Tag: dailyprompt

internet!?

What’s a piece of media (book, movie, song) that changed how you see the world?

I am so old that I remember life before TV, telephones (that is, landline), and the internet. I remember the excitement of a colour TV and our first landline phone. My parents had a typewriter that I used as a little boy.

So maybe the internet? It opened ideas and the writings of individual people. It allowed me to connect with people from all over and exchange views and life-experiences. It opened the world beyond my small part of it.

fiction?! Yep!!

If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be?

A little strange but …

The ending of Dan Brown’s Demons and Angles is terrible. It actually made me laugh out loud. (If you know, you know!) I normally enjoy Brown’s books, and I enjoyed Demons and Angles, but the ending is just plain weird and does not make sense in the context of the book.

and understand?

Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life?

I speak (write and read) English really poorly, as evidenced by this blog. That is my go-to language and the language in which I mainly think.

I understand German since it is my first language. I can read it but not really speak or write. It changes the way I think and reason. Also gives me words that have no English translation.

How has it impacted me? I read German books in public and sometimes get strange looks. I also understand people when they think they are speaking privately. But it is my life and I know no different.

lots

Who are you most inspired by?

Inspire most? I am inspired by a lot of people online. People who are doing it tough but keep going. People who are creative and super talented. Or people who are stepping out and living their dreams. I try to be positive and help!!

But “most” is a person of the past. And it changes! At the moment Franz Kafka since I am reading The Castle. Insightful and creative. And full of warning for today.

enough

What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?

I am going to belabour a point and say it again. Happiness (if it exists) does not come from outside of me. In a world of production, likes and hites, happiness is me being me. It never comes from outside of me but only in the realisation that I am me and that is more than enough.

And, tbh, I am very far away!

stop looking outside

If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?

I am not sure this is a skill but I would like to take my own advice. I would love to actually live my life according to my own standards. And the most important one is that I should stop looking outside of me for value. No community, no institution, and no person will ever give me value when I do not value myself. The impossible dream!

Or maybe play a musical instrument or be able to draw? Or maybe swimming?

not much …

What is one way you have grown this year?

How have I grown this year? I do not feel I have, There is, however, one thing which I realised that make a difference in my life.

There is no standard for growth. There is no abstraction against which my growth is measured. In fact, there are few standards against which I am measured. Or, to put it another way, there is no institutional answer for a personal question. The last virtue of a modern world is conformity – and the greatest sin. Looking for anything outside of me is going to disappoint. I stand alone before God.