one node in a sheet ...

During a meeting of parents at a school on the outskirts of a city, the teacher was stressing the importance of the support that parents should devote to their children and asked them if they were present in their kids's life as long as possible ... He considered that although the majority of parents used to working far from home in that community, they should find some time to focus and understand their children.
But the director was very surprised when a father stood up and explained, in his humble way, that he had no time to talk to his son, nor to see him during the week because when he left for work ,early in the morning, his son was still sleeping ... When returning from work, it was too late and the boy was no longer awake.
He explained further that he had to work hard to provide for his family, but also said that this situation made him upset for not having time for the child and tried to redeem himself every night when he got back home. And in order to his son knew about his presence, he use to give a knot in the sheet that covered him. That happened religiously every night when he went to kiss him. When the child awoke and saw the knot, he knew, through it, that his father had been there and had kissed him. The knot was the symbol of communication between them.
The teacher felt touched by this simple story and was surprised when he found out that the son was one of the best students in the school.
This fact makes us reflect over the many ways of people being present in someone's life, to communicate with others. That father had found his way, which was simple but effective to demonstrate his caring. And the most important is that the child was aware, through the affection, what his father was saying.
Sometimes we care so much about how to say things and forget what is communication through feelings. Simple gestures like a kiss and a knot in the sheet, are worth, for that child, much more than gifts or empty excuses.
It is valid to be concerned with people, but it is important that they know about it , they must feel it. So as to have communication it is necessary that we "hear" the language of our hearts, because in terms of affection, feelings always speak louder than words.
It is for this reason that one kiss, clothed in the purest affection, cures headaches, scraped knees or the fear of the darkness. People may not understand the meaning of many words, but everybody is able to register a gesture of love. Even if this gesture is only one node in a sheet ...

We get used, but we shouldn't...

Have you ever 'stuck' a queue? Or have asked to someone to save a room in an event? Have you ever 'cut' one or more traffic lanes to make a conversion? Or arrived late in a bank and tried to talk the porter into a “please, let me in?”

This underlines one of the most striking features of the human being: individualism. "My need is more important than others, so I have to cut right through a left turn in traffic, and the others must understand". "My reasons for delay are real and fair, more than the others."

We all feed corruption with small gestures, with our actions, with our bad example; we always forget that we live in a society.
Why so many people throw garbage on the floor? Is it due to poor education? Do we throw garbage in the living room of our house? Do we throw garbage in our own bed? I don’t think so! And why we do it on the ground, in parks, in seas, at the beach?
Why not devote some care and love to nature? Why waist water or energy?
Why do we vote in politicians if we know about their dirty actions in the past? Corruption is not only the politics nor the politicians; we make part of it, perhaps more than they do.
What is the difference between stealing a million of dollars from public saves and steal a penny from a friend? What is the difference between defrauding your nation and defrauding your employer?

Picture this: You go to work and see that box of staples just lying on the table, than you remember that your son asked you to buy some staples for his school work. At once the box disappears from the table and appears in your child's backpack. That could not be considered a robbery?
How can we wish a society free from corruption if in our actions of day to day we practice them at all times. Corruption is more comprehensive than the acts of politicians. It's a choice we make all the time, in small gestures such as offering a sweet in return of a favor... It is the feeling that arises in the heart that causes our actions. If there is corruption in the society it must have been born first in each one of us. And it's not easy to escape the web of corruption, because once we refuse to participate in certain procedures, a revolt is formed around us as if we were meant to fit into the relative truth of each person.
Thus, our conduct should be honest at all times, in every way, even if it means personal loss.

Here I open a parenthesis to reproduce a text from Colassanti Marina who says:

I know we get used to. But we should not ...
We get used to living in apartments in funds that have no other view than the windows around. And because it doesn’t have another view, we get used to not look out anymore. And because we do not look outside, we get used to not open all the curtains. And because we do not open the curtains, we get used to turn on the light sooner. And as we get into it, we forget the sun, we forget the air and we forget the vastness.


We get used to waking up in the morning, startling because it's time; to take coffee quickly because it is running late; reading the newspaper on the bus because we can not miss the travel time; to have sandwiches for lunch because we do not have time to cook; to leave our work because it's night; to take a nap on the bus because we are tired; to go to the bed early and have heavy sleep without having lived the day.


We get used to open the newspaper and read about the war. And accepting the war we accept the deaths and accepting death we accept that there are numbers for the dead; in accepting the numbers we agree in not believing in peace negotiations and by not accepting the peace negotiations we accept reading every day, of war, of the numbers of dead, of long duration of wars.


We get used to wait all day for a phone call and at the end the calling says:”I can not go today”

We get used to smile at people without getting a smile back; to be ignored when both needed to be seen.
We get used to walking on the street and see posters; opening the magazine and see ads, turn on the television and watch commercials; going to the cinema watching advertising and we swallow them all. We get used to be instigated, led, bewildered, and released on an endless waterfall of products.


We get used to pay for everything we want and need; and we fight for winning the money to pay for that; and to earn less than we need; and lining up in a long queue to pay; and to pay more than things are worth; and know that increasingly we pay more and more; and go for more work to earn more money with which to pay on the queues.


We get used to pollution; in artificial light that slightly twinkle; to the shocking that the eyes get in natural light; to the Bacteria from drinking water, to the contamination of sea water, to the slow death of the rivers. We get used to not hear birds, to not to have roosters at dawn, to the fear of water from dogs, not to reap fruit from the tree, not even having a plant.


We get used to so many things in order not to suffer. In small doses, trying not to notice goes away a pain here, resentment there, and a riot over there. If cinema is full, we sit in the front row and twist a little the neck. If the beach is polluted, we just wet our feet and sweat the rest of the body; If the work is hard, we go for console over the weekend; and if the weekend is empty too we go to bed early and still get satisfied because there's always sleep to catch up.


