Always Choose Generosity Over Any Quality

One can turn a-blind-eye to many vices but one, stinginess, as it is the mother of them all. Whether choosing a friend or a boyfriend, a lover or a husband, never commit the cardinal sin of choosing a stingy person.

Even on a platonic level, you are better off with a person who would lavish you rather than one who would embarrass you with nauseating tightfisted tendencies.

Generous people are an asset; they will make you look good in any context. Their impeccable allure, their extravagance, their overzealous behavior, inspire admiration and respect. You’ll feel proud being linked to them on any level. That is why Greek philosopher Aristotle, associated generosity to magnificence and nobility, stinginess to deficiency. There is a sense of superiority and leadership that comes with generosity.

Plentiful with their emotions, support, and love, they offer the transparency and consistency that stingy people lack. That is what makes them reliable.  American poet Walt Whitman once said “Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself.”    

Workaholics by nature, pursuers of wealth not for the sake of greatness, but as a mean to an end. After all, in order to be generous, one has to secure the appropriate funds to entertain such inclinations. They seek rather than wait for things to go their way, they might fail, but they’ll never stop trying.   

Generous people may not have deep pockets but they act as if they have. Ambitious, pragmatic, fun and creative, their presence makes you feel like royalty, proud and happy to be associated with the finest individuals life has to offer. Their behavior is out of conviction and pride never for gain.  

As the French novelist Marcel Proust once said, there is a certain sweetness found in generosity that cannot be found in any other quality.  

Escaping Reality’s Cluth

Humans tend to be escapists by nature, some more than others. Few search for what anchors them whilst others do not deck unless they find their ultimate refuge; their human haven.

Usually commitment-fobs do not like things or places that tie them down by force; they always need to know that they can bail at any time. They usually watch things through if they so choose.

So when being forced into an environment or situation they despise, they become emotionally drained and often shutdown.

You can easily spot escapists as they always seek to sit near a window and they often gaze outside in a desperate attempt to free their mind from the people surrounding them. It is their mental attempt to mute those around them and walk away at will.

Athenian philosopher, Plato , once described ideas to be similar to fluttering birds in the brain. As we know, birds fly away when sensing danger or in the midst of chaos. They would never settle unless there is calmness and a prominent sense of security. Staring out the window offers such an opportunity.

Escapists live the moment when it is worth savoring not when they find themselves prisoners of circumstances. Like those in jail, escapists long for escape, not for lack of freedom, but because of their inability to leave in certain circumstances. They would not do that, if they were in an environment they enjoy or in the company of someone who amuses them or procures them positive feelings.  

They go inwards when the situation starts to feel dull and constraining. Just like commitment fobs, they dread doing a fatal mistake that would cost them their happiness. They have no problem staying fateful nor fear relationships but the thought of being trapped against their will, or constrained to do what would break their soul, renders them nervous. For example, in their eyes, picking the wrong spouse would be far worth than a prison life sentence.    

Escaping is a survival mechanism that helps people stay alive when endangered. There are many forms of escaping emotionally and mentally, some dream, others walk-away, read, watch TV, listen to music..etc.

You surely have heard someone experiencing a happy moment say that they dread sleeping, fearing to realize that it was all a dream. Same thing goes for escapists; they would never phase out if they find themselves in a pleasurable moment and environment.

Escapists need time to recharge when they are in presence of people or situations that drain them. If the soul warmth they seek can’t be found around them, their only option is turning inwards. They are their own salvation if there is no hero around. They will standup and dust-off when no guardian angels are there to do the lifting for them. They hold their ground as strong as a tower looms through the drizzle facing winter storms. They zone out escaping through a window, as their eyes see a different world while they hear the sounds of their thoughts as they resonate like church bells in their minds.

In The Grips of Beauty

If beauty were an ocean many would gladly drawn in it. Such is the powerful grip of beauty. It can bewitch the most powerful and render him weak. What exactly is beauty? How to define it? Why are we so addicted to it?

For years, philosophers debated the topic, and marveled at the power it holds. It is able to weaken one’s resistance, increase one’s happiness and appease an aching heart. Confucius once said, I have not seen one who loves virtue as he loves beauty. How many have died for beauty versus a noble cause?

Kant believes that in order to judge beauty one must experience it without any emotion or interest. In modern times, this theory was challenged because as it turned out, humans are deeply influenced by their social environment and culture. We incorporate the variations of our exposure and social interactions in our aesthetic preferences. It doesn’t only define our interpretation of beauty but also our understanding. That is why, certain concepts, are hard to grasp by those who never experienced it nor witnessed it. Perhaps that is why we borrow the words of others, copying their poetry without a shred of belief in what we write.

Exposure is key, we tend to associate certain experiences to things, thus the positive or negative connotation influences what we consider beautiful.

