Día del Cariño

Día del Cariño

What distinguishes Día del cariño from the popularized Valentine’s Day celebrations is that in Central America the day is primarily about all relationships and those we care for, about letting friends know you care for them, assuring family and partners of your love for them. Gifts aren’t the most important thing—the emphasis here is on quality time instead and being with those you most care about.

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Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

Life is a process of becoming. From the moment of birth the process begins through a combination of the stages we go through—infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood. In the early stages we move from one to another because there isn’t any choice. We can’t spend the rest of our lives in diapers or dragging around our security blanket! Many times during […]

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Poco a poco

Poco a poco

Life is often full of canto rodados (boulders) that stop us dead in our tracks. Those earthly problems threaten to absorb some or all emotional, physical and material resources. The meek play ostrich by sticking their head in the sand, thinking it will magically disappear; the mighty recoil in the shadow of the “procrastinator”—the Chief Constable of Manaña. A normal […]

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Interruptus

In some ways we’re wired like a computer. We receive “interrupt signals” informing us that something is demanding attention. We have similar choices about how to respond, like pausing the “program” we’re running or to ignore the signal. While hardware interrupts are hard to ignore, software ones are subtle and insidious. Appropriately, they’re also called “a trap.” Our busy doing-and-thinking […]

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Regalos de Amor

Love is in the air! Cupid’s bow is drawn and his wings are rustling. Whether the legend is the feast in honor of Juno, the goddess of women and marriage, the Roman St. Valentine, or the mating time of birds, around the globe, Valentine’s Day has traditionally been a celebration of romance. In some cultures, the Valentine’s Day festival has […]

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E=MC2

A wise mother bestowed upon her daughter a pearl of wisdom, “You have to find your own equation in life.” The pearl, encased in love and freedom, guided the daughter as she danced through life unencumbered by the equations of others. The daughter’s mother wasn’t talking about quadratic or cubic equations; she was referring to the human equation. Nevertheless, all […]

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To Be Appreciated

To Be Appreciated

Deeply ingrained in human nature is the intense yearning to be appreciated. As Mother Teresa said, “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” To be appreciated feels like our birthright, which is probably why we have high expectations. Feeling unappreciated tops the list of universal human complaints. We’ve all heard others lament, “They […]

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Masquerade

What a grand masquerade takes place on the great world stage! As Shakespeare pointed out we’re all mere players with entrances and exits. The masks we’ve chosen reflect the parts we play. With any luck we’ve also selected the parts—otherwise, they were probably hand-me-downs. Our mask has become the thing we always carry around with us; it’s our presentation—our storefront. […]

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Retrograde

We position our thoughts around three points—the past, the future and the present, which is tightly squeezed in between. A quirk of ours is to orbit around the past. Living in the past, we rehash, recreate and regret. Although the past makes us sad or even mad, it’s often preferable to the future, which usually makes us scared. There’s no […]

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Homeward Bound

The word “home” is strong, magical and filled with the power to invoke deep sensations. It’s an English word which is virtually impossible to translate into other tongues. No translation catches the associations, the mixture of memory and longing, the sense of security and the freedom from wariness that cling to the word. There’s no universal definition for home because […]

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Moving On

Movement is intrinsic to the cosmos. Every point in the entire universe is in motion. The Earth and planets continually revolve around each other, and the galaxy’s stars are constantly circling its center. We can see the rhythm of movement everywhere. Seasons pass into each other, seedlings sprout through soil, days turn into nights and beginnings flow into endings. Nothing […]

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Tick Tock

We are surrounded by time from the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we turn off the light at night. Time is a precious resource, like money, love and good feelings—the more we grasp at it, the more elusive it becomes. Time is a continuum measured by events kicked off with birth and ending with death. It’s […]

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Spring Forward

It’s time to come out of hibernation. Spring is here and it’s the season for movement. Look into the mirror that Mother Nature is holding up to you. See the reflections of the processes of growth, renewal and transformation in her infinite garden and in yours, too. Spring your life forward by applying the principles of spring gardening—a powerful metaphor […]

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Passion Where Art Thou?

Where has passion gone? Unfortunately, the misconceptions surrounding passion have relegated it to one of the “deadly emotions.” It’s not surprising considering the definition: emotions as distinguished from reason: intense, driving or overmastering feeling or conviction. We all want to be civilized, well-balanced and rational beings. So we try to steer clear of those ungainly emotions that drag us into […]

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Falling in Love

One of the great mysteries in life is the exhilaration that comes from falling in love. Every cell in the body vibrates with new love. The heart bursts with energy, the mind swells with dreams and the physical senses become heightened. No wonder we’re seduced by the magic of falling in love! Try something different. Flip the cliché “love is […]

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The Gift of Giving

Since the beginning of time, giving gifts has been an important part of human interaction. Gifts help to define our relationships and to strengthen bonds with family and friends. The list of occasions for gifts is long—birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, Valentine’s day, Mother’s/Father’s day, Bar Mitzvahs, Christmas, weddings…! Anxiety runs high—the “having to;” is it enough; will it be appreciated; and […]

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