Hips don't lie, beards do. And people do it as well, sometimes - Part I

The first bearded man in my life was Mr. Cookies. 

He was neither the least famous bearded cousin of Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar nor the older brother of the Gingerbread man.

[Gingy, the cute and valiant Gingerbread man of the Shrek series

No close relation with Mr. Cookies.

Well, at least not as far as I know. One never knows]

He was the bearded neighbor living on the first floor of my apartment building when I was a child. A quiet and peaceful man a little bit overweight, probably in his forties, married with a blond enchanting nice woman, he was always kind, smiling and fun to talk to.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life’s about creating yourself.

George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950]

I have never been religious, not even as a child, but Mr. Cookies - this was his real last name, only translated into Italian, of course - was to me the closest thing to Santa Claus, that I had ever seen in real life so far. And probably also afterward.

So a bearded man was for me so far someone somehow friendly and helpful and such, but for sure not attractive or sexy. And not only because as a child I had not yet very clear in my mind what sex appeal or sexiness should be.

Then it was the turn of Candy Candy, of course.

Life is as sweet as a yummy purple cupcake. Until it's not... Resilience, bravery and cool quotes for abandoning the standby mode and going back to life

Sometimes one is sad, hopeless and defeated.

Or he has been let down by friends or acquaintances.
Or ill-treated by someone for no apparent reasons.

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.

Lou Holtz

The desire to scream, to be rude or just to run away and to forget everything and everyone can be strong, way too strong to be ignored.

And it can also happen that one actually disappears for a while, without talking to anyone, returning phone calls or replying to e-mails. Putting life, friends, and chores on standby.

[There is no life in standby mode. One has to deal with it

So sorry for that]

The most amazing thing about life, besides of its weird sense of humor, is that it can't be put on standby forever. Life is short and one has to live it. Now. No matter what. No excuses accepted.

Singleness made in Berlin - #3. Or four questions one should better think about, while flirting in another language

Online and offline, but above all online, one can read almost everywhere that content is king. Sean D'Souza gets usually a little bit further and says that the content is king, but the packaging is Emperor. In my humble opinion, he is right.

Something is even more important than content and packaging, though, and it's... feedback.

[Packaging is... emperor and it can be very classy too:

luxury Purple packaging design from Betc Design

for My Cointreaupolitan Box by Dita von Teese]

Seth Godin is sure that "Criticism is easy to do, but rarely worth listening to, mostly because it's so easy to do". This is sadly true, and yet constructive criticism and honest feedback are absolutely worth listening since they are useful not only for the person receiving it but also for the one providing it.

Singleness made in Berlin - #2. Or how to recognize if you spent too many years flirting in German

Taking big decisions, changing life, switching from a situation to a new one, starting a new business or trying out a different hobby or activity can be challenging and scary, but also very rewarding, in the long run, if one is ready to accept the pain, the discomfort and the uncertainty in the first place, as Mark Twain beautifully said:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore, Dream, Discover.

Mark Twain [pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910]

Something like this can be mind-blowing, but it is for sure not everybody's cup of tea.

[One popular motivational Internet meme:

The magic happens outside the comfort zone]

Same same but different, they say. 

We are all human beings, we have the same needs, we know the same feelings and we experience the same emotions, even if we learn to show and express them in different ways, depending on variables like culture, country, familiar situation, education, gender, age, etc.

And yet we all are going to die at some point and so we should take the most out of our days.