Gratitude

Talking about gratitude is easy.

Practicing gratitude… that is the tricky part.

Having lived in Europe my whole life, I am not truly qualified to complain much. However, I do: I complain about the bus being late, again and again, about the rain and the lack of sunshine, about my weight and  the customers screaming on the phone, about not feeling as successful as I think I am supposed to be as per the Occidental rules and guidelines. I complain about other people’s complaints, about the road trip to Dublin airport anytime I try to get away on holidays, about the politicians and their corruption, about the increase in rent and the impoverishment of the people on social welfare. The rich will get richer and the poor… well we are fucked.

And, though all my complaints seem to be legit and based on true facts, I am not sure I am entitled to complain.

The human being is programmed to complain from birth. We are trained to be unhappy with what we have and we seek happiness in material things, in social status and acceptance. We think we need a bigger house, a newer car, pretty clothes and lots of friends to be with all the time. And, there is nothing wrong with the desire of getting a better life. But we are always craving for a bigger house, a newer car and new clothes to show off with friends all the time but at the end none of them provide happiness.

Because the real happiness is in within us.

Courtesy of Lisa Berry
https://www.instagram.com/lisaberrylive/

So, why practicing gratitude is so hard?

I believe when we look outside, we can only see what others have and we don’t. We are so blinded by the shine of material possessions that we forget what we already have. And the ironic part is that most of times, we have more than enough and we don’t even notice:

You get a new lipstick because the lady in the magazine looks pretty and sophisticated and then you get home and find out a very similar one that you got a few weeks ago. The sadly part is that every model in the magazine is wearing a different color and a different brand.

You believe you need a new pair of jeans because it takes a while to dry and you are not supposed to use the same jeans two days in a row. Well, guess what? Nobody notices that you are wearing the same pair of jeans and if they do, they have the problem wasting their time with gossip and nonsense.

If we looked inside, we would realize how intense our light is. We shine so strong that we can heal other people’s soul just with a kind word. We are unique and lovable. We can feel pain, and fear, and anger, yes, we are human beings, but we are full of hope and faith and we love. Love is the higher vibration in the universe. And nothing can stop it. Not even death.

We need to stop craving for new things. We need to turn our world upside down, to challenge those believes, dismiss the old ones and leave room for new experiences. We need to start being grateful for what we already have and for what is about to come. We don’t need a new phone. We don’t need to be accepted. We need to accept ourselves just exactly how we are. We are perfect the way we are. We are part of the Divine and we are capable to love.

We need to express gratitude for those everyday’s little challenges: the bus being late because you can listen to your favorite song; the customer having a bad day, because you might be his helping hand; the road trip to Dublin airport, because you have a few hours to chill out before the security control; the politicians and their corruption… I can’t see any good coming from that but we are free to speak.

Let’s be grateful for a new day, sunny or rainy, it does not matter. The Sun will warm you up. The rain will clear your thoughts.

Be grateful for all the strength you got after the big challenges in life. How are you being prepared for those tough times that might come. You will be strong enough for you and for others.

Be grateful for being alive. You are a blessing for your love ones.

Be grateful.

Because, with gratitude, happiness comes along.

Namaste.

"Close your eyes and you will see that you are all you really need"

I Believe, Bon Jovi

The real meaning of saving Wayward Sisters

So, we are trying to save the Wayward Sisters TV show.

And you might think: yeah, right, another show related to Supernatural and your crazy TV family so you can keep watching telly and posting funny memes of the Winchesters and those other fellas…

But, what if I told you that this fight is not about Supernatural and the family (not entirely anyway), but it’s about saving a show that tells the story of women supporting and loving other women, creating a unique connection based on trust and the idea of equality. Because I’ll tell you something: Dean Winchester is hot, no doubt, but Sheriff Jodi Mills (portrayed by Kim Rhodes) is a bad ass hunter and a mother and we all know that women and mothers have supported the most of the heavy loads in history, so, to be honest, if I was a monster, I wouldn’t like to face Jodi Mills in an dark alley.

What make this show unique and special are the characters. They are the reflection of the women of this century: hardworking women, well trained and capable of living a full life, supporting themselves and their families, working hard to reach back the role in society and history that has been taken. Women able to do a man’s job as well (if not even better). Beautiful human beings, strong and flexible, loving and caring, fearful of losing their children, but confident that they have prepared them for life.