Scientists studying the brain during peak aesthetic experiences found that the idle state of the brain, the Default Mode Network, lights up when in presence of beauty.

In an experiment called “I Know What I Like: Stability of Aesthetic Preference” conducted on Alzheimer patients revealed that people are able to sustain their preferences despite their condition.

The absence of beauty dubs the world a colorless place and makes for a very impoverished life. Whether you believe in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Divine Proportion , the Golden Ratio , or you are fervent believer that it is arbitrary, you must confess that beauty is all about pleasure. It is at the core of the choices we make.

The question now remains, what or who, will be able to trigger our surge of Dopamine, the hormone that moves humans? Some might have a low response to it but others if properly motivated can move mountains and shatter any obstacle for a taste of the coveted.

Not-for-profit Search Engine

Environmentalist rejoice, we found the perfect search engine for you. Ecosia is the world’s largest not-for-profit search engine based in Berlin, Germany, that plants trees by donating 80% or more of its profits to nonprofit organizations that focus on Reforestation.

On its landing page, you find the number of trees planted thanks to the number of users who resorted to searching through the engine.

In 2018, Ecosia’s CEO, Christian Kroll, answered users demands over finding a way to permanently save the Hambach Forest. This resulted in Ecosia,  offered €1 million to buy and save the last remaining stretch of the Hambach Forest in Germany.

Founded in 2009, Ecosia,has honored its promise and planted over 40 million trees  across 19 planting sites worldwide. The company is planning for more by end of 2019. In Autumn, Ecosia has even taken her mission a step forward by giving away shares to the Purpose Foundation, to ensure that founders can never profit. Ecosia also has its own solar plant for renewable energy.

Walk Through The Field of Light

When you walk through The Field of Lights created by renowned artist Bruce Munro, the wind moves the light flowers undulating with colors, making you forget the moon in his jealous sky.

Internationally-acclaimed artist Bruce Munro, is a wizard of lights, renowned for portraying light gardens birthed from fantasies and dreams.

Thanks to his competent team in his Wiltshire studio, he is able to bring his ideas to life. Bruce exhibits across the world creating large-scale immersive interventions as well as smaller detailed story pieces. He finds inspiration from his literature books, his trips across the globe and his knowledge of lights.

Bruce Munro premiered, in May, his largest artwork to date, an enormous multi-acre walk-through installation at Sensorio in Paso Robles, California. The Field of Light  it made of an array of over 58,800 stemmed spheres lit by fiber-optics, gently illuminating the landscape in subtle blooms of morphing color that describe the undulating landscape.

Powered by solar, the stunning exhibition captivated visitors, inviting them to engage with the landscape and environment through an ethereal light-based and sculptural experience.

Nature might be supreme at creating mesmerizing landscapes and gardens but Bruce Munro rivals it when it comes to making fields of light that can, not only be seen, but felt as well.

Voluntourism

Voluntourism, an emerging travel trend which is a combination of tourism and volunteering to do good. Tourists seek destinations for the purpose of providing support to the places and people they visit.

Voluntourism is consequent to initiatives launched by organizations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, CARE International and World Vision.

Volontourism is mainly done by students who commit themselves short-term and take part in construction, tutoring and  food projects. They are also involved in working with social systems to support local communities materially and socially.

Voluntourism programs leads to engagement and cross-cultural experiences that help people understand and appreciate each others. Students learn first hand about the political, social, economic and cultural histories of the places they visit and are given the opportunity to help mend the depth of inequality.

VolunTourism.org Founder, David Clemmons, launched The VolunTourist Webcast, a weekly call-in show features guests from across the globe, the majority of whom are voluntourism trip providers. In addition,  The VolunTourist Newsletter features voluntourism providers in the Supply Chain column, for those interest in partaking in such initiative.

The Legend Who Did It His Way

The legendary Frank Sinatra, who’s voice radiated romance and made women across the world swoon, has been a raging success years after his light went silently into the night.

His stardom still perseveres, years after his passing.

Hereby things  you might not have known about the iconic singer:

• Born on December 12, 1915, he was thought to be dead, it was only thanks to his grandmother, that revived him with cold water, that he survived.
• Yanked out at birth by forceps, he was severely faced scared on his left side of his face.
• He was suspected of being a communist sympathizer because of a movie he did back in 1945, titled The House I Live In, that spoke out against anti-Semitism and racial intolerance.
• He was traced by the FBI for allegedly bribing doctors to declare him unfit to serve in the army.
• He was the first singer to launch an album and a box set.
• He attempted four suicides.
• He was a very skilled actor, to the point he was nicknamed in Hollywood as “One-Take Charlie”.
• He hated two of his most praised songs “My Way” and “Strangers in the Night”
• Sinatra one of Hollywood’s most likable star hated Marlon Brando after their movie collaboration in 1955’s Guys and Dolls.
• He hated rock and roll.
• He loved the Beatle’s song “Something.”
• The sentence”The Best is Yet to Come” is engraved on his tombstone.
• He was buried with some Tootsie Rolls, cigarettes, a lighter, and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
• He included a “no-contest” clause in his will which stipulates that anyone who contests it will be disinherited completely.

