“I think now as I’m looking back we did not fought the enemy, we fought ourselves and the enemy was in us.
The war is over for me now but I always be there for the rest of my days!”- Platoon
2006 made me dive into my inner world and found out that the biggest war I face is the one I make with myself. We are nothing but mirrors reflecting our needs and emotions…
With 33 years old some people think they are going to die just like Jesus Christ or world famous artists. I felt I had to initiate a changing circle…
-I learnt so many precious things by putting my expectations to zero, by starting over in a new culture, by putting the emphasis not on doing but on the understanding of whys and moods.
-I learnt to rationalize my emotions instead of emotionalise my reasons.
-I learnt about balancing my mental, spiritual, body and emotional aspects.
-I learnt about the real simple things that make my life important.
-I’ve awaken my sense of humour.
-I’ve enjoyed how being different (myself) can be fun!
-I learnt that expressing my opinion and my emotions is good.
-I could understand where my passions and motivations lay.
-I believe in myself and my ability to move forward in quality.
-I’m responsible for my daily life decisions.
-I have new professional interests: self development project house of happiness.
But coming back home was also part of the intercultural experience process. For me it was not easy to return to the same when you feel you’ve changed so much. For a moment I asked myself if I should continue this travel to a different part of the world but the answer is simpler and basically connected to how do I travel in myself, meaning how can I use now all I’ve learnt and proceed.
Answering the how was it question was very complex, all I know is that troubles are meant to make us better not bitter and maybe for the first time in my life this was absolutely what happened.
In our complex routine we don’t have time to fully debrief the complexity of our world and to analyse our reactions. Most of the answers to our complaints are in us. I advice everybody that never had an experience of living out of own country to do it, because its absolutely revealing.
In our complex world we don’t give time for ourselves to relax, to laugh, to socialize and to really appreciate the gift of life.
Lisbon greeted me with warm rays of light, my friends greeted me with the warmth of their hearts and hugs, I got goose skin when I first walked downtown Lisbon and shared the multicultural spirit and the happiness of this season on the streets.
Cascais where I work and the district where I live greeted me with songs from the Portuguese pop band I used to work some years ago. This scenery made me recognize that my traveller’s soul belongs just to one place: Portugal.
Let 2007 give you the things you know you need and also the ones that you don’t know!
…I’m reborn!
“If you judge people you don’t have time to love them” Theresa of Calcuta
