Let's make up a story

Утро доброе!

It has been a while since I implemented into my life a technique outlined by Victor Frankl ‘thanks to’ an experience he underwent¹. The very method I would like to offer you on a par with practicing your Russian.

Leading (1924) by N. Roerich

Закрой глаза, послушай своё сердце. Как быстро оно бьётся? От чего так?² А вспомни, когда сердце, наоборот, билось медленнее, что тогда было с тобой? Какая ситуация?

сердце билось как…

Моё сердце билось как галоп лошади³ — ровно и сильно, когда я, наконец, смогла увидеть львов в Микенах воочию⁴.

она улыбнулась словно⁵…

Вспомни⁶ свою маму… каждая её улыбка — особенная. А что она, улыбка, напоминает?

осенний сад пах⁷ как …

А теперь вспомни свою последнюю прогулку в парке. Вспомни, какой запах ты услышал⁸? О чём он тебе напомнил⁹?

When you feel like facing with an uphill battle, catch your breath. Your body forgets how to breath, so let yourself hear your body. Feel your body and notice the little changes that make you feel differently from a moment before. A simple technique but let us think outside the box.

Береги себя.

P.S. The meaning of today’s art work has a lovely meaning¹⁰.

1. you also can find some interesting bits on logotherapy, or meaning therapy, here.

2. Why is it so?

3. a canter of the horse

4. see firsthand

5. словно = как — like, as if

6. (you) remember — ты вспомни; I ask you to remember.
(вы) вспомните своих мам

7. smelled. Infinitive form is пахнуть. Он (сад, человек, предмет) пах. Она (мама, роза, книга) пахла. Оно (одеяло, кофе, мало) пахло.

8. when you want to say that your nose smells something good, you should say “I hear a scent” — Я слышу аромат/запах духов/цветов и т.д.

9. to recall; to remind. Напоминать (о ком?о чём?) об отъезде, о лете, о пирожных…

10. Nicholas Roerich’s work entitled “Leading” shows the important quality that is inherent in wives in the lives of husbands. After all, he dedicated this painting to his life partner, Elena Ivanovna. If you peruse the artist’s biography, you read that his wife was a kind of mentor in his life that helped him to succeed. We say, behind every successful man there is a strong woman. Elena devoted most of her life to her husband, just like Dostoevsky’s Ann. ;)

Also read more in Russian here. Make time to read it through, it is worth trying.