QUÈ PENSA UN MITJÓ REAPAREGUT? (CONVERSES AMB MITJONS)

La mirada adreçada a un mitjó acabat de trobar i que agafem per una punta (inici o final, és indiferent) acostuma a ser sostinguda i va ben maridada amb una pregunta retòrica: On havies estat? Cap mitjó ha respost cap pregunta (i molt menys aquesta) fins la data actual. I ara tampoc ho farà, és clar. És el nostre estat d’ànim i l’actitud que ens predomina en el moment concret allò que determina la resposta hipotètica del mitjó. En dies positius, el mitjó (Subjecte Tèxtil) adquireix una personalitat juganera o potser fins i tot hi veiem cert desempar i ens desperta llàstima. En dies de mala lluna, en canvi, el Subjecte Tèxtil esdevé una criatura malèfica que es proposava fer-nos la guitza i que ha provocat la pèrdua o desaparició del seu company.

La realitat es modifica quan li concedim certa personalitat o entitat pseudo-humana a determinats objectes, quotidians o no. És un pas per valorar-los, tot i que hauria de servir per ser conscient del cost de la seva adquisició i el valor de la seva utilitat. Hi ha, no obstant això, el nefast perill de venerar-los o de crear-nos ídols (fet ben perillós si pel mig hi ha el valor de marca).

Més enllà de l’esmentat valor que podem atorgar a costos i utilitats hi ha l’exercici de prendre consciència del moment, del present, de la nostra posició i del rol de tot allò que ens envolta (o de què ens envoltem). Parlo del concepte de “mindfulness”? Doncs sí. Però també hauria de fer el salt mental per referir-me a la vacuïtat. És possible també observar fixament el mitjó retrobat, fer-li les preguntes pertinents, i acabar en un estat meditatiu que ens porti a copsar la vacuïtat. 

POSITIVELY PICKY

I thought about different moments and contexts after reading some posts on creativity and variables affecting it. It seems (see links below) that those we are surrounded by affect us....i.e. if they’re creative and productive, we’ll be prone to be creative and productive as well (I guess it might not really work well with those with a lazy nature and no interest in creativity...I guess). It happens for sure too with motivation.

At work...

I have many good memories from the years working as consultant. I felt lucky to be working in teams with productive and motivated people. The atmosphere in general was very positive and we were eager to help each other. I couldn’t really (still I can't) understand when friends and relatives told me about bad atmospheres and relationships at their workplaces....why do some "enjoy" acting in conflictive and lazy ways and having negative attitudes?  Unfortunately we can’t really choose the places we end up working at nor the people we’ll share many hours with. But what if we try to be the positive variable, the positive influence (the motivator, the enthusiast, the creative one)...no matter if we end up being some kind of outsider or the odd one out?  I firmly believe in what the articles I read say and I believe in positive features and attitudes being contagious. Besides, if I feel I'm doing something right, social acceptance is secondary. It should be something secondary if we're acting towards improvement for all.

Personal relationships....

Many kinds of relationships and many people come to my mind. Some people remained somewhere in the past, some other relationships changed, some others came back. Nothing is mathematical when it comes to personal relationships and it makes little sense (or none?) to rationalise them, since emotions lie on their basis. I’ve always preferred quality over number and those who know me know that I wouldn’t be a facebook enthusiast nor would boast about how many contacts-friends or whatever I might have.

Back to the influence of those among us in our productivity and creativity, I’m really sure that I’d rather avoid those who might bring me to stagnation, to “plain” and “shallow” conversations, who are full of prejudices or who just don’t “think forward” and ask themselves questions.  It might sound like I’m a demanding and picky person but I just know that those sort of personalities would do no good to me. They are likely to make me feel bad (emptied, useless, numb, lethargic) and sad (somehow, as the consequence of those feelings I just mentioned). I need challenges, getting the most of the short term and learning always new things, and questioning things and that applies also to my personal relationships. And sometimes I end up feeling ok after some people fade away in the past or some relationships change just because it means that some negative effect goes away.  Ah...and it’s not related with being a well educated person....it’s all matter of attitude.  I admired one of my grandfathers, who had always a particular sense of humour, thought about possibilities and improvement, accepted challenges, and so on. He just didn’t go to university but was an intelligent and clever person who managed to grasp reality in a particular way. ..and spread something positive affecting other people’s attitude, motivation, productivity.  

It's good to be positively picky. Yes.