This is a show about monsters, yes, but its characters are real people taken from real life, with real fears and real joys.  These are real women. Strong, fierce. Wayward as fuck.

We need to save this TV show for the meaning of these characters. They are us, women living, working and fighting in a men’s world. We have improved our situation in Europe and America during the last century, but the situation of others is not even close to what is right, and what are our rights as human beings. The salaries and the workload between men and women are far from equal, not only in the working market, but also in the privacy of their houses. In 2015, it was found that two-thirds of world's illiterate adults were women. Unfortunately, that stigma prevails through generations: even when the access to Education is being granted, the lack of confidence among women will make hard for them to accept it.

And, regarding to grant the access to Education, Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster (whose character is the sweet and loving Donna Hanscum), launched a campaign, in collaboration with Random Acts: “Dreams 2 Acts Nicaragua project” (https://nicaragua.randomacts.org/).

We need to save the Wayward Sisters TV show to prove that we are not pretty ornaments anymore. We need to show that we are fighting for other sisters who are not as lucky as we are. We need to remember the World that we are not going to forget the forgotten. This show means that it is possible to have real women in television,  that, finally, we are ready to overcome the stereotype of women who can only succeed and survive if they are mean and heartless, o brainless and meek. We are not taking those roles anymore. And we are not letting others to put us in the corner.

We need to save the Wayward Sisters because this show is another tool for women to fight for our rights. Because is another way to change the world and make it better and fairer, for everyone. We need to prove that we don’t want those women characters created to fill gaps anymore. That is not us.

We need to save the Wayward sisters because if not, it will mean that this Eastern society is not as fair as it claims and I refuse to believe that there is no hope.

Because I am a wayward daughter as fuck.

Gishwhes (English)

Last week, Gishwhes (pronounced gish-wes) took place (gishwhes.com). Like every year since 2011, the first week of August, the world is taken by thousands of people trying to make it happier, kinder, more creative and awesome. This event is a contest where the teams have to complete as many tasks (items) as possible following the directions given and exploring their creativity going from the weirdest thing as the recreation of a Goya painting with candy, to spend time with the elders in a nursery home or performing a sock-puppet show in a children`s hospital.

Gishwhes not only helps to explore every contester`s creativity; Gishwhes makes us leave our comfort zone to discover an amazing world, a world that can be improved by random acts of kindness.

This is not a talent show. This is not X Factor. This is the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen.

I joined Gishwhes with the only intention of paying my subscription as part of my annual project of helping a NGO. Gishwhes is the major supporter of Random Acts (randomacts.org) an organization founded by Supernatural’s actor Misha Collins, who happens to be the founder of Gishwhes. I thought I would be given the chance to decide whether I wanted to join the Hunt or not. I was wrong. And I have to say this was the sweetest mistake in years.

When the timer strikes zero, the Hunt starts. All the challenges (items) are published and the teams have one week to complete as many as possible. The organization looks for creativity and passion but above all, to take the Hunt to the outside and change the world, make it beautiful and more human.  You can join the Hunt in your living-room, but I can say that it’s amazing when you take its meaning to the outside world.

This week, I have shared free coffee at one of the main bus stops, I have pretended to be Picasso by painting a portrait of one of the Supernatural’s actress, I have become a first class parcel and I have been taken pictures in a weight-scale and in the post office and I have been a model wearing my own designed bra to support of myhopechest.org, an organization that helps uninsured breast cancer survivors to afford breast reconstruction surgery.

And, if this wasn’t enough, one of the last items was collecting founds to help two Syrian refuges families. In a couple of days, the Hunt collected as many funds to help four families.

Thanks to Gishwhes, I have met fourteen amazing, brave and talented women who have taught a whole new world; each of us located in a different part of the world. This week we have shared creations, ideas, jokes, knowledge, we have laughed and we have been the support to each other in hard times. When the team was completed, a family was born, sharing our passion for Supernatural and the desire of making a better world.

myhopechest.org

But, above all of it, I have learnt to feel confident and safe facing the unknown. I have left my comfort zone and taken risks. I have gained self confidence and I have found out skills that I never thought I had. This has been a profound, personal and collective, catharsis; a new way of communion with the world around and ourselves.
If you ask me if I am going to join the Hunt next year, the answer is yes. I’m going to be stronger and willing to risk even more, trying to make a bigger impact on people and the world, dragging people with Gishwhes tide.


