“As long as people are people, democracy in the full sense of the word will always remain an ideal. One may approach democracy as one would a horizon, in ways that may be better or worse, but which can never fully be attained. In this sense you, too, are merely approaching democracy. You have thousands of problems of all kinds, as other countries do. But you have one great advantage: you have been approaching democracy for more than two hundred years, and your journey toward that horizon has never been disrupted by a totalitarian system.”

— Václav Havel, Speech to…

Humanity has never been dumber.

Yes, the technological advancement of the last decades is remarkable. We continue to produce and construct wonderful creations, as we always did. We have raised the quality of life to unprecedented levels and won many battles against our eternal adversaries — poverty and child mortality have dropped significantly.

But this war is neverending and right now we face many vital challenges, most of them of our own making. …

Running is a hip thing. Often it seems like all the cool cats run.

“You don’t run? That’s weird.”

You may be tired of a dozen friends telling you running is the activity we were born to do, convincing you it is essential to become a healthy individual.

But maybe you don’t like to run. Yeah, it can be as simple as that. It just bores you. That’s fine. You can still choose plenty of other activities, movement practices, and sports. What matters is to find the one we truly enjoy and then actually practice it for years and years.

…

The thrilling cocktail of tension and excitement makes my limbs tremble like an old tree in the wind.

I’m familiar with this feeling. Every performer knows it intimately. It’s an old friend who comes to visit before most of the live shows. No matter if we dance for a group of seniors to brighten up their day in the retirement home, or if we perform at a big concert; I am always nervous.

But today is different. You don’t dance for 5,000 people often. Maybe if they quietly watched the show, I would feel calmer.

But it’s a pandemonium out…

Some days feel like they’re written by mad screenwriters. They are interesting, yet not funny. These days will come. Luckily, they will also go away.

Days are like trains. The train rides through the country of your life, you often enjoy your seat and observe how the countryside behind the window just flies by.

However, if you are not mindful enough, you will catch yourself thinking, where are all those days passing? If you get too comfortable, you will wake up one day and realize half of your ride has already passed, and you just slept through it.

But sometimes…

There’s no bad time to run. As long as you take your regular dose, run whenever it suits you.

I run in the morning.

However, crawling from a bed to my running shoes can be a challenge. When I run early in the morning, I don’t feel energized and sometimes I struggle to maintain my pace. But the feeling of a brand new day is worth it!

The moisture evaporates from the ground and fills the air with freshness. As the sun rises, the city wakes up and the noisy opera of people and cars begins its first act.

Every…

“Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…”

… Said a nameless Jewish barber when he climbed on the stage to face the entire army of…

There’s no middle ground.

You either recognize their deception, in which case you lose even the last bits of respect, or they trap you in their web of tricks and you fall for the cult of personality.

I’m talking about men and women who treat themselves as stars of our universe. Those who believe that everything and everybody should spin as they command.

They are the egomaniacs of this world.

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, an “egomaniac is someone who considers themselves to be very important and able to do anything that they want.”

If you have one as…