Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: enjoyment

  • Be Happy 35 Powerful Methods for Personal Growth & Well being

    Be Happy 35 Powerful Methods for Personal Growth & Well being

    Like many things in life, information comes to you when it is often most needed; to advise, encourage or inform as will this lovely little guide to happiness, Be Happy created by Dr Rebecca Ray and presented in a manner that will help to better understand what happiness is truly all about.

    As is already known, happiness can and is a transient state of emotion and mind, frequently bought about by momentary satisfaction, such as the purchase of that stunning new dress, a win on the lotto or a perfect smile from your beloved child.

    But as it is a fleeting thing, in many instances moving on as rapidly as it arrived, it raises the question, surely there must be more to this happiness thing than just a temporary fix, or a fleeting feeling.

    Perhaps it could be a matter of choosing how life is lived, the elements allowed in to make a difference, the effort that may be required to train the brain to accept that happiness is all around us, we simply need to look for it and cultivate it, each and every day,

    This lovely journey into happiness is divided into four very constructive components, Choosing, Cultivating, Practicing and Making Space for…………. which is the best structure to begin any new venture. Each section is broken down into small components to be read, enjoyed, discovered and mastered. At the end of each component there is a page titled making A Habit of…… to help embed the learned information.

    Gratitude, mindfulness, relationships, along with that wonderful thing procrastination, are some of the many aspects of daily life that are discussed, with tips offered to help focus and guide towards a more positive and happier outcome.

    35 little words, along with 35 methods of increasing your happiness quota have been delightfully presented, all backed up with sound advice, tried and true methodology and quirky little quotes that underpin the words under discussion.

    Be Happy is the perfect size for tucking into the bag for that reassuring dip into the goal for the day, or sharing a point with a friend.

  • Shit Happens

    Shit Happens

    This latest release onto the Australian market from Crown and Andrews is definitely for the young or young at heart, more like the 18 to 25/30 age range, and best played with more than six players. The object of the game is to consider where a certain situation would rate on a Misery scale, should it happen to you.

    A few bevies would not go amiss either, as it is definitely a party game with a lot of laughs and some interesting graphics on the cards.  As it has been created in America, by a panel of highly qualified professionals, some of whom wish to remain anonymous, the American scale of what is considered as Misery is somewhat different to the Australian scale or perhaps even British scale of Misery in relation to some of the subject matter to be rated.

    Simple but effective instructions are easily translated and after the second round, the ease of the game becomes apparent, but holds the interest as it is entertaining to relate to where stepping on a Lego block fits on a scale of 1-100, when compared to loosing your left arm or dropping your phone in the toilet or worse. Is there anything worse!

    After some discussion the friends who volunteered to trial this game, decided it was created from the Likelihood and Consequences scale of probabilities, with a very intriguing mind creating the graphics featured on the cards, which were considered hilarious in a good many of the 300 cards which make up the game.

    Overall and after some discussion, the consensus was that it is a great way to spend a wet afternoon or evening or even a hot summer’s day with friends, but would have a short lifespan in terms of being around for years and years and years.

    So if you want to know all about Shit Happening, and you are definitely over 18 years old, this game is for you.

  • Ascend

    Ascend

    Christine Brown describes her music as ‘developing through many stages until each song is ready to be released, just like the lifecycle of a butterfly, until it finally emerges from the chrysalis’ which is the perfect description of her beautiful album, Ascend.

    Each of the songs has been lovingly created to allow the listener to travel, or ascend, to wherever they choose of be in the world of thought, freedom and emotion.

    Full rich notes introduce the signature piece, Ascend, whereas dainty, almost thoughtful chords ushers in the delightful piece Love’s Legacy, one of the longer pieces on the album offering time to reflect, to enjoy and revisit those times when love and all it brings with it, has come into your life.

    A reflective classical resonance forms the basis for the deliciously touching Closer, that nudges gently the memory to tease the emotions, which is followed by a piece which will resonate as does the title Forest for the Trees,  a piece which could easily be considered as a somewhat wry perspective on everyday matters.

    The work simply gets better as it moves along, with the titles to the various songs a reminder, that in the humdrum world in which we all live, there is a time and place to escape, to leave it all behind just for a moment or two, through the enveloping balm of music, by allowing the rich depths to transport the emotions to a place of peace and refreshment

    Floating Colours is a reflective piece once again, immediately bringing with it the beauty of a sunrise or sunset; the colours vibrant, soft, shifting, changing, as if someone in the ether has taken a giant paint brush, enjoying a wonderful time transforming the sky into a thing of fleeting beauty.

    Further on there is Amethyst Sky a slightly lighter tribute to once again the wonderful colours of nature as she goes about encouraging a moment to be taken to simply enjoy.

    Safe and Sound brings a truly enjoyable series of songs to a conclusion, with once again a lovely composition offered in the hope that the dreams you have been enjoying and the pictures painted, have refreshed and renewed the soul, returning you once again, safe and sound.

    This is Christine Browns 12th solo album for piano of original pieces.

  • Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It: Life Journeys Inspired by the Bestselling Memoir

    Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It: Life Journeys Inspired by the Bestselling Memoir

    More than ten years ago Eat Pray Love hit the booksellers shelves and left them equally as quickly, as a travel/spiritual memoir from a lady called Elizabeth Gilbert hit a nerve right across the world, reaching out to so many people, male and female alike, with hope, encouragement and often with heartbreaking and touching simplicity, offering another perspective on life.

    Was it simply thing like the right timing to launch a book such as this or that wonderful synchronicity that can a happen when something important needs to be bought to world attention? This is the ultimate question raised and one that can only be answered depending on what and where your beliefs are focused.

    Over the years millions of people have read the book and millions of people have been affected in one way or another by Gilbert’s way of looking at the journey she undertook when she needed to learn to begin again and use what skills and tools she had available.

    Many of the people whose lives changed as a direct result of reading her book have shared these experiences with her over the years and in this, what could loosely be termed sequel, we are invited to discover the changes made in the lives of fifty of her readers.

    Each story is as diverse and the people who have offered them; from the woman who simply got up and walked away from an abusive situation, never to return, to the woman struggling to cope with the death of a much love mother, a man who finally stopped trying to control his ex-wife through the divorce lawyers and the man who cried and cried when he reached the end of the book, refusing to accept that there was not more to be had from Liz Gilbert and that if he wanted to make changes it was finally and irrevocably up to him to do something constructive.

    Funny, sad, quirky, heartbreaking, joyful and adventurous, this wonderful, celebratory follow-up is everything you could possibly want, as you allow yourself to resonate to trials, tribulations and conclusions. Each of the stories is so very easy to relate too; who has not failed to ‘get it’, looked down the barrel and seen nothing there, lost hope, lost faith, been at the brink of despair or simply lost, confused and angry with life; we all have.

    It is so comforting to know there are truly lots of others out there just like you, offering their solutions, the things that have helped them make a change, make a difference and allow them to begin again, to you.

    If you have not read Eat Pray Love, maybe now is the time to do so, after of course, you have taken a very good stroll through Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It and then brace yourself, because anything at all can and most probably will, happen!