Because, if you have not noticed yet, the Scavenger Hunt ends when we find ourselves.

 

Gishwhes (Español)

La semana pasada se celebró Gishwhes (gishwhes.com). Como cada año desde 2011, la primera semana de agosto, las ciudades son invadías por miles de personas intentando hacer un mundo más feliz, más humano, más creativo, más asombroso. Este evento es un concurso en que cada equipo debe completar una serie de tareas que van desde el esperpento, como la recreación de una pintura de Goya con golosinas, hasta la faceta más humana delconcurso, como dedicar tiempo a unos ancianos en un asilo o visitar a niños en un hospital y recrear un teatro de marionetas con calcetines desparejados. Gishwhes no sólo obliga a explorar la creatividad de cada concursante; Gishwhes nos hace salir de nuestra zona de comodidad cotidiana para descubrir un mundo apasionante, un mundo que se puede mejorar con actos aleatorios de amabilidad.

Esto no es un concurso de talentos. Esto no es Operación triunfo. Gishwhes es la "Mayor Búsqueda Internacional del tesoro que el mundo haya visto" (the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen).

Cuando me apunté a Gishwhes, lo hice sin la menor intención de participar. Pagué mi suscripción como parte de mi proyecto anual de aportar un dinero a una ONG. Gishwhes es el mayor colaborador de Random Acts (randomacts.org), una organización no gubernamental fundada por uno de los actores de Sobrenatural, Misha Collins, quien es, a su vez, fundador de Gishwhes. Cuando terminé mi suscripción, imaginé que la  organización del evento te daría la posibilidad de no participar. Me equivoqué. Y debo decir que ha sido una de las mejores equivocaciones de los últimos años.

Cuando el cronómetro de la web llega a cero y la competición comienza, los retos (items en inglés)  se publican y los equipos tienen una semana para finalizar la mayor cantidad posible. Se busca creatividad, ingenio, valor, y sobre todo, salir al mundo exterior y cambiarlo, embellecerlo y hacerlo más humano. Gishwhes se puede hacer desde el salón de su casa aunque yo he comprobado que es más emocionante sacar su significado a la calle.

Esta semana he repartido café gratuito en as parada del autobús, he pintado un retrato, imitando a Picasso, de una de las actrices de Sobrenatural, me he convertido en un paquete y he conseguido que me pesen para enviarme como correo, y he posado con un sujetador con diseño propio para apoyar a una organización que reconstruye el pecho a mujeres que han sufrido cáncer de mama y que no disponen de seguro médico, o simplemente el que tienen no les cubre (myhopechest.org).

Y, por si fuera poco, una de las tareas finales era conseguir fondos de ayuda a dos familias sirias refugiadas. En un par de días se recaudaron fondos para ayudar a cuatro familias.

Gracias a Gishwhes, he conocido a catorce mujeres brillantes, talentosas y valientes de las que he aprendido mucho, cada una en un punto diferente del planeta. En esta semana, hemos compartido creaciones, ideas, bromas, conocimiento, hemos reído y nos hemos apoyado en momentos duros. Con la formación del equipo, se creó una familia unida por la pasión por Sobrenatural y el deseo de crear cosas y mejorar el mundo.

Pero sobre todo, he aprendido a sentirme cómoda ante lo desconocido. He salido de mi zona de confort y he arriesgado. He ganado confianza en mí misma y he descubierto partes de mí y talentos que no sabía que existían. Ha sido una catarsis profunda, personal y colectiva. Una nueva forma de comunión con el entorno y nosotros mismos.

Si me preguntan si voy a participar el año que viene, la respuesta es sí. Voy a participar con más fuerza y más ganas, arriesgándome más todavía, intentando que mi impacto sobre las personas y el mundo sea más grande, arrastrando a más gente con la marea de Gishwhes.

Porque, si todavía no se han dado cuenta, la búsqueda del tesoro finaliza cuando nos encontramos a nosotros mismos.