Inspiration
Articles to inspire authentic living on the topics of resilience, spirituality, and self-growth with touches of storytelling, depth, and humor.
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Alexa, who am I?
We live in an era where we no longer have to take the time to type a question. We say it aloud to Alexa, Siri, or AI, and in a moment, we receive answers with apparent accuracy. So our minds have gotten used to relying on one source without going deeper.
Eternal search for transcendence
I have always been astronomical conscious. I love sunsets, sunrises (although I am more of a night owl), stargazing, looking for the moon, and finding shapes in the clouds. There is a particular mystery that involves seeing from afar and at the same time feeling wholly taken by the grandeur of nature. Looking at the sky is a humbling experience; something so powerful out there reflecting our inner world. For me, it has always been the space where science, magic, beauty, and spirit collide.
Maybe the desire to look through my window and commune with the elements has shaped my connection to the Universe. Very rightfully, it has inspired the work of poets, guided adventurers, and even initiated religious and scientific chapters since the beginning of humankind. Or perhaps it is that when you are a dreamer and romantic, it is easy to remain connected to something as far away as a star and still feel like it influences you.
Two events in the last week have made me want to untangle the role of the astronomical world in my spiritual development.
When Dreams come with an Expiration Date
“You are such a dreamer,” one of the funniest insults in the history of humanity. Considering that there hasn’t been a discovery, a life-altering innovation, an awe-inspiring enterprise that did not start as a dream makes me believe that those who ditch the dreamers suffer from a limited myopic view.
I love asking kids what they want to be when they grow up. Astronauts, teachers, doctors, parents, architects, you name it. Seeing a child’s face lights up when answering is the precise representation of a soul ignited by a dream. As we grow up and become more aware of life’s challenges, we tend to either put those dreams aside for more practical answers, forgive what it feels like to have that internal desire, or just succumb to the limited belief that life is too difficult.
From Survival to Thriving
It is challenging to thrive when multiple obstacles hit us, and life feels like a constant Whac-a-mole game. However, those periods that force us into survival mode are not a waste of time - as long as we decide to take advantage of it.
The last couple of years has forced many of us to deal with unforeseeable circumstances that have veered our paths from growth to survival. But, in those moments where we have no other choice but to surrender, we find the great gifts that come with challenging times. How we face each wave determines the growth that we can enjoy after the storm.
2022: Time To Unleash my Inner Child
Sometimes we have plans that can dissolve like sand in our hands in a second. 2021 has been a trying year in so many aspects. Experience has shown me that we always experience a year of constant challenges in our lives' cycles, followed by a time of appreciated growth. I don't know how we ended up with two years back-to-back of continuous blows. I guess I can only speak of myself, but I am exhausted. I have been exhausted for a while, numb, and at times hopeless.
The gift of learning how to be authentic
My cousin’s birthday was the perfect excuse. We met in New York City for a weekend of celebrations, including eating, dancing, stories, and laughs. As several of my cousins and their significant others were laughing in the middle of a nightclub, I felt my eyes swelling up. No, I wasn’t sad. I just felt this incredible expansion on my chest and immense gratitude for the more than four decades of shared moments with this group of people that I am honored to call family.
The Connection Jackpot
With my heart as complete as it was, feeling extremely lucky for the beautiful relationships that surround me, I got to reflect on the kind of connections that feed my soul. Because let’s be honest, we may have tons of friends, but not every tie makes our heart swell. So, what are the criteria? What makes an acquaintance move from “yes-you-are-fun” to “I-am-a-different-person-because-of-you”? What makes us want to go the distance to cultivate a relationship?
Maybe this will be the theme of this year for me, but I want to spend more time with meaningful people. I just don’t have as much energy to stay in places that don’t elevate me or support me.
How do I define who those people are worth keeping close to?
Catch and Release
Through my adult eyes, fishing has become a great source of life metaphors. And because I could not let the lessons pass, I started finding analogies between the art of fishing and an area of my life that continues to be my savior and my quickest ticket to confusion and sadness at the same time. Fishing, I have found, has a lot of parallelisms with intuition.
Both fishing and intuition require an act of faith. We can’t see what is underwater or what can come swimming in our direction. However, the true fisherman remains loyal to his belief in the ocean’s abundance, regardless of what can be seen at the moment.
Of Finding Our Purpose and Calling on Magic
I always joke that I have a Librarian Complex. Not only because I obviously love books - the actual physical books, not just reading – but also because I love to organize and categorize everything: information, ideas, feelings, facial features, personality types…you name it! Maybe it was because my brain worked that way that from a very young age I started seeing my life as a series of puzzle pieces, each representing things I was either good at or that I loved to do. One piece, for example, was my passion to create constantly. Another one was my interest in building communities. I was the child always organizing groups, bringing people together through common interests. Later on, when I had a short stint doing theater, I discovered that I really loved creating experiences where people felt transported. As I started growing up and all these pieces started fitting into each other I realized they contain my purpose. What a great feeling to start discovering what we came to do in this world! I feel my “Purpose Puzzle” is still evolving and I can identify pieces that still haven’t fit there, but I know they eventually will.
The last couple of years have offered me the opportunity of immense growth, although sometimes they have come like axes that have as well left me terribly bruised. The beauty of it is that it has brought me closer to find my purpose, and I am grateful for that.
Back in December an opportunity came for me out of the blue.
When the plane goes down
I don’t remember when was the first time I had a dream, but I can assume that I was still a little girl. Up until this day, my dreams can be quite entertaining, to the point I sometimes wake up exhausted because I have long, energetic visions that seem as I got to relive in my sleep a Tarantino movie on a nightly basis. Other times, these oneiric experiences are nothing short than pieces of wisdom. I receive messages for others, process complex problems and even get to meet cool people and places I have never met before. I also get repetitive dreams and continuing dreams, complicated stories that are paused when I open my eyes to be continued later as if I had just pressed some kind of mental pause.
Months ago, I had one of those dreams whose wisdom was meant for a friend but up until today its moral still haunts me.
Living Authentically, with open wings
Blame it on my artist’s heart but here has always been a certainty in me that the only road to happiness comes from living as authentically as we can. Hiding behind a more acceptable persona seems like an incredibly expensive prison. But sometimes honesty and transparency come with a very high price tag as well. I used to believe that those who live portraying an image of who they are not, to be liked by a group of people who don’t even like themselves, had to be in constant anguish. The fear of someone holding a mirror in front of them should be terrifying. And then there are all the lies and all the schemes that need to be strategized in order to support that unstable structure. Nope, too much work for me!
But then I realized how much courage, how much strength it takes to live authentically and I discovered that veracity was not exactly an easy road either. There are internal voices, society rules and expectation, unspoken commitments to keep connections no longer valid, and then our own insecurities that make living in full honesty an unsurmountable task.
Brave Heart
I have had a good share of hits, as everyone else, I suppose. It is hard for me to think objectively to determine if I have been strong or nor, but I can assume that yes, strength has been one of my prizes and my only way of salvation.
Today as I reflected in many of my life’s events, I realized that really going through something is not a sign of victory. Sometimes we go through because we are carried away and sometimes out of stubbornness. Real victory, the stuff that transform us into superheroes, is not going through difficulties until we can see them in the rearview mirror.
Real victory is to remain open hearted even when our hearts have been broken.