Did you survive until now?

Yes, you have reached February 2014. Amazing, is it not? Time flies very quickly in life, a new year celebration happens, many new year resolutions come too... and then, they are almost all forgotten.

Yes, life pace is quick, nobody has time to go and check and recheck what they are doing, so our resolutions, promises and commitments stay where we have created them...

But if you are still alive, and I am sure you are, then you have time right now to check your resolutions and to restart that process you start when you have made them.

Why don't we commit to what we propose? Why is it so easy to slip back towards old patterns and habits? After all, there is no doubt we do want to change and we want to be better...

There are two ways of seeing this situation. The first is quite biological: when we have habits, the patterns are literally there in our brains. That means we cannot change them, because they are part of our own body. The only way is to create another pattern and that can take a few years. This is why some people after suffering an accident that affects their brains are able to change patterns, habits and even personalities: their brain has changed.

The second reason is spiritual. Within the brain, awareness lives. We use our brain and body to express that energy, something we ourselves are. Habits and patterns come from that energy. If you work on your own self and if you change the way you see the world around you, naturally your patterns and habits will change from that consciousness.

In that case, the first step is the realization something you do is wrong or what it should be done instead, which brings opposite feelings like regret and bliss. At the same time, it starts to give you enough strength to implement a change in your life. That takes you to a second stage when you are able to start a change.

You will need lots of strength to change a pattern. Meditation, reflection and contemplation are normally the means to "recharge" the self in that process.

The good thing is that wonderful experience of being your own master and being able to really change the self at your will. And, of course, to fulfill your new year resolution...

The art of speech (The 16 celestial arts)

When I was a child, due to circumstances in my life, I was brought up by my grandmother. She was a Spanish woman, living from the age of 9 in Brazil, but still her Portuguese was never good which affected the development of my own way of speaking. In Brazil, these things are very serious and discrimination is harsh if someone does not speak at least a standard Portuguese.

A friend of mine helped me to fill the gap and soon I was speaking like a prince! I would become a real fanatic by the language which should be called Brazilian, since our Portuguese is very different (and more beautiful) than the original...

But, life has its traps and here I am, far from my own original and beloved language, which I enjoy by listening to songs and talking a few hours a year. More irony: the profession I have chosen is one where speech is a must.

As a business consultant, coach or author, I need to know how to express myself coherently and powerfully. I need to convince people in the audience, or clarify important concepts for them.

I am not arrogant; I know I don't really master Spanish. In fact, I am used to say that I speak three languages... all of them badly!

But, the art of speech is not about how perfectly you are able to communicate. It is not about beautiful words and the way you use them. It is not a contest...

It is the art of expressing whatever is happening inside you. Isn't it a wonderful thing? We have a whole world happening inside, a gigantic quantity of feelings, emotions, thoughts, experiences being processed, past and future desires... The art of speech is that fine art when you are able to channel that inner treasure. Besides that, you are able to contribute something to your audience, enriching them with your experience.

A tip: don't get caught into the words. Let the soul expresses itself freely. It doesn't matter if you are going to give a talk on global economy, how to take care of dogs or something very intimate to a friend - in all these cases, soul's energy will make the message much more powerful as words won't be just words but they will be a piece of your world.

The art of enjoying work and leisure (The 16 celestial arts)

Here I am... while writing this blog I watch people coming back from vacation.

Most of my friends post their great experiences by travelling and knowing different things around the world. But there is one funny thing about this coming back.

You know I live in Bogota and jokingly I say it is the only city I know the weather is psychological. That is right: if people are happy and full of joy, sun is shining; if people are grumpy, clouds, rains and even hail can happen. I live here for 20 years and I seldom saw a cloudy holiday... but when people start to work: clouds, rains, thunders...

Let's be honest: normal people don't like to work. Yes, people like to earn money or to use their skills. Some people find pleasure in helping others or cooking. But then we took all of that and we framed it with a label: WORK.

Work has become an antagonist in our lives.

• "Why are you so afraid?" "Well, you know, both my parents used to work all the time..."
• "Honey, I need to talk to you." "I just came back from work, give me a break, please..."
• "You can't stay like that, come on, call Jim right now and open your heart!" "No way, he is working, if I do that he will be so upset..."

I feel one of the beautiful things about being spiritual is the wholeness of your own self; you really can't dismember yourself into pieces and try to live happily with that. You are you, no matter if you are working, touring, cooking for your kids, enjoying the company of someone you love or meditating. You are you.

The art of enjoying work and leisure is the art of smiling, being happy no matter what, stay peaceful despite the situations and really enjoying life completely. When you allow yourself to be your own self, to be beyond any limitations, then you will be able to tolerate and live with all limitations. They will turn into good friends in your self-progress as human being.

And work won't be something hard and difficult that you don't like, but a part you want to play as it is part of your role in this world drama.

The art of learning and teaching (The 16 celestial arts)

We start to learn from the very beginning of our life, and we don't stop until our breath ceases.

However, sometimes that lesson we have learned is forgotten in the waves of life, as there are too many things happening around all the time. This is why teaching is important too.

Although teaching is the word, a more proper expression would be SHARING, because that is what teaching means: sharing whatever you have with others in such a way besides they receive it, they also imbibe it.

The trick behind teaching is: the more you teach, the more you learn. There is no doubt for anyone who ever taught anything how much they have learned through that.

The art of learning and teaching therefore is not only assimilation of new ideas, but it is also the capacity to transfer them and imbibe them even more. When you develop this art you will feel that you will ever have something new to learn, no matter your age or degree of knowledge...

