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“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

IG: @therobotstudies

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ways to start feeling again

sit in the sun without anything to do, feel the heat of the rays hit your skin, realize that this sunlight has travelled a very long way to reach you

walk around barefoot and try to feel as much of the ground under your feet as you can, notice every rock and blade of grass

sit quietly for a while and notice the touch of breath in your nostrils, feel how the air gets cooler as you inhale and warmer as you exhale

drive around aimlessly and blast some of your favorite songs, scream/sing along to them and feel the vibrations of your favorite lyrics as they change the air in your throat and around you, feel that the music is healing you from the inside out

stay away from alcohol or drugs for a few days, try to be as aware and present as you can in every moment, stop trying to numb or dull your senses

eat a few meals without any distractions, notice every bite and taste every flavor that covers your tongue, be grateful for it all

look up at the stars and the moon, understand how small we all are and how immense the universe is, realize what a miracle everything is, let your heart swell with amazement and admiration for life itself

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06.08.19

first week of my summer travels - budapest! i’ve been to a lot more places than the fisherman’s bastion obviously, but just look at it!! its so pretty i can’t help but use those photos…

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library genesis is a lifesaver for finding any type of literature, scientific articles, textbooks, comics & more

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Share this with someone who might need some cheering up! Life IS hard, but there are ways to make it softer. 🐝🌸

Loading Penguin Hugs | Instagram | Patreon

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Today i finished Child of the Prophecy, so i want to talk about this trilogy. It will contain spoilers. And i know it’s actually a series, with another 3 books; but i still don’t have them.

Besides i will take a break from reading fiction, to read the book about racism i mentioned on my other booklr post.

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Rereading Daughter of the Forest, I was able to go back to my teenagehood and relive my love for fairy tale retellings. I don’t think i had finished this book before, because i didn’t remember the ending.

But Sorcha, oh my gosh, she was a formidable MC. She was strong and with an iron will, that impressed me quite a lot. I might have had a tiny (lol who am i kidding, big) crush on Red, so i see what she saw in him by marrying him, even if he’s a breton. 

It was amazing reading her grow up, to see how Sorcha as a child was different from Sorcha the older teen. I refuse to call it young adult, because gdi, they’re still KIDS. Yeah yeah yeah the ~times were different~ and people lived half of our current life expectation, but it was something that i was constantly aware of while reading: how Sorcha and Red’s age gap was uncomfortable for me.

Sorcha’s relationship with her brothers was so beautiful and complex that it made me wish i wasn’t an only child. Sorcha’s romance (depite the age gap flaw), made me wish i could experience something similar, at least. I loved coming back to this book and experience it, like it was the first time, all over again.

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With Son of the Shadows, i didn’t really know what to expect. I remembered vaguely some characters (but not the MC, Liadan, who’s the youngest daughter of Sorcha). I remembered Ciarán and his forbidden relationship. Rereading the book was, once again, like reading it for the first time.

Liadan was very much like her mother, with a powerful inner strength, a clear path to walk on. She was very stubborn, and i loved how she confronted the Fair Folk, despite the constant threats they made her. I loved how she stubbornly made The Painted Man change his mind about women, and eventually they even fall in love. 

The only thing i didn’t quite like about him was that he was bald. Well, not quite, because he could grow hair but chose to have a shaved head. He was as stubborn as Liadan. They were made for each other. Although the freaking age gap existed again, with Liadan with like 16 years old and her guy being 21. What’s up with thaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, i wanted to know more about Niamh, her older sister. Her story felt incomplete, empty, as she was made to be more like of a bimbo, an airhead, and i think that was very unfair. I really understood her resentment to Liadan, who was a copy of Sorcha almost, and so, treated very differently.

 Anyhow, this was a great read. I had hoped that the (then) final book would be as fantastic. But boy was i wrong...

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Unlike the other two previous books, Child of the Prophecy was a difficult read. Unlike Sorcha and Liadan, Fainne was a MC with whom i struggled immensely connecting to, and to root for.

She did many terrible things; her constant self doubt was tiring and annoying, her back and forth morals and choices, made her a two sided character, to which was very difficult to relate with or to look up to. Not even the last 3 chapters, where she finally decides to choose the path of Light and Good, make up for what she did in the rest of the book. Fainne was extremely insecure, constantly pushed everyone she loved away, and believed blindly that she was cursed and that was nothing she could do to live a life of a good woman. She was a witch, you see...

I wanted to pause the book so many times, and stop there. (This has only happened with another JM book, Cibele’s Secret, which i began reading but never finished.) I wanted to know more about the side characters, like Darragh, Johnny, or even Ciarán. I was very unsatisfied with the ending too. It felt rushed. I wanted to have the chance to see Fainne and Darragh’s relationship truly blossom, something that was the focus of the story, instead of a sub-plot (something that you wouldn’t even pay much attention to). (At least they didn’t have as much of a big age gap as the other two!)  Instead, i was given a extremely short epilogue, that talked more about the outsider’s perception of Needle Island and its inhabitants, than about Fainne and her family.

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I really hope that the other 3 books in the series make up for this one. But i think they will, since they’re about the daughters of Liadan instead.

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i am sorry, tumblr app users, for my long previous post

i wrote it on my laptop and i put the "read more" page break, but it doesn't seem to work on mobile :/

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books and updates

July was empty. it’s difficult to think about it; i couldn’t be productive, not in the way i wanted... i feel so frustrated looking at my thesis planner and seeing it like this:

but that doesn’t mean i didn’t grow. i did. i wrote more on my journal, i extended my thesis deadline, i enrolled for the next school year, i put boundaries with my friends and family, and even saw tarot readings for my ascendant, sun and moon signs (they gave me motivation and clearity for this month).