We get used in order to preserve the skin not to suffer in roughness ; once we get used to avoid wounds, bleeding, dodging  the knife and bayonet to protect the heart. We get used to everything in order to save our lives which gradually wear out, and because we get used to life, it loses itself.

wisdom means not to get attached to material things

During a life time there are so many things to be done. So many duties must be accomplished. That slowly we forget that we must care for our souls. The most important thing to remember is that, in life, everything passes but our souls are eternal.

If we just could keep our souls safe from our materialistic needs… How a million of dollars can fulfill a dream? If the dream is the capability of humans to imagine; when we get that million we will need another million to accomplish the next dream; because dreams comes from heart and soul not from flesh.

One can dream being the richest person in the world and dream help thousands with this amount, but what will make him happy will be the feeling of making a dream coming true and not the amount of money spent. It is possible to help thousands without spending a cent. It is possible to feel happiness of giving when we think we have nothing to offer, but ourselves. At this moment we are devoting what no material stuffs could offer. As sacred we are everything that come from us is sacred and will make everything else sacred as well. Our body is like a temple where the holy is kept. Our thoughts are like the window from where it reaches the others and our words are the doors from where it changes the outside.

We speak from what is in our hearts. So let’s pay attention to what we say. Let’s pay attention to where our hearts are. Are they on things that will pass one day? Are they on sorrows? Are they on punishments from dead feelings or actions long ago lived?

Let’s fill our hearts with love. Love for humanity, love for our families, love for our friends. Let’s be that hand that helps, the ears that listen and the look that understands.

Let’s turn dark into light, negativity into harmony, shadows into bright. Where your heart is, there is your soul. Save it! Let’s bring peace to our lives by feeling the nature around us, by listening to the bird’s songs and the wind blows. Check the flow of the rivers never stopping…going and going and going to the sea!

Let’s not trap our souls into the cage of materialistic. What’s the difference between being close and being inside? Two bodies can be at same place at same time when their souls are connected and this experience is definitely out of this world! And also two bodies can be closed but never inside if their souls are not connected, generating an emptiness within the hearts that for its turn generates a searching for materialistic stuffs that will never fulfill our souls. Let’s break this cycle! Connect yourself with your soul and then connect your soul to the others. They will feed from it, from this strength and they will become stronger.

Where your treasure is, there is your heart and where your heart is, there is your soul.

Far beyond the words...

"If we were asked to teach to the sands and to the ices how spring is, would it be possible?

A great poetess started one of her poems just like this. Ice and sand do not know about spring ... So would we be able to teach solidarity to those who know nothing about it? The world would be better.But how to teach it? Is it possible to teach the beauty of a Mozart sonata to a deaf? How? - If he does not listen. And can we teach the beauty of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings to a blind?

Will pedagogy avail us to communicate colors and shapes to those who do not see?

There are things that can not be taught in words. There are things that are beyond words. Scientists, philosophers and teachers are those who dedicate themselves to teach the things that can be taught. About the solidarity many things can be said.

It is possible to develop a psychology of solidarity. It is possible to develop a sociology of solidarity. And, philosophically, an ethics of solidarity ... But the scientific knowledge and the philosophical solidarity can not teach the feeling of solidarity, just as critics of music and painting does not teach people the beauty of music and painting. The beauty is ineffable, beyond words.Words that teach are ​​bird cages. Knowledge, all of them are caged birds. But solidarity is a bird that can not be caged. It can not be said. Solidarity belongs to a class of birds that exist only in flight. Caged these birds die.Beauty is one of those birds. The beauty is beyond words. Walt Whitman knew this when he said: "Sermons and logic never convincing. The weight of the silent night go deeper into my soul ... He knew the limits of his own words. And another poet knows that the words he wants to communicate do not lay in the words he says, it appears in the empty spaces that open between them, the words. In this empty space we can hear a song. But this song - from where it comes, hadn't the poet played it?

We can not make a test of the beauty at school because it is not knowledge. Nor is it possible to control the emotion facing beauty. Only actions can be controlled. Ordinary! March! ", The sergeant ordered. The recruits follow. March. In order to follow the act. But feelings can not be commanded. I can not order someone to feel the beauty of what I feel.What can be taught are things that live in the outside world: astronomy, physics, chemistry, grammar, anatomy, numbers, letters, words. But there are things that are not on the outside.Things that live inside the body. Buried in the flesh, like seeds awaiting ...

Imagine this: the body as a big patch! In it are, asleep in a state of latency, the most diverse seeds. They may agree to sprout. But it may also not grow. It all will depend ... Seeds do not sprout if up on them there is a stone. And it can happen that, after budding, they are torn ... In fact, many plants need to be uprooted before they grow. In the gardens there are plagues .One of these seeds has the name "solidarity". Solidarity is not an entity of the outside world, alongside stars, stones, goods, money, contracts. If it were an entity of the outside world it could be taught. Solidarity is an entity of the inner world. Solidarity is not taught, nor is ordered, nor occurs. Solidarity, is a seed that has been born. Check ipe tree flowers: They were born from a seed; after growing up they will require no technique, no stimulation, no trick for them to flourish. Angelus Silesius, an ancient mystic, has a verse that says: "A rose has no whys. It flourishes because it flourishes. "The ipe flourishes because it flourishes. Its bloom is a natural overflow of its simple truth. Solidarity is like the ipe tree it is born and flourishes. But not because of religious or ethical commandments. You can not sort: "Be united!" It happens as a simple overflow. Just as the poem is an overflow of the poet's soul and the song is the overflow of the composer's soul. .it's said that solidarity is a feeling. That it is the feeling that makes us human. It's a strange feeling - it disrupts our own feelings. Solidarity makes me feel feelings that are not mine, they are from another. It happens like this: I see a kid selling candy at a traffic light. He asks me to buy a packet of his bullets. the child and me - two separate and distinct bodies. But by looking at him, I shudder, something in me makes me wonder what he is feeling. And then, for an inexplicable magic, this feeling creeps pictured next to my own feelings. In fact, dislodges my feelings because I was coming in my car, feeling light and happy, and now this new feeling arises in place of those. What I feel are not my feelings. Gone is the lightness and joy that made me sing. Now, are the feelings of that boy who's into me. My body undergoes a transformation: it is no longer limited by the skin covering it. Expands. He is now connected to another body which is now part of himself. This does not happen even for rational decision, not by religious conviction and not by an ethical commandment. It is the natural way of being my own body, moved by solidarity. I think this is the meaning of the saying of Jesus that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. By the magic of the feeling of solidarity my body becomes address of another. It so happens goodness. But it is pending the original question: how to teach the spring to ice and sand?