The art of administration (The 16 celestial arts)

During a long time, we valued food, water and all that came from earth more than anything. People were considered rich because of how much land they had, not necessarily money... Later, mass-production turned into the main stream of our economy - we started to value a watch more than potatoes, even though we can't possibly eat a watch!

Not long ago, commerce and services took over. For some time, places which didn't produce anything but who were able to sell products well became famous around the world.

But then... I still remember when Microsoft, a software company that really does not produce anything you can eat or touch, became the most powerful company in the world, showing the last part of this Historical Economic Evolution: information is the most valuable thing in the world nowadays. The example of how people in poor countries skip a meal to be able to keep their cell phone working shows what we really value nowadays...

We are all on the inflection point of History... and we still don't know what will happen next. Many people has been prophesying it and we all know it is about to happen. Signs?

• People are trying to be simpler, going back to their original way of life.
• Organic food is a must! Nature is fashionable.
• Dozens of millions of people have watched the video "I forgot my phone" showing what is undeniable: people would love to forget their phone (cell, mobile, tablet, etc.).
• And, come one, your dream vacation place is not a city full of buildings, traffic and machines all around you... which indicates the preferences in your heart.

But before the big change happens, something we didn't realize has taken place. With all the economic changes, we really didn't let go of the past things. Different than what some scholars say about paradigm, when the new paradigm came, you held on the old one too.

So, your list of possessions is, I am sure, a very long one. Add to that intangibles like time and talents and you will have a book of possessions. Question is, how to manage all that?

Keeping success in your life relies on your capacity of administrating all you have, because everyone in this world has something valuable to another person who lacks it. It can be potatoes, or the capacity of making a chair, a sweet, or selling that to others and turning into money, or the capacity of creating a webpage, where people can exchange their talents...

Administration is an art. When it comes not from the desire to earn money, respect or fame, but from a genuine need or the desire to help others, or simply because you have that beautiful thing in yourself and you want to express yourself freely and openly, that means it comes from a different awareness.

Much of the success nowadays is based on that awareness. Look at the free stuff in internet, it is simply overwhelming. In fact, if someone just has the money for connecting and some hardware, he or she should be able to have all they need in terms of software for free. Because it comes from people who have so many treasures they don't mind sharing them with others...

Administration is not cutting or avoiding expenses. It is know how to use and spend whatever you have. The key is the authenticity you have inside.

Listen to your heart before spending money.
Listen to your heart before charging someone of something you have done.
Listen to your heart, and you will be an expert of this art.

The last of the forties

A friend of mine, about one month older than myself, posted a picture of himself tasting a cake for "the last of the forties".

Yes, with this birthday I will start to cross a moment in time that used to scare lots of people not long ago: I am 49 today, January, 12th. Next year, 4 will be replaced by 5... It is just a number, but a huge impact in life.

I know that according to many people, I should be very worried as my life is getting shortened. Birthdays are fun when you are young and full of energy; after that, they just remind you about the closeness to death.

But, as I write here, I really don't feel like that and I know the world is also changing. The world is "getting old" as many people put it, but I just say the world is changing...

First of all, people are not so much afraid of death as they used to be. In 2010, a survey in the United Kingdom shown that people feared most to BE IN DEBT. That is right... At the fourth position you can see something related to death, but not directly (crime with knife).

Second, economics show that older people more and more have all they need. If at some places in the past children had to sustain their old parents, it is not the present reality... In fact, many of them sustain their children who are going through one crisis after the other.

There is a third further point. A tradition of mine makes me wander around in the day of my birthday. So, I ended in a very interesting bookshop in Bogota, where I saw this not so exotic issue of The Economist, with a cover talking about the Age of Happiness, I think that was the title. In it, using its very complex language, The Economist shows the fact that after 50 years-old, people start to feel increasingly happy. And I think this is the key point.

The only thing to diverge in relation to that article is that it is not age as much as maturity that makes people sees happiness everywhere. Maturity enables you to be happy even though you didn't get your quota of recognition by others, or you just missed your favorite football match. And the magical thing about maturity is that you can get that anytime in your life. The funny thing about it is that it seems you never end getting mature... There is always margin to be more mature.

So, I reach this age very mature, and looking forward to increase that wonderful sense of maturity. I reach this age knowing I am much happier, healthier, more peaceful and more loved than I was ever in my life. I am aware I could be even better, but I am also aware I am much better than I've expected.

I embrace the fifties that are waiting for me a little ahead, and all that comes with it. Thank you, life, God and everyone for this wonderful opportunity. Thanks to myself for that too.

The art of leadership (The 16 celestial arts)

A friend of mine, who has written a couple of books on leadership or related topics, is very tired. He is tired about talking on leadership.

He says because it is a saturated topic. However, I think it differently because never as today we have been in the need of a leader, and to understand what leader means.

I feel the reason is that no matter what, leadership quality is still very low.

It is interesting. With all the knowledge we have and so much capacity in terms of resources in general, the world looks like it is in a blind alley - it got into it, but there is no way to exit...

The art of leadership is related to several aspects that can be developed easily:

• It implies leadership is not an exact science. It requires experimentation, lots of patience and perseverance to happen.
• To improve the quality of any art, there is a methodology. For instance, silence and study... To improve the quality of leadership, leaders need to go deeper in silence and study more about it.
• If you are going to paint, you need to know not only about colors, but its material. Leaders need to know the context of their own leadership, which means to understand their people, their lives, the organization, the market and the world in general.
• You won't have success if nobody buys your pictures. Who is going to buy your leadership? Or, as someone said, who bothers that you get up every morning?

The world needs lots of leaders, good quality leaders. I am sure you are one of them, so I hope these points can help you to refine your leadership.