Prompt of the Day

Daily writing prompt
When are you most happy?
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I am fortunately happy with the simplest stuff in life. I love the day of my birthday and I am happy and grateful to have lived another year and going out and having a meal close to my house is already a perfect way to celebrate it. It is a day I would love to last forever.

I am also happy at the end of the month when I look back and realize I worked hard and got to do everything I was supposed to. I am grateful and happy that I am healthy enough to work and I am not in the unemployment line. I am aware that in such crazy globalized world merely having a chance to work is a privilege.

It makes me happy to work out, release endorphines and it is a joy whenever I get to do all exercises calmly and can feel my body getting stronger. It is also part of the package when I get to eat healthy food and do not give in to the temptation of carbohydrates.

I am very happy when I get to create good content and share something positive and informative with other people. I feel the good vibes returning right back to me. It totally includes my writings here, when you guys read me and consider my words meaningful to the point of you devoting some of your time to me. Thank you very much.

A woman has her back towards the camera. She is in a sunflower plantation. We can see she is wearing a hat, her hair is brown and long. She is wearing a red blouse. Her arms are up.
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The joy of “old fashioned” writing

I confess I missed blogging and practicing my writing this way, without constraints, simply putting my feelings and opinions on paper (Or on screen, in this case). Nowadays we live so much under social medias that some people even have difficulty to imagine life without them. Fortunately, I am within a transitional generation and I know well both the analogue and digital worlds, which I consider a privilege.

Do not get me wrong! I love social media. They are a great example that if humankind gathers together and gives some input of knowledge we end up with a rich library of information. The practicality of posts is also wonderful. Rather than writing a full text, people can develop their writing in small pills, one post at time and still provide information of high value and quality. However, being a slave of algorithms is something that can often be frustrating and most people have already realized it.

There is some magic, a touch of meditation in writing, just you silently and your thoughts pouring. Sure, we always want people to read what we write, but the pressure of followers, engagement and “traction” is a completely different ball game. I love the concept of sharing thoughts with other people and blogging and sites provide this relaxed textual production. Sure, it can be daunting to see a blank page in front of you, there is embarrassment if we will write something worth reading, but writing is a skill and it gets better with practice.

There is also a feeling of intimacy and coziness while writing. We are more self-centered in writing out of social media and it gives us a chance of sharing our innermost thoughts and those who connect with our words do connect with our deepest opinions. This is why whenever I write a post to this site, I simply sit down and put on paper how I feel. I do not give much thought if what I am writing is perfect or informative. I know that those thoughts would only make me doubt myself and it would harm the entire process. If the objective is expressing myself and creating a community I need the freedom to let my soul guiding myself. That is really poetic, huh?

Mentioning social media once more, they have taught us that the best way is to start our self expression with the resources we have, working on our abilities and improve along the way. It is also very special when other people can follow up your evolution in real time. Do not let self doubt prevent you from doing what you like. We are not perfect, we will never be perfect. But it is part of human nature the necessity of speaking up, using our voice and connect with like-minded individuals. This is even therapeutic and life has so many problems that whenever we can do what we love, without harming other people, we should just go for it.

Connection, community creation, saying your truths, those are concepts so often talked about that they end up being cliches, but the human soul has not changed so much since pre history. In the end of the day, the friends we make along the way, the feeling of relief to take things off our chest the joy in sharing good news, this is what makes our journey in this world more pleasant. Otherwise, which would be another explanation for so many people writing, either on paper or on line, totally for free? We may not earn money with it, but the satisfaction obtained is totally priceless. Food for the body is essential, but food for the soul is as important. In a world when mental health has been talked about so often, it is unnecessary to say why.

We can see a wooden desk and two hands (apparently, belonging to a woman who is notg visible in the picture) using a typewriter. There are some books on the table and flowers in a glass of water.
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My film watching in a nutshell

Throughout the decades, my film watching has changed a lot, but I believe it has been the same with all of us. Before the advent of internet, I saw the classic films being broadcast on TV and I loved, but I had no way to have further access them, not only because of the era but also because I was too young. Sure, we could rent films, but they were mostly the most recent blockbusters and there was not too much variety.

On the other hand, I was lucky enough to be a child in an era when it was not unusual open TV channels show classic films, especially at the end of year. So, despite living in a pre internet era, I did have an introduction to old films. I can still remember my fascination by Bette Davies and Greta Garbo and how I loved their films. I also remember how wonderful it was to watch Mary Poppins at Christmas time. I even watched on TV when I was 13 years old some famous silent comedies by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. The seed of a passion was planted in my heart.

Then, time passed, internet came and it has changed the way we consume culture. Nowadays we can check the synopsis of films in IMDB, order DVDs even of the most obscure films, write our opinions about films in social media, blogs, sites, etc. I do not underestimate the era when we had to wait until TV channels show the films we like, but it is simply priceless to have legal access to so many things.