Things You Didn’t Know about Keukenhof

If you are to infuse tulips, windmills, clogs, cheeses and klederdrach dresses, you will end up with beautiful Holland, a region tucked on the western coast of the Netherlands.

In this corner of the earth, that one can consider as the birthplace of spring: With its mesmerizing flower streams, you can find one of the world’s largest flower gardens: Keukenhof.

Hereby are interesting facts to know about this enchanting garden:

• Keukenhof means kitchen garden.
• It has over 7 million bulbs, with 800 varieties of tulips.

• The 32 hectares of flowers displays spectacular flower shows, inspirational gardens, unique art and hosts wonderful entertainment such as treasure hunts, petting farms, mazes and a huge playground.

• Keukenhof used to be a fruits and vegetables garden for Jacqueline of Bavaria‘s kitchen staff.
• In the beginning there was no castle, it was built in 1641.
• In 1949, Keukenhof garden was designed to mimic an English garden. Twenty of the country’s leading flower growers decided to use the grounds to show off their goods.

The Illusionist

British sculptor and member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, Alex Chinneck, is a master illusionist when it comes to creating temporary art. His art, has been highlighted extensively by international media agencies and his work has been the center of attention.

Alex Chinneck’s unique style that unites the disciplines of art, architecture and theater, leads to monumental and highly impactful masterpieces. His skill, in producing contextually responsive interventions that animate the place in which they stand, has been highly acclaimed by critics and viewers all over the world.

His poetic yet Hollywoodien style is ever so evident in his installations across Greater London. His portfolio includes:

• Telling the Truth Through False Teeth (2012), where Alex used 1,248 pieces of glass to create 312 identically smashed windows across the derelict facade of a factory in Hackney,
• From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes (2013), where Alex created the illusion that the house facade had slid into the garden.
• Under the Weather but Over the Moon (2013), where Alex created the illusion of an inverted building.
• Take my Lightning but Don’t Steal my Thunder (2014), where Alex designed a building that appears to float in the air.
• A Pound of Flesh for 50p (2014), where Alex made a building from 7500 paraffin wax bricks which slowly melted.
• Pick Yourself Up and Pull Yourself Together (2015), where Alex created the illusion of Vauxhall Corsa being suspended upside down in Southbank Centre car park.
• The unzipped (2019), where Alex unzipped a Milanese historic building during Milan Design Week (aka Salone de Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) suggest the power of change, and the infinite future.

Alex Chinneck, doesn’t see things as they are but what they ought to be, shaping them the best version of themselves. The version that coincides with their full potential: magical, whimsical and unique. Rare are those who can identify potential and skillfully bring it out. It takes exceptional people to bring-out the best in others and in things, it takes even a more outstanding one to see past the facades.

The World’s Best Country

Since 2016, for three consecutive years, Switzerland has topped the U.S. News & World Report as the world’s best country based on quality of life, economic influence, power, education and eco-friendliness.

The Economist Intelligence Unit Quality of Life Index, even pushes the ranking further, stating that not only Switzerland is the best country in the world but the best place to be born in. Swiss people have the best happiness ranking, healthcare facilities, lowest unemployment and crime rate. With top economic stability, access to capital, a strong legal framework and prestige, no wonder Switzerland is topping the charts.

Switzerland or Confoederatio Helvetica/The confederation of Helvetier, located in the heart of Europe, might be a paradise on earth for her inhabitants however it is known to be somewhat icy cold and understandably hostile towards foreigners.

In a 2016 survey of expats around the world, 3 out of 10 people surveyed found Switzerland to be the most hostile country towards foreigners.

Switzerland might be a happy yet reclusive, unmeddling country, always standing aside when it comes to global political quarrels. However, it is a country not to be reckoned with nor underestimated. Their army is extremely well trained, men are required to complete their military service without excuses and ordered to keep their weapons and equipment with them at all times in case they are called into action .

The brilliant strategic mind of the country has  thought of a counter-measure for every chaotic scenario possible to the point that they have bunkers ready to house their entire population in case of nuclear strike. Their highways can be turned into landing strips when grade separations are removed. Their mountain tunnels and paths are booby-trapped so in case of war all entries are blown-up thus locking the country down.

One can’t but admire the aristocracy of Switzerland, like a knight, fair and mighty nonetheless remains a force not to be messed with. Switzerland might be a haven with its democracy, fairness, civility and most importantly delicious chocolate supply, challenged by their alleged hostility towards foreigners, but truth be told, they remain exemplary in our book because they value their own over anyone else. That is something admirable especially when one is just.