Promise.

Perspective

There’s nothing like a good quote to inspire, motivate and reflect on.

The gods must know I’m in need of some wise words to keep the mojo going. Here are some motivational quotes I happened to chanced upon today that have helped me to gain perspective on this particularly trying period we are going through.

I hope it inspires you as much as it did me:

From Charles Swindoll:

~ Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.

~  We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

From Steve Jobs:

~ The only way to do great work is to love the work you do.

From Albert Einstein:

~ I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

Yikes.

“You know what’s the worst thing about somebody breaking up with you? Is when you remember how little you thought about the people you broke up with, and you realize that that is how little they’re thinking about you.”

— Jesse from Before Sunrise/ Sunset

Yikes, is all I can say.

Customise me.

A recent article I read in Business of Fashion about the rise of “geek brands” in Japan shed an interesting light about the shift in consumer patterns and how some brands are responding to these so called “esoteric whims”, be it hobbies or consumer goods. Although the report was talking about men and in particular 30-40 plus Japanese men, I thought the following observation was pretty insightful and applicable to all, or most of us, in general.

“.. peer pressure — in the  biggest cities at least — is today increasingly shifting from fitting in by dressing down to fitting in by standing out, with this generation outdoing each other to find the latest and greatest — and the more exacting, custom made and obsessive the better.”

It resonated with me mostly because, living in New York City, there is a constant pressure to stand out and make an impact, from what you wear, what you say, do and how. Everything needs to make a statement, everything should make a statement. No longer is mass production condoned. It is all about personalisation and making it “me”. No longer are consumers homongenous and uniform. Brands need to rise up and recognise the difference, or be forgotten.

 

It’s stiff competition out there.

 

Beauty

“Love of beauty is taste. Creation of beauty is art.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

137.

Erratic. Menopausal. Temperamental. Schizophrenic.

Yup, those are the words I’d describe the weather of late.

One moment it’s bright and sunny. The next, windy and overcast. Suffice to say, it makes getting dressed in the morning more than a bit of a challenge. I’m sure I’m not the only one judging by the street style these days. There are shorts and tees and then there are knee high boots with thick wooly scarves. Oh and yesterday, we spotted the epitome of utter sartorial spring confusion in a women in the West Village. She was in a short mini skirt, flip-flops with a puffer coat!

What is going on? One thing’s for sure. It’s predictably unpredictable.

Mark Twain best sums it up: “In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” 

Let’s make that 137, shall we?

Till we meet again

There are no farewells, only till we meet again.

Normal(ly) Overrated

“What makes us the most normal,” said Reiko, “is knowing that we’re not normal.”

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

Present Future.

“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 the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain.