Out of all the types of wellness that I worked on when I started this journey, the ones that impacted my immediate life the most were all the spiritual and intellectual endeavors. I found myself digesting these books and podcasts, and thinking how crazy it was that many people will live their entire lives unbeknownst to all this art, all this poetry, all this LIFE.
It is my duty to share a few of the titles, songs, and art pieces that spoke to me the most during this trip to wellness. I have designed a list of the things that inspired me most and helped me grow and contemplate life with a different and fresh set of eyes.
Playlists: I have remastered a few of my favorite playlists, and I decided it would be a good opportunity to share! These playlists were made by me, from start to finish, and they have some beautiful songs that I believe everyone should listen to, at least once.
I am aware that people have diverse tastes in music, so I curated playlists of different genres and for different "moods".
"Songs to Daydream to"
" I Classici"
"El Cielo en la Tierra"
"Filtered Favorites"
"Rock"
Reading Recommendation List:
Thus Spoke Zarathustra- Friedrich Nietzsche
The Odyssey- Homer
Obra Poética- Jorge Luis Borges
The Complete Works- William Shakespeare
Utopia - Thomas More
Rayuela - Julio Cortázar
The Birth of Tragedy - Friedrich Nietzsche
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes -Arthur Conan Doyle
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Existentialism - From Sartre, Camus, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, Kafka, etc...
Stoicism - From Marcus Aurelius to Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, etc...
Daily Activity Recommendation List (For Fulfilling tasks of every type of wellness)
doesn'tMeditate: Either in the morning or at night, it is important to spend anywhere from 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes on calming down and taking a break from the stress and strain of everyday activities. I have to be honest and admit that I do NOT do this everyday, but every time I do it, it possitively influences the rest of my day. Note: Meditation doesn´t have to be the cliché quiet-in-your-room-whilst-making-weird-poses kind of thing. Meditating is different to everyone. To some, it is the five minutes in the morning drinking your tea or your coffee, to some others it is the warm shower at night, or the energizing cold shower in the morning. When I say meditate, I mean disconnect from the outside world and connect with yourself. Internalize, breathe.
Push yourself to perform an activity that takes focus, determination and will. It is important that you do something challenging every day. You can't spend all day in bed or in online classes, it is exhausting, non-rewarding, and your brain and body are left longing for some more challenging endeavors. Play an instrument, paint, read a book, cook your favorite recipe, do some exercise, and if you're up for maximum fulfillment: Do them all!
Help someone out: whether that be your family, by washing the dishes or helping to clean up, or a stranger online, through help hotlines like "7 cups", where you can message people struggling through various mental health issues. I once joined 7 cups as a teen counselor, and it was a very unique experience. I got to listen and talk to people from all around the world, struggling with things I didn´t even think were possible. This is a beautiful way to help someone out, because not only do you realize that everyone struggles in life, but you also understand that you´re not alone, and that there are people who have way harder lives than us, and we should forever be thankful. Of course, you don´t have to do what I did, to some people it might be stressful to hear other people´s problems, but you can focus on your own issues at home, and spend some time trying to solve those. Contribute, share, help. Remember that family support each other, and especially during these times of quarantine it is important to have a nice relationship with everyone, and help around with the home duties as much as you can.
Ways to grow Intellectually:
During quarantine, I have struggled to keep my mind busy, and in the past few weeks I discovered new ways to learn at home, here are a few:
Coursera, Udemy or any online course platform: These are a great way to learn from home, and for free! Top tier universities like Harvard also offer some incredible free courses that you can take at any time you´d like.
YouTube, Academic Google: We sometimes forget that these two platforms are used even *inside* of school to contextualize projects and research. We have all the information on the Web, just a Google search away from our knowledge. Want to learn about history, philosophy, or even music? Google it, watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, it is easy, interactive, and very educational!
Read: Even audiobooks, for those lazy readers, are very good. Sadly, we live in a time when people are addicted to immediate rewards, so we search for things that will send that rush of dopamine to our brains, by watching TikTok or scrolling through Instagram, but it is not too late to rewire our system, to drop our phones and go back to the old ways. If you struggle to read, don't give up! Everything that's good in life takes effort, and is challenging to a certain degree, but you have to keep trying, and eventually, you will thank yourself for not giving up!
