New applications for the SOUL! and they are FREE!!

I have taken so far almost a 5 day break from the on-line communities I frequent to re-boot my life, install new applications on my soul and know what I want to be and how I want to be.  So I have been thinking, walking, and really reflecting on what is that is no longer working on and that needs an update.
I distinctly realize two things need to be improved right now: my intention and my generosity, two things that are so closely related.  A lot of times we can all be generous, giving people.  I know I can be.  To give of my time and/or material things is something I was taught at a young age, something that it has become part of who I am.  Now, every action of ours is happening, every thought, is happening because we intend to.  Our intention, hence drives our actions.  Even the automatic ones, i.e. I intend to write right now and my brain sends the signal for my fingers to type.
The previous example is clear and understandable.  What I think it's not so clear is what I discover over the past 5 days, it wasn't even clear to me.  We are also capable of "masking" our intention with an action.  In this case, the action is not a result of our intention, but a means to achieve what we really intend.  I know, I know, it sounds confusing.  Example, I intend to go out with you, however my action shows me un-interested, aloof just so my intention is not revealed until I think you are ready to say yes.
This got me thinking that I can give, be generous all I want but unless my intention is to give and be generous it really doesn't do much for me or the person at the receiving end.  If I am giving but my intention is solely "to look like a generous man", to "gain something" from you, even if it's just your sympathy, then I am not truly giving.  I am using generosity to achieve something else, I am in reality, trading.
So I have decided I am now working on this two principles in my life: intention and generosity.  My interactions with everyone are to be honest, my intent to be reflected in my actions.  From now on, I give, for the sake of giving, because I feel is the right thing to do, because in and on itself is the journey and the destination.  I will no longer be generous to achieve other things, I will no longer "trade", I am generous.
I invite you (because it IS my intention to be surrounded by people that understand, love and care about me the same way I care about them) to take a minute to see what your intention really is behind your actions.  Let's align our intentions with our actions.  Let's be the kind of people that truly intend to do what we do and that truly mean no when we decide to not do something.  Let's be generous, let's give without expecting anything in return.  Let's be reminded that giving when expecting something is really just trading.
Two new applications for the soul: Intent & Generosity.  Both free for you to install.  Go ahead.  You might have to reboot after installing.

p.

A piece of Humble pie with a side of my own words.

Here I am. Sitting in a comfy sofa, NCIS on the backgroud and a whole lot of things on my mind.  This is gonna take a while before I post it, so I doubt anyone will read it until I do so, which suits me fine.  My ideas are half the way there and need to be fully formed. 
My last post was about a change of paradigm, looking, thinking outside the box.  Well, apparently I was thinking of all that while still inside my comfortable box. 
However, since I wrote that blog, it principle seeped through me and in a way stopped me long enough to contemplate where I am.  I have been doing the same things, for a while, always thinking I was doing them differently.  The mind is a powerful force, whatever we envision, create, believe with it, it becomes our reality.
So here I was envision, thinking, believing I was doing things in a creative, different way each time.  But am I really?  That's a tough question to answer.
To separate the reality I created in my mind fr myself to the reality I am living is...well, I don't even know what's that like.  What I do know is that I feel a certain uneasiness.  I do know that I might not be in the place I could be.
What is that place? I am not sure.  I seem to go through this episodes cyclically.  I move in a certain direction, I feel great about it and then I reach a plateau and feel I need to stop, disconnect, reboot and start again.
So, it has become a feeling I can recognize.  And I am thankful for it.
When feeling like this, I usually think about all the main feelings and ideas in my life in the past little while, really look at them and see how is my life and ACTIONS aligned or not to the things that I intellectually know should be happening.  Then I sit down and eat a piece of humble pie and my own tasty words.
In this day that we are all so connected, so flooded with information but so starved for knowledge I realize that the main source of knowledge is not on line, not in a book, not in a tweet, a FB message or a tumblr post.  It is inside of me.  It is in the quiet message whispered to me, in the birds I can watch, in the tree firmly rooted on the ground.  So I disconnect, from all the social networks, the websites I frequent, the things I usually do.  I take long walks with myself, I clear my brain and my heart.
You might think its hypocritical of me to be talking about being disconnected when I am blogging about it.  However, this is like my journal and one I intend to share with all of you.  Like I said at the beginning, I will not be announcing this post until I am ready to "re-connect" to the alternate reality.  As of now, I am rebooting, recycling, and "installing" new programs for my soul.
Think about it for a second, take a few days of the everyday connections you have on line.  Connect with yourself, keep yourself company, reboot.
P,