For this, the words of knowledge are useless. It would be necessary to give birth to Ipe trees in the middle of the ice and sands. And I only know one word that has that power: the word of a poet. Teaching solidarity? Let's make be heard the words of poets in churches, in schools, in businesses, in houses, on television, in bars, in political meetings, and especially in lonelyness ...

There was a boy who looked at me with pleading eyes. And suddenly, I was the boy who was looking with pleading eyes ...

based on post of Rubem Alves.

Hands that help are holier than lips that pray.

We don't have much time to think. We walk very concerned and busy with our immense and particular needs, which are often narrow and without any importance.
Volunteering awakens, opens, expands, and moves us towards directions that we never thought , never knew we needed, and afterwards  it changes our state of mind.
Among many others advantages, volunteer enables us to polish the edges of our personality, to become more active. It allows us meeting wonderful people, stripping us from prejudice, making us being able to feel the happiness to give without expectation of reward, but with absolute certainty that the greatest reward is a smile, a warm hand or a hug request.

Volunteering allows us to grow as human beings.
We live in a world that, in general, what motivate people, is money and everything else that gives the appearance of possessing it. Sometimes, ethics is forgotten when large sums of money are involved. Volunteer work is pure donation, in which the motion is given by the joy of sharing something that fills us as human beings. And that is priceless.
My life changed after the experiences as a volunteer, and my great personal motivation is to have the opportunity to connect with people and talk all these amazing themes that are so simple and so effective. I have read and tried many complex theories about life and found myself in a simplicity that, I joke, is so obvious that is annoying. This is also a great learning experience of human values: we are what we are. Without complications and major theories, acknowledging our feelings and respecting the feelings of others. We can notice differences between the first meetings and the rest, when live values ​​begin to pervade the lives of participants. Looking under new angle when experiencing the same situations, shows how the experiences as volunteers makes a difference in our lives. I realize that in volunteering, the predominant energy  is the freedom. There is an understanding that  putting me in the service collaborate in building that so desired "peaceful" world. Of course, the first to experience this happiness is the volunteer.
These feelings, or values, are increasingly strong and will activate others positively. Consequently, this internal movement, activating inner values, reflects in the external environment  and, naturally, it inspires others to experience those values.
It Becomes ever more real and easier to experience the value of being who I am. This experience, arising from the redemption and understanding of values ​​innate of beings, generates memories that will eliminate discomfort facilitating the realization that we have everything we want and that we can fill ourselves from the inside out, with love, peace, joy, respect, etc.. and then recovering the power that always keep us free, humorous, light, happy, safe, serene, gentle, loving, and so on. Because this is our original nature.
When we rescue and enjoy the universal human values, which is common to all beings and the foundation that supports real relationships, authentic and healthy, it reduces / eliminates the energy drained. We break the cycle of negativity, restoring the ability to acting right. It frees us from the burden of judgments, criticism and punishment, because when we activate the positive energy and healthy action that is in harmony with the values ​, negativity will be extinct.

Effects of radiation on the environment.

Japan was hit on Friday (11) by a earthquake of magnitude 9. The quake affected the electricity supply, which caused a breakdown in the cooling of the reactors in a atomic plant. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the risk of core melts, the worst accident that can occur in a plant is "great." The radiation in cases of major spills can contaminate water, soil, animals and everything that has life.

If melting occurs, three types of radiation are released into the environment:

Alpha, beta and gamma:

.
Alpha radiation can not penetrate the body; it causes a skin burn; the beta and gamma radiation - mainly gamma - enter the body and cause cellular deformation.
This is the same gamma radiation used in radiotherapy treatments, just to fight cancer. At low doses, it destroys tumors. At high, it can cause cell damage that leads to cancer.
The radioactivity can affect health in two main ways: When is ionizing, means: It is capable of changing the chemical structure of substances. With this, it changes the characteristics of common substances in our body; from the water, for example, it can form free radicals, which, in excess impairs the body's functioning.
Another possibility is that nuclear radiation directly affects the cells. The change in chemical structure of the elements can represent, for example, breaking of the DNA chain.
The modern medicine, still, can not tell if there is a limit amount of radiation to which the body must be exposed to such effects could develop cancer.

Exposure to rays is not the only risk to which the human body is subjected in relation to radioactivity. It is even more important to prevent people incorporate radioactive material. The most common way this happens is by inhalation of gases that mingle with the atmosphere after a leak.
One element that represents a bigger threat in this sense is iodine. The human body needs it to function normally and the thyroid tends to absorb radioactive iodine particles that are suspended in the air. To prevent this, are being given pills non-radioactive iodine to the population. Thus, the body becomes saturated and the element, even if it is inhaled in radioactive form, will not be absorbed.
The meltdown of a nuclear reactor does not kill people like a bomb. What kills even in case of a nuclear bomb is not the radiation, is the shock wave, then the heat wave and finally the radiation. Intensity of radioactive material in a nuclear bomb is much greater because the energy spent is very large and has no barrier. Yet, a reactor has four barriers against the release of nuclear material into the environment.

don't miss the singing!

Have you ever noticed the attitude of the birds facing adversities?

