Message in a Bottle

Words.  
Written.  Spoken. Sung. Read. Listened.
Words. 
Of love, of pain, of distress, of yearning, of beseech, of aid--even of anger. 
Words.
Building worlds, breaking them, to mend them back together--or not. 
Words.
Constructing thoughts, unveiling feelings, founding knowledge. 
Words. 
Describing personal and universal realms, allowing connection.
Words.

How vital are they for us?  This is rhetorical.  
We build language through words--not only written and spoken: a certain gesture defies distances of oceans and continents, and still communicates a certain essential message. We possess the powerful tool of connection through the use of language.  We even create poetry, art, with language.
What about the universal language of music? Rhetorical once again. 

Today i'm thinking about written words, nonetheless. I've been diving into a magical world through a book i grab and cherish every night.  
A confession: sometimes i see myself with time to grab my book, in the middle of the day, and resist.  Resist because it's such pleasure to go to bed and welcome the world of those ink words, knowing i'll then surrender to my dreams with such magic and beauty.  
What am i reading? 
Letters to Olga (Cartas a Olga) by Anton Checkhov--or Chejov, in Spanish. 
A collection of letters between these two souls, between 1900 and 1904, years in which they explore their feelings, give in to their love and affection, marry, challenge physical distance between them, discuss and live through art (she acts, he writes), go crazy over their passion, examine insecurities, moments of pain, explode in joy, amuse each other with their wit, and overall love. Love. 
These two souls existed.  They sat under a tree in Yalta, cried over a piece of paper in a candlelit room in Moscow, inhaled the air of Petersburg, formed the thoughts, felt the feelings, and delivered their souls in these private correspondences i'm now reading every night.

I feel like a spy. 
It makes me a bit nervous, i must admit. 
At times i stop and think about them, and wonder if they ever thought someone like me would be reading such personal messages.  And it makes me a bit uneasy. 

I melt.  I do.  I melt at their humanity. At their simplicity, at their complexity, their authenticity. 
I kneel before language. I am able to access this piece of life from the past and realize the universal-everlasting language of love and life. 
Their letters allows me to open the door to Russia, to a world i didn't (and never will) be a part of.  I've read the outstanding plays of Anton Checkov, but now, I can explore a piece of his world-- color my glass of perception in a similar shade as his.  And Olga, as an actress, as a human being, as a lover, a beating heart of a specific era. 

Words. 
They create my world.  They nourish my life.  
Words.
Let my heart speak.
Words.
Put me sleep, make me dream, wake me up, allow me live. 

Fía.    

Truman

Things move. 
Sideways, in circles, in spirals.
There is constant motion--want it or not. 
Believe it or not. 

The planet is pumping. 
Like a heart.
Every beat produces a shift, produces a new variable of something.
The world is every cloud, every butterfly, every bee, a child that blinks, every creature that winks at the sun, every ocean.  

I think of the world, of the planet, and it somehow becomes abstract.  Too large. I know that as i sit and write this morning; as i hear my brother next door: he's reading, learning, thinking--clicking the tap on and off the highlighter-- 
As i can feel the heat of the day surround my body, or watch a mischievous bee wonder my balcony deciding whether to come in or not...
As i perceive this micro-world around me, happening, i know there are fellows shivering to the cold, or half way through their sleep or maybe just waking up, this same instant, to a whole different day.  I know that, it takes a bit of an effort to make a picture of it in my head, but i know it.  It's no new discovery. 

Yet, it seems too far, too large..not a part of.....me.  
You could well say it's happening in another planet, i don't know. 
Grasping the concept of the planet is challenging. Of our whole planet is too much.  (our being the key word here). 
It becomes abstract, it becomes a concept.  Something that gets easily tosses to the trash of our hard drive, or last on our list of concerns or existence. 
I find it quite dangerous. Yet it does not particularly strike me as odd that it's been dismissed, for that is what we do: dismiss awareness, dismiss warnings, dismiss danger. 
The great god Oblivion steps in, blinding us with ego, false needs and instant gratifications.  With comfort. 

