Anxiously waiting for April…

March has not been an easy month for me. It was not easy last year. It is not easy this year. So, I just hope that March finish soon. My countdown began…

I was surprised to realize that my 2009 march was as complicated as my 2010 March. 2008 does not count because I was in Canada fulfilling my dream.

But the month of March in my two previous years have been…. How to define them? They were month of decisions, changes and growth. Emotional revolutionaries.

I started to think that could be an astrological connection between March and my feelings. Do you believe in Astrology? Yesterday, a friend told me that stars and my horoscope sign are the responsible of having a month so emotionally complicated. Basically he said, 45 days previous your birthday, you will feel strange, rare, unusual. He could be right but I could not find yet any proven theory that valid his argument.

Since I have been feeling ups and downs, going through a stressing period of time at work and home, I received two really nice suggestions:

1. Think Pink!

Every time you feel down, sad, depressed, just think pink, which means think positive, watch the other side of the coin, something good could grow up from the bad soil. So, think pink. Pink is powerful.

2. Protect Yourself.

Sometimes you feel very tired, exhausted of everything: routine, job, boss, building manager, etc. you are run out of patience and at the point of exploiting, crying or overwhelming by the circumstances. In those moments, it is time to say No. Say ‘no’to everything that make us feel bad. We need to protect ourselves and think about us just to get strong again. Never let anybody to hurt you anyhow.


Thanks to the people who reminded me these two nice rules of life.
I will be prepare to face next March, 2011 .

Tip for Better Life N° 9: How to make yourself feel better

Sometimes, when I feel tired, sad or depressed I ask myself what I can do to make me feel better… After thinking for a while, many ideas come up to my mind…a kind of oneself brainstorming… I think about what things I like, or what I would like to do, or where I would like to be or whom I would like to meet… I picture myself a hundred of possibilities that might never come true.. or sometimes yes… who knows? Time will say ...
But today... today I feel tired, sad and depressed and I asked myself what I can do to make me feel better.... no idea. So, I just google the question and I found a wiki answer:

Wiki says…Here are suggestions:

· Any kind of Exercise. Exercise gets the body to release very pleasant chemicals and neurotransmitters. And you can also feel better about living healthier and eventually looking better.
· Have a good check-up by your doctor. Ask for a T3/T4 thyroid test as well and also get your adrenal gland checked. These are two organs that can cause lethargy, panic attacks, depression from both.
· You could talk to a therapist, doctor, or psychiatrist; you may need an anti-depressant.
· Try watching comedies when you are alone. And try organizing gatherings with friends during the weekends. You will feel better if you are preparing for something, and you will have fun hanging out with friends.
· Organising events is usually the best way. I try to make myself feel better by doing something creative that I can rely on: I usually write.
· Other ideas: 1) get a pet. Something you can take care of. Usually when you feel bad, you can also end up quite lonely. 2) change your surroundings: move your furniture or try on a different outfit. 3) get an organiser- related to the one above, try to fill your days with something to do. 4) go somewhere- anywhere. Go for a walk with no direction. Don’t get lost, but do go for a walk and take a look around you. 5) try cooking/cleaning - sounds too domestic, but often when you cook your own meal, or clean up your home you’ll pleased with what you’ve accomplished
· Get some sun.
· Think about positive aspects of your life.
· If you’re unhappy all of the time: 1) Talk to your most supportive friends. 2) Write down the names of ten people who care about you & of people you care about. 3) Find a way to cope with your depression like: reading, writing, or drawing. 4) Hurting yourself is NEVER the answer
· Remember that you are very special and you are important. A value person that needs and wants to shine.

So, tomorrow I might join the gym again, or I will ask my doctor to make a complete check up of me, or I will start theraphy, or I will watch a funny movies or I will go out with friends, or I will read, write, sing, or do arts and crafts, or I will dress in pink color…

Tomorrow, I will do something just to make me feel better..

"From the affections..." by Mario Benedetti

Many visitors arrived to my blog seeking for poems from Mario Benedetti. Since I post the first poem written by him and translated into English, I realized that there are many people out there that are eager to read his poems, to enjoy his words, to feel reflected with his feelings.

I like to read Mario Benedetti in Spanish, my mother tongue. Spanish is a very beautiful language and I feel proud of its extremely rich vocabulary to express feelings, ideas, thoughts and reflections. However, while I was surfing in the Internet searching for poems translated into English, I realized that some poems go beyond language. They are just beautiful whatever the language they have been written or translated. They are essence poems.

I felt that with Benedetti. I like Benedetti in English as in Spanish and the poem I recently found it is just like a little shiny jewel.

I want to share it with all of you. Hope you enjoy it as I do.

FROM THE AFFECTIONS
How to let you know that there is always time?
That one has to look for it and give it to oneself...
That nobody lays down rules, apart from life...
That life without certain rules loses shape...
That shape is not lost when we open up...
That opening ourselves up is not to love indiscriminately...
That it is not forbidden to love...
That we can also hate...
That hate and love are two affections...
That the aggression just because, hurts a lot ...
That the wounds close...
That doors should not be closed...
That the biggest door is affection...
That affections define us...
That defining oneself is not rowing against the tide...
That not the stronger the stroke, the more you draw...
That to look for a balance doesn't mean to be warm...
That refusing words is to open distances...
That meeting is very beautiful...
That sex is part of the beauty of life ...
That life comes from sex...
That the children's asking why, has its reason why...
That wanting to know about someone, is not just curiosity...
That knowing everything about everybody is unhealthy curiosity...
That being thankful never hurts...
That self-determination is not doing things alone...
That nobody wants to be alone...
That so as not to be alone we only have to give...
That in order to give, we have to receive before...
That to be given, we also have to know how to ask...
That giving oneself as a present definitively is not to love oneself…
That to be loved we must show what we are...
That so that someone can be, they have to be helped...
That help is to encourage and support...
That adulation is not support...
That fawning is as pernicious as to turn the face...
That things face to face are honest...
That nobody is honest because they do not steal...
That when there is no pleasure in things you're not living...
That to feel life one must not forget that there is death...
That one can be a living death...
That we feel with the body and the mind...
That we listen with our ears...
That it is hard to be sensitive and not be hurt...
That being hurt is not to bleed to death...
That so as not to be hurt we build walls ...
That it would be better to build bridges...
That across them we go to the other side and no one returns...
That returning does not mean stepping back...
That stepping back may also be to go forward...
That despite going forward and forward, we do not wake up closer to the sun...
How to let you know that that nobody lays down rules, apart from life?

We all need someone or something that makes us SMILE :)