It takes them days and days making their nest, collecting materials sometimes across long distances... And when it's finished and ready to lay the eggs, the inclement weather, or the action of the human being, or an animal, destroy it and falls down all its effort and work ... 

What does the bird? Freeze up, abandons the task? 

No way! Restart again and again, until the appearance of the first nest eggs. Sometimes,often before the birth of a baby bird, an animal, or a child, or a storm, destroy the nest once again, but this time with its precious content! ... It's hard to start from scratch ... After all, the bird never enmudece or back, continues to sing and build, build and sing ... 

Have you ever felt that your life, your job, your family, your friends are not what you've dreamed? 

Have you ever felt like saying: enough! the effort is not worth it, this is too much for me?

Are you tired of, dealing with daily struggle, dealing with fake, your goals being  not achieved just when you almost got it? 

For more than life hurts you, do not never surrender, say a prayer, put your hope in front and invests in yourself. Do not worry if you suffer any wounds in the battle, it is expected that to happen. Join the pieces of your hope, assemble it again and again investing in yourself. Whatever happens ...don't  faint, keep on going. Life is a constant challenge but it is worth accepting it. And above all ... never miss the singing.

Manage your negativity

Have you ever thought what negativity can do with you?

Negative words which others speak for you or you speak with yourself can change your whole future. Have you ever thought your negative words have the power to destroy a bright career of someone as well as yours? On the contrary, have you ever thought that empowering words can change whole life of you whether you speak them with yourself or others speak them for you?

Have you ever listened for you these negative words?

“You're good for nothing",

"That’s not for you",

"Stop being too ambitious, it's not for people like you",

"You are nowhere near that...stop dreaming",

"Look at you...you look horrible",

"That's impossible!"

“You are nothing”

Remember the time when someone said these words to you and how you felt that time. Remember when you felt that negativity for you after a setback in your life. Remember when your negative thoughts broke you and you had nothing which could support you.

And many time you said to yourself negative statements:

"I am good for nothing"

"Is this really made for me, I am perhaps not made for this"

"perhaps I can’t get all the success, it’s all for others, the lucky ones"
This is yourself talk which makes you more depressed.

This time positive words, positive gestures, empowering words do hard work for you. These words hold you and make you happy and confident again. Yes words can lead you to success; they can lead you to confidence. Most powerful thing with a successful person’s life is the words which he said with him or to others. This therapy of positive words can heal everything; it can give you the power to change everything. Start to try out the perfect recipe towards Happiness and Success.
Pause for a moment, sit back and tell yourself "I WILL ONLY SPEAK POSITIVE AND EMPOWERING WORDS.”

Try this for 7 -10 days, yes, just for few days and you will know the difference in your life. While you do this, do not criticize, blame or complain anyone.
Don’t say ‘I will try’ Do it and if you fail, Try again and see yourself what happens!

Words have the power to grow you, mentally, physically and emotionally. You will never be able to grow beyond your words, so watch your words very carefully. Let’s find the strength that words can give anyone. Words can make you as they can break you. Use only those words that expand you, fill you with positivity and growth and make you happy.

I know it’s not easy to convert every event of life into positive thoughts. But if you can believe on this that it is possible to think positive at every stage of life, keep faith in God and you will be able to think positive soon.

Look at this real story:

Once a man’s newly constructed house demolished after a heavy rain. That family invested everything they had in construction of that house. Within few days they were to shift in that house. Whole area was shocked after that event but owner of that house distributed sweets to everyone and said “Supreme God gave us his blessings as he saved me and my family as if this house would demolished after our shifting, no one would have alive today”
This shows a man can think positive in any circumstances

Lets do positive self talk with yourself, don’t feel shy, and don’t feel you can’t do this, everyone can change. This is a scientific process and medically tested on thousands that we can change our way of thinking. You can say with yourself

I am the best

Today is wonderful day

I am awesome, and always do things with perfection.

Appreciate yourself; don’t wait for others to appreciate you.

Talk to yourself and say, I will not say anything negative about others or for me. You can manage your negative thoughts.

Try to replace negative self talk with positive words. It may sound strange in the beginning but there is no harm in trying, Words can encourage your and others, words of appreciation, words of love, words with fun and words that empower you and others and words that spread happiness. Say to others

"You have done a great job"

"I like what you do”

“I like who you are"

"Wish you the greatest heights”

“Don’t forget me when you get success"

And many more that you can say. Be the guard to your mind’s door and ban the negative defeating words into your life.

Commit to speak only EMPOWERING WORDS, CONVERT those WORDS into EMPOWERING Action and find the new EMPOWERED YOU

Remember WE ARE AS GOOD AS WE SPEAK!

seeing the world through another's eyes

The twins Krista and Tatiana, age 4, have different bodies but share the same brain. And for the surprise of doctors around the world, the girls can see through the eyes of one another and hear the thoughts the same way. This is because part of the brain that sends the physical sensations and motor is the same for both. Since the girls were born conjoined they’ve been receiving medical care. According to the pediatric neurosurgeon that takes care of them, Doug Cochrane, a mate can see what the other sees by receiving the electronic impulses from the retina of the opposite twin.
Last week, during the participation in training, the theme of the meeting was exactly this: Learn to see the world through the eyes of another person. I confess that this is a very, very difficult exercise: put on another one skin…I can say this because I have sought to exercise it whenever I am faced with conflicting situations that requires action; choosing a side.

It is not easy, because we have to take off any remnants of selfishness, putting ourselves in another's place is also a commitment. It is easier to judge, to give our opinion, without, however, even try to understand the reason of the other person. Only thus will you be able to understand and help, whether for love, friendship, respect, solidarity, regardless of the feeling we cherish to each other.
I think that whenever we try to understand the attitudes of others, why certain behaviors, we are faced with another universe. Everybody brings experiences in which make people special and unique. Ours not judge, but understanding will help whenever is possible. Often acting this way, we understand that deep inside we were the ones who needed to change and not otherwise.

