Self-control, an important ingredient of success

I consider success as a right. If we look around, especially in nature, it is easy to see how successful all species are or try to be. For nature, even failure turns into success – a corpse becomes food, a drought makes room for other species to live in an otherwise very humid area.

For that, in nature, there are laws governing and making everything to happen. There is nothing illegal out there; no matter how strange it looks for us, if we don’t understand it is our fault. Any problem happens and Mother Nature adapts and all goes back to the normal flow.

Self-control acts similarly, helping the person to get rid of rubbish, either in mind or awareness, creating space for learning, which eventually will conduct the person into change and it is an extremely important part of claiming the right to be successful.

After all, there is no success without failure – the only aspect all successful people have in common. With self-control, that failure, problem or crisis turns into an incredible possibility of empowerment.

How to do it? Not repressing, but sensing the path to follow as there is always a North, a situation or a point where your potentials will be fully developed. Not forcing or pushing, but keeping South in mind, the source of your life, represented by your values and principles. Not cursing or weeping, but meditating on the East where the light you have chosen to enter in your life is; and don’t ever regret, but keep the West where logic and intuition coexist.

In this way you will reach your North in time…

Poverty in rich lands

It is impossible to miss the message in Queen’s least watched video (if not, one of the least…): Heaven for everyone. It states: This could be heaven for everyone...

No book can explain why at this time in History, with so much and so many available resources, why do we have poverty?

No matter how many countries seem to fight this sickness in the human spirit, it looks like more poor people emerge all the time. The worse is that many of these people come from very rich countries.

We may take the example of Ethiopia: it was reported very recently the plans for UNICEF to help more than 2 million malnourished children. And yet, in 2015 Ethiopia was been considered an economic miracle.

Experts argue their reasons, but Gandhi in his wisdom has stated once: The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not for every man's greed.

Ok, maybe greed is not the only thing, but it will certainly explain people who live in countries that are rich in resources, and still experience poverty in their lives.

The reason: poverty is more than lack of money – it is a lack imagination and creativity, reducing a human into a mere survivor.

When that is removed, at least in the level of the mind, a human rises and he or she can experience the wealth that is within and that will express itself in the form of physical wealth eventually.

Migration and the mirror of our society

The present big wave of migrants in all continents should not be a novelty… It has been growing and taking the present shape for a long time.

Its reasons are not clear, because there are many and they are very complex. The solutions are also not clear; as in any system, many times a solution can become cause of another reason…

By seeing these people leaving and fleeing their places to go somewhere else, I cannot stop thinking this is the real mirror of human civilization.

So, although we measure our success as how close we are to send someone to Mars or how wonderful is a new car model, these people scream in the ears of our conscience that there is something wrong going on. Very wrong.

What can I do about it? As an individual, I start checking myself and looking for those reasons – those same reasons that make people leave their places. They are as human as I am and if they are scared by something or have been suffering from something, it is possible that is also within me…

Perhaps I am not hungry, but the way I eat may become a problem for Earth at some point. I don’t think I am afraid of people killing me because of the way I dress, behave, speak or think; but discrimination is hovering over my head and I must learn how to deal with others without hurting anyone.

In this way, I eat a little less, a little better, or I am able to smile for a person I wouldn’t smile before. It is a small contribution, but for me is a big step to clean our shared mirror.

Is God part of your life?

Sometime ago, there was an intense campaign to declare that God was dead; the message was There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

However, I would like to propose the opposite to this message: God does exist, so stop worrying and enjoy your life. Well, almost the opposite…

It happens that many people feel themselves persecuted by God or religions that use His name to do whatever they have to do. The image of a judging God is very strong in the collective mind of millions, maybe billions of people.

However, that image coexists with the idea of a Creator – a very loving and merciful Creator, whose love was able to shape the universe.

And maybe – just maybe – it is more a question of which idea tunes with you.

For me, God is personal. I’ve left Him when I was 14 as I realized He would not change my life. A few years later, I’ve met Him again and I have been receiving so much from Him since then, my life is totally new.

If you are interested, my suggestion is for you to ask yourself: What do I really want God for and how do I visualize my relationship with Him? In this way, you may start to feel God is more than words or ideas; He is real, as real as you and me.