Confinement is changing our lives…and hopefully for good…

Lesson #1: freedom begins and ends in your mind
For many people it is difficult to be locked up. Some people have compared being at home as if they were in prison. The truth is: confinement is physical, not mental. You can have a small apartment or a very large house and still feel locked up. No amount of money or square meters will ever be enough to make you feel free if you don't redefine what freedom is. Freedom begins and ends in your mind until you want it.

Lesson #2: being productive doesn’t mean being in the office
It’s interesting to see what people understand by being productive. For most it is going to the office... even if they lose a lot of time in the office... the simple fact of being in the office is doing something. Why this happens? Because they equate being at home with resting, doing nothing or being sick. The truth is that home can be a place, a person; as it is being productive: it is not related to a specific place, nor does it depend on a schedule. Wherever you are, you can be productive.

Lesson #3: creativity is very powerful
Have you seen how children entertain themselves with simple things? If they don’t have their toys, they’ll find a way to use what is near them to start playing. Here is good news for you: that's how you were and you still have imagination. Go back to basics; not all your life has been accompanied by mobiles or social networks. Remember what you used to do when you were a teenager, how did you have fun? You can reconnect with yourself and with others by doing simple things. Put music and dance, watch a sunrise or sunset, write in a diary, take and see photos…looking back into the past can also remind you of what you have accomplished, where you have been, who have you been with and the blessing you have to be alive.

Lesson #4: live one day at a time
We have heard this many times: life is too short…but now that we are facing a pandemic, death can feel closer. This can be scary; generate uncertainty and unbalance our lives. What will you do after the confinement ends? Where will you go? Who would you like to see again? Make a list. What pending things do you have with other people? The good news: Today you can tell people how you feel. By living one day at a time and being at peace with yourself, you will bring balance and security to your life. When people have a clear life, without pending issues, there is no fear of the future. Live your life one day at a time.

Lesson #5: hugs and kisses are priceless!
This is the truth: we all need human contact. A hug, a kiss, have a great power… is that of connection; the sense of belonging, the feeling of being accepted and loved at its best. It’s about exchanging energy. If you don’t believe me think this: when someone is angry, what is their reaction? “Don’t touch me!” This is how we express that we don’t like or reject that person. When someone is sad, a hug given with love can make them feel great. This is the power that human touch has in all of us. After the pandemic ends, who are you going to hug and kiss?

Lesson #6: lack of time is an excuse (it’s proven)
If we all save time by staying at home, what's the excuse for not returning that call, answering an email or a message? None. People are used to excuse themselves by: I'm out of town, I'm on business lunch, I'm stuck in traffic... think of all the time you spend getting around; at business lunches, at the airport. How much time have you spent there? Now that you're home, what are you doing with your time? By now you could have caught up on the issues you had pending. But if you are still saying that "you are busy" ... I am sorry to tell you this ... it means that you are either a much disorganized person or that you have made the excuse of "being busy" as your lifestyle. Either way, it is highly unlikely that you will change. And the truth is that you prefer to say that you are too busy instead of telling people that you are not really interested, that you will not do what they are asking you, etc. What are you avoiding to confront?
This point extends to family: how many times have you said that you don't have time to be with your children, wife or husband? Now you have plenty of time! There are no excuses during the weekend or after finish working. So the question is: do you have time to be with your family or do you use the excuse of being busy for not to? And if the answer is the latter, ask yourself why. Because lack of time is an excuse for lack of interest. Yes, confinement is pushing us to face our real lives... and reveal who we really are.

If from confinement we don't learn to be better people... I really don't know what else we need to do it. And this is just a couple of lessons from what we can learn.

​It is time to fix our life: to order and balance it. Take control of who we are; appreciate life. And hopefully, whether we're still in confinement or not, we'll wake up smiling every day ... just because we are alive and happy.

How to stay happy? Here are some tips:

-Take up the simple things: Have you seen how a small child marvels at the sky? Or, how he can spend hours, entertaining on a swing? When he eat an ice cream? His happiness is notorious and authentic. And this is because he is living in the moment and is appreciating it. Give yourself time to observe what surrounds you. You can get inspired, laugh and even realize how lucky you are.

