Inspiration
Articles to inspire authentic living on the topics of resilience, spirituality, and self-growth with touches of storytelling, depth, and humor.
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The Connection Jackpot
With my heart as complete as it was, feeling extremely lucky for the beautiful relationships that surround me, I got to reflect on the kind of connections that feed my soul. Because let’s be honest, we may have tons of friends, but not every tie makes our heart swell. So, what are the criteria? What makes an acquaintance move from “yes-you-are-fun” to “I-am-a-different-person-because-of-you”? What makes us want to go the distance to cultivate a relationship?
Maybe this will be the theme of this year for me, but I want to spend more time with meaningful people. I just don’t have as much energy to stay in places that don’t elevate me or support me.
How do I define who those people are worth keeping close to?
Rules of friendship
There is a cure for every disease, sometimes it arrives too late or not strong enough but independently of the results, we know there is something else that could have be done differently. In the world of heartaches there seems to be an infallible cure: the contact with true friends. For some time now I had questioned a lot the meaning of friendships, especially since I tend to gravitate to fewer meaningful relationships rather than a tide of social acquaintances.
Being forced to redefine my “amigos” (something I am very thankful for), I started asking myself what is that makes a true friend, one of those that we call in time of crisis and are the first ones to hear our great news, those that call you the moment you are thinking about them and those for whom you drop whatever you are doing to run to their sides when they need you. Because life sometimes has very strange ways to teach us, in my moment of greatest doubts in this topic, I have had the opportunity to spend time either in person or by phone with those handful of friends who belong to the inner circle or my trust, most of them traveling thousands of miles to generously give me the wonderful chance of a share wine, dinner or even a few days of great company.
Of Science vs Magic and tribal encounters
There is a saying that states “find your tribe, and love them hard.” If they make me think deeply, raise my spirit and make me laugh, they are my kind of people. I do not take for granted each of our encounters. This was a weekend full of beautiful get-togethers. Last night, our very diverse “tribe” got together for our annual Christmas celebration. I won’t deny that a few Tito’s and homemade coquitos later we were having lots of fun. I know it because my eyes started crying the way they do when I am laughing hard. In this particular group there are doctors, lawyers, artists, agnostics, religious followers and low-key “witches”, which helps transform every conversation into a diverse ground of interesting ideas and points of view. In a split of a second, the conversation turned from rules for our gift exchange to a deep topic: Science vs. Magic.
Being raised in a house by doctors, researchers and a self-taught computer coder, science was discussed regularly. However, my parents could discuss medical findings during Sunday lunch with the same passion that they shared holistic techniques and the power of believing in the extraordinary. That was a perfect ground to allow my analytical brain to reconcile with my highly intuitive, artistic soul. In other words, growing up we never had to favor one above the other, something I am beyond grateful for.