Sometimes our hearing without giving any piece of advice helps much more than trying to solve someone else’s problems. Sometimes looking with another’s eyes simply makes us understand that the universe that is represented by someone else is much more complex than we thought.
We live in a world where we should care for each other, where each one of us should be a link to steadily strengthen these experiences, forming a large current. However, we’ve been living quite the opposite (or at least the vast majority) as if each one were self-sufficient and not dependent on anyone for anything.

It looks like a photographic image. It means, to me, I’m looking at it through the eyes of the one who captured it. Interfering in this same image is a way of revealing that I see it too, but with my own eyes, by my own way…

 In this project, we were supposed to see through the eyes of a person who used a wheelchair. how many problems would be faced and how we could improve the life stile of this person by adding attachments in the chair. 

Life has just begun!

I just completed forty years!
Wow, it seems like yesterday that I did eighteen ,and how long it took me to get eighteen ... how much anxiety!

When I was said that time would pass so fast, it never crossed my mind that everything would happen at that speed!
I must thank God for everything I have achieved! My health, husband, wonderful family, healthy daughter, caring loyal friends…
Above all, I’m grateful for the "balance conquered in harsh penalties", for being able to take decisions, setting goals and pursuing them with determination! Everything has been worth it so far!
My experiences, both good and limited leaders I've had (I’ve learned with them all!)
All the passages of my life are important and each one with its particular attention to the proper cleavage!
Some other day while going to a hotel and having to fill out the hosting job in the field, I came across the following comment:
They wanted to know who I am or what I've been doing differently for society. Then I had the absolute certainty of the magnitude and the size of my mission!
It can not be coincidence that I've embraced this cause!
No, it can not be coincidence so many friends and so many things I have done and heard...

John Lennon wrote and recorded "at home", at forty years, the song that inspired this article: "Life Begins at 40". He did not have time to write it in the studio because some months after completing forty years, he was shot in New York. The letter says something like:

"They say life begins at forty

Age is only a state of mind

If all this is true

So, I've been dead for thirty-nine ... "

That was John Lennon!
A little sarcastic, a little "seer" with humor and sensitivity!
In my view, Lennon meant he was ready and energized by the first forty years to forget and start all over again just like (“Starting Over"), the song that opened the album back in 1980!
Lennon showed a strong engagement in his previous forty years!
I need not and must not forget my early forties, but that's how I feel: Ready, steady and determined to follow my mission!
Transforming and improving the lives of human beings is my purpose!

Generating professional and personal reflections, I'm prepared for action and even for reaction .That's what moves me!
…Until the Father of Heaven wants to. I’ll do it with pure, genuine and intense energy!
May God bless us all!

And there goes humanity…

The universe and nature have a history. Since long ago, humanity studies the mysteries of the sky. Even before there were such modern telescopes and other devices that help astronomers today, the ancient people have turned their gaze to the stars.
Have you heard of the constellation "Orion" or the constellation Canis Major? Constellation names are associated with myths, legends and customs of society.
Like the rivers, mountains, forests tell their history, it is our task to learn how to listen and interpret the messages that is sent to us.
The Southern Cross is a constellation that was very important in a time of great voyages in the 16th century, having the shape of a cross it can be seen only in the Southern Hemisphere, mariners could be located through it. Despite being the smallest of the constellations that can be seen from Earth, the Southern Cross had a huge importance in the history of navigation.
We unlearn all that. With the use of science we read the history recorded in layers of each being. But that knowledge did not come into school curricula or turned into general culture. It has turned into technique to dominate nature and accumulate.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau contributed to changing the superstitious and hostile vision that many had of Nature. His was the fashion to practice broad walkings around woodlands and forests in search of plants, that were ranked carefully in his herbarium, which is today at the Museum Carnavelet in Paris. Those walking exercises were always accompanied by philosophical musings, methodically recorded when each walk ended. After his death, these notes were published by the romantic title of “Les reveries du promeneur solitaire” (The reveries of a solitary walker), appeared with overwhelming success in 1782. The goal of those travels was to get purified. In Rousseau’s philosophy, nature provided a balm for us to exorcise the hypocritical life that we were forced to live in society.


1782-2011


Unravel the secrets, thunder and lightning are no longer considered as a punishment from the Gods, we know they are natural phenomena. Nobody has time to hear the wind, listening to the ground, looking at the clouds anymore. We purify our vanities in luxurious baths with bagged smelling herbs, taken from what have remained from forests.
Indeed, the hypocrisy now enters the forest and gets lost in the woods. It is said that the stars were moved around or hidden by the pollution generated in large cities. We aimlessly go in circles.
I wonder why we need dominating. Get knowledge to dominate. We are not trying to interact with nature; we get evolved to take advantage of it mercilessly. We can not devote our time to life, but we use every minute to master time. 24 hours is not enough for us to do everything we want, because we always want more.
Mankind is part of nature, balance generates peace, fulfillment.

 

Photo credits , Kiran Poonacha photografy

Watch the eagles, they interact with the wind, get carried away by it. While the poor chickens flap their wings desperately and only reach a few meters.
Only when do we learn to harmonize ourselves with nature rather than dominate it, we will evolve.

Curiosity is an itch in the thoughts.

I was feeling impatient; I wanted to stop thinking…

To prevent myself from thinking, nothing better than start doing crafts. I grabbed my scissors, the needle and the threads, and started counting the squares of the fabric; The needle going in and out three times for the left and going in and out three times for the right. I got a perfect cross stitch.

Out of a sudden, came my daughter with a friend about her age or younger. She was a negress child, wearing braids in her hair. “She is the neighbor’s maid’s daughters” Amanda replied,” Her name is Evelyn.”