-Stop controlling: nobody, nothing, can control life. The only thing you can control is the response you have to what you live. So focus on improving yourself, on being a better person so that you have a better response to what happens to you. Release. Live and let live and you'll see that even lighter and quieter you will feel.

-Everything is about perspective: are you one of those who suffer because you don't have what you want? In this way, you'll never be happy! The reason: once you have what you want so much, other new things will come out and you'll always be in a circle where your happiness will be based on what you get. Learn to realize what TODAY you are and have. When you do, it will be easier for you to value it.

-Stop comparing yourself: if you do, tell me, to whom do you compare yourself to? Let's clarify something: what you see many times is made up, it's superficial, it's unreal. Social networks are perfect for living another reality; from our profile photo that can be from years ago or be retouched... to what is said to have been done. And if you compare yourself with what others have... a car, a house, travels... you never know how much those people are in debt or the unhappiness they live. Also, why compare yourself if you are unique? Exploit your qualities, focus on yourself and you'll be happier.

-Past: what you have lived, how you have done it, has already been, has already happened. It has no turning back. If it was a success; how wonderful!  And if it was a mistake; it made you grow. The opportunity you have is that from TODAY you can decide not to do it again. Your past is part of you; it has made you who you are. Give thanks for what you lived, release it and take it as a point of reference. It's up to you, that it is not in your future.

​2020 has already started. We all have the same amount of time; what will you do with it? Happiness begins and ends in your mind... so it's your decision.

The most common definition of legacy has to do with assets that one person will leave to another. But it also includes values. The legacy that each one of us will leave begins today with every action we take, in how we treat others. A smile, treat others with decency, listening, leaves a mark.

There is a story in which a man sitting in a bar started a conversation with the waiter who was cleaning the floor. The conversation started with general themes: weather, soccer, until family. The man sitting in the bar noticed that the waiter was experiencing more serious problems than his; so he did everything possible to know more detail. The waiter was very sad. His family life had been chaotic; he had no money, no desire to return home. He emphasized again and again that everyone else's life was much better than his. And he regretted about it.

Listening carefully, the man sitting at the bar answered: do you think that your life is the worst? Do you think you can beat us all? Look at this: and he moved. The man was disabled, using a wheelchair. Not only that, he had been detected of cancer. He didn’t know if he would beat the cancer or not, but he was sure of something: appreciate the joy of waking up every day.

The waiter was speechless. The man emphasized how lucky the waiter was. He could run... he had more sunrises. He had no pain; he had everything to keep going. His life could change just by changing his attitude. In short: he had more physical advantage than the man in a wheelchair.

The next day the man in a wheelchair met the waiter. The waiter was another: his sadness was gone and shine of happiness. The man asked: what happened yesterday to today? And the waiter answered: you. Yesterday before I met you, my plans were to commit suicide. Get out of work and throw myself on the train tracks. When talking with you my vision changed. With just having listened to me, you gave me hope again. Hope in me, in my life. For you I have decided to change my mind and live... live for me... live for you...

​What the man in a wheelchair left in the waiter is more than a lesson: it is a legacy. It is a succession... leaving another person a value. And this value was that of life.
And you, what legacy are you going to leave? 

We all know that our lives will eventually end. It’s the process of life, part of it. But we tend to forget it. It helps the increase of marketing ads and a society based on consumerism… “Buy it, you will be in fashion”. “Buy it; you will be part of us”. Promotion is based on exploiting the sense of belonging that we as human beings need. If you have it, you are part of the group of people who dress or have the latest fashion. Well done!

But that is not what you are going to take when you leave this earth. The only thing that you are going to take is what you lived. If you have lived your life wisely, you’ll know that when doing the right thing, when giving without expecting to receive anything in return, life, the Universe, gives you back twice as much as you have given. And the best part is that you leave a mark. You leave a mark on those you helped. You can’t imagine how much good you can do by just smiling at people. If a serious problem that human beings have is being accepted, by spontaneously smiling you can give joy to a person. “Someone talked to me…someone smiled at me…I am not transparent; someone cares”…

Most people who are dying ask either for forgiveness or express love. Love is the only feeling that transcends beyond life. If you don’t believe me, think of your loved ones who are no longer here. Even if you can’t see them, you still love them, right? By remembering them, they have something of you…they are brought back again to life by the love you still give them.

