Banish the numbness

Live now or die wishing

Act today or drown below your longing

Let the chords of the instrument called life vibrate within you, and remind you what your existence really means

Let the pain remind you of the freedom

Let the sorrow remind you of the joy

Let the memories bring you back to life

Guaranteeing the existence of a happy place that is anchored deep within you without a specific time or space

Where being alive is worth it,

Where there are no masks, no false pretenses and no inadequacy.

A place so magical, so colorful, so complete and bright that you feel a rainbow  exploding within your soul,  showing you the very source of the treasure, where the true essence really lies…

Wake up;

From the comfort of being numb, from all the layers of protection you have created for yourself, from curiosity in a state of hibernation, from the heaviness of inaction and lack.

Open your eyes, alert your senses, remember what it feels like to dance under the rain, to have a tiny hand wrapping your finger and conquer your heart with an eye blink, let the vibrations of music touch your soul so deeply that your body can’t help but spin and twirl with it, let the snow melt with the warmth of your cheeks and the cool air of a winter night penetrate deep into your lungs so you can feel a waterfall of ice filtering thru your pores, kiss with passion and tenderness, kiss because you want to taste the fruity flavor of a loving heart

Feel it all:  

Let a bad joke steal you a burst of laughter, and let the blues of a song touch your spirit and bring tears attached to memories and heartbreak, let it all be… release the cold, heavy armor of indifference and let yourself be wowed by the perfect miracles in the microscopic and monumental creations of Nature.

Admire yourself as a beautiful creature, unique and special not despite, but because of every single peculiarity, scar, and attribute.

Go ahead, open the door and get out, give the first step to live the life you want and deserve. There is no right or wrong, no map, no failure, no judgment, just a blank canvas waiting to be painted and created from scratch.

Silence and my heart's home

In a peaceful, happy state of mind, silence is liberating, it reconnects us with the Universe and our surroundings. It is calm, love, joy, reflection and spirituality combined. It reminds us of our mortality only to bring promises of transcendence and legacies. It is a shelter, an escape from the world and its speediness and hurries. It is a blanket that covers us, hugging us with peace, warm confidence of who we are and where we are heading.

 In a troubled, sad state of mind, silence is deafening, it screams our insecurities back and remind us of our weaknesses and failures. It is a straitjacket that confuses our minds with mental tricks luring us to dark, scary places from where we might not be able to escape. It becomes a nasty loud voice that screams horrible things, of who we are, who we are not and who we will never be. It makes us second guess every single inch of our basic essence. It removes the sense to our lives and leads us to the edge of a bottomless pit.

  

I drown on thin air; struggle to find my voice, my north, my sense… I breathe underwater, where I am finally free, always me, no pretentions, no listening ears, and no scrutinizing eyes. Just me and a place where there is no up, no down, no right, no wrong. I can scream and cry, and my voice gets muffled between bubbles, my tears become the water that allows me to submerge… I am one with my surroundings, and I do not have to pretend to be anything I am not… this is the place I can call home.

The Multitasking extinction

When was the last time you ate your meal without looking through your phone’s messages, updating facebook status or reading the latest tweets or flipboards?

If you are a more conventional multitasker, when was the last time you ate by yourself without reading a book, a magazine article, even the cereal box or checked your correspondence?

We all have fallen for the modern panacea of multitasking. The more tasks we get to do at the same time, the more accomplished and productive we feel.

I read an article the other day, curiously during my lunch break, regarding the lie behind the so called multitasking. Different studies have shown that the brain can only focus in one task at a time, and when we attempt to do two or more things at the same time, our brain switches attention back and forth between activities, usually with the cost of low performance… we attempt to do so much, that we actually do not do anything to a 100%.

And while performance does not really matter for activities such as eating, walking or reading, it plays a major role during work hours or performing tasks such as driving or operating equipment and machinery.

And although productivity and efficiency are two major issues during this analysis, I want to focus right now in something a little simpler; something that multitasking has robbed us of: the pleasure of enjoying the NOW.

I attempted the experiment of eating breakfast on my own for a whole week trying to not do anything other than being mindful about the food and the eating experience.

The first day, I was completely restless; I took my phone a couple of times and put it back just to end up chatting with my mom on whatsapp. The next day, I began the meal with a different approach, I expressed my gratitude for the food in front of me and started enjoying the color and texture of it, I did not do it during the whole time, but I enjoyed my breakfast and felt satisfied by the end of it, and day after day it became so much easier to be present in that simple ritual. I started noticing the different flavors of all the ingredients; I looked out and realized how blue the sky was and how beautiful the light was refracting through the window. I became completely aware of myself and my surroundings and started looking forward to the moment I would sit to just have breakfast by the end of the week.