What I assumed was that they would get boring watching my work, but they’ve surprised me by sitting one at a side of me and starting making questions:

“What is this?” she asked.”It’s an embroidering in cross stitches” I replied. But the questions never ended.”What will you make?” “What are you doing now?””Why have you changed the color of the thread?””What are you counting?”Is this a square?”

And I felt good by her curiosity and answering her queries I kept on saying:” No dear, it is not a square. It is a measuring-tape.”

All those materials amazed her. She wanted to learn.

That was one of the greatest experience of teaching I had, it wasn’t necessary to use any kind of motivational argument to draw her attention. Her motivation was what I was doing, the stuffs I was using. Her eyes and thoughts were itching in curiosity.

Aristotle stress that mankind has a wish of acknowledgement. For children the world is a big amusement park. It is fascinating. It keeps teasing their eyes.

Around the world there are millions of children out of school though. Their precocious join in the market place prevent them from receiving education, blinding them to the amusing world around.

According to data from the International Labor Organization, worldwide there are about 250 million children working.
• The work is performed by children aged between 5 and 14 years.
• About 120 million work full time.
• About 80% do not enjoy the weekly rest.
• Most of these workers live in rural areas.


- In Portugal there are about 200 000 workers aged inadequate for the job.
- In Spain are approximately 500 000.
- In Germany, about 600 000.

- Latin America has approximately 7% of child labor worldwide.
- Africa accounts for 32% of child labor force in the world.
- Approximately 61% of children working in the world inhabit the Asian continent.
- In India alone about 120 million children and teens play some kind of work.
- In Oceania there are about 500 000.

From these data we can see that this is a problem that encompasses an international dimension. These working children could be at school and playing around, given that at this stage of life, they should be devoted exclusively to it.

As Evelyn, they want to learn at least to write and read. They need to have their queries answered.

the magic of trees!

The mere presence of them awakens a peace and quiet in the human soul. This is a secret that explains why - from the earliest times - in all corners of the world, the sages and mystics have used forests as places of refuge and inspiration. There is a natural and instinctive bond between trees and mankind. Even their breathing modes are complementary.


It's hard to imagine beings as beneficial as the trees. They beautify the landscape, providing shade, timber, fruit, and are the refuge and shelter for birds and other wildlife. Communicate underground with the atmosphere and purify the air. Attract clouds, regulate rain, stabilize the climate and ensure the soil moisture. Combat erosion and prevent excess of wind.
Every human being, as each tree is a miniature and a summary of the universe.
The English poet Alexander Pope wrote that a tree is "something nobler than a prince in his coronation costume".

Trees have a strong magical nature. They are universally regarded as a symbol of the relationship between heaven and earth. With its vertical structure - the trunk - the tree establishes a symbolic axis linking the physical world and the divine world. Moreover, its branches, twigs, leaves and fruits gather a whole community of birds, insects, reptiles and small mammals, which is a symbol of the infinite diversity of life.
Imagine the universe as an inverted tree that has its roots in heaven and their leaves and fruit on earth.
This tree represents mythological every human soul, and whose origins are rooted in eternity, but whose leaves and fruits are the practical activities of the concrete world.
Every human being, as each tree is a miniature and a summary of the universe. This is one of the reasons we have much to gain by living with the trees. The experience of communion with them is part of a larger communion with all nature and the human soul freed from their suffering.
There is nothing better to relieve the suffering of the soul than walking through the forest, feeling its energy to revitalize the spirit. Be baptized in the waters of a stream.
But mankind forgot to supply their forces in nature and go for searching consol in rampant consumerism that destroys forests.
In the ancient world, new civilizations appeared healthy in forested regions as well. Some time later, populations have multiplied and wood consumption grew excessively. The trees were used as firewood - something essential to melt metal - and also as material for building houses and boats.
Our poor human intelligence can only win when we realize the intelligence of the trees. The content of the lessons they bring to us, however, depends on our ability to put aside the little things that we think we know, and open ourselves to the magic of life ...
To the magic of trees!
 

Piracy in modern times

The modern piracy involves many different products, from clothing, household items, medicines, books, software and any other type of product that can be copied.

The first pirate activity is recorded of beginning of the VII century in the Aegean Sea. At this time, the Assyrian king Sennacherib tried to expel some pirates at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

In the year 331 BC, Alexander the Great ordered the expulsion of the pirates of the Aegean, and asked to one of them why they made the seas unsafe. The pirate replied, "The same reason why you are making the world tremble. But as I do what I do on a small ship, I am called a pirate while doing the things you do with a large fleet, you are called Emperor. "
Modern pirates use the same tactics of pirates from the Golden Age.
Today, they no longer seek to bury their treasure in Islands where they mark the site with a large X, but they are seeking trade of illegal goods.

Almost everyone knows someone who cannot resist consumption and has the habit of buying what is not necessary. Living with joy over budget they make the sellers’ day.

Very often in order to satisfy their ego, they buy pirated goods, no matter from which source these goods come from. They ignore that behind all this there are: Child labor, drug trafficking and more.
Consciousness has a price, which not everyone agrees to pay, since that appears to be higher than we wish.
The main arguments raised by consumers of pirated products are the lowest prices. Most people think artists and manufacturers are already rich enough and are not harmed by the sale of pirates CD's and DVD’s, for example.
But behind these lower prices what is being hidden?
Modern pirates also arm themselves: They don’t use swords anymore. They use knives, machine guns, grenades and rocket launchers.
They do not kidnap  innocent maidens anymore. They kidnap our children, preventing them from a decent future.
They no longer mark with an X the place of the treasure; they use technology to determine the best targets and plan attacks.

Walking on the streets, I can see children on the corners 

They are not playing, or studying, or having fun 

They are on the streets; playing a role of workers 

CD’s…DVD’s…CDROM’s…candies, who wants some? 

And in their hands, sometimes can be found not a toy, but a gun. 

