Pain is part of happiness

Could you enjoy the food, if you would never be hungry?

The lack of something is necessary in order we can enjoy it once we have it.

If you would be happy all the time, would you know that happiness exists?

We need the pain and times of unhappiness, in order to be happy!

So next time you feel sad, remember: it’s part of your future happiness.

“Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.”

EXCITING

We fly around the sun super fast!
108000 kilometers per hour! WOW!
That's 30km in one second.
83 times faster than the speed of sound.
42 times faster than a bullet from an AK-47.
WOW!
We are travelling on a high speed spaceship through space!
Good, that we don't feel it.
But we can notice it!
Today while taking pictures in the morning, I notice how fast the shadow moved.
Within a few minutes I could see a big difference!

There are so many crazy beautiful things around us we don't notice.
But when we do, like I in the morning, it's:
EXCITING!

PS:
Acutally we are even faster going through space!
The sun is moving through space, too! And we are following.
Plus, the galaxy we are in is moving, too.
A lot of motion!
And we are sitting on the sofa...

“Luck is believing you're lucky.”

One of my favorite quotes.

In the last weeks I made myself aware how lucky I am and how lucky I was.
Instead of focusing on what I don’t have.
Or the bad things in my past and present.
I started to focus on the positive things of the past and present.
I talked to myself and said many times: “How lucky you are!”

By doing that regularly, it attracted more positive thoughts.
More feelings of being lucky.

The thoughts you think regularly attract similar thoughts.

But something more interesting happened with that experiment!

By feeling luckier, more positive things happened in my life.

If you feel lucky, you attract more luck into your life.

Try it!

For what are your right now grateful?

It doesn’t take much effort. Do it regularly and you will notice a big difference soon!

Today, I was lucky to be able to see this mirror (which I put there a few days ago because I am moving) and its reflection. I felt so happy for this opportunity to be creative with my camera.

I took a dice (symbol of luck) and took a few pictures.

When I checked the pictures, I couldn’t believe my luck!
The dice with its reflection showed my favorite number: 7
This number represents luck.

Start seeing how lucky you are AND you will attract more luck in your life!

Good luck!

 

REALITY DOES NOT EXIST

Every human sees life and situations different.
We experience what is right in front of us with a filter.
Also, what we see takes time to get to our brain.
It’s very fast, but still there is a delay.
What we see in front of us is actually the past.
So then how can reality exist?
We see everything through a filter and delayed.

It’s a distortion.

So how can reality exist if we can’t experience it?

FINGER

The moment you point the finger at someone criticizing or judging them:

Look how many fingers point at you!
Humans have problems with communication. You, me and everyone else.
Unfortunately we don't learn that in school. And some people never learn to communicate.
It is a life long journey. We have to switch from "me" to "you".
A conflict is not about being right. It is trying to really understand the other one.
And please try to understand and be understood.
We all are not perfect. We see and experience things differently.
If we fight, criticize each other and trying to be right and make the other one feel wrong, we will not find a solution. This is one reason why relationships fall apart.

LACK OF GOOD COMMUNICATION.
LISTEN, DON'T POINT YOUR FINGER, TRY TO UNDERSTAND AND BE UNDERSTOOD.
It's not about who is right or wrong. It's about how can we fix this as a team.

HOW can I be a better communicator?
Education! There is a lot of good imformation online.

But for starters, what worked best for me:
Let the other one finish their thoughts, without interruption. Let the person speak so long until they have nothing to say.
Then take a pause, think about what has been said.
Now it's your turn. Ask the other person to return the favor, to talk without being interrupted.

That's the first step. Being a good communicator and problem solver takes a life time of learning.

So let's start NOW!

PERSISTENCE

What is the secret to success?
Talent, intelligence, hard work, luck and connections?

Those things are a great setup. A guaranty for success?
NO!
Something is missing. The most important:
PERSISTENCE!

Did you ever think that you could break a glass with a small dice?
Me neither.
I threw those dices many times in the glass.
After 20 times it broke.

I threw it few more times. More damage.

WOW!

Such small dices can break a glass!

How? With persistence.