It concerns me though. I'm the ferocious salmon that swims against the current, giving my life away to place those eggs in my natal river.  Wonderful life--that of the salmon.  Being born in the river, living it's life in the ocean gaining body mass, to then return to the exact same stream they were conceived.  Swimming their life away upstream, spawning their eggs for the next generation.  Creating a new life cycle. 
I swim upstream, hitting hard currents running in the opposite direction.  
I swim "awareness", the river runs "oblivion". 

Sometimes i feel like Truman, in The Truman Show. I've been thinking about that movie a lot lately. Not the best of movies ever to exist, yet respectable. Poor Truman blind to the manmade world he is living. Of false identities, false energy flow.  All created, all controlled, a manmade God--so far from spirituality, ritual and faith-- the enterprise called God, praising the dogma of ambition and power, to its bitch: Money. 
Poor Truman, shouting to live, yet confined to limits he does not understand. Poor Truman searching for himself, while he stands between phonies almost carrying name tags to assure others (and reassure themselves) who they are.  By the cars they drive, the people they talk to, the clothes they wear, the jobs they have, and worst: feelings they feel. 
Poor Truman not understanding a thing. 
This Truman has travelled through history: the cavemen of Plato's Dialogues, Segismundo from Lope de Vega's Life is a Dream, Shakespeare's Hamlet..to mention some. 

Yet it's become fiction.  A movie.  "Oh poor Truman" we say. 
And yourself?

Things are moving.  They are constantly moving. 
Change means cracking, opening, tearing, dissolving, but also opportunity, development, creation, new. 
"What do i do with all this?", i sometimes get overwhelmed. 
Keep swimming. Not swim for others.  Swim my river with all my might. Know, trust, there are others on my side.  There is more to come. 

The death of the salmon has important consequences. The impact they have on other life is greater than what they would have expected in relation to their biomass. It means significant nutrients in their carcasses, rich in nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and phosphorus; which are transported from the ocean to the terrestrial wildlife such as bears and woodlands adjacent to the rivers. The nutrients can also be washed downstream into estuaries where they accumulate and provide further support for estuarine breeding birds. - 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_run

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

Preface to Leaves of Grass, -Walt Whitman (1855)

Having time to myself, time to me, for me: 
My thoughts, my feelings, my breath. 
My doubts, for tides of desperation, the burning feeling of impatience and anxiety.
For melting-heart-moments of tenderness and baby smells.
For the terrifying-shaking instances of insecurities, and the painful occasions where I find myself lost, alone.  

 Stillness can bring so much insight.  In a world where movement is becoming a definition of action and productivity, i can now say--from experience-- that it's not necessarily true.  
Experience.  There is only so much that can be understood through theory, study.  Experience adds the "heart-beat" element, the key ingredient that makes it all bind together.  Just as our bodies: the heart pumps and blood circulates, making it all follows its course. 
The image that comes to mind is that of someone whose lost its breath, and suddenly with one thump at its chest, grasps for air, inhales to the last corner of its lungs...comprehending breath.  Comprehension. 

I'm right there.  Grasping for air.  My body laying horizontal, mouth open, tracheae expanding, diaphragm rising, conveying air to my lungs. Back and neck back-bending smoothly.  Eyes open. Ribs expand, lungs full.  
Expiration, exhalation.  
Breath.
Tears.  

I'm right there.  The basic.  The essential of life.  
Experiencing, comprehending and being witness of change--for this breath might be similar to that of a new born, but not the same. Not the same for i'm not new, my vulnerability lies somewhere else, i have history. 
As much as i believe that we come to this world not new, but continuing a journey that started long before this century, this is another awakening...a new color of participation. 

Walt Whitman suggests life participation so beautifully. 
I call for a life of comprehension, not understanding.  It's the world of ideas and world of experiences colliding.  
Action.

Relationships

Relationships.  
Wow, what a thing to talk about. Where to begin? What do i really want to say about relationships?
I guess my starting point should be that we can't live without them, that we are social creatures and that it would be completely cynical of me not to consider relationships as part of life. 
Another point to be made is that there is no judgement.  No such thing as an ideal relationship, a better or worse relationship. It's a tough one--the judgement issue. We are all different, we all build different dynamics.  What we CAN do is stay away from harm, violence, negativity, insolence and impertinence. 