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the thing i am most proud of is though, i started reading again:

the first book i read was The Little Prince, last month. it was a recommendation from my therapist, since i have never read it while i was a child, and more importantly, because she thought it has messages i needed to hear. and she was right. 

i almost read it all in one evening, but had to stop at chapter 22 because it was too difficult to read while i was crying. i was relating too much and it was a bit overwhelming. i also recognised my family in those harmful people the little prince encounters. so that was also an added layer on my emotions. 

i do plan on reread it again this year.

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i also bought these books, that were in my wishlist for years: The Sun and Its Flowers by Rupi Kaur and Racism in Portuguese: the Forgotten Side of Colonialism by Joana Henriques.

i plan on reading them soon, this year. i have the previous book by Rupi Kaur and i absolutely loved it, so it was a no-brainer to buy her next poetry. and about the other book, well, it’s something that simply isn’t taught at schools, not when i was a student 10 years ago and not now. so i think it’s essential for people, especially white, to learn and recognise how Portugal is still systemically racist, and how colonialism still shapes the society.

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on another news, i went back to my childhood and teenagehood passion: historical fantasy books.

i reread Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest. the first time i did it i think i was like 14 or 15, so in this second reading, i got reminded how much i love this author, how much i love magical worlds, how much i love fairys and all those folklore folk. i got reminded how much books, especially hers, protected me.

her books are sold out so it’s been a hunt online to find people who still sell the editions i want. but i did find someone selling the rest of the Sevenwaters trilogy, and other 2 persons selling the Saga of the Light Isles (which i remember reading, but i don’t have them)! meanwhile, i am rereading other books i had: i will start Wildwood Dancing tonight. i am excited!

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i want to believe that this month will be better than July, and that in these final 6 months i will overcome the past 6. i have hope, not only because i have been feeling these “energy shifts” too, but also because i have been changing. it gets better. it will get better. i will make it.

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oh hey new guide thinggg~ some basics on how to practice! there’s SO much I could add to this, so it’s just the basics :O

short (kind of): there’s more to practice than doing something repeatedly, it’s also learning new things, problem solving, and honest critique. Each of those is its own skill…also be nice to yourself!

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10 Self-Improvement Musts

The world’s shortest course in self-help.

I believe these 10 items are most central to self-improvement:

Keep reading

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I think one of the best ways to get out of a funk (for me it’s anxiety and possibly executive dysfunction, for others it may be other things) is to utilize your empty time. Sixty seconds on the microwave? That’s a minute to turn around and wash dishes. Ten minute bus/train commute? It’s now e-mail answering time. Sixty minutes between classes? That’s now the designated “study hour.”

Putting brief time limits on difficult or boring tasks makes them seem easier. If dishes are piling up in the sink, it seems like a gargantuan task to empty the sink and put away dishes, but if you wash a plate while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil, or put away a cup while the oven preheats, pretty soon the pile shrinks and the task isn’t so scary. 

Knowing you should answer those e-mails “sometime” lets you put off the task until you’ve delayed too long and any response makes you anxious. Designating a time to perform the task every day (or once a week, or whatever) gives you a set place to begin and end the task, and a time to begin again if the task isn’t completed.

Having “all evening” to study is often too much time. We aren’t sure how to fill it, and fear starting a task with no visible endpoint. We might put off starting until suddenly it’s bedtime and our evening was wasted to anxiety. Knowing you have a designated and fairly limited time gives the task a visible end. “I don’t like writing this essay/finishing these math problems, but I only have to work on it for one hour.”

I’ve just found this method really works for me: it won’t for everyone, of course, but it’s always been helpful in getting me out of tough moments because not only do I get things done, but I FEEL productive and my mood improves.

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reminder: failure is a part of success, not the opposite of it. don’t beat yourself down for falling sometimes, there’s nothing that time and a little dedication won’t fix. i believe in you.

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studyingology reblogged your post:

I believe in you! Keep trying!

Thank you so much for your encouragement!! ❤️ I will! 😊

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030719 // i quite like how this spread turns out!

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my favourite new strawberry stickers 🍓

insta: rose.phile

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How to learn a language fast

1. Learn a sizable vocabulary, there is a good list of 625 words you should know in your target language. Spend time building this up and be sure to practice your pronunciation that is vital. To learn vocabulary there are many methods: flashcards, lists, apps, mindmaps etc. I personally use the app Quizlet as it has many learning tools and flashcards so you can practice on the go.

2. Learn basic grammar, for this you can use a book or there are plenty of websites online that will have resources. You just need to have master a section at a time so you have the basic learnt.

3. Listen to the spoken language, if you are in the country awesome but chances you are not so some ways to this are: listening to audio files, using apps (I know Duolingo has a aspect that reads stories), watch YouTube videos in that language, watch films and listen to the radio (there are lots of streams online).

4. Practice speaking, pronunciation is vital plus saying things over and over again can help move it to the long term memory. It will make you feel much more confident in your abilities. To practice speaking it would be ideal to find someone who is fluent in your target language but if not there are speaking exercises online, you could try read a book out loud or even learn a song.

5. Stick to it, this is probably the most important part if you don’t keep practicing regularly you will forget it all. Even if it is just something small it is better than nothing and will be worth it when you can speak a whole new language.

Good Websites

BBC Languages

Duolingo

Dictionaries

Quizlet

Memrise

Babbel

Fluent Forever

Feel free to add more helpful tips, tricks etc below.

I’m going to learn Spanish.