You are that small dice.
And you can make the impossible, possible.

By being persistent.

Half full or half empty?

You probably heard about this philosophical question!

I say it is the wrong question.

If you believe it is half empty, you feel it is not enough and you are worried it might be even less.

If you believe it is half full, you are optimistic it will be full one day. But still: you feel it is not enough.

What is the glass anyway? Maybe your expectations?

Instead of seeing something as “half”, change the glass.

Take a smaller glass and you will have a full glass.

Then there is no more question.

It is full!

No more questions. No more “not enough”.

Take even a smaller glass, you still feel “full” and at the same time you have something to share, so somebody else can feel “full” as well.

You then can feel complete and even more than that, because you shared and made somebody happy.

 

F... YOU - THANK YOU

Shop windows, mannequins, sexy underwear & someone doing something next to the mannequins: I love that setup!

I was taking pictures of the mannequins when a young girl (working there) showed me the middle finger with an angry face.

I was laughing so hard, that the following pictures were all blurry.
While laughing I checked, if a got that beautiful moment.
Yes, I got it!
I showed the girl the finger as well, but the thumb up: and said: THANK YOU!

Afterwards I got inspired:

In future, if people want to provoke me, criticize me, play games, try to make me jealous or start to fight with me:
I will smile and inside myself I will say: Thank you, I don't want your negative energy in my system.

And I'll keep on walking.

BEAUTY

What is beauty and who defines it?

A famous woman on a cover magazine with a lot of make up, professional lighting / photographer and A LOT of photoshop - this is beauty?
Maybe I need glasses or something is wrong with me. I don't like any of the famous female models.
They are all plastic to me - mannequins.

For me beauty is a mix of personality, smile, a big heart, humor and the way of thinking. And also how a woman treats me. That is beauty!

Sometimes it happened to me, that you see a pretty woman (walking down the street). Pretty by worldly standards.
And then she opens her mouth and she loses all the beauty she had before.

On the covers there should be women with attractive personalities and not mannequins with tons of makeup.

And I am sure that those famous models can be beautiful, too! Stop putting tons of make up on, put away the arrogance, the empty stare, eat some more food and show your real you!
Yes, show your fears and weakness - that is attractive!

How to become rich

The “promise” is all over the internet. Everywhere people selling their magical product and telling you that you, like them, can become rich.

Those commercials are annoying and sad.
Sad, that people believe it. Yes, it is true, those products make rich, just not you.

So how can you become rich?

There are only two ways:

- be a SHARK and steal money from people legally and illegally.

You don’t want to be that person.

- provide VALUE

All the successful people have one thing in common.
And it doesn’t matter if it is a product, a service, knowledge or a talent (entertainment).
They all provide VALUE. Something which makes your life better.

And many started by providing VALUE for free.

So, the correct mindset would be:

“How can I improve the life of other people?”

Find a way to improve the life of others. Improve many lives.

AND you will be rich. Not only with money, but also rich in meaning, to have made people’s life better.

ZOMBIE

Next time when you go to downtown of your city: switch off your phone!

"WHAT????? Are you crazy? No phone?"
Horrible thought, right?
Try it, just 20 minutes. Can you do that?
And observe. How many people are on their phones?
F...ing everybody! Slavery does still exists.
Zombies!
Far from being present and enjoying the moment.
What a waste of valuable life time. WASTE!
And it already starts in the morning.
First thing people do when they are slowly waking up: phone.
What is the last thing people do before falling asleep?
Of course a phone is a necessary tool and it is great for communication.
But all day - from start to finish?
You know what inspired me to write that article?
I went through my photos I shot in Zurich, Switzerland.
ALMOST in all of them people where on their phone!
CRAZY!
I am one of the zombies, too.
If I am not with my camera, I am a zombie, too.
NOT ANYMORE!
I am human being not a zombie.
I want to experience the present.
HOW?
You know how.

BAD DAY?

Are you having a bad day?
Remember the past! There are many situations where the bad was good for something!
Sometimes we don't realize it. Not in the moment and not later.
The picture is symbolic for me!
Oil is bad for the nature. It happened. You can't change it.
But I saw the heart! And it inspired me. Something good in the bad.
Now in future in difficult times, I will remember that picture.
And I will be aware and look out for the good in the bad.