Whether we want it or not, we have been (and still are) raised and taught that things must be "estimated".  Not esteemed. Placing everything and everyone under the measuring stick, regarding it all as a profit? a benefit? a loss? A bargain. This economic system has percolated in, unto our emotions, our feelings and our relationships.  In addition, I perceive mainstream economy leading us toward futile-instant gratification.  
I was having an interesting conversation with my talented brother this morning--over breakfast-- about the difference between gratification and satisfaction.  Recognizing how "the system" has us fooled thinking we have infinite necessities and a lack of resources to satisfy them.  We discussed about new theories on breaking down such paradigm.  We don't have innumerable necessities.  As a matter of fact we have...9? Let's not even get started with our resources.  (wanna know more, read Manfred Max-Neef, among others)

You've got it all wrong Mr. Capitalist. Your dollar God is not so supreme nor bountiful, and you're ambitious extirpating drive is rooted on make-beliefs. Unsubstantial. Gray. Very much finite, limited. 

I hit pause on my cassette player.
Can i just quickly mention how much i miss cassettes? Everything was so simple. Play, stop, rewind, fforward, pause, rec. Placing little pieces of scotch-tape on the corners if you wished to reuse them. Worst case scenario: the tape would get tangled and with a pen you'd have to roll it in again. Nothing like opening a brand new cassette, read the little booklet with lyrics or pictures.  Nostalgia. 
Now it's all download, in a "cloud" somewhere, no tangible experience of what is being played. No saving your little pesos to head to the music store and buy a cassette.  And blank cassettes! To record songs from the radio, or yourself! I'm from the era of cassettes, i can only imagine those that are from record players.  
End of interruption.

It's all related though. The more i sit and give myself the time to reflect upon things: feelings, thoughts, dreams, doubts--even trivial things such as cassettes and nail polish-- i realize that it's all intertwined. And it all leads me effortlessly to the same place.  All roads lead to Rome, eh? All leads me back to simplicity. The simple, the honest, the easiness, the tranquil, the sensible. 
I've learned a few lessons these past days on relationships.  Relationship with myself, my relationship with others, others relating to others. 
A web of connectivity, and relevance for the world we want--for ourselves, for those we see, for those far away, for our children, and for those which we will never meet.  At least not in this life cycle. Because it's all one. Violent energy on this side of the world will most definitely affect far and beyond. 

It's overwhelming, i know.  At least i feel it at times.  But then i'm reminded that it all starts at home.  Remember simplicity, honesty, small. 
"Be sensible with yourself, with the energy you're creating or you're latching on to", i tell myself. 
This is an amazing act of honesty and a challenging exercise of awareness. 
Energy. Energy flow: giving and receiving.  It's pretty much all in our hands.  
"I won't hang on to your destructive energy, I will not be a part of it."  
Hit stop.  
I'd better spend it on creating.

Side B.
"I feel this inspiring, loving, nurturing energy.  I am with you." 
 Play. 

Love & Light,
Fía.

Remember

The signs of the Universe. 
I believe in them.  Or better I should say i believe in the order of things.  Because there is always some order.  Sometimes not apparent, sometimes not necessarily logical (at the moment), sometimes hurtful and sometimes so deliciously appropriate. When that happens--the "appropriate"-- the feeling of clarity, ease and overpowering energy hits you, making it all come together. 
Like Tetris, when you are placing those ridiculously shaped figures side by side, on top of each other..and then...there it comes! the perfect piece and BAM! you get rid of 5 rows in a second.  

Wow, how profound is Tetris? You observe, you perceive--keep your eyes open!-- let's cease the fluctuations of the mind, lets stay focused, aware and "on it". 
Juggling little pieces, still "driving the car": where shall i place it? How? Mistakes are made, we see ourselves pressed with time...then the right piece comes our way--can we see it? And boom! it fits just right: 5 rows, weight off!
Ha...breathe! 

