Hug

Oh, I want a hug!

I want a hug the way most chaste, the most beautiful way

Smoother, more simple, sincere, kind

I long a hug, I long, I long

I hope it will last, I hope it will get me a perfume

I hope hose barriers will go away

Those stupid things that hinder the embrace from being lighter, flame

I do not want answers, I do not want reasons

I just want a hug, I just want a North

I just want an arm, the other arm, a complete hug, well done

And that silence fuller, laughter, so conclusive

That smell, that air, that fullness

I want a hug

Out with the fatigue from the dry distance of your chest

I want to hug you right, respect, unhurried to walk away

I imagine for a moment that we are bond

Vast field without pre or concept

The chaster way, more perfect

That's it ... and it’s everything.

11/06/2010

To Live even

I want to live, my God, to live even

Better days than I lived once

Living my endless youth

And the beautiful time called Now

I want to prolong my days

More than the weeks of cold Expecting

And much longer may be the joys

Than tortuous pathways of utopia

At sun-rise whisper a prayer

Being grateful because it’s afternoon

Before I go to bed, saying: Amen!

Proving thousands of adventures around the world

And when I think I've done everything,

Still being someone’s love!

11/22/2010

Playing with bubbles

I’m decided. I’m going to use these lines to tell my secret, which, in fact, I would like to hide. The poet Fernando Pessoa once said he did not know anyone who had the courage to confess an infamy, but I want to have that courage. But before telling my secret, I invite you to reflect a little about life.

Once, a few years ago, I had to stay in a hospital because of a surgery. Everything worked, thank God, but I had to stay in the hospital eight days without almost never seeing the light of the sun or walk freely. When I left that place, however, I experienced feelings I’ve never felt: the pleasure of staying under the sun outdoors, the delicious sensation of walking through the streets of my city, the joy of taking a shower.

Hence, someone might ask: "You mean you had never been at the sun, walking down the street or bathed before being admitted to this hospital? Makes sense you needed hospitalization ... "- and that smirk on they face. But no, that’s not a matter of poor hygiene or something. The case is: of course I had already done all of that. But not the way I did after those eight days cloistered between the cold walls of the hospital. Allow me to explain.

You have certainly heard someone say: "We only give value to things when we lost them." I agree. Before those eight days I had ever thought how pleasurable is simply staying under the sun, until the moment it was taken from me. When bathing, due to surgery, I could not get up from bed. How precious became, at that time, a simple shower! What about walking around? Uh, that was what I wanted most...

Changing the subject a little, I think it's time to tell the secret I promised at the beginning of this text. Promise is promise, so here it goes: In full adulthood, I like playing blowing soap bubbles in their free time. Yes, I confess, and I cannot hide I feel a little ashamed as I write these words ... And yes, it is kid stuff. You can laugh. But when I see the bubbles coming up at my breath, so colorful and beautiful, it reminds me to take a bath and walk in the sun...

Things like bath and walking are simple as blowing bubbles, which appear in a moment in the air and then disappear. We tend to value only those "special moments", forgetting to be grateful for the moments that recur every day. But they are essential. You may remember with gratitude the day you joined the university, or your wedding day, or even the birth of your first child. That's great. However, you must cherish your day, even if nothing extraordinary happens. This "normal" day that we are now living is made of time, the same material that our life is done.

Making bubbles amuses me a lot. Especially when some children come to play. The more they rejoice, the more I make more bubbles. The joy that they transmit while playing is a great lesson for me: I never want to miss even a minute, though ephemeral and trivial, without considering it as the best time of my life. So, I'm sure that Life is going to create more bubbles for me to play.

(Text originally published in the newspaper Diário do Sudoeste da Bahia).

Responding to the storm

I once passed by some difficulties in my life. It wasn’t one of those common problems, such as receiving low wages or have lived a humble childhood. I say common because, as a Brazilian, I know exactly what it is. That was one of those life stages in wich all areas of our lives are affected by a crisis. When this happened to me, the first thing I noticed was that I did not want to suffer.