Some links on the topic:

--Being Around Smart People Makes Us More Innovative | Psychology Today

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-the-next-einstein/201309/being-around-smart-people-makes-us-more-innovative

--Why Your Friends Shape Your Happiness, Creativity, And Career | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

http://www.fastcompany.com/3021184/leadership-now/why-your-friends-shape-your-happiness-creativity-and-career

--Why Our Creativity Depends On Who Surrounds Us | The Creativity Post

http://www.creativitypost.com/business/why_our_creativity_depends_on_who_surrounds_us

ORDINARY LIVES REACHING DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS

Talking with a friend about movies made me remember scenes from classical Japanese movies. I didn’t expect to be exchanging opinions with somebody about Ozu Yasujiro’s movies and, in general, Japanese cinema in the 1950es. I remembered some characters and the atmospheres portrayed. I kind of liked the aura of simplicity that transcended the story, as well, as some kind of beauty that scented the daily lives of the characters. I wonder if the same stories, filmed in western culture settings would have been the same. I don’t really think so.

Then, these days the media talk about Tokyo Kazoku (東京家族) in cinemas. This modern film, by Yamada Yoji, was described as a remake, very positively by many critics (and not so positively by others, obviously). It all made me think again about the feelings mentioned above. Even though the action takes place in modern Tokyo, I do believe there’s still something that can reminds us of the atmospheres and characters in the classical Ozu movies. I sort of idealise the 1950es simplicity in general because, from today’s perspective, people seemed to give a different value to things and to other people. True... Societies  back then were much more conservative, but there are many precious things beyond conservative-liberal values (much more beyond prejudices, inequality, discrimination, etc.) which are hard to find nowadays in the way we treat things and people. Those old movies brought always to my mind the expression “物持ちがいい”　(ものもちがいい, mono mochi ga ii), which refers to handling and keeping something carefully.  I’d say that there’s some of it to be found in the film by Yamada...but there’ll be for sure a lot that reminds us of rush-throw when useless-replace-violence-shallowness coming from the younger characters and the westernization since the context is radically different. Would Ozu have kept the essence of his films if he was to film something nowadays? What a hypothesis. I guess I’ll end up watching Tokyo Kazoku...

L’AMPLITUD D’ONA, LES CRISIS I TROBAR RODES ADIENTS

Fa no gaire vaig encetar un llibre preciós, Absolutely Small, de Michael D. Fayer, sobre física quàntica explicada per a no avesats en la matèria i defugint l’ús de formulacions matemàtiques complexes....Clar, això no vol dir ni que el llenguatge sigui planer ni que sigui senzill. SI quelcom és complex en la seva essència, aquesta qualitat romandrà encara que fem servir unes altres paraules.

Les explicacions sobre les ones (en totes les seves variants) m’ha fet pensar en l’aplicació del concepte d’amplitud d’ona als cicles econòmics. Quant de temps entre punts àlgids de l’economia d’un estat i els punts més crítics de depressió-crisi? Es tractaria d’una amplitud d’ona expressada en anys. No m’aventuro, però a pensar en la freqüència i a extreure’n conclusions relacionades amb el sistema econòmic capitalista i les seves dinàmiques. És potser un tema en què pensar més aviat quan hi hagi bonança econòmica. Potser.

Havent llegint un article a La Vanguàrdia sobre patinadors nocturns per la jungla urbana vaig recordar la sensació d’esdevenir lleugera anant sobre rodes en moments d’inèrcia i els instants en que l’equilibri queda suspès en un canvi de postures i de forces. Impuls-moviment, impuls-moviment. Res no sembla constant i en la lleugeresa del cos sembla esvair-se la pròpia dimensió física mentre les ones dels cicles de l’economia segueixen el seu curs. Sobre rodes, un cop agafat l’impuls pot ser més fàcil anar de la part baixa de l’ona fins un altre punt àlgid. Cal trobar les rodes adients, les que millor ens funcionin o que millor s’ajustin a les nostres característiques físiques i no físiques. S’hi troba també l’equilibri per no caure, i endavant.

ALGORITHMS ARE HERE

Having studied and read quite a lot about SEO I ended up trying to figure how its philosophy transcends marketing and computers. Optimization is always welcome and it’s linked to much better outcomes when it’s done without tricks or doubtful methods.  

Beyond search engine algorithms, there are other hidden algorithms in the analogical world. We change and so does life’s algorithm. In this case it’s also better that it keeps being kind of unclear, mysterious. Just having some hints about what matters to it to bring us some or other results, is enough. As in SEO and Google Panda, Google Penguin and more recently, Google Hummingbird, it’s better to focus on doing things right, focusing on what we aim in a honest way, doing things right and ethically.