On my last vacation visiting my dad, we planned a one day trip to West Palm Beach. We packed bread, turkey breast and cheese, hummus and some green veggies to make our lunch on the go. As we stopped in a bench close to the marina, I started preparing our sandwiches, while listening to the birds, the sound of the waves and absorbing the smell of the ocean nearby, then my dad and I sat next to each other enjoying the present moment to its fullest, and I still have that memory engraved deep in my brain, because it has been one of the most special and spiritual moments we have shared as father and daughter, we laughed and observed the birds nearby... and we actually turned such a simple moment into a magic mental picture of peace and joy.

And although it might be hard to try to be completely present and do one task at a time always, it is nice to take a break from time to time to enjoy simple things: the wind in our face, the shape of a flower, the dimple’s on our children’s cheeks or the way our partner’s eyes change color with the light.

I invite you to put your cell phone down for a few minutes today and really taste the crispy sound and the juicy flavor of an apple bite.

Enjoy!  

A Generation of Love

Amidst the social media, the constant flow of information telling us what to think, what is IN and OUT, what is pretty or not, we get lost in the middle of it and we wonder where we are when we compare ourselves to it all.

Does not looking like a 6’ model make me ugly? Does it make me less lovable? Less desirable? Less fashionable?
Does it make her better than me? We are questioning ourselves constantly, feeling like we are not enough, because how can we be enough if we are so different.

We hate ourselves for not looking like them, and hate them for looking like they do. And we all become bullies. The anonymity of online forums encourages us to vent all our frustration and point the negative feelings in a hostile trend. We use harsh words against people; say things we would never be able to tell to each other’s faces, we use negative and destructive criticism, and let anger and aggression occupy a large percentage of our brain every single day.

What would happen if we stopped the comparison game?  If we look at ourselves in the mirror and start feeling blessed for all the features that make us special, different and beautiful in our own quirky way instead of being obsessed with what we call flaws.

What if you open a magazine and start looking at the celebrities and stars as the person next door, real people with real insecurities, appreciate how beautiful their eyes are, or their sense of style, or the self-confidence they project.

If we send loving thoughts and become compassionate to one another, we could actually change the world. I already made the conscious decision of changing mine at least, Because I want my niece to grow up in a placewhere she has the freedom to be herself, loving her body and all the things it does for her and appreciating every single thing that makes her so special.
I like how it feels to live in a kind atmosphere, in a thoughtful mind. Being benevolent to myself and others as much as I can, has made me realize how we are all made of the same matter, it gives peace to my life and it makes me powerful to feel I am in charge of the path I walk. And don’t get me wrong, I am not a monk, I still feel jealousy from time to time, but the difference is that I do not let it rule my thoughts, and do not let it transform into a sense of self incompetence.

Living this way has made me fearless of expressing my true self, of shining bright and unapologetically with my own truth. There will always be haters, but their existence no longer discourages me to try new things, to show myself and to be proud of who I am. As long as we do not threat each other’s freedoms, there is enough room for us all in this wide world; there is space for all our ideals to live respectfully in harmony. I do not have to agree with everyone and everyone does not have to agree with me, we can have intellectual disagreements that bring light to the issue. Let’s go back to the habit of debating with arguments and listening with open minds.

If we want something, call it flat abs, a healthy body, money, style, let’s work for it, do what we have to do to get it, eat right, exercise, be proud of the persons we are, of our roots and true essence, and let’s be inspired by those who already achieved the goals we are working towards.

Remember that there is a thing called free will. We are enabled to it and we should make use of it. If we do not like someone, because we don’t agree with his thoughts, ideals or life choices, be free to change the channel, block, unsubscribe, unfollow or unfriend,  there are so many options to simply do not get updates nowadays. We have the right to disagree, and we have the right to dispute, we have the right to discuss and we have the right to provide positive feedback, which is the one tool that always makes us improve and soar to new heights. But let’s not choose to destroy with our words, let’s use them as building blocks instead of ammunition, always thinking before writing, taking the time to analyze the impact our message will carry.

I want to be part of a generation of love and leave the bullies behind, substitute admiration for jealousy and inspiration for resentment. It is never too late to start pointing in a new, more positive direction in which we encourage instead of bring each other down.