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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Alfonsina Betancourt Blog

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Eternal search for transcendence
Spirituality Spirituality

Eternal search for transcendence

I have always been astronomical conscious. I love sunsets, sunrises (although I am more of a night owl), stargazing, looking for the moon, and finding shapes in the clouds. There is a particular mystery that involves seeing from afar and at the same time feeling wholly taken by the grandeur of nature. Looking at the sky is a humbling experience; something so powerful out there reflecting our inner world. For me, it has always been the space where science, magic, beauty, and spirit collide.

Maybe the desire to look through my window and commune with the elements has shaped my connection to the Universe. Very rightfully, it has inspired the work of poets, guided adventurers, and even initiated religious and scientific chapters since the beginning of humankind. Or perhaps it is that when you are a dreamer and romantic, it is easy to remain connected to something as far away as a star and still feel like it influences you.

Two events in the last week have made me want to untangle the role of the astronomical world in my spiritual development.

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Catch and Release
Spirituality Spirituality

Catch and Release

Through my adult eyes, fishing has become a great source of life metaphors. And because I could not let the lessons pass, I started finding analogies between the art of fishing and an area of my life that continues to be my savior and my quickest ticket to confusion and sadness at the same time. Fishing, I have found, has a lot of parallelisms with intuition.

Both fishing and intuition require an act of faith. We can’t see what is underwater or what can come swimming in our direction. However, the true fisherman remains loyal to his belief in the ocean’s abundance, regardless of what can be seen at the moment.

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When the universe listens

When the universe listens

It never stops amazing me how when we are in tune with our souls the universe echos our desires and dreams.

Growing up, I was lucky to have learned to loose myself in prayer. In those moments I felt in total communion with God and I learned to listen. I never asked for much in particular, mostly because I realized soon enough that sometimes what we ask for is not in our best interest. So prayer was always a time to feel the love rather that a plethora of requests.


It was not until my late adolescence that I understood that what I called prayer was really a form of meditation, a practice I have kept until today. This days my practice has evolved to include more listening, more presence and more gratitude. However, I had just recently started asking the Universe for answers. I have found that when I ask for specific signs as answers to my questions, the Universe becomes incredible generous and presents clear messages as loud as thunder. The more specific my requests, the more clear the answer. No, I am not asking for lottery wins or material goods to satisfy the ego. I am asking for simple things that help me get awareness or enrich my life and the one of those that surround me.

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When the blaze comes

When the blaze comes

This morning, NPR News presented a segment about the first year anniversary of devastating wildfires in California. They presented the facts, talked about the eighty-five victims and interviewed a survivor whose house was completely floored by the fire.


The man was talking about how hard the whole process had been but that he was happy to report that one year later the foundation of the new house where the old one used to be was finished. He and his wife were replicating the house exactly as it was.


And that kept me thinking...

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The trail of kisses

The trail of kisses

How many books, podcast, retreats, meditations, therapy sessions, friends advice do we need in order to find ourselves? It seems we are always searching for who we really are, what is our soul’s maximum potential and what makes us unique and special.


Recently, it took a child’s drawing to enlighten my path on where to keep looking. I should provide a small disclaimer to explain that this certain child tends to find witty, quick solutions to problems he may have caused. And so, I am still trying to evaluate if his intention was to melt my heart or offer some spontaneous, important insight. 

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Snoozing problems away
Spirituality Spirituality

Snoozing problems away

There have been three moments in my life where I have seen this deviation tactic used with such skillful talent. In two out of the three occasions the story did not have a happy ending.

The first time was more than two decades ago. We were riding on a overnight train from Salzburg to Florence. My husband and I were on a cabin by our own when suddenly, after a stop in Venice, a large group of gigantic prostitutes got on with their wigs bleached, their spandex micro-skirts. Three of those enter our cabin and sit near the door. “Dormi, signorina,” the leader of the pack kept telling me while they held the door close. Suddenly, the carabinieri came in and the three women pretend to be asleep. The policeman had no patience and kept telling them that pretending to be asleep was not going to work. After a few moment when we hardly breathed, the three women stood up and ran out of the cabin. The policeman entered the following cabin where the same plot was reenacted, but at that time, the three prostitutes stood up and surrounded the carabinieriwith their 6fttall bodies and started punching him. Reinforcements were there a minute later and the train suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere, where we saw a group of at least twenty women of the night being kicked off among shouts and a ton of bad Italian swears.

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What my favorite knight taught me about sand castles
Spirituality Spirituality

What my favorite knight taught me about sand castles

The joys of summer! The sun, the warmth, the lazy days, the sound of the waves, your feet in the sand, a good book on your lap. This is accurate as long as you don’t have a small child with you. In that case, the book never makes it out of your beach bag, the sound of the waves get filtered and you don’t only have your feet in the sand, but part of your body while you are digging for shells and rocks.

I am sure there is a saying out there that mentions that "once an artist, always an artist.” So when I am trying to suck up the beauty of summer at the beach with my youngest child, the artist in me takes over. I delight on the colors and the shape of the waves, I feel the air on my face and the roughness of the sand on my skin. I also feel the itch to do something with my hands; that irresistible and unavoidable call to create. First I want to sketch but I know my son’s idea of fun does not include that. Then I start seeing the pendants that I could make out of shells, but practicality takes over and I abandon the idea soon after. However, there is an activity that satisfies my creativity appetite, helps me build memories with my boy and gives us both hours -who I am kidding? minutes- of entertainment. Let me introduce you to the ancient art of building sand castles.

