What inspires me?

Admit it or not but everyone needs a little motivation or inspiration now and then. I myself have been heavily inspired, motivated and influenced by a number of things. While I do believe that I cannot write every single thing down in this post, what I can do instead is to share with everyone some of the videos/talks that have had impact on me and have made me self reflect and think about a number of things that are wrong/right or maybe discussions that do not have any conclusion at all.

First off is a highly motivating and kindof touching talk by Sam Harris. He talks about our perception of what is important and what really matters. Oblivion as John Green says in the book "The Fault in Our Stars" is inevitable. All you need, it turns out, is the right attitude towards things that really matter.

Next up is a speech made by Charlie Chaplin in the movie "The Great Dictator". This is easily one of the most inspiring videos, it highlights the problems in our society. Most of us remember Charlie Chaplin for his comedy and funny side, and yes, "The Great Dictator" is a funny movie (at least in some scenes). However, I bet you had never seen this side of him. This video gives me goosebumps, only because every single thing in it is true not only for the time it was released (1940), but even after more than 75 years the problems highlighted still exist in our society/ systems.

Need more inspiration? Watch this next video by Carl Sagan, that highlights the scale of our existence and insignificance of our conflicts as compared to the scale of the universe. Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken by Voyager 1 from a record distance of 6 billion kilometers.

Pale Blue Dot | Taken by Voyager 1 from 6 billion km away

The apparent size of Earth in this picture is even less than a pixel. It looks as if Earth is a tiny spec of dust suspended in a beam of light. This totally changed my perspective of looking at conflicts and small stuff that doesn't matter at all. Carl Sagan thought the same, however the way he explains is totally mind blowing. It is a must watch, but what is important is to take some time and self-reflect on things that really matter!

Lastly, someone asked astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about what he thought was the most astounding fact about the universe. His answer was totally awesome...