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Are they still married? That was a question I asked a friend last week when we were talking about other friends I haven’t seen or heard of for years. I was happy to hear that the answer was, yes, they are still married. However, how many times the answer is no? How many people do we know that went or are going through a divorce? This month I am thankful because I am celebrating with my dear husband, the love of my life, our 24th wedding anniversary to which I also have to add seven years of dating. Yes! seven years of dating, which make 31 years together. That deserves…

Thankful into action. Are we always happy and thankful for what we have, or are we most of the time bittered and complaining about what we don’t have? By Merriam-Webster dictionary, “thankful” means: Conscious of benefit received. How conscious are we of all our benefits or in other words, all our blessings? A year ago, I listened to a story by Jorge Bucay called El Circulo del Noventa y Nueve (The Circle of Ninety-nine.) From that moment, I started to be more aware and thankful for what I have and less worry or unhappy for what I don’t have. Here is the story and I hope it have on you the same…

Have you ever tried to remain calm during a big storm? I like to think that our lives are like the weather. Some days are sunny, and we are happy, full of energy, and feel great. Other days are cloudy, and we are just ok, and some other days are cold and wet, meaning that we feel bummed out. Then, there are days when we have terrible weather with strong thunderstorms, hail, tornados, or hurricanes that agitate and disrupt everything within us. This bad weather represents the difficult situations that we encounter in life, like an illness diagnosis for us or a loved one, accidents, the death of a loved…

It’s worth to ask! Do you agree with that statement? How many times do we hesitate to put the word “ask” into action? If we think about it, “ask” shouldn’t be something too hard to do, but it is almost unbelievable how hard we make it sometimes to the point where we prefer to lose time, opportunities, or knowledge before exposing ourselves to an unwanted answer or reaction. But why? Let’s first understand what “ask” means. If we look for the definition of the word “ask” by Cambridge Dictionary, we can see that it could relate to four different actions:  Ask to state a question or receive an answer from…

Do we allow ourselves to be ourselves? We are all different. We have different personalities, dreams, goals, and priorities. We also have different backgrounds and have lived different experiences. Each of us reacts differently in front of similar situations. We also see and interpret things in a different way. What is important to me may not be so important to you. What affects me so profoundly maybe doesn’t affect you with the same intensity. This means that in life, everything is relative, and what other people think about us and what we think about ourselves is also relative. We live in a culture where we should fill the expectations of…

Remembering into action. Our minds are incredible; we all know that. Thanks to our minds, we can think, perceive, feel, desire, imagine, recognize, analyze, and memorize, among other millions of things. Thanks to our minds, we are also able to remember moments, places, feelings, flavors, and, most important, people. One of the most profound emotions we can have come from remembering our loved ones who have passed away. This week we celebrate Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. These three celebrations are related in some way with death. Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of  Samhain to ward off ghosts. All Saints Day was designated by Pope…

Discussing or fighting? How many times do we start discussing with someone up to a point we overheat, and the discussion turns into an ugly fight? How often, in a discussion like that, do we verbally attack, blame, and ventilate with anger all our frustration and get the same reaction from the other person? How many times do we feel unfairly treated or misunderstood and react with a verbal assault to the other person? It is interesting to reflect a little bit about our strategy when having to deal with a situation that will involve a disagreement or discussion. It is even more interesting to reflect on our reactions when…

Declutter: Getting rid of things. Do you think that our capability of letting go of material things is inherited? I ask because my mom was an expert at keeping things. She was also an expert at organizing everything in a singular way that always astonished me. I remember during my school years to go to my mom asking for something in particular for a school project. Every time, her answer was: “Um, let me think…” and after a minute or so, her face just brightened up with a big smile, and then three magical words came out of her mouth “I have it!” For me, it was incredible to realize…

“Less is more.” Do you agree with this famous minimalist phrase? I genuinely do. That is the reason why I have always loved minimalism in architecture, art, design, interior decoration, and in some way, also in lifestyle. However, I have to admit that there is one area of my life where I am a total minimalist disaster. What is minimalism? Merriam-webster dictionary defines minimalism as: A style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity Vocabulary.com defines minimalist as: When you call a person a minimalist, you’re describing their interest in keeping things very simple. A minimalist prefers the minimal amount or…