Yes...algorithms can be beautiful and priceless since they can make things better and make us thrive and also get positive results.

川の流れのように...*

No sabem com pot ser el corrent del riu quan ens hi hem de tirar, quan l’hem de travessar, quan l’hem de contemplar, quan l'hem de vorejar...Tot flueix. Savi Heràclit...

Per què arribar a caure en el parany de pensar en arguments o plantejaments basats en un llarg termini inherentment difús i incert o de donar les coses per suposat si fa temps que no s'hi acaba de creure? Millor sempre centrar-se en un present sòlid amb actes, les conseqüències dels quals siguin positives i profitoses per qualsevol mena de futur, bé sigui immediat, bé indefinit (o un llarg termini plantejat en clau d'hipòtesi). A més, es perd molt si es perd la consciència del moment present i del fet de ser-hi.

Agafo ben fort la meva coherència en un dia de núvols i de grisor omnipresent...Som-hi endavant!!!

*cançó que dóna nom al títol a aquesta entrada: kawa no nagare no you ni (fluir com un riu), de Misora Hibari.

REMOVE THE LABEL

Never black and white.
Features blend. Be creative

The space they lived in as well as the air they breathed were prone to some sort of stagnation. Lacking some inputs from the world outside, too quiet in a holiday-mood period of time, their selves saw something else at the mirror.

Our human nature leads us usually to routine and sometimes, unexpectedly, after some time unconsciously facing ourselves with reflections and different perspectives, things have to keep changing. It could be tiding a room differently, buying a new and very unexpected item, trying something new in a meal, cutting (or getting cut) our hair....or more radical changes such as moving or looking for a different job or career.

I do believe that being labelled erodes us somehow. It might be comfortable to have everything and everyone around us perfectly labelled so as to be able to know how to act and know what to expect. Our self is dynamic, not static and our changing throughout life collides with the label the others assigned us and also with that one we chose for ourselves.

STRIVE, REMOVE LABELS, SHINE

Break it down!!! Is it that necessary to be that labelled? It requires a lot of flexibility and having a “brave” self, capable of applying creativity to its position in the world and to its relationship with others. Not everybody will understand some sorts of flexibility and relativism because it means “breaking” the mental schemes (labels) the others see tied to other people. It might be a bit tiring to try to explain the creative change and the creative fitting and balance between situation-world-self and we might end up giving heuristical explanations based on describing some sort of different label.  But after all we’d have gained a precious space of freedom and harmony through creativity and finding a better fitting for our self and society. We’re empowered to do more things than we might be aware of and balance is possible.

SHARING AND TOGETHERNESS (PLACE AND MIND)

downtown (Granollers, V. Oriental)

Yesterday, 11th September (the Diada), walking around Granollers with a friend I spotted a building hosting the offices of 2 "pretty opposite" political parties: Ciutadans and SI. How might be their daily life sharing that building? I think the elites are much less democratic than citizens and small representations and delegations of parties. It's people who are rather moved by feelings, by belongingness to a collective or a society and it's people who really deal with real problems in any country. And thus it should be citizens who, empowered, manage to change things. It was on the occasion of La Diada that people displayed a shared feeling of belongingness to a collective, to a society and to an identity. I did like the romantic side of such a collective action as was the Catalan Way (I found it beautiful and awe inspiring), even though I can't be any kind of nationalist (I rather focus on non-attachment and becoming a bit more selfless and less linked to any identity). Internationalism has also a romantic side but it's somehow less compatible (I'd say) with human nature and nowadays proneness to focus on the self and personalization of whatever might be customizable. Well, I'm talking about western culture countries in general.

Ah...but there's a nuance of internationalism within any nationalism in the sense that people from any place are prone to feel attached to a sense of belongingness to a culture, to a nation. We're all social creatures and need to some extent some kind of approval and "haven" from our peers. I know I can't deny I belong to a society and a culture, but I can't go beyond that and have nationalist or belongingness feelings. Facts on the one hand and subjectivity on the other hand.

CUINAR SENSE CADÀVERS I LA CREATIVITAT

El fet que resulta més agradable i divertit cuinar per d'altres i el fet de comptar amb algun entusiasta de la cuina vegana (great, Marcel!) i els experiments culinaris m'han portat a engrescar-me i provar de fer nous plats...i afegir interessants opcions als menús quotidians. Les possibilitats de la cuina vegetariana i vegana semblen realment infinites i s'aconsegueixen àpats realment interessants, complets i molt vistosos. Diria que cuinar veganament potencia molt més la inventiva i porta a un procés creatiu apassionant.

