Putting values aside...

Is it me thinking and probably imagining here, or Mr. Obama just guaranteed another term?

Let's see... intervention in another country (Lybia)... Osama bin Laden... and boom! The old recipe for a president to be renewed in the White House. Looking back, we can see with Mr. Bush a similar fact - perhaps this is why Obama's caricature is quite similar to the Bush's ones.

What about the reason he was named for the White House? That big change, a new USA?

It seems quite human nowadays to have values, pursue them, but put them aside when the time of decision comes. We could call it compromising your values, or negotiating with them.

But then, if you sell your values, what really remains there? Is it enough for others to trust you?

Deep thought is: did I compromise my values, perhaps sometimes?

Take care and think before electing anyone in these times of uncertainty.

The secrets of happiness

If I use the title The Secrets of Happiness, I am sure I could get a big group together to listen to my voice, my ideas and hope they would serve them.

However, what if I think there are only two ways (REALLY) to find out about those secrets?

The first path, I would call The Path of Resignation: you just GIVE UP, and enjoy the happiness of this moment. The world has enough to give you happiness, it is just a question of looking for it.

The second path, The Path of Effort, it is for those who did not GIVE UP, and are still trying to find a sublime happiness, something they won't lose ever.

If you have plenty of money, good health and a good shape (face, body, etc.), you are quite entitled for the first path - why to look for something you already have? However, it is good to remember that most of the things that give us happiness one day won't be there for us. And in a world with so many changes, to rely on something external is to rely onto something that is not going to be there tomorrow.

If you want to thrive for real happiness, there is always a good opportunity, considering happiness as something you already have, it is inside you. It is a spiritual approach, and it comes from a very disciplined mind, a good heart and a deep desire to connect the self with himself or herself, and with a Supreme Soul. However, sometimes it is very hard to keep that connection in a world with so many changes and things happening all over.

Maybe... just maybe... you can take as much happiness can come from outside, and you can still connect yourself with that inner happiness that will never end. I think it is possible. Also, along with this approach, you can think of yourself as a donor of happiness - when you access that happiness inside the self, just allow it to overcome you and spread all over the place, and when you experience the happiness the world gives you, just share with others, making them happier.

The Path of Happiness, comes from outside, comes from inside.

All good, all bad...

Reading is often a pleasure, but for me most of the time is a necessity. As a business consultant, still looking for THAT job, I need to be aware of all is happening around.

It surprises me, however, when I find things that look so interesting, but at the same time something is missing. One article in The Economist did the trick this time.

After reading it, I remembered something that happened to me a short time ago. One of my job opportunities is a work with people from a Eastern country. I was sent to a webpage that checks the culture of people and I was amazed when they said those people were just like Latin Americans. Talking to a friend of mine she said the same.

Wondering, I finally found a friend's son, who works as the only Latin American manager in a company that comes from that Eastern country - all other managers are from that country. And his comments were totally different. He gave me an approach that matched what I heard from other people.

By reading that article, I find the same thing. It seems people base their assumptions on one side only - in this case, on the perspective of people from those countries we call developed. So, they see those Eastern people, they see Latin American and they say, well, they are all the same!

Globalisation is creating an impact. In Colombia, where I live, I find NOBODY whose lives were not changed by that - either because they work in a company, or their relatives or friends left to live in another country. More strange is the fact the author mentions several Indian names and I don't know a place where the globalisation effect is stronger than that wonderful country.

I think that if you have to check the effectiveness of something - and I agree it is time to review globalisation - you should take all approaches, not only the point of view of a piece of land. And, by the way, I went to Spain and that is a country enjoying the effects of globalisation. Just open your eyes, nothing is all bad, nothing is all good.

Take care!

Is it a Hollywood movie?

Think about the movie you like most. Imagine some scenes, the music, dialogues.

Now, think about your own life. Any difference in that?

I feel movies (and other entertainment shows) are taking out the action of our own lives. Most people are starting to feel they live a bored life.

Few years back, a couple I've known "escaped" to live somewhere near Bogota, in a kind of heavenly place to start a new community of their own. First of all, they escaped from none - there was nothing preventing them doing that. Second, after a while they came back to the sweet boring comfortable life of a check at the end of the month.

In fact, your life is wonderful! My life is marvelous! Just see the greatness of it. It is better than a Hollywood movie, full of action. Each decision can change the whole scope of time, the whole universe.

Sit down and watch a little bit more your own life.

Take Care!

Lost or loose thoughts?

