First, I learnt to read and then I started learning to live, or something like that. But really, what can be more beneficial for your life than a good, wisdom-ish friend in the pocket of your jeans or bag? Especially, for an introvert-minded person.

Books are the best teachers, who would argue with that. But there are books that not only teach you something but shift you from the very inside giving new perspectives on the stagnant layers of reality.

In my notebook, where I keep all the notes on the books I have ever read in my life, I found a pool of nostalgic thoughts about the time when I only started showing interest in books other than fiction, and 5 great titles that prompted me at once to start writing this post.

These are the books that changed my li...

It is not a secret—life can be overwhelming, hard, and challenging. Each of us has their own share of bitter and sour, and ironically, this is probably one of the most normal things about life.

We all have good days and bad days but what about weeks or even months of downfalls and other life trails? How do we keep going when we think we can’t do anymore?

I was sixteen when I started thinking about being a writer with all seriousness and determination. A girl that knew only few words in English dreamed to be an English-speaking writer; they told me, why would not you try to write in your native language first, but it is not we who choose the dream, it’s the dream that chooses us. I learnt it the hard way.

I have been always persistent ...

What happens in your mind is as real as what happens in your life, for connection between what you think and what you see is stronger than you can imagine.

As a passive aggressor, anxiety club member, and overly ambitious human being, I always searched for grounding techniques to help me balance my mental world and the world I was living in. 

I wanted to have a choice during the anxiety attacks, to have a better understanding of my passive aggressive behavior and be free in my choice of actions. I wanted to stay conscious even when it was about unconscious. I did not want to be a puppet in hands of the mental, unsolicited processes that tended to get out of control and affect my life from day to day.

I wanted to be balanced and meditation became t...

June was a free of blogging kind of month for me and it was both out of necessity and regardless of my never dying optimism that I could jingle as many writing projects as I wanted. Mental correction here – no, I could not.

June was a hell of productive month for my debut novel which has been under the status ‘work in progress’ for almost a year now. And to make it clear, I was not working on it as much as I did in June which is probably why it’s taking so long for me to finish it. Anyway, June rocked me miles forward to the finish line and to say that I am happy about it does not even stand close to what I really feel.

Another good news about June is that one of my first friends on twitter became a published poet. And this blog post is mainly...

Today is a very special day on my blog; I am officially in book reviewing and sharing my experience with the works of the best authors in the world.

My first blog post in this category I am honored to dedicate to a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist, founder of the Plum Village Tradition – Thich Nhat Hanh.

With over 100 books published, Thich Nhat Hanh is all times advocate for peace and a tireless promoter of nonviolent conflict solutions. Vegeterian. And probably one of the most spiritually engaged people of our time.

Mindfulness became my passion just a few years ago. Yet, my path from discovering this phenomenon to actually applying it to my life was not simple or fast at all.

It started with:

You Are Her...

It took me a while to reflect on this idea – you can be anyone and do anything you want, but for some reasons you keep replacing doors with walls and then cry ‘how unfair life is.’

It may look like the whole world is against you but what is really happening is that you keep limiting yourself, creating new and new barriers on your way to a happy living.

Subconscious has unimaginable power over your life; all the things it believes in sooner or later becomes your only reality. If you believe that you have no time or capability to work towards your dream, then you lost without even starting.

3 Bullheads of How You Limit Yourself

You predict without actual trying

Think how many times you came to a conclusion based merel...

Habit is what makes all people wear clothes. But what about the habit of daily reading?

I used to be an avid reader. English literature and urban fiction writers made it easy for me to merge with the idea of daily reading. Later, I discovered the world of non-fiction and audiobooks and it seemed the goal was reached. I finally adopted the habit of daily reading.

But life swiftly flooded in and I dived into freelance with more serious intentions. My time was split into 3 hour pieces and little by little I started skipping my reading hours. My habit of daily reading turned into a habit of daily avoidance of reading.

So, I did a research and found out a few quite interesting facts about why are we struggling to read books.

Unresolved stress

Unimaginable amount of possibilities and opportunities that exist in the world can easily cloud our minds, weaken us, and strip off our inborn greatness. And clarity is the only way to avoid it.

I know from personal experience how hard it can be to plan out even just a week ahead, gather the data and set everything the best way possible, so all the goals could have been achieved and all the projects successfully executed. It’s a complicated process that most of people struggle to perform. And this is perhaps one of the superpowers highly successful people have mastered.

It’s especially important if you, just like me, have a trouble to direct the focus of your mind to one direction, constantly finding yourself veering off and paying attention to things tha...

2020 started as a swift spin down. Many plans and goals, hopes and visions were forced to be put on hold. Time slipped through our fingers with the speed of waterfall and I know, many of us feel like there is no hope for this year anymore.

Many of us feel like there is nothing we can do about this year; nothing but wait till it ends.

But what about everyday counts and time irretrievability? After all, no one is responsible for your life but you.

Naturally, this challenging time made all of us, people, to, whether intentionally or not, split into two groups: one that adopts to the new time and the other that lets the worst side of the new world order to consume and break them. And though, now, when I am actually thinking about it, it somehow seems too radica...

Please, don’t get me wrong: this is not a note to add to the established image of a writer. This is a short blog post written by a writer without spectacles.

Spectacles and hat – the main attributes for the sacred ritual of writing through writer’s block (for those who believe such thing exists), and I am sure it does especially in the first years of writing. In some way, I can assure I saw it like one sees a shadow on the dimly lit street in midnight on Halloween. Could be just a vision and yet, what if it was real?!

Another combo to add to the attributes is a cup of steaming drink and a cheap tobacco cigar. Maybe a typewriter.

Well, from all the possible attributes I have only fake pair of spectacles, hat, and a cup of steaming coffee at...

This brilliant with its simplicity question stands in the base of the professional journey called freelance. But how many of freelancers can actually answer to this question?

For a long time, I was following this false belief that the answer to this question was something only high-level professional freelancers could know. I thought of it as one thinks about math; that only talented wits can get it. But in the cloud of this mindset, I forgot about one absolutely important thing: freelance is all about experience and every experience is different.

So the answer to this question is not one for everyone but rather it’s a mechanism that sets the tone to the future personal progress in freelance.

Over the years, I learnt a few ways that helped me...

this gigantic world 
is so lonely
without your hands 
at my sides

but i have a dream
to which hurting
i came on my knees
half dead

from the agony
of your absence
breathless heart
i carried in hands

life can be senseless
but meaning
is you
being the love
i lived.

two feet apart
was our pride
waiting to condemn
and send us
spinning through
and falling from
our heaven

and seven thousands
lights
went dark
in blue of night
and up the sky
we could not see
a gleam

so suddenly
we fell.