Well, this is not one of the smartest discoveries. After all, everyone knows that no one wants to suffer. But when pepper falls in our eyes, then we really understand how much suffering is unpleasant. Then the inevitable question comes: Why we have to suffer? Look, this is a question that seeks to be answered since mankind lives on earth. I do not propose to answer it. But, as any sufferer that I am, as my readers are, we can sympathize and try to get on these lines, not an answer, but a hand, these hands that friends give each other.

If suffering knocked on your door, remember that everybody suffer, each in their own way. It reminds me of Francisco Otaviano’s words, the Brazilian poet:

"He who went through life in white cloud

And in a placid rest slept;

Who has not felt the chill of disgrace;

Who went through life without suffering;

Spectrum was of a man, was not a man -

Just went through life, didn’t live. "

It is also important to remember that pain can be useful for something. The American writer Eckhart Tolle said in one of his books: "One of the many erroneous assumptions of the ego, one of its most deluded thoughts is 'I should not have to suffer.'" According to him, the suffering has a noble purpose to make us evolve and reduce our selfishness. But the truth is that some people are defeated by their problems. Where is the evolution in those cases?

It is often a question of how these people respond to the challenges that arise. A Bible proverb warns: "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small." What is your reaction to the suffering? Did you say "I should not be suffering" and hopes that things work out alone? What answer will you give to the circumstances? From the greek philosopher Epictetus: "We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them."

If I have to go through the day of trouble, I don’t want to be faint. I know things are much harder in practice, but the best answer for what we do not know the answer is courage. Someone has even said that without courage, all other virtues lose their value. Know that no one is too important to the point of not having to suffer. And nobody becomes important without having suffered. After all, what would be of the great navigators’ fame without severe storms?

(Text originally published in the newspaper Diário do Sudoeste da Bahia).

What you gotta say?

I remember when I was a kid. As I got a gift from an adult, the only thing I wanted was to open the package and go play. But when I was with the toy in my hands and began to give back to those who had gifted me, my mother came and said: "What you gotta say?" So, half unwillingly, not quite understanding what that meant, I turned to the person who gifted me and said "thank you", and then ran to enjoy my new treasure.

Who has ever experienced this? And who also never felt satisfied with the demonstration of gratitude of a child with the toy you bought him/her? Gratitude does that: brings satisfaction to those who do good, while paving the way for the recipient to be honored once again with some gift. After all, we feel more likely to benefit people that are grateful.

However, sometimes I think that gratitude has been rare in our society. I have noticed that people have said "thank you" each time more, but in a automatic, mechanical somewhat . The appreciation has become an obligatory gesture to show that we are civilized, and only that. Maybe because, as children, our parents teach us just to say "thank you", and not to feel.

A german pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said: "It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich." With this, we can understand that a person can even have things that make others call him "rich", but if he is not grateful for all the gifts he received, that wealth is an illusion. I say this because gratitude is the twin sister of satisfaction. Now, if you are not grateful for what you have, so you are not satisfied: you're unfortunate. But who is grateful is infinitely rich, it has the whole universe at your disposal.

Do not just say "thank you" or "I appreciate that". Remember you as a child: that overflowing joy, the desire to run just pleased to have won a cart or a doll ... No words can properly translate that feeling, but someone found a name for it: gratitude. And we have no idea what that feeling is able to bring.

You can imagine yourself as a child right now: health, food on the table, the clothes you wear and the air you breathe are gifts that every day an Adult offers you . Some call this Adult Mr. Life,  others Mr. Universe, I call him God. Know that your smile is the greatest incentive for Him feel even more motivated to bestow you many blessings.

And from today, when life in delivered a beautiful wrapping in your hands  (and it does it every day), remember to feel intensely satisfied and smiling. And when your heart was overflowing with gratitude, say "thank you." That's what you gotta say.

(Text originally published in Diário do Sudoeste da Bahia, the newspaper).