Tetris is just an example, there are thousands of examples. In fact, most of our activities are an example of life (sports, hobbies, rituals included).  So what does it all boil down to? 
Play. 
Play with eyes incredibly open.  Play with consciousness, play with effort, play receiving and giving. The player is essential, as are the rest of players, AND where the game is taking place. 
Play.  Not the same as compete. 
Play. Not the same as win...or lose.
Play. Not the same as cheat. 
Just play. 
                         (Hmmm...the role of theatre and play.  Something to ponder on)

I also think of yoga.  Again--as always.  Where does it all begin? 
Where does the practice (what I'm calling "play") begin? 
The 5 YAMAS (relationship with the environment/others).  
ahimsa: non-violence/consideration of others. Not necessarily meaning plain kindness.
satya: truth, communication, appropriateness.
asteya: not stealing
brahmacarya: moderation, balance.
aparigrahah: non-grasping, non-greediness.

Don't these sound like rules to a game? A beautiful game.  

How does the player play? 
Aha! Yoga: 
The 5 NIYAMAS (relationship with yourself)
sáuca: cleanliness
samtosa: contentment--appreciation of where you are, what you have. Forget "greener on other side"
tapah: effort, action, purification.
svadhyaya: study, self-study, reflection, inquiry.
isvarapranidhanani: offering, surrender, light and sacrifice. 

I find it spectacular.  I find it so lucid, so healthy and magnificent. This is what i believe in, this is what wakes me up every morning.  These supreme principles that transcend it all.
They dance and swirl and rise beyond everything. 
Beyond what might rob us our sleep, rob us from our dreams.  
Exceeding the "measuring this, measuring that", win or lose. 
Up and above expectations and judgement. 

I need reminder, we all do.  
I feel taken by the currents of what is moving the world today. I can see it, I fall into it, I struggle with it, give in...then come afloat-- but it's coming clearer and clearer: competition, pushing, violence, steering towards greater and bigger.  
Than what? To what? I ask. 

I need reminder.  That is what i wake up to every morning. 
Remembering, remembering. 

No shame, no more. 

Fía. 

Special.

I want to dedicate the day to art.  The art of life, the art of creation, the art of mystery and the art of science.  For me, there is nothing closer to perfection (though i highly recommend staying away from the thought of perfection)....so let me rephrase: For me, the best example of intelligence, order and harmony is nature.  
As i experience the daily battle between light and dark at the crack of dawn, i sign with admiration.
As i perceive the colors pop as rays of sun bathe the city slowly, reaching my balcony and furthermore reaching me, i sign with admiration.
Whenever i take the time to stop, hear the birds around me, look at the trees, flowers, bees--and then my breath, acknowledge my heart beat and the liters of blood circulating through my system, i sigh with admiration. 
Admiration, respect, bewilderment, and a little nervousness. 
Why do i feel nervous? Because all of a sudden I feel a part of something larger.  Something that is beyond the mundane "stuff".  Stuff that sometimes fills with dirt what is already so clear to begin with. The quotidian issues that we enlarge and then make-believe are essential (or worst) catastrophic. 
I feel nervous because i'm all of a sudden submerged in the dimension of miraculous, divine, magical and superb. 
And it's not just me.  There is nothing special with me, particularly.  I am special, just like every living form of this planet--and the planet itself-- is absolutely unquestionably special. 
It's also a little frightening, yet exciting, how there is so little "me" in this big picture. The world is not at MY hands, nor there is anything I can do to mess this world up.  For I am special to begin with, and me being here is already a plus. There isn't much i can control...just like i can't decide for my internal system to shut down whenever I want. Nor can i ask the sun to please come up an hour earlier today or for the moon to be full for a whole week. 
It's liberating and frightening. 
It's also, personally, very challenging: for my habitual patterns are not necessarily speaking to me--about me-- in terms of special.  
But i am beginning to believe it; and furthermore, i AM beginning a journey towards self-respect, care, protection and love. With myself, for myself. 

So how special are we? 
An example:
My sister and her husband just brought to this world an amazing, profoundly admirable, a gem of a creature into this world. They did it.  They actually did it. 
You know, it started with an act of love, later a heartbeat, then a little fish of a creature, and a vertebrae, eyes, organs, extremities. My sisters body shifting, expansion..then expulsion! and this new being, a new star is with us.  She breathes, she beats, she feels and dreams.  But they actually did it. It happened. It happens every second, every minute somewhere. 
What about the batting of our eyelashes? It requires no thought, effort, just the intelligent response to moisturize our black-brown-greens-blues- whenever necessary.
That's art.  We are artists. 