Change of Paradigm

A few years back, while I was in college I earned a living being an interpreter/translator.  I loved the job, I got to translate books/documents and my favorite thing: I got to go "on site" to do live interpretations of all kind of things.  Worked with some US agencies, doctors, companies, individuals and everything in between.  Interpretation is a demanding thing, you don't get time to "switch" languages in your head and then say what you need to say in the required language.  You actually have to say what the speaker is saying, in another language at the same time and speed you are hearing it.
One of my favorite assignments was going to a factory where I interpreted whole series of safety and self improvement courses to the non English speaking staff.  These were hard working men and women from all over South America, Central America and Mexico.  One of the reasons I loved going there was because they were so thankful, kind, and friendly.  This courses were 6-8 hours affairs with a couple breaks.  Inevitably for each lunch break this lovely ladies would come over with their home made lunch that they would take turns making for me. 
On one of the safety courses (and I would interpret those about 5 times back to back so we could reach each group of employees) one of the points the instructor wanted to high light was "the change of paradigm."  I knew how important that was and I squeezed my brain thinking of the Spanish equivalent for that expression.  However when she said:"we need a new paradigm, not a new pair of dimes" I knew I had lost the battle.  There was no way I can make sense of that in Spanish when "dimes" is not a Spanish word and it would just not work.
I did my best to try to convey the joke and the expression, only getting confused looks of people certainly thinking that American humour was humourless and that I sucked as an interpreter.  That single episode stayed with me for a long time and it's still with me.
I thought I had forgotten about it, until a while later I was talking to someone about "shifting our paradigm" and even though this person had a perfect command of the English language, the look in her face was the same of all those hard workers.  Many times since, when discussing different topics and supporting a change I've gotten the "not a pair of dimes" look from people.
I think it is high time for us to not be afraid of change, to look, really look outside the box and face issues from a different angle.  Truth is, we cannot solve problems with the same mentality that created them, we cannot do the same thing over and over expecting different results.
When looking at my life and the world around me and being faced with challenges, things that I feel need to change, I need to stop and "filter" all the "known" ways to go about it and really, really think about a "new"way to go about it.
I'm not going to tell you what to do, because I hardly know what I am doing.  What I am going to ask of you is that next time you are faced with a conundrum, don't take the easy way out, don't do right away what you've been told, instead think of a new way to solve an old problem.  It will open your mind to new creative ways of thinking and you might surprised yourself with what you come up with.  If it helps, do what I do, carry a pair of dimes and when needed, rubbed them together till the light in your head is on.
I believe in you and I am putting my two dimes on that belief.
p.

Lucky

Do you hear me? I am talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby, I'm trying

Lucky we are in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home some day

And so I am sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair.
                                        Jason Mraz


I am lucky.  I am not sure that's the best word and I am sure people will argue with me whether it's luck, a blessing, etc.  I am not interested in discussing semantics.  However you want to call it, I am thankful for it.
I just spent almost a week with a couple wonderful friends in Buenos Aires.  I have been to Buenos countless times over my stay here in South America, however each time, its a different city, because each time I look at it with different eyes.  My first time (almost 9 months ago!!) I wasn't sure how anything worked.  Even thought I had been on the city on an off growing up it had been ages since I was there and this time I was alone and grown up enough to call the shots.  So, I go there and had a great time.  I wasn't sure what I was doing or where I was going most of the times but felt welcome and happy yet not part of it.  Since then I have been there many times with different friends, alone and each time Buenos has been a kind, lovely host.
I was discussing with my friends this time around how for most of the part (minus a cab incident they had from the airport) each single interaction was so positive, people so welcoming, beautiful, inviting.  From art to shows, to just the allure of the beautiful architecture, it all seduces me each time.
I realized this time that when facing life and new situations without any fear, well, then there is no fear.  I think most of the times we create fear, we might have valid reasons for that or not but the bottom line is that we do not need to "feed" fear. 
When "facing" that gorgeous city and going to every corner we wanted to, with common sense but without fear we were treated to an amazingly safe experience.  I am pretty sure that when people saw foreigners being trusting (not stupid) and enjoying their city and culture, well, tell in turn were trusting, kind and helpful.
This got me thinking that our interactions are really well reflected on how people interact back to us.  People are our mirrors, so to speak.  If you find people distrusting you, being rude, being great, and so forth, chances are they are being a mirror of yourself.
I invite you to walk along with me in life without fear, looking to see in everyone we interact with the best of ourselves.  It will make a big difference, in your life and of course in your travels ;-)
Pablo

And the bus broke down.

So last night, at midnight I took a bus to come to Buenos Aires.  It's one of those comfi, turn seats into beds kinda bus and just a 6 hours ride.  I settled in, started reading my book and put the Ipod on.  Everything was smooth sailing.  Two hours into it, as we are crossing the bridge between Uruguay and Argentina, right in the middle of the bridge, something felt wrong, the bus started shaking and the lights were on an off.  Boy was I glad I was in bus and not a plane......until the bus just died, inches away from the railing of the bridge.  In the middle of the night, looking down a window, and seeing 40 feet of water below is not a very comforting feeling.  People were moving around.  I turn the music louder, fastened my seat belt and tried to get into the book.  After a few more shaking episodes the bus started again and we continued on.  Until we got to a toll booth and then the bus died again.  By now we were about 2 hours away from Buenos.  The driver got it started and by 5:50ish we were taking the exit of the freeway because we were probably going at 5 miles an hour.  As we take the exit the bus proceeds to completely stop, in the middle of a busy intersection.  There were for ..oh about 30 minutes getting all kinds of honking, and wonderful things being said at the driver, the passengers...you get the idea.  Finally the bus was moved to a side road where we came down, and waited for a replacement bus to arrive.  As we waited, I stroke up a conversation with a fellow passenger and man, was I glad I did.  I thought she was returning to Buenos Aires which is in fact true, except she is not from there.  She told me she recently moved after marrying a few months ago.  Her husband is from the town where she grew up in Uruguay, they were high school sweet hearts, then when she was 17 and he was 18 they split, he moved to Buenos Aires, she married, so did he.  After being married for 31 years her husband died, her former boyfriend got a divorce, one day he returns to the home town , visits her...fast forward, they married a few months back.
After we finally arrived to the bus station, he was waiting for her, I got to meet him and I am invited to have lunch with them this Sunday so they can show me a part of Buenos Aires I don't know, a few flea markets and some good restaurants were I won't be ripped off.
Sometimes a bus breaking down is life telling you:" look around, chat, I have a surprise for you."
Let's make sure we turn