Name A Movie Or A Book That Changed Your Life!

in #books7 years ago (edited)

Is it actually really possible that only one book you read or a film you watched could change your life, the direction, the path you choose? 

I asked myself what special tale, out of so many I read over 4 decades, would have such strong influence on me. 

For the last few weeks, I’ve tried to collect all those brilliant movies and various exciting reading material. I will mention a few in this article, following up on my previous post with my answer, reflecting on this topic. 

Would You Go Completely Paperless, Adapting To The World's Digital Future!?

It would be hard to let go of old classic paper books. 

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There are too many I love! I read Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Hesse and many female troubled "soul sisters", authors like Sylvia Plath, poetry by Frida Kahlo and Anais Nin and of course many, many more.

A Mad Girl's Love Song by Sylvia Plath


Discovering my subconscious mind 

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I also read Anais Nin again and again. I related to every word and sentiment of hers. The first book "House of Incest" was like a symbolic dream I felt trapped in and couldn't escape, a poem. 

The novel is a surrealistic look within the narrator's subconscious mind as she attempts to escape from a dream in which she is trapped, or in Nin's words, as she attempts to escape from "the woman's season in hell." - Source goodreads

Dealing with blunt and honest reality 

I also read bestselling author Paolo Cohello but there is one author I got stuck with on and on until I had enough of "loathing with him" in Las Vegas :)

It's Hunter G.K. Thompson who ended up committing suicide at the age of 67. 

Hari Kunzru wrote that "the true voice of Thompson is revealed to be that of American moralist, one who often makes himself ugly to expose the ugliness he sees around him." 

"He became well known for his inveterate hatred of Richard Nixon who he claimed represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character"and whom he characterized in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. Thompson's output notably declined from the mid-1970s, as he struggled with the consequences of fame, and he complained that he could no longer merely report on events as he was too easily recognized. He was also known for his lifelong use of alcohol and illegal drugs, his love of firearms and his iconoclastic ontempt for authoritarianism. He remarked: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

I remember those times back in New York!

Hunter's books were exciting at the time because they revealed the dark side in myself but at the end, his view of life motivated me to be different. I wanted to choose the light and bright side of existance, started craving to discover the beauty around me not the ugliness, tried to get rid of the self-destructive tendency I noticed in my twenties. I changed 360 degrees after the birth of my daughter. Life was upside down, the moment I held her in my arms. 

I wanted the sweet life again!

 
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"La Dolce Vita" , my favourite movie from the 60's, since I heard of Federico Fellini in my teenage years.

LOVE was born and "Hunter's shadow" died. 

Veronica decides to die! ( Paolo Cohello) cause those essential common questions : "What am I doing here today and why do I go on living?" 

Existence is orderly chaos!

I started reading Rumi

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.- Rumi

Khalil Gibran, Yudah Berg, The 72 Names of God and zillion of spiritual books like Chögyam Trungpa's "Orderly Chaos, The Mandala Principle" (Dharma Ocean Series) and taught myself to walk on "Razor's Edges" with fearless hope and faith.

How Do YOU keep your BALANCE after One Week on STEEMIT and Not Falling off the RAZOR's EDGE? 

As I wrote in this previous article : " My life was full of danger and opportunities. We should not worry to fall or fail but always keep an eye on the powerful universe. One helping hand at the right time will get you back up, when you slip off but if we are in balance, it will help us in all our interactions."

 

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Whether good or bad, happy or sad, clear or obscure, everything is interrelated and reflects a single totality. There is chaos and confusion because everything happens by itself, without any external ordering principle. At the same time, whatever happens expresses order and intelligence, wakeful energy and precision. Through meditative practices associated with the mandala principle, the opposites of experience—confusion and enlightenment, chaos and order, pain and pleasure—are revealed as inseparable parts of a total vision of reality. - Source from the book orderly chaos

What are your books and movies you will never forget? 

The most recent book I discovered, a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by the fantastic Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro. It might change your life as well. 

"Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading." .......from NEVER LET ME GO

'There's a journey we must go on, and no more delay . . ." The Buried Giant

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Lean in- Sheryl Sandberg
The wolf of the wall street.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind. Such an amazing book. I found out about it from a Kurt Cobain interview and immediately went out and bought it. The beginning is a bit slow paced, at least for my liking, but around a third into the book, it get very, very interesting. It's a perfect adventure book which evokes a lot of inner questions about one's nature, also, it makes one reflect on their life a lot.

Oh ! I need to read this one. My friends told me about a while ago. Thanks so much for this!

It really is a must read! :)

I will ! The first now on my list

Oh Perfume is mind-blowingly good!!

It's so poetic!

Beautifully so!

Movies : The big blue and The big beauty

Great post @mammasitta ;)
Many movies change my life but most recently i watched an old great one tittled "Instinct" with Antony Hopkins... you should watch it, it's a psychological movie & it bring me back to what really matter & should matter for every one...
I'm now acting as a silver back gorilla, watching over the one i care & if every one would do the same, we be living a better world not isolated from each other but with each other watching each other back ;)

We lost our natural instinct by going to fast in technologies...

BOOOOM!

awesome !!! I have to check that one out! I got so much great feedback! i needed to get new ideas. I love Hopkins a lot !

Hello My Dear ! /bow Great post ! So glad to "read You again" The # 1 book, lol of course was The Kama Sutra ... LMAO Actually I think #1 was Orwell's 1984 at age 14 ... then "Time Enough For Love" by Robert Heinlein and then The Sherlock Holmes collection .... those were Major influences in my life at an early age. Best movie .... Definitely Star Wars .... /Hugs chat with you soon Hon !

Read More, Reason More ... JTS

Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors. Have you read Remains of the Day? It's so much different from his speculative fiction, but so beautiful.

I am amazed that somebody knows this incredible author and yes I did read it! Yes ! So beautiful. It was the reason why I went for the fiction. Brilliant mind!
I found this for you . I added it to my post

Love this! Thank you.

"Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading."

  • from NEVER LET ME GO

All I can remember for now is "Thr3e" by Ted Dekker. The plot twist is insane.

I never heard about

Movie - If i stay

DEF Eckart Tolle "Power of the now" its sort of my bible ("basic instructions before leaving earth")

And great to see Fear and loathing in your list. It's one of the best movies ever made.

Oh yes!!! Thats for sure another one I love and live by !
That movie and all others by Thomson are superbe.

Altered Carbon. An amazing sci fi book that shook up the genre for me and gave me back my love of writing and reading some years ago when I was in a rut!

I put this on my list! Never heard about......Thanks!!!

Its a violent dystopic romp of a book!

sounds just right for me :)