Everything flushes in their hearts, but childish feelings 

Poor children living a life of silence 

Homeless, they bear moments of violence 

Swings, tales stories, sweeties and chewing gum 

These all seem a reality lost in distance 

They are not playing, or studying, or having fun 

And in their hands, sometimes can be found not a toy, but a gun. 

Tears drop, bruises and suffering is all they can feel 

And in our hearts there are wounds that time can’t heal 

All these pains will be carried by us for all eternity 

They are victims of our society 

and we all contribute for their misery 

By keeping ourselves aloof of all what is going on 

They are on the streets, hard working on the ground 

And In their hands many times, no toys can be found 

Our children are not playing, or studying, or having fun 

They are hidden on the corners, 

Many times in their hands… 

A gun.

2011 is the International Year of Forests.

Throughout the bowels of the forest, happily flying are the butterflies and the moths; as pure as children, they welcome the happy faces of the daisies that for being so white dazzle the eyes; In the distance can be seen the yellow, purple and white Ipe-tree; multicolored natural arrangements that blend with the softness of the clouds hanging over their top.

The pervasive silence of giant conifers sprout from the incessant singing of the cicadas in their farewell to the brief life they have on surface.Years spent beneath the earth bring them above so as to sing their songs until face their fate; pure symphony. They join the birds in chorus toasting to freedom. They celebrate the harmony of colors and the funny  of dead branches where they make their nests and lay their eggs spreading life.

On the ground can be seen the mushrooms, ears of the forest, home of the toads. In the cri-cri-cri of the crickets mixed to the croaking are the crackling dry leaves fallen on the soil, where death is just a detail in the proliferation of life that turns rot into a perfect meal for the soil; This soil which holds hundreds of tiny beings invisible to the naked eyes, that ashamed hide behind big sunglasses.

From it, the sun, comes so much wealth. Without it there would be nothing but darkness, with it everything lights up, grows and gains colors; those colors play with our imagination; tones mingle making all things new. Green, red, yellow, blue and white when mixed create a magical kaleidoscope through the brush.

Mountain down, fearless clear waters wash the shores of the streams; transposing the obstacles boldly, without being beaten. Bowing down before the big rocks in respect, knowing of its hardness, its power to stall the flow, but bravely waters pierce the barriers cornering unimaginable in order to achieve its ultimate goal: The sea.

And above all, endlessly blue, the sky remains; as if watching this whole miracle of the lush forests.

2011 is the International Year of Forests.
Forests cover 31% of all Earth's land area and have direct responsibility in ensuring the survival of 1.6 billion people and 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. For their importance to the planet, they deserve to be preserved and valued more; therefore, the UN declared that 2011 will be the International Year of Forests. Do your part, care!

Let's change life style in 2011!

Could Science tell us if our attitudes are good or bad, if science itself seeks for ethical concepts in its base and when it declines these concepts there are great controversies? To what extent can we make decisions based on technological achievements, forgetting ethics?
Everything that comes from the heart as emotions, feelings, sensitivity has been set aside to follow reason; it is Reason over emotion.
This becomes more understandable when you consider that we humans are not merely rational animals, but rational mammals. According to the science itself 125 million years ago mammals appeared, broke the limbic brain, responsible for affection, care and love. The mother conceives and carries within herself life. The child is born in care and cuddles. Only in the past 3-4 million years came the neo-cortex and with it the abstract reason, the concept and rational language.
Then I think we should reclaim what is most ancient in us: The affection and tenderness.
Without sensibility, such a technological progress is insufficient. But science with conscience and sense of ethics can find liberating ways for our crisis.
Peace begins within our hearts.
Today is World Peace day; Peace is a gift that demands our responsibility, because it must be cultivated. This year, let’s change lifestyles.
We must not forget the fact that many, who find peace and quiet, feel renewed and invigorated when they come into direct contact with the beauty and harmony of nature. There is here a kind of reciprocity: when we take care of nature she cares for us.
I wish in 2011 that “caring” becomes the key word of our speech and that from it we can find peace within ourselves and take it to the world.

Happy 2011 to all.

Christmas: Seeing by the eyes of the heart

We've been living in a world where the goods are the most explicit object of desire for children and adults. The goods must have brightness and magic, otherwise nobody buys them. They mean more to the covetous eyes than to the loving hearts. It is within this dynamic, which fits the figure of Santa Claus. It is the commercial development of St. Nicholas, whose feast day is celebrated on December 6. He was a Bishop born in the year 281 in modern Turkey. He inherited the family fortune. At Christmas he used to dress himself in red- bishop dress - wear a cane and a bag with gifts for children. Giving them with a note saying it came from the Child Jesus.

Our children are not the same they used to be anymore, they know what they want and make lists to the good man. Long lists encouraged by the advertisements in the media.

 I came to know about a seven years old girl that scared her mother to death when asked for condoms as Christmas gift, once she saw on TV that it would prevent her of having babies; so she came to the conclusion that if she used it, she wouldn’t get any other dolls as gift, because she already got five barbies…

Santa Claus was a creation of American cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1886, later released by a certain Cola's company, once on this cold season consumption diminished.

 The image of the good old man in red clothes and bag in the back, good-natured, giving good advice to children and giving them gifts is the predominant figure in the streets and in stores in time for Christmas. His country of birth would have been to Lapland in Finland, place of  heavy snow, elves, dwarves and gnomes, and where people move in reindeer sledding.
Nearly a century ago, did the party start to become a way of heating the consumer market at a time when there were not many sales, due to holiday season, in the northern hemisphere, or the holiday in the southern hemisphere. It is worth it to remember that in south hemisphere is Summer time, but our Santa Claus wears those heavy dresses and boots and everything, as if he was in Winter time.

Thus, the celebration of Christmas is becoming increasingly important as a marketing tool by encouraging consumption, once this is the most profitable holiday for shops in predominantly Christian countries, although trading in this period also reaches other countries.