​Teach to give more love. Teach to differentiate love from control, possession or aggression. Because in the end, when you understand that the only thing you’re going to take when you die is what you live, it's when you start living what you want to take...

If I ask you: “what do you want in your life?” The most probable answer is a list of wishes…of things that you do not have. Very few people would answer: “to continue having a great health”…

We, as human beings, we tend to ask for what we do not have or want. And after we have it, we continue asking for more things. Is like an endless list of wanting…

Wanting is not bad. It is not bad if it does not lead you to be in discomfort on what you have. For example: you may want a better job, a different partner, other type of vacations. But if you compare them with your reality…you’ll get frustrated and be in discomfort.

The result: unhappiness and not living the moment, your reality, your life, as it should be.

Have you forgotten what you have right now? Think of this: are you healthy? Do you have a family? Can you afford to buy anything you want as a meal? Do you have a place to live in? Do you have a reliable friend to call when you feel bad, upset? Are your loved ones healthy?

If the answer to these questions is a “yes”, you can say that you are one of the bless people in the world. You have a great luck by being healthy, as your family and friends. You are blessed to have a roof, a bed to sleep. You are privileged to have the option to choose what you want to eat without limits… And you are lucky to have someone to talk to; either your family or friends, who are there when you need them…in bad moments or sharing the joy of great news.

​So next time you feel that there is an empty in your life…or you feel sad…ask yourself this: “Have I forgotten how lucky I am to be alive and surrounded by these circumstances?

We hear a lot about it, but what exactly is faith? Many people directly relate it to religion, when it is not like that. In basic terms: it is to have the certainty of what is expected. Faith is a principle of action and power. For example, when we have someone sick, we hope that everything will turn out well. We say and wish with confidence that this person will be well, because that is how we want it to be.

Or, when we determine that we want to reach an objective and we work on it in body and soul. There we are exercising faith, because we show our hope in something that we cannot yet see.

It is said that "faith can move mountains" and it is true. The firm belief that something good is going to happen is the most powerful affirmation that exists. Yourself push to make it happen because your energy, attitude, concentration, conviction, motivation is in it.

​Someone may question me: but why, even if I have faith, doesn’t the outcome is exactly as I thought or wanted? The answer is simple: life as our protective mother, will give you what you need in the way that is best for you. Keep in mind that things happen for some reason. So be patient because I'm sure that in a while you will know why things happened that way and not how you wanted or expected. Everything is for your protection and growth.

I’ve heard some people treat faith as if it was a commercial transaction: "if life gives me this, then I promise that"... no, that's not how it works. Faith is unconditional to any circumstance. A person who uses faith with conviction will end up getting what he wants and the best: he will increase his positivism in life and self-confidence.

Skeptics say that "you have to see to believe" ... and I say that those of us who have faith say the other way round: "believe to see"...

The first step to be happy is to accept yourself as you are. It sounds easy, but it is not.

Accepting oneself means saying: "Yes, I did it"... "Yes, that's the way I am" and in many cases we want time to erase what we did...hoping that moment has not been recorded to never remember it again... or we highlight something additional so nobody realizes who we really are.

But life is like internet: everything we are and do remains engraved. For better or for worse, there it is. And no matter how much we want to turn the other way around, do like it didn’t happen... the fact remains. Hence, accepting how you are requires courage and honesty to say: "That’s how I am."

If you find it hard to take that step, think: everyone, absolutely everyone (yes, even that person you admire) make mistakes, we lose our heads at some point, we say things without thinking, we fail in the goals we set, or in not repeating what we did. And we hide everything that shames us... that labels us as "not perfect" before the judgment of society.

But guess that? The most important step to accept that you are not perfect is to accept that you are unique. As each person is unique, the value of each one is immeasurable, because it is not repeatable. Accepting yourself it's an individual process that not everyone will witness, but we will see that freedom reflected in you.

So, get rid of all those charges you have. Of all those expectations that others expect from you. First of all, it is you.

​If you do not accept yourself as you are, no matter how much someone loves you or wants to be with you, he/she won’t have the true version of you. And if you really want to be accepted and loved as you are, then accept how you really are...