Personal development: a need or just a business?

We are busy, we are stressed, we are overwhelmed. Everyone is going crazy trying to sort out all he has to do throughout his day, everyone is facing the increasing social pressure which derives from the massive use of social networks. Everyone, more than ever, is constantly comparing herself to her friends, to her colleagues, to her boss.

Given this context, there is no surprise that personal development websites and coaches are getting more and more famous. There is no surprise that more and more people are trying to find ways to overcome the feeling that they are not good enough, that they are not living up to the society’s standards.

But, sadly, like most of the things out there, personal development is a business. Some people spotted the opportunity and found a way to successfully transform people’s insecurities into profits. (read more..)

by Enrico Shakeclouds

Your job does not define who you are

One of the most common questions that we commonly ask when we meet new people is the deadly “What do you do?” and as a reply we usually get something like “I am an accountant, a writer, an engineer”.

Lately I have been reflecting about this kind of replies and I cannot deny that I am really concerned about this idea that we should define ourselves by the job we do. I can understand that we all have a deeper need to feel like we belong to something and that in this respect putting ourselves inside “a box” can be an easy way to relate with those people who belong to this particular “box”. Our job really takes a big share of our time and thus it is normal that working for a long period of time in a certain role ends up making us similar to our colleagues. Still, I believe that over-simplification is not the answer. (read more..)

by Enrico Shakeclouds

Make giving one of your top priorities

I have the impression that nowadays we focus too much on taking, gathering and accumulating. We want wealth and thus we aim at accumulating more riches. We desire power and thus we try to gather more followers. We want to escape loneliness and we fight it by trying to connect with more people in the social media. Isn’t all this a little bit too much self-centred?

Looking around myself I have sometimes the impression that we are all running a race against each others, that this never-ending race makes us blind and forget we are not alone in this planet. What if instead of fighting against our neighbours we would change our minds and start collaborating? Wouldn’t we enjoy much more our time? Sharing a success is much more rewarding than celebrating your own in face of all your opponents, isn’t it? (read more..)

by Enrico Shakeclouds

Living abroad con really empower you

I have been living abroad for a while now and I must confess that it has been a life changing experience so far. I’ve had an alternation of up and down moments but all in all I cannot say that I regret my decision. Although the common idea that nowadays it is getting very common for people to go from one country to another looking for luck and glory I still believe that in fact very few are those who actually decide to leave their home country to pursue their own passion or purpose.

We can hear plenty of conversations about some “dream land” where people can really realize their dreams and experience true happiness, but how many people do really do what they talk about? How many have the courage to leave their comfortable home to go and experience the unknown? Not many, I bet.

Why did I leave my very comfortable and safe home so? Well, I am a dreamer and tend to believe that we should give ourselves the freedom to pursue our deepest desires in face of fear of failure and disillusion. Moreover, I have decided not see the act of leaving my country as an escape or as the sad realization that there is always a price to pay. But , rather, to see it as a journey, a journey that is helping me to grow and to become the kind of person I truly want to be. Given this perspective, my journey becomes much more pleasurable. It becomes the land of new possibilities rather than of sacrifices and hard work. (read more..)

by Enrico Shakeclouds

Liebster Award – Thank you!

The Liebester has German origins. The word “liebster” has several definitions: dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued. In the current context, this award recognizes bloggers who share their story or thoughts in a beautiful manner to connect with their viewers and followers.

I am honored to be nominated for the Liebster Award and want to thank Letthestarsout for this incredible nomination. I’m grateful and heartened to be recognized for my posts. I have started this blog as a way to share my message and I am really excited by the idea there are a lot of people who find my ideas interesting and worth reading. If I am still here writing at Shakeclouds it’s only thank to you, my beloved readers! (read more..)

by Enrico Shakeclouds

4 Tips to boost Happiness

A lot of people seem to complain because there is no way to be happy in the world they live in. They believe that their work, their city, their family or anything else is affecting their lives in such a way that they cannot experience any feeling of happiness or freedom. What they lack is courage, the courage to change themselves in order to change the reality they live in. If you just accept things how they are you will not experience what you desire, you will not realise those dreams you have been chasing for so long.

As I have already explained in a previous post, we are massively influenced by the environment we live in: just the fact of hanging around with optimistic or pessimistic people can make a total difference in the way we see what happens to us. But this is not everything. We are human beings and we can thus act and think in order to change the kind of reality we experience, we can decide to focus on the positive and take small steps in order to shape our environment. We can change not only ourselves, but also the attitude of the people we live with. (read more..)

by Enrico Shakeclouds