Dancing star

"One must have

chaos and frenzy

within oneself

to give birth

to a

dancing star"

Irvin Yalom at

"When Nietzsche Wept".

"Achieving your childhood dreams"... The last lecture of Raundy Pausch

I saw this video some time ago and for some reason it came to my mind today.

“The last lecture” is the name of the conference given by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was fighting against a fulminant cancer. In fron of a 400 people audience, he gave his last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

It is really inspirational. This video is on my “must be seen videos” list. If you have the chance to watch it completely, you will not regret. It is really worthy.

First Love...unforgettable...

Why the first love is so unforgettable?

This could be an answer:

"It is said that the first love has such force because we are surprised that someone has put his/her eyes on us".

While you haven ´t seen me, I do not exist. When you see me, you give me life. You recocognize me. You respect me. This is the basis of Zulu´s philosophy. The Zulu greeting is "Sawubona" which means "I see you" and the response is "Ngikhona" which means "I am here". Somehow, love works in the same way.

From the book "Love in small letters"

by Francesc Miralles

plus a bit explanation of Zulu´s philosophy :)

Colors....

I used to think that Life could be only Black or White. Two extremes. No middle positions. Either you are on one side or you are in the other. Mutually excluyent. Good or bad, right or wrong,




Then, when Istarted to grow up and I started knowing more about the world, I found that beyong black and white, there was a big scale of grey colors in the middle. Light grey, dark grey.... grey... Somehow good, somehow bad....

Finally, I realized that things and people are not grey neither black or white as I used to think. They are just black and white... yes, black and white, all together and at the same time. Good and bad, right and wrong...





Despite this, somedays, I just prefer watching life in bright and fully colors.

"Subtext"... Or what you write when you write...

Tales of mere existence are stories about a guy called Lev. Lev sees and lives life in a particular way. In an existencialist way, actually. What he told us and the way he told it to us is really funny.

In this video, called "Subtext" he is trying to write an email to a girl he met on a party and he wants to make a good impression of him. Which word should he use? Check the video. Hidden meanings or connotatios of words could be an enemy sometimes. So, be careful when you write and what you write... lol

Link: http://talesofmereexistence.com

Life is a serie of great events...

Life is a serie of great events that mark our path and take us out from the daily routine. They work as en electrocardiogram. They make your heart beat higher and faster.

Births, baptisms, birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, parties, seminars, conferences....

You can never imagine how important they are until either you protagonize them or you organize them...

Why is so important to plan this kind of event? I have only find an answer: they mark an “before and after” in your life, they make you feel that you are the protagonist and manager of your decisions.

Every event has its own and special meaning. You only have to define what they represent to you.

Sense of belonging...

We all need to feel part of something. The human being is a social animal. We look for being part, belonging, fitting in.

A family, a community, a club, a peer´s group, a job.... They are all spaces where we try to find connections. Sames values, same point of views, same way to do things, same ethical patterns. May be we will not have everything in common, but at least a few things or just one important thing that makes us feel we belong there and we are comfortable with being there.

We are surrounded by people every day and we might have a lot of social support, but unless we feel we fit in, it will not help.

When we feel we are connected with the world around us, then we feel we are where we were meant to be.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

Everything in life is a matter of decisions. Some of them could be easier to take such as what clothes wear today or whether going or not going to a party, but others could be a really headache. Sometimes, life put us in a cross of roads. What should we do? Which road should we take?

Making desicions is not an easy task. We are scared of choosing one or another path. We can even get stuck or paralyzed by the fear. An uncertain future makes us to procastinate. But should we be satisfied by a bad situation only because it is known? Should we avoid a decision only because we do not know what could happen in the near future? Delaying decisions because of the fear to the unknown makes the matter worse. The unknown could make us to feel anxious about what would might happen, however, we should also know that better things could come. When life puts you in a cross of roads, we cannot do anything else than make a decision.

I always received the advice of: “Do what makes you happy”;“Follow you heart, your values, your ideas.” “ Deep inside, you only know what is the best for you”. However, sometimes it is not so clear. We doubt, we think, we re think, we delay, we postpone, we try to see the matter in another way, we try to rationalize it until we start to feel. Emotions appear and make everything clear. Emotions have their own meaning and we need to hear and understand them.