So today i feel touched by this perception of me, us, all. 
It's no coincidence I feel this way after watching incredible videos by incredible beings.  Some still walk upon this earth, some have left (or returned). 
Embrace the magic, embrace the science, embrace our art.


              **Anis Mojgani (poet) - 

                      ** This is just one little glimpse of master Schumacher.  I encourage further
                            watching/listening/reading**

Small is BEAU-TI-FUL

It's been going around...
just like the earth has been shaking in different corners of the world, the tides have been moving the bodies of water fiercely and the winds have been swirling and dancing upon cities...
things are shifting.
Shifting and coming back.  Coming back to it's origin.
Origin: in the sense of simple, basic.

My point here is the beauty of simplicity.  The elegant power of the simple. Yoga speaks of it so.

Where have we left the simple?
We live in a world where the economic market is ruling us all.  Everything measured, following the principle of a transaction: a seller and a buyer, a giver and a taker, a "good deal".  It has been working on and on, permeating into our most intimate realm, that of faith, spirituality and emotions.
"I like him/her...is it worth it?"
"I want x...how will i benefit from it?" (even if it means a love partner).

This has all been discussed by philosophers, economists (non-mainstream), thinkers way more experienced and knowledgeable than me.  I just happen to see examples in my everyday life.
It is a challenge, it is a risk, and it demands great courage--just to open my eyes.  But once the veil is slightly pulled away there is no turning back.
Unless fear and hypocrisy step in.
No, thank you.

I've been going around this whole idea for some time now.  I can see, feel, perceive myself struggling with some kind of force that i could just not put a finger on.  It's been moving through me in so many levels I could never have the sufficient clarity to connect it all--but i know it is there.
Sometimes it's a feeling--which surprises me and takes over.
Sometimes it's a conversation--that inspires me and bursts a little bubble, releasing a pinch of epiphany.  Sometimes it's an observation-- the power of nature and it's ongoing order, or an image that is not random..and whoosh! it's there!
Sometimes it's an argument--quite eye opening, painful but revealing.

It's all been brewing inside me, boiling like a cauldron.
At one point I was so insistent on understanding it all..."what is it?"  Then there is resisting and judgement..."there is something wrong with me, clearly".  Then there was hiding and pretending..."if i just ignore it, if i pretend i'm ok, that this is ok, then it will disappear".
Unfortunately I'm far past the childhood stage where you would close your eyes, think of disappearing and actually believe you were invisible.
It was not going away.

I forgot to mention that there was/is tiredness in this big equation too.  Yes, i'm tired.  Tired of what? Tired of struggle, tired of resisting, tired of "the difficult".
Doesn't it sound like there is a missing part to these statements?
Tired of resisting________?
Tired of struggling________?
Tired of the difficult, being________?

That, already makes me tired!
It's a loop, an on-going loop.
But then...then...there is dishwashing!
Praise the Lord, the Universe, Ganesha, the Sun, Moon and Stars for dishwashing.
Most dislike it, most go through various mechanisms to just not do it: take-out, dishwasher, filth.
I love it. Well, maybe not love it--as in i wake up in the morning to do the dishes, but definitely do not mind it.
It's mind-blowing how much the act of feeling warm water run through my hands, how scrubbing and rinsing gets me so in touch with myself.  It provides me ease, it allows a time of intimacy--where it's me and just me.  And some kind of clarity to it all.
So simple. (simple is beautiful)
It's an act of cleanliness, it's an act of kindness and care. (small is beautiful)
And through dishwashing-- specifically this morning I just considered: stop and chill out.
Ok, i'm an idiot to not have thought of that before.  Of course I have.  But with struggle and defiance.
If i let things flow, just like the water through the dishes...with trust, with faith and surrender..things WILL flow.
I've heard talks, i've read a wide variety of books that speak of authenticity, speak of vulnerability, acceptance and trust--but i was struggling so much. Trying to paint by the book, not letting  the stroke be an extension of my soul. Cooking my life through a recipe book.
My life has not turned around in the last couple of hours, or i haven't been reborn, "sán-se-acabó" (it's done).
Self-worth is what i stand up for-- what pains me, what/who damages me shall not bring me down, and shall not be welcome anymore. It is not Ego, it is kindness and love.
I am a miracle in itself.
So is everyone.
It's that simple..and beautiful.

