get in touch via e-mail and set everything up.

Thank you,

Cristian

* Offer expires Friday

Advertisements

Review – $30 (down from $50) –   Have you written a book? Do you want to reach a potential audience of over one hundred thousand people? Purchase a review from my e-store here, and I’ll read and review your book on my blog.

Showcase – $30 (down from $50) – Are you a graphic designer or photographer? A painter?

You can showcase your works in a post on this blog. Including artist bio, an artist statement, and links to websites, online stores, and social media.

Purchase here.

Interview – $30 (down from $50) – An interview by me about your work, your blog/website.

Purchase here.

Payments are secured via PayPal. It’s all very simple. Once you purchase an advertising option, we’ll get in touch via e-mail and set everything up.

Thank you,

Cristian

A Sad, Sad Symphony

story-a-week

Old Francisc Goyer had been working on his symphony for too long to even remember. It was supposed to be his masterpiece, his magnum opus. At times he was afraid, and with some reason, that he might never finish it.
But that night he had a dream: instruments being played by angels. Such a profound mastery hid beneath their long, white as marble fingers that he began to scribble notes on a piece of paper, his hand trembling under the weight of such a clear and extraordinary vision. Inside his head, the instruments kept playing in a miraculous way that couldn’t be explained, but couldn’t be denied either.
It was real. The music was coming from somewhere far, far away; a muffled concoction of sounds. And Francisc feared to do anything other than write. He was afraid to light a cigarette or even drink a glass of water. The symphony…

View original post 4,384 more words

Artist of the Week: Francis Bacon

irevuo

“OK, I got Velazquez portrait of the Pope Innocent X. Quite an ambivalent study of absolute power. And here comes Francis Bacon. Despite never having seen this painting in person, Bacon became so obsessed with it that he compulsively repainted it over and over again, each version more horrific than the previous. […] It’s not until an artist finds his obsession that he can create his most inspired work.” – Anamorph

Obsession is a nasty word. Or so most people think.

Obsession and vice go hand in hand. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, adverbs, and obsessions.

But art is also built by people who are obsessed with the act of creating beauty. People who have a certain vision and will stop at nothing to achieve it.

View original post

Reblogs: Wednesday to Friday

What is a reblog?

I’d call them trailers for blog posts.

Let’s say you write a blog post. So, I choose a short snippet of that post (usually the first lines) then add a link to your post. I put this on my blog.

This way, over 128, 000 people get to see this short preview. Those who want to read more, click on the link and go to your blog.

It’s a way to gain exposure.

Reblog – 24.99 – Do you have a WordPress.com blog? Have you written a piece you’d want everyone to read? Now you can have your content reblogged to an audience of over 122, 000.

You can purchase here.

Two Reblogs – $39.99 – Two reblogs. You can use them whenever you want.

Purchase here.

Five Reblogs – $59.99 – Five reblogs. Best option. Use them whenever you want to reach a bigger audience.

Purchase here.

Payments are secured via PayPal. It’s all very simple. Once you purchase an advertising option, we’ll get in touch via e-mail and set everything up.

Thank you,

Cristian

* Offer expires Friday

Burning out

irevuo

In case you didn’t notice, I spend last week finishing projects and releasing them. As a matter of fact, I managed to release more books than I was able to announce.

So, how long can you keep this up? The grind.

How long before you burn out?

Well… the thing is, this whole grind thing… it’s only meant to put you in a certain state of mind, which is everything when it comes to doing pretty much anything in life.

And the state of mind that comes with the idea of hard work, of having to fight to get what you want, doesn’t allow you to act all lazy and Netflix and chill your way through life.

But it is more important to work smart.

Say what?

Yeah.

It is more important to do what you can, when you can, and then become better at it, and do more in…

View original post 114 more words

The Unlikely Stoic

My grandfather was a great man. He would have identified himself as a stoic; he would have appreciated Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations if he wouldn’t have quit school at the tender age of fourteen, left the village where he was born, and walked barefoot for some forty miles to the nearest city to work in construction.
He taught me many valuable lessons, but the most important one he never dared utter into existence.

It took him some thirty years to die. Continue reading →