Finally, we decide. We make a choice. Withouth doubts, it is a matter of courage. We move one step forward looking for those things that we want and leaving behind those things that we do not want anymore, that do not make us feel well. We decide. And if we make a mistake with the decision we took, time will let us know but we should know that the only blame that we could have is the blame of trying to find our happiness. Seeking of happiness is the reason of all decisions beyond, despite and above any mistake.

TOEFL ibt... Have you taken it?

Have you taken TOEFL Ibt?
What was your experience?
What would you recommend for the preparation and practice?
Could you give us some tips, links, web resources?
Thanks a lot!
Your help will be really appreciated!

English in Toronto! Patricia `s Blog

"English in Toronto " is the name of Patricia´s Blog. Patricia was my Seminar Teacher at YUELI last March-April,2008. I am not only learnt a lot with Patricia but also I knew and enjoyed many beautiful short stories. She has a very original method to teach English to her students and that makes that students learn more English and enjoy it !

I did not know about Patricia´s Blog until I realized that many visits to my blog became from her blog. She had put my blog as a link inside of her blog! I was so suprised and happy when I saw that!. It is an honor for me to be referred there! Thanks a lot Patricia!

When I started to check her blog I saw that many of my classmates had been referred too. It was so nice to see what they had written, to know more about their life and their learning experience at YUELI. Every student had a Blog and all the assigments were published there! What a great idea! This is a wonderful way to encourage student´s self thinking, creativity and iniciative.

I wish that many teachers, like Patricia, use this tool is their classrooms!

Thanks again Patricia! And I will keep practicing my English with all the resources and links that I found in your blog! It is real useful!

Link: http://englishintoronto.blogspot.com/

2nd April...

It dawned raining. A grey and sad day. Somehow, the weather wore the mourning dress in this Argentinean day.

Argentines do not only cry an ex president but also they commemorate the soldiers that died in Malvinas´s war 27 year ago...

A rainy day... a sad day...

Without words...

I am not a political person. I do not belong to any political party but I do belong to a society. I am argentinean, I grew up in democracy and I can not feel apart from the reation and feeling that the death of the ex-president Raul Alfonsin has provocated among the population. Actually, I am really surprised with such emotional and sponteneous movilization. Thousand and thousands of people went into the streets to show their affection and respect to the ex-president. Spontaneously. I though that spontaneity was not longer a quality of argentinean mass manifestations. Alfonsin made me see that it still exists. Without doubts, this is an historical goodbye.

Who was Raul Alfonsin? It has been said a lot about him lately. All the media has been reviewing his life these last 3 days. More than 70,000 people went to the Congress to say the last goodbye to him. All the political leaders have forgotten about their disputes and have met all around Alfonsín. The whole country has stopped with his death. Alfonsín was the president of Argentina between 1983 and 1989. Was he a good president? History will jugde him. It is still too soon to see background with objetivity. He was human being and he might have good and bad things as everyone. Moreover, when the situation is full os emotions, we need a couple of days to calm down, think better and undestand what happened.

However, why did people react in such emotional and spontaneous way? The question should be: “What does Alfonsín represent?” There were many answers to this questions. People said: “He was a symbol of democracy”, “he was my first vote”, “he was a decent man”, “he was an idealistic and he behaved according to what he thought it was good”, “he was a visionary”, “he promoted the regional integration”, “he was a man of peace”, “he did not enrich himself in the public function”, “he was a real public server”, he meant a change and he meant a hope after the last militar goverment for the country. A Hope. The movilization of all the peope shows that he still means a hope.

May be Quino was right when he dedicated a draw of Mafalda to Alfonsín. Dedication said: “To the only president who can show us that everything that is taught in the school could be true. To Raúl Alfonsin, with affection and gratitude”. Quino.

May be Mafalda is right: Alfonsin represents the hope that everything is possible, that everything could be better, that we can still desire that.

“To the only president who can show us that everything that is taught in the school could be true. To Raúl Alfonsin, with affection and gratitude”. Quino.

The Wheel of Life

Sometimes I think that Life is like a Wheel. But not any wheel. Life is like a wheel without axis. To make it works, we have to push it. The movement only depends on us.

