and why it matters.
They were tough. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing […]. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, […], and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. […]. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive…
#2 Everything and everyone is inflammable or sinkable
- Sh*t happens, did happen, might happen, will happen, it is just the way it is. Holy s*it! That can’t possibly be true…
- Everything (and everyone) is inflammable or sinkable, given the right circumstance and triggers, everything can collapse, e v e r y t h i n g.
- Never underestimate the power of a small flame left unattended, actually never underestimate the power of small-anything left unattended, (anything can be the tip of a bigger iceberg).
- Triage, triage, triage. The guy screaming in the emergency room might not need as much help as the silent guy curled on the couch…
Including the restless relentlessness
I woke up at 6 this morning with a beautiful sun piercing through the window.
It took me an hour of internal combat to decide whether to butterfly out or just cocoon in, nobody won.
By 07:39 I had already swiped through 4 different overpromising yoga programs.
07:00, I wanted to try a new program Breathing with the Beats that combines asanas and drums, too much talking for the morning.
07:07, I was already lying my back on a bolster following the guidance of Lauren during restorative yoga.
By 07:14 I had turned to Bruce Chung…
From my heart
Halfway down my street, there is a tiny pottery shop called Ema Mamisu, they are the cutest, they put heart and hearts in everything they make, that is where I bought this year St. Valentine’s cards. Five altogether, three for my family, one for my dearest friend, and one for, well, me.
This year, a text, an email, not even my face and voice could have filled the distance. …
There are lessons we need to take over and over again
2020 was exceptional by any stretch of the imagination. Nobody could have ever fathomed the degree of personal and collective loss, the magnitude of grief and pain. 2020 has exposed the fragile foundations of our system, economy, and overall social infrastructure, the vanity of our “certainties”, our egocentrism, 2020 shot us right there: where the spirit meets the bone. Right there and then, when you can no longer postpone lessons crucial to your survival.
Your body is infallible, almost merciless, at recording everything you can’t forgive.
2020 the year I understood
- I understood that everything starts from the body and ends with the body. Our…
It would be funny if it wasn’t true
They say if you can’t fight them, join them. I say if you can’t fight them, get to know them inside out, and discover their Achilles heel. When dealing with narcissists, knowledge and self-awareness are your greatest assets.
The 10 commandments narcissists live by
- Everything and everyone can be turned into my narcissistic supply, ie anything that can reaffirm my sense of self-importance and grandiosity.
- Everything is my stage, right here and right now.
- Everybody is my audience, if you can not be the audience please make yourself useful with the lights, audio, and scenography.
- I am entitled…
Writing the biggest collective epic ever
Is one image still worth a thousand words?
An image is probably still worth a thousand words, I am thinking for example at Sebastião Salgado Workers, I am thinking at painters and visual artists, at moments of happiness forever captured, but what about the 995 photos uploaded on Instagram every second, the 4000 uploaded since you started reading this article, and the more than 50 billion photos uploaded on Instagram so far? (Omnicore, October 2020). …
#1 Value over Perfection
There are two types of people: those who work in sales, and those who think they don't.
I was a bit skeptical, the right word would be judgemental, about the entire cosmology of personal branding. What I understood about personal branding was that some Bamby-eyed people took their LinkedIn or Instagram profiles a bit too seriously and a bit too far, and managed to build fame out of the current global craving for hope, gurus, and God.
I was wrong.
Ms. Judgmental dug a bit deeper and changed her idea after binge-watching a series of TEDx talks on personal branding.
…
Self-deception is as legit as any other coping mechanisms
Psychology Today describes self-deception as a series of behaviors and believes that we adopt to defend our ego.
Say what, “defend my ego”? This alone sets off all my alarm bells and makes me want to run to the closest fire escape.
I try to punch my ego in the stomach every time she comes around, and this is after we have somehow come to good terms, why would I want to defend her?
Well, because sometimes an illusion is just as good as a dear friend, it is what I…
#1 Silence is golden
We communicate to share, connect, and influence.
When we communicate we are silently tapping into our willingness and capacity to negotiate forms, meanings, and values.
Such negotiations lead to understanding and emotions, or a vortex thereof.
In a culture that is overloaded with information, effective communication has become imperative to elevate our exchanges, relationships, and collective human experience.
Here are the 10 commandments for effective communication I try to live by:
1. Silence is golden
If your words do not elevate thoughts, conversations, or people, please breathe in and shut the fu*k up.
I am not going to sugar-coat this, sorry (not sorry). Freedom…
Cristina Comunian
Before the straitjacket feels comfortable again, I hit "publish".
