March 27 | The Day Yuri Gagarin Returned To Space | Art of Saudade

On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space and the first astronaut to orbit the earth in his spaceflight ‘Vostok 1’. Born in 1934, Yuri’s childhood was scarred by conflicts and suffering. In 1941, Nazi soldiers who occupied his village and burned down his school ended his first year of education. The end of the war was the beginning … Continue reading March 27 | The Day Yuri Gagarin Returned To Space | Art of Saudade

Learning to love… the hard way | 122 Years of Erich Fromm | Art of Saudade

March 23, 1900: a boy is born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany. 22 years later and a few years before the Nazi ideology started to rise in Germany, he completed his Ph.D. with a dissertation named “On Jewish Law”. If your teachers are Alfred Weber (brother of the famous sociologist Max Weber), the philosophers Karl Jaspers and Heinrich Rickert, there’s no doubt … Continue reading Learning to love… the hard way | 122 Years of Erich Fromm | Art of Saudade

How To Find Your Purpose In 4 Simple Steps | Art of Saudade

If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. What if you don’t hate Mondays and you just hate your job? Steve Jobs (no puns intended) reminds you that your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the … Continue reading How To Find Your Purpose In 4 Simple Steps | Art of Saudade

Life is short? | Here is what Seneca and Steve Jobs would reply | Art of Saudade

If I had a dollar every time I heard the phrase “Life is short”, I’d be a billionaire. How much time have we spent complaining about life being too short instead of being grateful for the time we actually have? The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca invites you to think for a minute. Is life really that short? “It is not that we have a short … Continue reading Life is short? | Here is what Seneca and Steve Jobs would reply | Art of Saudade

10 Kurt Cobain Quotes About Life and Art | Art of Saudade

Kurt Cobain on Being Authentic “They laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at them because they’re all the same.” “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are” “I was tired of pretending that I was someone else just to get along with people, just for the sake of having friendships.” “I just hope I don’t become so blissful I … Continue reading 10 Kurt Cobain Quotes About Life and Art | Art of Saudade

The Birth of a Legend: Robert Nesta Marley

Bob Marley was born on this day in 1945. What a wonderful occasion to spend your Sunday binge listening to Bob’s greatest albums!  They say reggae music is special because it follows the rhythm of a human heartbeat. As Bob Marley said, when music hits you, you feel no pain. I discovered Bob when I was a kid, and I can only thank my parents … Continue reading The Birth of a Legend: Robert Nesta Marley

Not all heroes wear capes, some wear glasses – Rosa Parks | Art of Saudade

American activist Rosa Parks was born on this day in 1913. December 1, 1955, Montgomery, Alabama – a quiet, 42-year-old woman was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a man on a bus. The reason? She was African-American and the man was “white”. Yes, I also can’t believe this happened less than 70 years ago. This event led to the United States Supreme … Continue reading Not all heroes wear capes, some wear glasses – Rosa Parks | Art of Saudade

Perfect Imperfection: George Orwell’s Thoughts On Searching For The Impossible

“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one’s love … Continue reading Perfect Imperfection: George Orwell’s Thoughts On Searching For The Impossible

Dragons and Princesses: Rilke’s ideas of beauty and courage

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (1929) In his Letters to a Young Poet, the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke transforms our traditional idea … Continue reading Dragons and Princesses: Rilke’s ideas of beauty and courage

Bordeaux, the City of Wine and Love | Bordeaux, France | Art of Saudade

“One open way of speaking introduces another open way of speaking and draws out discoveries, like wine and love.” – Michel de Montaigne What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of France?  Paris, the Eiffel Tower, croissants, and all the clichés…?Never-ending protests and strikes? You got that right too! Check out my posts on my Erasmus experience in France … Continue reading Bordeaux, the City of Wine and Love | Bordeaux, France | Art of Saudade