Primer van ser els daifukus...vam provar (en Marcel i una servidora) primer amb pasta de mongeta negra dolça ja feta i després ens hem atrevit amb anko. Tanmateix, l'anko casolà endolcit amb estèvia no va quedar gaire dolç, gust positiu per a mi (que no sóc gens llaminera) però insuficient per d'altres.

Després les hamburgueses a partir de tofu, flocs de civada i xampinyons...i, partint de tofu, una salsa tipus tofunesa.

Voltant per les opcions de la cuina d'altres països, vam optar per la mexicana...fajitas i burritos amb "tortillas" casolanes. 

I una de les meves receptes favorites ha estat el formatge vegà, especialment la segona versió, amb més gust de pebre negre i sense fruits secs (però amb més pasta de miso i una mica més de Marmite).

Bàsicament no segueixo les receptes fil per randa i adapto els ingredients als que puc aconseguir i als que tolero (res de ceba, per exemple).

El darrer experiment ha estat kimchi (vegetarià) de col, sense all ni ceba...

INTUITION, SERENDIPITY & CO.

They work in most fields and situations and can be really useful. But those lucky ones who have both intuition and often come across with serendipity won’t be able to measure or prove them, at least beforehand. It’s a bit like having a good taste or being able to see everything creatively. ...or being prone to find right things or surprises by chance.  Both in personal and professional life can all these be really important and useful but can’t be thought, even sometimes it can be read about techniques and strategies to boost some of them or to try to “force” oneself to meet them.

USES:

• Finding the right place or being sure about the right moment for something
• Knowing that something is heading toward the right direction and will work
• Choosing things that match
• Being able to see unexpected but good solutions or alternative

Being intuïtive, being prone to serendipity and chance, being creative...all positive but they can make one feel frustrated since they're hard to defend. Maybe just other intuitive and creative people will be able to notice those qualities. 

SUN RIVER AFTERNOON

It’s possible to create parallel dimensions just for us and for our theories.

We can belong to wherever we want to.

***

There wasn’t anything above us but we pretended to see something up there.

Aren’t we free?

Don’t we have a bondless imagination together?

Isn’t our own dimension flexible and expandable?

***

Parallel and synchronized creatures next to a river on a sunny spring afternoon,

Grey high-heeled shoes and dark violet pantyhose do go with t-shirts with metal band names.

Some other day we became outsiders and also foreigners.

COM ÉS QUE NO ENS CONEIXÍEM?!

Com amb tantes altres coses positives, la casualitat em va dur a descobrir el Fiat 600 Multiplà. Em va sobtar no haver tingut notícies abans d’aquesta criatura de l’automoció bàsicament per la popularitat del model de base, el Fiat 600 i la versió germana Seat 600.

A banda de l’innegable encant (subjectivament parlant, és clar) que li trobo, googlejant es podien trobar maquetes ben curioses fent referències a usos ben dispars per aquesta criatura amb rodes: taxi, vehicle d’oci per l’estiu (descapotable), vehicle per emergències mèdiques i –el millor de tots- cotxe fúnebre!!! Poden unes línies i formes més arrodonides posar un cert toc de consol en un enterrament?

HOME AMB BIGOTI I DONA AMB SABATES DE TALÓ (ALT)

Només una representació estètica de l'oposició entre masculinitat i feminitat? Es pot anar més enllà cavalcant per reflexions que prenen elements de teories filosòfiques, artístiques, místiques i fins i tot religioses. La clau rau en el fet de ser concebuts com a contraris i en el concepte de complementarietat.

Accentuació d'idees associades a una imatge

La idea subjectiva que es pot tenir d'un bigoti o unes sabates de taló pot variar molt entre individus i va sovint més enllà d'allò que culturalment hi ha associat (fet que a més varia de cultura a cultura). Com a part d'una identitat però també per gaudir d'una sensació associada (no deslligada de feminitat-masculinitat) es tria optar per bigoti/sabata de taló, segons el cas (dins de la concordança femení-sabata de taló i masculí-bigoti...ja que a la inversa les reflexions anirien encaminades cap a una altra banda, és clar).

Expressió d'essències i complementarietat

I ara resta només sumar els dos éssers en condició de dues entitats que es complementaran en tant que expressions de dues dimensions oposades (masculí/femení). Allò que es complementa esdevé, en la seva combinació, una unitat.

