Tip For Better Life N° 10: Read poems...

Poetry reading could connect your mind with your soul in a special a new way.

Poetry could give you a different perspective of things.

Poems helps you to connect with your feeling and express them.

And sometimes, poetry could be healing and healthy.

Here, just an example:

I already forgave almost unforgivable mistakes,

I tried to substitute irreplaceable people

and to forget unforgettable people.

I already made things for pulse,

I already disappointed myself with people

when I never thought me to disappoint,

but I also disappointed somebody.

I already hugged for protecting,

I already laughed when it was not able to,

I made eternal friends,

I loved and I was loved,

but I was also rejected already,

I was loved and I didn't love.

I already screamed and I jumped of so much happiness,

I already lived of love and I made eternal vows,

I "broke the face" a lot of times!

I already cried hearing music and watching pictures,

already called only for listening a voice,

I fell in love with a smile,

I already thought that will miss so much very much

and I was afraid of losing somebody special

(and i ended up losing!)

But I lived!

It's still alive!

I don't go by the life... and you should not also pass.

LIVE!!!

Good same it is to go the fight with determination,

to hug the life and to live with passion,

to lose with class and to win with daring,

because the world belongs to who daresand the life is A LOT to be insignificant.

Charles Chaplin.

April has arrived...

I am happy April is here..

Finally it arrived.

Don't ask me why I was so anxious waiting for April...

It is just a deep feeling that...

This will be a a good month.

Sometimes,

we just have a hunch.

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 :)

Be the best...

I have been reading this book "How to enjoy your life and work" by Dale Carnegie and I found many interesting thoughts, reflections and suggestions. This is one of them:

We always have to give the best of ourselves... but not for making happy other people, we have to give the best of ourselves just for us. We always give the best when we feel we are the best....not the best of the best, but the best that we can.

"If you can't be the pine at the top of the hill,

Be a shrub in the valley below.

The best little scrub in the valley below,

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make

If you can't be a muskie, then just be a bass,

But be the liveiest bass in the Lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here.

There's big work to do and lesser to do,

And the task we must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun, be a star.

It isn't by size that you win or you fail,

Be the best of whatever you are."-

Douglas Malloch (Be the Best)

We might never be the best of the best, but we are always able to give the best that we can... and sometimes... that we want....

Lady in Pink...

"I believe in pink.

I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.

I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.

I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.

I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."

Audrey Hepburn

Creative Ads

I always like this kind of Ads. And I always wonder who got the idea behind this scene... He or She must be really smart and thoughful...

One question...

Fifty People, One Question: New Orleans from Benjamin Reece on Vimeo.

Before the end of today, What would you wish to happen?

I watched this video on TV some time ago. Finally, I could find it at the Internet.

I believe this is a wonderful idea.

We always think that we are different from each other, but deep inside we want almost the same, almost all the time.

"One question fifty people", , exploring humans connections through people and places...

Just great!

Romanticism...

Many people say that romanticism is dead. It is an old thing... From the past century...

I do not mind waht these people say. On the contrary, I believe that every woman would die of love if they recieve a love poem....

Just like this...

I carry your heart with me


I carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

I am never without it
(anywhere I go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the budand the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

EE Cummings

Why should anyone be led by you?

This is not a post promoting London Business School, althought, it is worldwide wellknown. But I really like the content of this commercial. I believe that a lider should know him/herself, have a vision and a purpose...
Why should anyone be led by you?
Really, not easy question to answer...
Only those with clear sight and self knowlege could reply it properly.

French...

Songs in French are as beautiful as in English and as in Spanish...
Just listen to this song sung by Jairo and his son.
Beautiful...

There's always gonna be another mountain...

Just keep pushing on...

It's the Climb

I can almost see it
That dream i’m dreaming but
There’s a voice inside
My head saying
You’ll never reach it

Every step i’m taking
Every move i make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But i , gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna to make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes i’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast i get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side............

It’s a climb

The struggles i’m facing
The chances i’m taking
sometimes might knock me down, but
No i’m not breaking
I may not know it but
these are the moments that
I’m going to remember most

Yeah
Just got to keep going
And i ... I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on...

Cause There’s always gonna be another mountain
always going to want to make it move
always going to be an uphill battle
sometimes you going to have to lose
ain’t about how fast i get there
ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side....

It’s a climb

Link to You Tube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU7tV4GCmWw

I am Me...

“I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it -- I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know -- but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay.”

Virginia Satir

American Psychologist and Educator

1916 - 1988

English through songs...

The people I like... by M. Benedetti.

I like the people that vibrate, that don’t need to be pushed, that you don’t have to tell them to do stuff, because they know what needs to be done and just do it.

I like the people that cultivate their dreams until those dreams take over their own reality.

I like the people that are able to face the consequences of their actions, people that risk what’s true for what’s uncertain to go after a dream, people that allow themselves to run from “sensitive advice” leaving solutions in the hands of our father God.

I like the people that are fair with their own people and themselves, people that are thankful for each new day, the good things existing in their life, people who live every hour with good enthusiasm giving their best, thankful for being alive, for being able to give smiles, for being able to offer their hands and help kindly, waiting for nothing in return.

I like the people that are capable of criticizing me constructively and up front, but without hurting me. People with tact.

I like the people with sense of justice. These are the people I call my friends.

I like the people that acknowledge the importance of joy and preaches about it.

I like the people that with jokes teach us to conceive life with humor.

I like the people that never stop being childish.

I like the people that are sincere and honest, capable of opposing with reasonable arguments to anyone’s decisions.

I like the people that are loyal and persistent, that fight tirelessly for their goals and ideas. I like people with criteria, that are never ashamed of recognizing a mistake or recognizing ignorance about something.

People that, when accepting their mistakes, genuinely make an effort not to make them again.

People that fight against adversities. People that look for solutions. People that think and meditate. People that value their equals not by a social stereotype or how they look. People that don’t judge and don’t let others judge. I like people with personality.

People capable of understanding that humanity’s biggest mistake is to try to get out of their head something that won’t go out of their heart.

Sensitivity, courage, solidarity, kindness, respect, peace, values, joy, humility, faith, happiness, tact, trust, hope, gratitude, wisdom, dreams, regret, and love for others and oneself are fundamental things to be called PEOPLE.

With people like this, I can commit to anything for the rest of my life, because just by having them next to me, I consider myself well rewarded.

Impossible to win without learning to lose.
Impossible to walk without learning to fall.
Impossible to be right without knowing to be wrong.
Impossible to live without knowing to revive.
Glory doesn’t consist in never falling, but in getting up whenever’s necessary.
AND THAT IS SOMETHING VERY FEW PEOPLE HAVE THE PRIVILEDGE TO EXPERIMENT.

Blessed are those who have received with the same naturalness winning or losing, right or wrong, triumph and defeat.

This is what I call...

Self-esteem

'No matter what you say or do to me,

neither what you think about me....

Beyond all,

I will always bright'

Everybody has one of those days...

even me...

Digital Learners...

Something to think about the new generation of learners and its teachers.
Very interesting video.