When we want to get something, we need to make the first step. This first step will put the wheel into movement. And then, we need to keep the feedback active in order to not get stuck.

Sometimes, this feedback does not only depends on us. An answer, a reply, a response from someone else might be needed. However, what depend on us is to ask, re ask, demand an answer or a reason to our request. We do not have to pretend a "yes" but we do have to expect a feedback. The feedback will allow you to know to push your wheel, with which intensity and with which course.

It is always good that the wheel keeps moving because it shows that you are living. When the wheel is stuck, there sis a problem that need to be solved.

Lfe is like a wheel. If there is a wheel, there is a path. What you only have to do is to push it. You might need a big effort at first, but once the wheel is moving, it can go further and further by itself and could let you arrive to unimagible places. Trace your path and push your wheel.

A bit of humour for a moody day

Boy: That´s a huge purse. You must be carrying everything but the kitchen sink.
Girl: No... I got the kitchen sink, too.

:)

Never ask what is inside a woman ´s purse . You won´t believe it! However, it might has things that could save your life.

Purses are like our shields to survive in this uncertain world!

Sometimes people come into your life...

I bumped into this in the Internet and I just wanted to keep it.

The Fall in Quebec is beautiful, don´t you think?

++++++++

Sometimes people come into your life and you know
right away that they were meant to be there, to serve
some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help
you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be - a roommate, a
neighbor, a professor, a friend, a lover, or even a
complete stranger - but when you lock eyes with them,
you know at that very moment they will affect your
life in some profound way.

Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible,
painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you
find that without overcoming those obstacles you would
have never realized your potential, strength,
willpower, or heart.

Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness,
and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of
your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they
may be, life would be like a smoothly paved straight
flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and
comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life, and the
success and downfalls you experience, help to create
who you are and who you become. Even the bad
experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are
sometimes the most important ones.

If someone loves you, give love back to them in
whatever way you can, not only because they love you,
but because in a way, they are teaching you to love
and how to open your heart and eyes to things.

If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your
heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn
about trust and the importance of being cautious to
whom you open your heart.

Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take
from those moments everything that you possibly can
for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk
to people that you have never talked to before, and
listen to what they have to say.

Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your
sights high. Hold your head up because you have every
right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and
believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in
yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you.

You can make anything you wish of your life. Create
your own life and then go out and live it with
absolutely no regrets.

And if you love someone tell them, for you never know
what tomorrow may have in store.

Learn a lesson in life each day that you live! Today
is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday.

Was it worth it?

My other me...

Little Prince

Last Sunday I read in the magazine of La Nacion newspaper an article that was titled: "I and my other me". It was about people who are succesful and very popular in their professions but they have a hidden part, their hobbies, their passion that it is not usually known.

A brigde between what you make for a living and what really makes you to spark. A bridge between a necessity and a passion.

A famous singer that also paint and write. A fashion designer that also does Tarot. A famous drawer of children´s books that also runs adventure´s races. A lawer that also sings Tango. A rock musician that also sells painting brushes. And me... a humble graduated girl that also used to paint with the simplest pothoshop program ever.

Lightness

Spring

Sorrow

If you want to acquire my art or just leave a comment, write me to eugeniaincanada@gmail.com May be, the little artist that is inside me will show up again

Keep your Axis

At the center of your being you have the answer;

you know who you are and

you know what you want.

Lao Tzu

Impossible is nothing...

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” Seneca
Dare it.

Tip Nº 5: Learn to Slow Down...

When you feel you cannot stop thinking, when you cannot disconnect your head, when you live your life as a competitive race in which you "must" arrive on time to everywhere.....when you fill your day of stress and obligations ... when you cannot realize that on time, something happens to slow you down.... your body, your mind, your heart will tell you: do not rush, do not get anxious, relax, take a nap, rest, listen to the silence, do nothing... Sometimes you just need to slow down.

One year ago...

One year ago, I was taking a plane to fullfil my dream....

One year ago, I was flying to Canada...

One year ago. Just one year.

Time flies...

We cannot go back to the past, right?

So, I will look to the future.

Maybe in one year from now, I will be flying to Canada again... :)

Maybe...

We all have a passport to our dreams!