“It all depends on what you visualize.”

Many people don’t believe in the power of visualization.

What they don’t know is: they already practice it!
People who worry, think in pictures. They visualize!

So, you could say: everyone does visualization!

What are you feeding your mind?

Do you think about the things you want?

“If you realize how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”

STOP the Virus !

You know if something happens every day & everywhere, it becomes a standard.

If something is a standard, it doesn’t mean it is OK.
If you pay attention you will notice, that people talk more about the negative.

Have you noticed that?

People talk mostly about the bad things, about what is lacking. They talk more about problems than solutions.

And then people complain that they are not happy.

It’s a virus.

The immune system can only fight a virus, if it recognizes the virus.

Awareness of the negative is the first step in fighting it.

Stop negativity of others and don’t be the one spreading the virus.

Be aware of the virus and fight it!

“Negativity doesn’t help me.”

STEP

When you have plans, there are many obstacles which slow you down.

Sometimes you stand still or even the circumstances push you back.
BUT every step forward and closer to your goal feels great and gives energy to keep on fighting.
You can achieve anything what you want.
The secret is to believing in it and never even think about giving up.
Many people give up even close to their goal. NO!

Each step forward closer to your goal is a SUCCESS!

"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must - just never give up."

Make more mistakes!

Every day we remember the past, good and bad.

Some memories are with regret, because we made mistakes.

Mistakes shouldn’t be seen as something negative.
Why regret past mistakes & fear future mistakes?

We all do mistakes. And it is good!
The mistakes teach us. We improve our life with mistakes.

Maybe in the moment we do a mistake, we don’t realize it could benefit us.

But with some time, we can look back and see: yes, mistakes are not bad!

“Life can only be understood backwards - but it must be lived forwards.”

Eh?

Does a photo have to make sense? Does it have to always reflect reality?

No!

What makes a photo interesting? There are many opinions and tastes.
For me a photo works, if you pause for a few seconds.
If you look at the photo and think: “what is going on?”
Or if a photo invites you to use your imagination.
It has an "effect" and is causing your wheels in your head to move.

That, for me, is an interesting photo.

This series called “Incognito” I submitted a few days ago to a big international photo competition “Lensculture Emerging Talent Awards 2019”.

Beat the Bad!

Bad and unfair things happen to all of us. It makes us sad and we wonder:

“Why is the world like that?”

You can get caught up in the thinking and analyzing. And then? What’s next?
Recently, when I experienced a bad thing, I remembered a quote:

“Don’t focus on the problem. Focus on the solution.”

From then on, I put my attention on finding a solution.
Instantly, I felt better AND I found a solution as well.

FREEDOM

No matter which place I have been living, birds always came to my home and were living with me. Some made even a nest!

I like symbolism - Birds represent freedom.
We humans don't have wings, but we can be free, too.
Free of the need of approval, free of worries, free of any kind of dependence, free of debt , free of pain.
There are many things we are or could be free of!

From what do you want to be free? What things (or people) right now in your life are not letting you to be free?

Look at that thing/person who is not letting you to be free and make a decision to mentally fly away from it.

BLOCK IT

Did you ever think how much the daily words and thoughts affect your happiness?

Bad news starting in the morning. Later in the day you hear people complaining.
In between you give attention to your thoughts of worry.
On the way home you hear somebody telling a bad story.
At home you watch a movie about people killing other people and you end the day with some more bad news.

Now let's imagine another routine.
You get up, read some inspiring quotes. Be grateful for what you have.
Later you meet people complaining. You smile and ask them "what good did you experience today?". "For what are you grateful today?".
Worries come and you smile. I will win this game! And come to the next level.
Somebody you know, tells you a bad story. You ask: What is the good in the bad story? "How can you benefit? Also, tell me something good you experienced today!"

Everywhere there is negativity waiting to enter our system. People do not notice!
Be on guard, be aware. Once you are aware you can block it.

"What you pay attention to grows"