I esdevenint unitat ens sublimem

Primer perdem les nostres identitats, perdem feminitat i masculinitat i esdevenim part d'una dimensió diferent, pròpia. Tot i que no ho pugui semblar, el camí cap a aquesta dissolució des de l'accentuació d'una imatge-identitat no és necessàriament llarg.

SUGAR-SWITCH (BEYOND KOOTHRAPPALIAN DYNAMICS)

Cold skin and random walking,
polka-dotted legs unaware of time.
Let's pick a word.
Smoothly.
Sounds of pounds and fountains.
Flowing water on Adverb's day.
***
Open windows and doors,
so that you can send me paper airplanes
with something written on.
Above seas of chocolate.
***
Fruity bubblegum smell
and colourful juices.
Farewell to winter.
Switches' day.
***

Как можно лучше,,, (*)

(*as well as possible)

per ardua ad astra.

Stars and yellow boots to follow long and sometimes tough paths. Better to add colour and positive shapes, better to leave greyness and darkness in the background, better to share something positive and colourful with those we meet and come across in life.

HOPE AND TURNING POINTS

Beyond the image of a graphic showing a change in a trend of no-matter-what, we often face turning points which don't show up as turning points. We (usually) don't represent mentally events in any graphic and we're little prone to make calculations with them so as to get a more "rationalised" daily life and structured theories about ourselves.

There might be a change, a sudden situation, a problem, something we receive or lose. That is something either good or bad comes and decides to bear some consequences. Decisions and chance aren't mathematical...or is there some kind of rule/principle/being/force/energy tidying up all we experience and end up doing? I believe that there's some reason behind everything, something sort of karmic or based on laws of cause-effect. I'm not talking about justice, which might be something human rather than a ruling principle behind things and events, but about our ability to observe and find an order, theories, some kind of guide along the path we walk along.

What does define our degree of awareness toward turning points? Personally, I've been mentally analyzing turning points in these last years (and even in my whole life) but I don't focus at all on "possible" present turning points (or possible turning points to come). These are bad times for hope and I don't like planning or trying to foresee or forecast anything. I can just think about short term plans, events, etc.

OBRINT FINESTRES

Ja queda poc! Fa ja unes quantes setmanes que, en una "cimera" informal amb en Khimenèzov (Ivan) va proposar-se la idea d'un blog diferent sobre temes asiàtics, en part per rememorar els temps del màster i, en part, per motius més personals, com ara projectar-se en els mitjans i enriquir-se via investigació-reflexió-escriptura.

En breu podrem començar a escriure i publicar entrades un cop passat un període estrany d'adaptacions a noves etapes laborals i d'estudis.

CODIS LINGÜÍSTICS

Sense adonar-nos sovint desenvolupem lèxics propis a partir de la deformació del llenguatge acceptat. No parlo de col.loquialismes sinó de l'assignació de nous significats a sons i paraules que seran compartits i compresos per grups reduïts de persones.

Al desembre de 2005, quan geocities encara era operatiu i hi tenia allotjat un web, vaig compilar una sèrie de definicions d'aquesta mena en el que va ser el primer DICCIONARI DE YÒLDIC, BIXÈS i BIXUYÒLDIC. Vet aquí unes mostres.

Bisectrijament n. acció de bisectitzar. Es diu d’allò que produeix una reacció sensorial inesperada. [sin. Acció de quedar-se perplex]

Cruixent adj. Expectant | feliç.  somriure cruixent  es diu d’aquell somriure que sembla imposible d’esborrar. estar cruixent. Estar expectant, amb poques possibilitats de reaccionar a estímuls extern donat un exagerat estat de felicitat o excitació amb nerviosisme.
Facinerositat –n. emprat per designar accions, fets  i coses negatives resultat d’una acció d’un individu o individus amb mala conciencia. Facinerositats gàstriques- molèsties estomacals ocasionades per algun factor extern o intern. Aplicat sobretot a l’acció dels àpats copiosos.
Fer discoteca – fer pampallugues. E.g. Aquells llums fan discoteca
Figament (de cames) - es diu de l'expressió o sentiment de feblesa per subjugació a encants o bellesa d'algú (aplicable a coses)
Gelat d'anxoves – es diu d’allò amb carácter imposible, però, tanmateix, un individu, personalment, li atorga un carácter semi-possible.
Hipotenús/a. Adj. Característica d’allò que s’ha vist afectat per un bisectrijament. E.g. L’home maco es va quedar hipotenús.
Iii (i^x). Id. i Adj. Hola, com anem? | bonic | agradable | atractiu | misteriós | sinuós | em sap greu | trist.
Llegao? (arc.) pron. interrogatiu que denota estranyesa. [sin. Què??]
Pa calent. Id. Ocupació laboral, home atractiu ||sinuós. pa calent integral. Id. El mateix però quan a la situació, individu o cosa se li ha calculat una integral.
PaRt DeL DaRreRe (ein sexys Hintern). N. Eufemisme per la part del darrera del cos humà. Aplicat a l’home preciós gairebé en excluiva, tot i que se’n preveu un ús generalitzat amb el temps.
Quadrament (a quadres) adj. Bisectrijament. També es diu quadratura
Sinuós/a veure pa calent