Fía.

**Just this morning I reviewed Yoga Sutra 2.3
"avidyāsmitā-rāga-dvesābhiniveśāh kleśāh"
the obstacles are misapprehension (ignorance), false identity (Ego), excessive attachment, unreasonable dislikes and insecurity (clinging to life). 

** " The key to changing the world, to changing your life, and to empowering those around you is authenticity - the willingness to be yourself - the willingness to be vulnerable - the willingness to feel - the willingness to live. I’m simply reminding you of who you truly are, supporting you into self-love and acceptance by eradicating the judgement that you’ve imposed on yourself and society has opposed on you. " ~ Panache Desai.

And...Mujica again!

I can't let this pass. It's so beautiful, intelligent, eloquent, honest and essential to our journey through life.  It affects us, it affects our children and the children of our children.

This is the recent speech given my Mujica: Uruguay's President.
** it is in Spanish, but do no fret! I shall humbly translate it in English, so it's message travels far and beyond**
-------

RECIENTE DISCURSO DEL PRESIDENTE URUGUAYO EN RIO DE JANEIRO

El discurso ya se está considerando histórico. Mujica habló ante una audiencia de mandatarios que con desgano escucharon las verdades brutales que les decía. 

Autoridades presentes 

de todas la latitudes y organismos, muchas gracias. Muchas gracias al pueblo de Brasil y a su Sra. presidenta, Dilma Rousseff. Muchas gracias también, a la buena fe que han manifestado todos los oradores que me precedieron.
Expresamos la íntima voluntad como gobernantes de apoyar todos los acuerdos que, ésta, nuestra pobre humanidad pueda suscribir.

Sin embargo, permítasenos hacer algunas preguntas en voz alta.

Toda la tarde se ha hablado del desarrollo sustentable. De sacar las inmensas masas de la pobreza.

¿Qué es lo que aletea en nuestras cabezas? ¿El modelo de desarrollo y de consumo que queremos es el actual de las sociedades ricas?

Me hago esta pregunta: ¿qué le pasaría a este planeta si los hindúes tuvieran la misma proporción de autos por familia que tienen los alemanes? Cuánto oxígeno nos quedaría para poder respirar?

Más claro: ¿tiene el mundo los elementos materiales como para hacer posible que 7 mil u 8 mil millones de personas puedan tener el mismo grado de consumo y de despilfarro que tienen las más opulentas sociedades occidentales? ¿Será eso posible?
¿O tendremos que darnos otro tipo de discusión?

Hemos creado esta civilización en la que hoy estamos: hija del mercado, hija de la competencia y que ha deparado un progreso material portentoso y explosivo.

Pero la economía de mercado ha creado sociedades de mercado. Y nos ha deparado esta globalización, cuya mirada alcanza a todo el planeta.

¿Estamos gobernando esta globalización o ella nos gobierna a nosotros?

¿Es posible hablar de solidaridad y de que “estamos todos juntos” en una economía que basada en la competencia despiadada? ¿Hasta dónde llega nuestra fraternidad?

No digo nada de esto para negar la importancia de este evento. Por el contrario: el desafío que tenemos por delante es de una magnitud de carácter colosal y la gran crisis que tenemos no es ecológica, es política.

El hombre no gobierna hoy a las fuerzas que ha desatado, sino que las fuerzas que ha desatado gobiernan al hombre. Y a la vida.
No venimos al planeta para desarrollarnos solamente, así, en general. Venimos al planeta para ser felices. Porque la vida es corta y se nos va. Y ningún bien vale como la vida. Esto es lo elemental.

Pero la vida se me va a escapar, trabajando y trabajando para consumir un “plus” y la sociedad de consumo es el motor de esto. Porque, en definitiva, si se paraliza el consumo, se detiene la economía, y si se detiene la economía, aparece el fantasma del estancamiento para cada uno de nosotros.

Pero ese hiper consumo es el que está agrediendo al planeta.