• I couldn't avoid... BroxZoosCobra's twitters were the best! Full of humour, at the same time took me into a nice tour around New York. It is still going on. I think INTERNET has become a wonderful way to know people with talent - whomever is representing the cobra is a great comedian. (or, you believe it was the cobra itself?)
• Now I have the "modern" passport. Some people are calling it electronic passport, but it is the same one (two pages more...), about 3 times more expensive and with smaller letters. No complain, however.
• Did you know life is always preparing you for something? My mind world map consists of very few countries where I would love to live, visit a few times or tour around. Korea is not one of them - my thoughts have always been in its neighbour, Japan (all my feelings for its people!). Anyway, a few years back I've met Ruth, an English woman who lived 30 years in Korea. Few years later, I've met a couple from Cartagena, Colombia, whose son was studying or working in Korea. About 2 years ago, I've met a young woman who was living in Brazil, guess where she was from?? Well, now I am about to kick off my first work of the year, with a company whose CEO is... YES! KOREAN! Then, I had all these people who gave me fascinating hints about the culture and people there.
• In relation to the former entry, I was just checking a webpage, http://www.geert-hofstede.com/. Although very professional, they say there that Korean culture is basically the same as Latin culture. Wrong, fellows! I am Latin and, no, no comparison with Korean. So, yesterday, when I was checking again on the Principle of Uncertainty, it confirmed my theory: you alter whatever you were observing. By watching each culture, people from this company they "changed" their culture.

Well, take care, see you soon!!!

Back to the New Economy!

Hi, sorry for the absence. Sometimes, my trips take to places where using internet becomes a luxury in many senses, but I am back to my present base.

Some years ago, I've got very interested in the topic of New Economy. It seemed to me quite exciting, really, a nice alternative to the communism/capitalism antagonism the world lived for many decades.

Then, it seemed it just disappeared in thin air, just like any other fashion. So, imagine my surprise when I saw those terms again... but, after a while, they merged into my mind again. But I started to notice many things around me.

First of all the present contradictions. Yes, if you an economist you could explain to me WHY USA HAS BECOME THE PLACE WHERE INVESTORS SENT THEIR MONEY, when that country was responsbile for the last (and many other) crisis in the first place. But, beyond your explanation, the fact we are living in this kind of economic limbo of New Economy, give me a very powerful idea: WHATEVER WE HAVE LEARNT IN THE PAST IS NOT WORKING ANY MORE.

That means, we all must learn different things in a different way. In a very different way. Can you explain why one of the most horrible songs uploaded in Youtube has become one of the most watched videos? Things are foggy.

So, I invite you to learn and teach different things in different ways, so that our human brotherhood can thrive successfully through the sometimes-dark waters of change.

46 and very, very happy!

At some point, I have commented about the media, and one interesting case is The Economist. During an age where people are get so used to blog style (short and sweet), it is incredible a magazine with so many articles and written in such a depth (I also commend The New York Times, but that is for another post).
In the day of my 46th. birthday, I have stumbled upon an old issue which talked exactly about that age. A joyful Santa Claus jump over a hill and the wonderful title almost forced me to purchase that magazine (The joy of growing old, or why life begins at 46).
I always prefer to read from INTERNET, where I am the master and I can choose what I want to see (skipping all publicity). But that magazine, found at that special day... well, I don't believe in coincidences! It was a gift for me from life itself. Or from God. Whoever sent it, I thank Him/her/etc.
You can read the article, so I won't spoil your own pleasure. I am here to talk about that kind of interesting happiness.
I am not sure it is linked with age. I have been like that for about 10 years already, so this 46 number is not working properly. A few years ago, I've stopped to worry (but I still get concerned, no perfection yet) and I have seen many of my old traces of personality being changed.
I think it is not something physical. You cannot explain that with money or age, or statistics. It is something very internal that has to start from a different perception of the self and a deep love to learn.
I feel I have both. Every time I find I am a different person. I find myself in the same situations of the past, but with a different twist in my own mentality, attitude and awareness. Spirituality for me was the key to develop that part. So, although I am happy to know countries like Bhutan, France and the UK are interested in measuring well-being, still I feel you have to go even deeper than that. Sometimes, people think they are happy and you realize it is the weather that is sunny, or this person got a new job. Real happiness exists, no matter what, and it is a powerful very helpful inner resource when things go wrong.
Also, I feel it is important to measure the ability people have to learn, whether we talk about new skills or new ways to use old things in one's life. Very few people really learn. Sometimes it can look as a capacity, but my experience is that learning comes from a deep desire within. When you want to learn and you are open for that, then naturally you start to access the depth of your own being. And there, inside yourself, you find a kind of happiness that does not link with the outside world.
What about you? Are you happy???

A wonderful year for you!