Take a deep breath and go ahead

It’s going to be three years in a few months, and after all the process, my life changed for good. Although sometimes I feel like from another planet, as my decisions and obvious common sense guesses seem odd and not too common for the rest, I firmly believe I’m on the right track.
But is this right track the only track? Is it the fastest or the shortest? Can we go faster?
It’s time to speed things a little, but how to do it? Well, as it has been happening in the last years, I bump in to the places and situations I need.
There’s an inefficient visa process I have to follow, to renew my visa in Brazil. In the mean time I have to be out of the country for at least three months. What to do during that time? My boss suggested taking all my vacations and taking a license to complete the time. Ok, sounds reasonable, and what to do with all that time? My initial plan was to study business and art courses in different countries in Europe and then travel to India for tourism. But as all happens for a reason and what happens is the best, I couldn’t get my Shengen visa in Brazil, business courses dates didn’t match my schedule and what was the result? India for one month and a meditation retreat for 35 days in Thailand. And how did it happen? A friend met a guy in the internet, the guy took my friend to a course, in the course my friend met another outstanding person, and my friend send me this person’s email. He lives in Thailand and as soon as I wrote, he answered that I had a room reserved for a retreat. As soon as I read the answer I knew that was it!! I didn’t know how a retreat wasn’t my first option, but in the end, all the obstacles, coincidences, and luck will take me to this place, and I’m sure this is the highway. Maybe is not the only one, but for sure it will take me to another level on this process.
This is a trip that will change my life again, if I was in a comfort zone, this will mess things around; I was expecting it, and I love it.

Economics

What is the Gini index? Yesterday I saw a young couple arriving in a restaurant to have lunch, driving a car obviously bought only for sunny weekends. They gave the keys to the valet parking driver who would have to handout his monthly income to have one meal at the same restaurant, or work more than 312 years to gather the money equal to the price of the car. This is a Gini index of 56,7 the 10th highest in the world, and shows that something is completely wrong.

Spring

As much as I would like to fight the idea, the sun has huge impact on the mood of almost everyone. Not only each person isolated quits the resignation mood from clouds and grey skies, but the collective mood creates a synergy with every person process, accelerating change and bringing consequences as more laughs, less stress, equilibrium, motivation an at least superficially happiness.
In the process of generating happiness only from the inside, I would love to isolate external factors, but I have to accept the sun helps, and helps a lot. I suppose we as animals can’t avoid influences from the environment. Welcome again sunny days!!

Framing

I have a friend that says that we all have just three opportunities in life, and we have to be aware, to be able to make good use of them. He claims he already lost two, and he’s waiting for his last one.
I refuse to believe that our destiny is not in our hands. As the Boss ad says, the day is what we make of it. I think there are a lot of opportunities every time, is just the way we look at things and situations what enable us to discover them.
There are situations in life that make us change completely the way we think as an accident, an experience or religion among others. I have another friend in the middle of this process, and although might be terrible to feel clueless for some time, as soon as new priorities and objectives begin to appear in the shadows, a myriad of new opportunities come to light. Is just our decision to maintain this optimistic and motivated view.

Greener grass

Why is it that many of us have temporary satisfactions and can’t stop moving between sides? While working, we dream about being entrepreneurs and have our own business, but in the fears of independence we constantly seek for the security of a job. When single we fantasize about that special someone that will take us to another world with a secret smile, and when it finally arrives, a lot of small but painful disappointments appear and only hope our freedom and peace could return.
The same happens with vacations, resting, friends and many other things in life, not to mention pity objects.
Is it that what we want changes constantly? Is it that the situation we are in changes our point of view? Is it that we and the situation change at the same time?
I personally thing that change is objective in itself. To move, experiment, try new things, new places, new routes, new choices, etc.
The only thing we must accept is that although there are situations that seem perfect, everything is subject to change and we should face transition normally and not expect to force untenable alignments.

Coincidence? I don’t believe it.