Y tienen que generar ese hiper consumo, cosa de que las cosas duren poco, porque hay que vender mucho. Y una lamparita eléctrica, entonces, no puede durar más de 1000 horas encendida. ¡Pero hay lamparitas que pueden durar 100 mil horas encendidas! Pero esas no, no se pueden hacer; porque el problema es el mercado, porque tenemos que trabajar y tenemos que sostener una civilización del “úselo y tírelo”, y así estamos en un círculo vicioso.

Estos son problemas de carácter político. Nos están indicando que es hora de empezar a luchar por otra cultura.

No se trata de plantearnos el volver a la época del hombre de las cavernas, ni de tener un “monumento al atraso”. Pero no podemos seguir, indefinidamente, gobernados por el mercado, sino que tenemos que gobernar al mercado.

Por ello digo, en mi humilde manera de pensar, que el problema que tenemos es de carácter político. Los viejos pensadores –Epicúreo, Séneca y también los Aymaras- definían: “pobre no es el que tiene poco sino el que necesita infinitamente mucho”. Y desea más y más.

Esta es una clave de carácter cultural.

Entonces, voy a saludar el esfuerzo y los acuerdos que se hagan. Y lo voy acompañar, como gobernante. Sé que algunas cosas de las que estoy diciendo "rechinan". Pero tenemos que darnos cuenta de que la crisis del agua y de la agresión al medio ambiente no es la causa. La causa es el modelo de civilización que hemos montado. Y lo que tenemos que revisar es nuestra forma de vivir.

Pertenezco a un pequeño país muy bien dotado de recursos naturales para vivir. En mi país hay poco más de 3 millones de habitantes. Pero hay unos 13 millones de vacas, de las mejores del mundo. Y unos 8 o 10 millones de estupendas ovejas. Mi país es exportador de comida, de lácteos, de carne. Es una penillanura y casi el 90% de su territorio es aprovechable.

Mis compañeros trabajadores, lucharon mucho por las 8 horas de trabajo. Y ahora están consiguiendo las 6 horas. Pero el que tiene 6 horas, se consigue dos trabajos; por lo tanto, trabaja más que antes. ¿Por qué? Porque tiene que pagar una cantidad de cosas: la moto, el auto, cuotas y cuotas y cuando se quiere acordar, es un viejo al que se le fue la vida.

Y uno se hace esta pregunta: ¿ese es el destino de la vida humana?

Estas cosas que digo son muy elementales: el desarrollo no puede ser en contra de la felicidad. Tiene que ser a favor de la felicidad humana; del amor a la tierra, del cuidado a los hijos, junto a los amigos. Y tener, sí, lo elemental.

Precisamente, porque es el tesoro más importante que tenemos. Cuando luchamos por el medio ambiente, tenemos que recordar que el primer elemento del medio ambiente se llama felicidad humana.

Gracias.·

I read this last night, closed my eyes and was grateful.
Now, I let the palms of my hands touch each other, in form of prayer, place it on my chest...and hit send.

For you,
Fía.

Pledge

Today, I want to write a little bit on practice.  Practice understood as an activity-not necessarily physical- that is carried out with a certain focus, with specific meaning, dedication and commitment.  As a lady from the West i believe that our physical realm is more accessible, it turns out to be a useful gateway to deeper waters and awareness. The way this half of the world is being raised: external to internal; segregation of mind and body; and identifying/learning/classifying things in boxes or units, makes us perfect candidates to experience first with our bodies, and then discover the layers of the onion--some thicker, some narrower, some smellier, and some as thin as a butterflies wing.
So practice.
Practice.
Practice.
Practice.

What is a practice? What could be considered a practice?
There is no concrete answer here, no definition, and beautifully, no right or wrong.  It's yours.
It's you and yours.

I do believe that there is one key to practice: honesty, surrender and awareness.

I'm no sage, philosopher, intellectual, thinker or guru--oh no!-- but i have been carrying out a practice for several several years, and have been able to identify the thread that has tied my experience of practice all together: truth, letting go (surrender) and awareness (consciousness).  It seems as though i'm repeating myself here, but i'm letting the words and mind flow; reaching to this conclusion, and putting it down on writing for the first time.  I have held it inside me, doubting it all, then reassuring it all back again, then experiencing it in a new kind of way...but noticed those three stepping stones always there.