What we need mostly today is the ability to rescue the creative imagination, the innocence of children stolen by the media; start seeing with our heart’s eyes in order to design a better world. Had we rescued those values, there would not be such violence, neither abandoned children nor the suffering of Mother Earth being completely devastated.

Sustainable development

photo credits Rodrigo C. de Souza

When we talk, our words are often best understood not only by the meaning itself, but also by the tone of voice we use. I believe, it occurs the same thing to the written words, depending on who writes.

It reminds me a couple just married gazing the horizon. The bride commented:” Oh, those clouds covered the moon!” And then the groom replied: “No, it was ashamed of your beauty and hid itself!”

Thirty years later, the same couple, beneath the same moon…Hey, dear look, the moon has hidden itself…

“Don’t be stupid! Can’t you see it is going to rain!!?”

Thus the term "sustainability" when written by someone of the capitalist system means you can dispose of land and resources to continue shameless to serve the consumer market, to the profit without measures and to the technological development for palliative solutions.
In order to maintain this cycle, they should avoid by all means, that new emerging countries rapidly deplete the assets of the land and threaten the level of consumption of the richest nations.
Imagine if Africa with its millions of people entering the wave of consumerism. The cake of global wealth will have to be shared into smaller slices to serve everybody. Sustainability in this sense means restricting new consumer markets in order that the feast of the rich countries is extended.

On the other hand over the viewpoint of a writer from a developing country, sustainability takes on a tone to share with more justice, restraining wasting in rich countries, especially with the surplus, avoiding excessive consumption, restraining the arms industry and using oil for individual transport.
Those can only accept a development that is present for all humanity and ensure the future of new generations; because the leftovers from the tables of the rich people are in lack on the tables from the poor ones.

Maybe the groom should have known better and if instead of the first answer just have replied: “Let’s get inside” He could still use the same answer thirty years later without any problems.

Will we be able to enjoy our natural resources in thirty years, being kind in our answer to the situation we’ve been facing in our planet today?

Remember that nothing lasts forever and we should face the reality without romantics’ feelings that lead us to disappointments in the future.

Cop-16

Another year comes to an end and next week I am on vacation ...Here in southern hemisphere we will enter summer time. Lots of sun, beaches some heat, by the way, “hell’s heat". Last year we reached 50 ° C here in Rio de Janeiro. But Brazil is so good ...In the morning the blue sky gives us a sense that paradise is just around the corner, around noon white clouds cover the entire scenario and a fresh wind blowing through the trees. At three o'clock the white clouds become black and that goes down storm with thunder and lightning. At 8 pm ... Moon and many stars. Let me enjoy while we still have beaches once due to the increasing level of water on the oceans our beaches are disappearing… check this post:

http://panchtatva-blog.blogspot.com/2010/09/ecosystems-threatened-by-global-warming.html

Travelling would be great. Spending my vacation in Cancun who knows? 

Speaking of Cancun, it ended yesterday the meeting of world leaders to discuss the reduction of carbon emissions and all that stuffs. What they were trying to settle was a mechanism that would ensure transparency by major emerging countries. These countries in turn said they would only accept such measures, were adopted another type of transparency - Financial - from the part of industrialized countries.
The deal is this: Nobody wants to give up economic growth because of global warming. Let the glaciers melt or the oceans to warm up.

Ivo Morales, Bolivia's president, warned that if they send the Kyoto Protocol to the rubbish bin they will be responsible for genocide and ecocide because they will be sending many people to their deaths.

Mexico has proposed they include the establishment of a new "Green Fund for Climate" to help the world's least developed countries, payments for the protection of tropical forests and another agreement to share technologies with low carbon emissions.

Jairam Ramesh India’s Minister of environment says there should be an initiative to stipulate that all countries whose emissions account for more than 1% or 0.5%, of total global emissions, submit a report every two years. The frequency would be lower for others.


Apparently, Transparency will come only from the water that runs down the mountain due to the warmth up there, because not even our river water is so transparent anymore due to pollution. But this is subject for another post.

See you there!

Is it worth it palliative solutions for global warming?

Global warming is here knocking on our door. It seems to be here to stay. And what scares me most in this story are the attitudes of some scientists and others who no longer talk of avoiding it or do it backwards, but try to adjust our lives to what is understood as inevitable.
What leaded me to this conclusion was some news I read in Internet and will transcribe part of it for you here:

"The Agriculture Ministry of Japan announced that they will develop a new type of rice resistant to heat and lack of water, in anticipation of shortages caused by global warming. The measure is part of a study that foresee decreases in rice production and loss of forests if the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere duplicate and increase the level of mercury. "
The news showed also the increasing average in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by the end of the century, but to me, a laywoman like most who read it, caused a deep malaise. I could not applaud the efforts of scientists to try pulling rabbits out of the hat in order to the human species continues to survive despite the damage it causes to the planet. Are we right in our final days or will we adapt and survive? Despite all the intelligence, will we perish like the dinosaurs?
These are issues that alarm us all today and much more will alarm our grandchildren in 30 or 40 years if instead of action to stop this insanity that is the pollution and devastation of our planet, we prefer palliative to live with it.
I fear that they perform the feat of not only develop a rice more resistant to heat, but also taking advantage of the excessive heat of global warming, and get this cereal produced already cooked.

While leaving my worries to overtake me and wandered into daydreams, my daughter - who was sleeping on the couch - woke up and came to me in search of caring. She is 8 years old and is one of those who will inherit this beautiful planet and the changes carried out by us that are slowly changing the Earth’s face. She came, rubbing her eyes with the back of the hand, yet drowsy and yawned long while nestled in my lap. She looked at me and smiled gratefully by the reception and care received . But she said something that made me gloomy and thoughtful, "Mom, I dreamed that in 2100 the chickens will lay fried eggs.”
I frowned, said nothing to her, but here to myself I thought: "It makes sense”!