I had a plan to make some interviews to different kind of people to try to understand how every person by itself lives in a unique world. I just had to find people with diverse backgrounds and interesting enough to begin. I had some ideas but not as exciting as I wanted. Yesterday I received an email from a friend I knew 11 years ago when he was 5, and lived in the jungle with no electricity, no bathrooms, no hospitals and in the middle of a conflict between several armed groups. Now he’s a professional football player at 16, and he’s coming to Brazil for some trials with a team. Could it get more fascinating?
What are the odds? We’ll I think almost zero, I want to understand it as destiny’s little help when someone is looking for what he wants. As Paulo Coelho said in one of his books, the universe conspires in favor of those who follow what they want.
We don’t have to have everything planned every time, maybe if we trust, some of the uncertainties will helps us achieve what we want instead of creating obstacles. Let’s go for it, it’s going to happen.

Reminders

After two and a half years of recovery, medicines, exercise and a healthy diet I went to see my cardiologist. In a very optimistic mood, I requested the suspension of all the medicines, knowing that I followed all procedures strictly, felt very healthy, and had the confidence of finishing a half marathon. For me, I had a heart as healthy and strong as anyone without any previous heart problems, and I thought it was enough time now: I could skip medicines and continue with a healthy life.
Did you forget what happened? Was his answer. After some time, everybody forgets. He said. Those words came to my mind not just as the health issue, but as a reminder of the fragility of our lives. It could end anytime, am I living accordingly? I am, but although I would like to live a 100+ years, life is lent. I got a huge reminder with an earthquake too, and not so long ago when I crossed a highway that I though was one way only. We have reminders from time to time, and I think is only to feed our desire to live, to push us to follow what we want, to make those steps we are afraid of, and to helps us understand we still have to do something here. Is a clear message every time: still have time!! Go, go, go!!!

New posts and update

As the initial objective of this blog, I wanted to describe all the change process that happened during my re-birth, and after all the stages already included, there have not been changes in the way I face life and its situations.
My life as a hole, moved towards an inside search for happiness, a release of self created problems and preoccupations and a complete positive attitude for everything that happens, and I have been living very happy since.
In recent months, I’ve been enjoying all the positive effects of this new way to understand and live a life, having perfect days and playing to win. As every process, during the changes I had to think how to approach situations, and now it’s a natural and fluent new attitude. I’m just looking for new ways to enhance this happiness, of course, all of them internal. No success to date.
As I want to continue writing, I’ll be making updates with not only internal changes as they occur, but daily life situations and thoughts that might catch my attention.
For now, as an update, just lo let you know that I’m very happy with my new life, I’m full of plans and projects, personal projects that keep me dreaming and wanting to live every day at its maximum. Some have been already developed, as my first steps in music, traveling, meditation and physical challenges, and other just in early stages as a future book, speed or a passion that might become a business. There’s so much to do and just 24 hour days!!

Swimming lessons

So I was wondering why the change from China to Brazil. There were many reasons to pick China, but the main reason was spiritual. In the process of looking for happiness, and after realizing the search should be inside, I was looking for a friendly environment to develop spirituality, and nothing like the biggest Buddhist country in the world. I wanted to learn to swim, so I choose a quiet, not very deep pool to begin. Coming to Brazil, and specifically to Sao Paulo, was like falling in the sea for my first swim.
I thought that the process of moving to another country, where I would not have any family or friends, where I would be completely alone for a lot of time, would be easy in China, as westerns are an attraction, many people wants to be friends, and there’s not much social pressure as there is in western countries.
After almost three months in Brazil, I realized that at the end it was better to fall in the sea with high waves and sharks, as swimming was a matter of life and death. There was one weekend I almost drowned, but I remembered that the whole idea was to continue with the interior process and only then I began to float.
Although I loved the city and the country, was very happy with the job I came for, everyone of my colleagues was very special, and all the other issues as exercise, entertainment, food among other were on track, there was something missing. I was loosing the fight to my mind, having external quick sparkles of happiness only, instead of continuing the process of internal search for structural happiness. Feelings I had eliminated long time ago like frustration, envy and loneliness, where slaps that made me realize where I was going.
When finally I was aware that was moving backwards, that my life was trying to make it’s own path again without my consent, I took the wheel and got back on road. Happily I have been writing a roadmap I can always refer to.
As in any process we make mistakes. I took my eyes from the road for a second and when I realized, I was far away from I wanted to be. It’s a lesson that the social strength but overall the mind makes good use of weak times to get a hold of our lives control. Happiness is a continuous process, and a road that requires a lot of attention. Happiness is a verb that implies action, not an adjective that simulates a decision.