I could fill a page with ideas, images, colors, concepts that are involved in a daily practice--or at least mine...maybe i'll indulge myself by sharing some: beauty, anger, impatience, anxiety, calmness, stress, pain, love, kindness, ego, desire, pushing, focus, clarity, fear, disappointment, courage, judgement, trust, gratefulness....
on and on and on.

All these are colors, shades and lights that fill the canvas.  However the piece of art is the whole, what binds them together is awareness--being conscious of you, you and yourself right there.  Checking in, observing, being.  Awareness and surrender-- checking in, observing, being...and not judging.  Judgement like a knife slices and chops it all to disconnected pieces. Not judging, measuring or concluding anything. Awareness, surrender and truth-- waking up, checking in, observing, being, surrendering, not judging, with honesty.

For me, there is no such thing as repetition in practice.  Just like today's sky is not exactly the same as yesterday's, or the day before...just as the oceans tides are never exactly the same, practice is always new. Your body might be following the same "routine", you might be directing your breath in the same coordinated pattern; yet your muscles, tendons & ligament, skeleton & organs are different, the air you breathe, your lung capacity and steadiness of breath is fresh, feels different.

Today i worship practice.  In any shape and form; whenever, wherever, whoever, however. Just as life it's never fixed.
I pledge to a time with yourself, for yourself--how courageous is that nowadays?!
I pledge to practice.
I pledge to awareness, surrender and truth.
** an on-going journey of no right's or wrong's, better's or worse's **

I take a bow.

We are driven by self-interest, it’s necessary to survive. But we need wise self-interest that is generous and co-operative, taking others’ interests into account. Co-operation comes from friendship, friendship comes from trust, and trust comes from kind-heartedness. Once you have a genuine sense of concern for others, there’s no room for cheating, bullying or exploitation.

Dalai Lama.

Turbulents downs and glorious UPS

Ups and downs.
Downs and ups.

The pendulum moves left and right...vigorously, i must add.
As I was wisely told (all my sources shall remain anonymous and mysterious, yet please note the inclusion of the word wisely): the pendulum might be traveling fast and furious from one extreme to the other, yet after that, after visiting its poles, it will naturally lose its momentum and be apt for a balanced middle.

I like that.
I believe that too.
I mean, look at nature...it will find it's balance sooner or later, one way or the other.
We are a part of it too.

There is no "forever stuck" in one place, i believe.  Hence, the importance of awareness and the state of presence. Being truthful to where you are at the present moment--whether it's painful, difficult, challenging, blurred or content, joyful and in-focus-- is essential. It's our thermometer, our pendulum meter.

Here's a little scoop of what my "meter" is telling me: i'm swinging baby! i'm getting the ride of my life, swinging vigorously like a 10 year old at a playground. My high's are high and my low's are low.

Yesterday was a low.
This is not my personal diary and details are really not necessary. It's more of a communicating space, a link to souls, and a place for affiliation.  For i believe i am not alone--no one is.

Yesterday was a low,
hard
blurry
challenging
tight
cold.

What to do? Just stay.  Stay there.
It was not luck or plain coincidence that i happened to run across a little video of Pema Chödrön, where she shared a bit of her life and her relationship with anger and negativity.  She discusses the great power, the huge potential of negativity.

It took her on the journey of Buddhism.
For me, yesterday, was a moment of truth, a decision of being un-veiled; not hiding what was happening, not putting it under the rug, no swallowing it and letting it run through my veins and pump my heart. 

So, i was low. 
Tears.
Closed throat.
Pulled under.

I title this turbulent downs and glorious ups. 
The iron ball at the end of the string of my life pendulum was WHOA stuck at one end! 

Today i'm high. 
Glorious glorious up. 
No psychotropics involved, no fake smile or denial of truth.  The sun is shining, Oxford skies, or if i go local skies of Temuco/Valdivia (an important factor to consider) and I perceive a lightness of being. 

Today i'm UP.
Flexibility.
Air.
Crispy.
Fresh
Blue and green. 

It might be the other end, but there is a balance coming, i'm sure.
There is no getting lost on one side, and after the storm there is most definitely sunshine. 
Life IS made up of ups and downs, to begin with anyway. 
Just as today's breathtaking splendid heaven: electric blue and thick cotton clouds.

Love & Light,
Fía.