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The art of setting free

The art of setting free

Recently, I had a very interesting conversation with a woman from India. She is a very lively, entertaining person and the conversation, besides offering lots of opportunities for a good laugh, was filled with interesting and thought-provoking topics. At one point, she mentioned how her father died a couple of years ago from a chronic illness. I immediately said I was sorry, and I was, I am kind of familiar with that feeling. But she interrupted me with her incredible candor to say a word that was new for me but it resonated in my brain and my chest with the echo that important words carry…

“Moksha.”

Although my daughter makes fun of me because according to her I am buddhist-wannabe and for being a yoga aficionado, I had never heard that word.

The woman, with the same lightness she used when mentioning her kids’ anecdotes, explained the concept. She mentioned that her dad had moved on and in doing so he had been set free from his disease. At the same time, he had liberated his family of the responsibility of taking care of him while he carried the chronic illness, something they did out of the immense love they professed him. They were bound to his disease because of love. He was set free, emancipated from pain and that was a good thing. Moksha…what a beautiful, complex and selfless concept.


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I wished upon a star....and I discovered magic

I wished upon a star....and I discovered magic

Looking at the stars: one of the favorite pastimes of my childhood. There was something always so incredible enchanting about it. That sense of us being so little among the universe, the fact that it always changed and at the same time remained eternal and universal. I could not even count the amount of hours I spent looking for a shooting star or a comet with the sole intention of making a wish, because it seemed that that rare appearance could only symbolize that something special was about to happen. Growing up we lived in a hill on the outskirts of a big city with the gorgeous view of The Avila, a mountain that at approximately 9 thousand feet high offered constant Kodak opportunities. But the best part of our location is that the altitude and the fact that it was far from commercial areas or highways offered a privilege point of view of the celestial map.

One day my mother brought home an astronomy book that I took possession of without even asking. I loved learning from the constellations, started recognizing the patterns. By learning the names of some of the stars I got intrigued by their mythological origins and that is how my love for Greek Mythology was born. Now that I think about it in retrospect, what drawn me into Mythology were the stories, the characters how it showed something universal about our human nature in a very magical setting.

Although long gone are the days when I though I needed to write a compilation of Greek mythology books and I don’t look at the stars with the same frequency, there is something still so incredibly moving when I look into the sky and see that stars in all of its glory. It is almost like a call to forget my mundane existence and blend with the universe.

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Coincidences

Coincidences

I love how the universe works and never leaves a thread loose....

While I have spent several hours in the studio lately trying to finish my latest painting, I have been going through several audiobooks. Today, half an hour before I had to put the brushes down I decided to start another one, “synchrodestiny” by Depak Chopra. I smiled when ten minutes into it I heard a quote that had appeared on the last chapter of the book I had just finished. Coincidence? Perhaps.

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Flexibility vs Balance

Flexibility vs Balance

About eighteen years ago I went to my first yoga class. At that time, the instructor was a very wise woman in her seventies. She would read very inspiring stories during savasana. One day she made a comment that has stuck with me for years. She said that we are either flexible or have good balance but it is difficult to have both.

I have since raised the question many times of what I am. Without a doubt I incline more towards flexibility. I am not Elastic Girl, but I do notice that I tend to be able to stretch more than I would expect was normal for someone with my lack of experience. However I am that student that in more difficult poses always falls. As I am trying to improve my practice I have been questioning what I could do to at least not fall as much, provoked by a low-key sense of embarrassment and annoyance (the ego, the ego, I know!)

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The loving eye
Spirituality, art Spirituality, art

The loving eye

Las year I had the wonderful opportunity to study with one of my favorite painters, Antonio Lopez Garcia (b. 1936 in Tomelloso, Spain) for the second year in a row. This exceptional artist with his eighty-three years-old wisdom, opened my eyes in a very dramatic way. It literally felt as if he had drilled through the cement glasses I had been wearing. His poetic words and his guidance guided me through the beautiful path of relearning how to see, not only as an artist but as human being.

According to Zen Buddhism, I experienced what is called “Beginner’s mind.” It involves casting away all our preconceptions to see the world with renewed openness and eagerness as if we were learning something for the first time, as if were curious kids whose brains want to absorb the world around them. Despite all the years I had been painting before I was able to attend Antonio Lopez’s workshop, the experience taught me more than any other class, book or practice hours in the studio.

From all the knowledge, my favorite lesson was to learn how to observe the world with mindfulness, with care. After a few days, I felt as if I was in love with the world in a way I had never been before. The sun was beautiful, the clouds, the gentle rain, the leaf that fell at my feet, the amorous manner in which an older couple walked holding hands, the particular way my soul vibrated while listening a song, the shared laugh with friends. I was not passing through life, I was living. I started appreciating the beauty in all the things we usually overlook: the uneven pavement, the cars stuck in traffic, the sad face of a cashier.

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