In my teens, I thought that I did not like films at all because I did not have easy access to films I really liked. Throughout my formative years I listened to lots of music, but did not watch films regularly, often not at all. It is a pity, but I see it as an inevitable consequence of the era. When I could access all films I have wanted I realized that I had lots of catch up to do, lots of great work to know. It took me plenty of years until I became at least a little less ignorant when it comes to cinema.

Hobbies are something quite particular. In some eras of our lives we are more inclined to do some stuff than others. Sometimes we are more into music, in other times we are more into films, etc. But it is a joy brought by the internet that we can search, research and get more knowledgeable in any subject we like, we just need to be willing to do it. This is a free, independent, relaxing way to spend our free time and nowadays mental sanity is something we should take the best care of. Positive hobbies definitely help in this aspect.

Thus, although I did not watch too many films in my youth, it was in this time when it was sowed the seeds of my passion for films. I could not go deep into it, but once I had the opportunity I definitely used it to my benefit. I never forgot the type of films that pleased me, even many years later. With the current exposure we have to culture, it is nice to take a look and see which cultural activities interest us most. Check if you like to do things at home or out of it, if you are more active or if you prefer to sit down, etc. and I’m sure that with only a little self knowledge you can find the hobby that will fit you most.

We can see a living room in day time. In the living room there is a wooden desk with a TV set on it. There is also a chair, a mirror, windows. We can partially see a curtain, a rug and a sofa.
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Why do I have a site?

If you know of my good old blog of silent films, you can rest assured that it still exists and it will always do. Silent Beauties blog on silent films has always brought me lots of joy and I would never voluntarily end it. If you want to take a look at my dear, sweet blog, here is the link: https://silentbeauties.blogspot.com/

Nevertheless, time passed and I have felt the need of writing about other stuff, my interests – including, but not limited to, arts – life in general, random thoughts. Sure, I could definitely include those things in my blog, but I love the format of Silent Beauties blogger as it is and I do not want to change anything there, especially the focus on silent films. Another point is that I have missed the fact of expressing myself out of social medias, where I can write without time or space constraints, where the amount of followers is not important, but the quality of the community that is created. A place that isn’t easily bought by anyone with ulterior motives and that I can control more closely is advisable. And here I am.

We had in the last year the example of Twitter being taken over by problematic ideals and we witnessed the sudden death of a social media. Maybe it is the first time it happens this way, as what happened before was specific social medias losing relevance as time passed, but social media being bought and “killed” the way it was is something unprecedented. It shows that social media is great, but much more fragile than we can imagine. This is something we can already understand, but was unimaginable until a short time ago.

It is great that as time passes, I have had the intellectual urge of knowing about other subjects. It means I will never run short of hobbies. No matter the era or if people are rich or poor, the way they live, the cultural production of the world is always full of cultural opportunities and even common citizens can often have so many interesting things to say. The idea of writing on web site, which provides me a greater degree of control, makes things very exciting and I cannot wait to be here more and more, sharing my impressions of things.

At least initially, I intend to write small texts about topics of my interest. It includes silent films, which is an old passion of mine, but there will also be other things. The size of the posts will probably be no different from the posts of micro blogging applications (Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon and all of them), but longer texts may also appear. Basically, I consider this site as a blank canvas where I can paint a portrait of my interests. As long as I do not insult anyone, there is no rule about size, subject or frequency of posts.

You may think that in the current world there are many problems, but there are great things too. The expansion of social media is giving room for people to be creative without necessarily having to spend money for that. The fact that communication has been easier to unprecedented levels has had a huge impact over our era and, if we have the wish to join this revolution and get our message across, we should definitely do it. The fact that we can research about so many subjects is wonderful and I never take it for granted.

There is always some insecurity involved in launching a writing project, especially because writing is something that we develop and improve all the time. But when we are too perfectionist, it ends up preventing us from doing things because we never think our texts are good enough. Therefore, I always find it good to write without many string attached. The point is recording our feelings and the moment, sharing it with others and anything else is often a mere waste of time. We all have the need to express ourselves according to our truths and beliefs and going for it just makes our lives better.

I am really grateful to everyone who has followed my adventures on line, regardless of media. Without having so many cool friends around, nothing would make sense. In the end of the way, we may become social nomads, the places where we connect may end, but what truly makes a difference is the friends we make. We have all this technology at our reach, but the human brain has not changed too much throughout history. We are social beings, we long for connection, understanding and kindness. And I have always had it all on line, thanks to everyone who has been in this on line journey with me. I hope you all feel comfortable, accepted and welcome in this space too.

A woman is sitting by a desk. We can see a laptop, some books and a glass of water between the books and the laptop.
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