SENSE TRACES, SENSE PETJADES

Aquests dies estic gaudint de la lectura del llibre de D. Dreyer sobre el córrer Txi (hauria de ser Qi, però, tot i que romanen transcripcions pre-pinyin per a molts termes filosòfics), tot i que la filosofia de fons no em ve de nou, ja que havia llegit sobre taoisme i d'altres filosofies orientals on és present el concepte de Qi.

Fluir i no imposar-se, no forçar. Al marge de la utilitat de l'aplicació dels principis tai-txians al córrer, molts punts d'aquesta filosofia em fan pensar en com de nocives són algunes dinàmiques de la societat moderna (per no parlar la política i les seves aigües brutes i pudents). Fins i tot aquesta perspectiva es podria aplicar a la medecina, a partir d’una prevenció basada en canvis d’hàbits abans que no pas intervenir massivament amb medicaments o tractaments de diferent tarannà.

Les noves tecnologies ens fan deixar restes de la nostra presencia i identitat arreu, però en una gran majoria de casos es cerca deixar empremta, deixar rastre, que quedi clar que som o hem estat presents. Vet aquí les xarxes socials i la generació d’informació i la infoxicació. Diria que són pràctiques que disten de ser éssers que flueixen silenciosament, seguint un corrent harmoniós amb l’entorn. 

I el tema identitari, sobre el qual no és la primera vegada que escric, es podria contraposar el concepte no-identitat (tou, fluït, suau, com aigua) a la defensa de trets identitaris (no necessàriament polítics únicament). Al cap i a la fi, voler etiquetar és trencar harmonies i silencis fluïts, voler defensar a ultrança o atacar identitats, tampoc és harmoniós sinó una imposició, un acte d’exercici de força.

かわいさ (可愛さ)

Could a Reliant Robin be considered cute?

Could a Reliant Robin be considered cute?How is it that we might be able to find cuteness (かわいさ (可愛さ), kawaisa in romaji transcription), in things considered "ugly" by many? I do find this car "cute" (the older versions, in fact) maybe because of the colourful versions, the simple and unaggressive aesthetics, the vulnerability of being a 3-wheeled creature, its appearance, close to that of some sort of kind creature...

WANDERING ASHES

This week I watched the movie "The Way", with Martin Sheen, about the Camino de Santiago. I had no expectations about the movie and happened to like it. Both the story and characters were interesting. It made me remember the feelings I had when we travelled with my mother's ashes some years ago (Oct.1958-July 2006). It was a journey by car and it did feel as if we were 3 instead of 2 people there and there was some kind of worrying when we left the car to have some rest or to get something to eat and the ashes remained there.

Somebody's ashes are a mere physical embodiment of the memory of the deceased person...but once the ashes are placed somewhere else and are no longer with us, the presence of the dead one seems to change and expand itself. That one who left this world seems to be wherever we go. That subjective presence becomes a source of protection, solace, strength, replacing, sooner or later, sadness and mourning.

RACE-WALKING AS AN IDEA, THEN AS FACT

Out of something negative or unexpected there can appear something new, a brand new idea, a change of perspective. Having recovered from my injury in my left thigh, I got another one in my right foot (I guess I got it once I fell down when running, one day I wasn't feeling very well). One day the pain didn't let me continue jogging, I started walking faster and faster, until the idea of race-walking came to my mind. I liked the experience and today, feeling I could go back into doing exercise, I went for race-walking. In fact, I don't think I'm able to run again yet.
Creativity can help to ease some pain or, at least, see it differently, and get other abilities and learn something about oneself. It's like when I became ambidextrous "thanks to" a fracture in my right arm (Nov. 2010). The key is in the attitude as well, in the willingness to give a chance to new ideas, to different actions, no matter if they might be difficult, hard or be seen as odd by others. The point is being able to get something useful or positive out of some hardship or negative situation.