Essays

Lightness

What is Lightness ? A sensation of getting rid of a burden, a relief.

Lightness is also a life’s option. Behave with lightness. Do not tighten too much the bow, do not press too much your feet against the ground, listen more than speak. Do not hurry to impose your own opinion over others.

Those who behave with lightness, look upright, search the things from above and get detached from the ground. Search lightness.

Freedom

What is Freedom ? Let’s envision freedom from three different points of view:

Having freedom and not being aware of it
It is when one lives in an open society, where any person may chose his own religion, follow the political proposal she wishes and move around at his pleasure. In the 21st century, this freedom exists in several parts of the globe, but those who benefit from it not always remember this fact!

Loosing freedom
Sometimes we just notice this loss as time goes by. Paying to park anywhere. Cameras surveilling your acts everywhere. Controls in computers, gyzmos and in the Internet, which supposedly exist to protect the citizen from criminality. All of this ends up by creating an others’ life intrusion state, which is the denial of freedom.

Gaining freedom
It is the great pleasure of being free from an oppression yoke, caused by a person, by an institution, by undesired tasks or by confinement.
It is the possibility to start doing something we could not before.
When we talk about freedom, this is the concept that usually comes to our mind.

Agility

An awesome athlete’s body jumping in the Olympic Games. Perhaps this is what we think of when talking about agility. Even if very beautiful and attractive, this is an ideal, attainable by just few of us.

To grasp the real meaning of agility, we could talk first about what is not being agile. Think of heavy and bulky objects, which seem to be glued to the floor. If you try to move them, you need to put a lot of physical effort to see a tiny displacement.

Then you try to move the next object, which is as bulky as the first. But this one has wheels, small but very effective ones. You push it and it moves freely, so the world seems to start to smile at you. The difference caused by the wheels was subtle, but very effective.

Sometimes in life we should add this “rolling effect” to our actions and thinking. Agility is not just a property of skinny figures. Much more than this, it is an attitude of life, the resounding refusal of being stuck. Search agility.

Right Moment

Everything in life has its moment to happen. Randomness greets us with pleasant surprises, like an unexpected visit, a wage raise or an invitation for a party. In other occasions, it tells us about a parking ticket, a demise or a bankruptcy.

Could we control randomness ? No… Chance chooses its moments to make its events happen. And, from our side, could we make happen what we consider to be important, or necessary ?

We could at least try ! But, what would be the right moment to make something happen ? See some examples:

The cat leap
See how a cat stays still, petrified, when observing a possible pray at a distance. He seems to be calculating something, preparing an attack strategy. Suddenly, on a well-aimed jump he snatches his victim (a bird, or a rodent).

The ripe fruit
When we see a ripe fruit hanging on a tree, we know that the right moment to harvest it has arrived. If we wait a couple of days, it gets overripe and, if it remains in the tree, it may fall and serve as food to wild animals.

The unbeatable offer
While walking by a shopping window, we envision an unbeatable offer. There it is, the product we were dreaming of, now at a price we could afford. If we wait one more day to buy it, it could not be there anymore.

The right moment is present in our daily lives, in simple issues. Search the right moment.

Tolerance

To tolerate someone means treating someone with respect, even if you do not accept his behavior (partially or totally). Not tolerating someone that you know is something that may happen due to arguments you might have had, or due to reasons that you just cannot explain. It is when we say: “I don’t like his presence,” or “I don’t tolerate her way”.

As humans, we have the weird tendency to the intolerance. As children, we go through our first experiences of social coexistence.

Examples of intolerance during the early stages of life:

– At home, when a family member plays the bully person
– In the schoolyard, when intolerant fellow students persecute other colleagues
-In the streets of the neighborhood, when juvenile bully gangs come into being

We are talking about bullying, an intolerance, oppression, or persecution lived mainly during childhood or youth. A behavior that may leave deep wounds in the personality of the ones who suffered it.

Tolerance in more advanced stages of our lives

In the working place and in social life, there is nothing more salutary then practicing tolerance towards our neighbors. Opening the door to someone as a sign of good will, or simply by letting differences pass unnoticed.

Nevertheless, human coexistence sometimes forces us to an attitude of intolerance towards people that we don’t even know: this is something we call prejudice. It is a pre-conceived idea about a group of people, which may lead to persecutions and injustice.

Examples of intolerance in the 20th century, which culminated in some of the darkest episodes of human history:

Armenian Genocide ________1914 to 1923
Holocaust_______________1941 to 1945
Cultural Revolution_________1966 to 1976
Next you find a list of some groups of humans which have been or are persecuted due to the lack of tolerance, over the centuries and in different stages of our lives. You probably belong to one of them, don’t you? It seems to be an unusual fact, but each one of us ends up by belonging to a “minority”. Sometimes, when trying to judge our neighbor, we are just condemning ourselves. Search your interior peace, search tolerance.

Asians
Blacks
Catholics
Disabled
Elderly
Four-eyed
Gypsies
Have-nots
Indians
Jews
Lepers
Moslems
Non-natives
Overweight
Protestants
Rural ones
Strangers
Tattooed
Urban ones
Whites
Youngsters

This list is yours ! Add or remove items according to your age and the region where you live.

Gratitude

Before we feel gratitude for something or someone, we pass through an experience of recognition. To visualize and acknowledge someone’s effort in our favor is a mental process. Sometimes this is an immediate proceeding, at times it will demand reasoning, and in some cases, it will require time. Let’s see some examples:

A person is standing inside a bus and another, who is sitting, offers his own place for her to seat. “Thank you”, says the standing person, then she sits down. As if it would be a ritual, recognition and gratitude are immediate.

To acknowledge that our planet was custom made for us, and thank God for that, is an act that requires reasoning. Attend a school, learn in biology classes that the atmosphere protects us from radiation, and that at night, the ozone layer acts like a blanket, is a long process. In celestial bodies like the Moon and Mars, there is no such protection. Life in these places would only be possible for us inside a space-dwelling capsule or wearing an astronaut suit. If we don’t envision this fact, because we have never learned about, there is no way we can recognize it, and therefore, we are not compelled to be thankful.

Many educators, our parents or someone close, often did what they could in order to provide what we needed. Education, food, clothing, a place to live, love. As children, we are beginners in this world and do not know the exact meaning of these actions. Only time will generate acknowledgement, and gratitude.

Some people refuse envisioning and acknowledging important facts in their lives. They don’t apologize and don’t give thanks. They are stubborn and simply state that “there is no reason to thank”, and that others “just get their duties done”.

Praise God, as a religious person uses to say, is to thank God, recognizing his action in our favor. It is a feeling that moves millions of people’s life in our planet, every day. During the Christmas season of such a convulsed year like this, search your interior peace. Search acknowledgement, and gratitude !

Open Mindedness

Occluded mind, an expression in literary style, is the opposite of “open mind”. Occluded means closed, i.e, a mind opposed to the input of new ideas. A person is also said to be “narrow-minded”, i.e, having a limited or biased mind, when he does not envision or she won’t admit that other realities beyond their knowledge exist.

Many times this obstruction, or barrier, is applied to political ideas or social behavior. It is typical of people who feel insecure whenever the possibility of change is mentioned. Or when the talk is about a prospective way of life (perhaps without their current privileges). But let’s talk about keeping the mind open in different situations. We start focusing on our perception of historical facts.

“History is literature”, some people say. As if history would be fiction, when we know that it has been reality. A person who describes an historical fact, is reporting what she saw or heard, and records his point of view. As much impartial she tries to be, she will not be able to express the same fact from endless points of view. Would this be a war, it will be seen or described from different points of view by the winner, by the looser, by the soldier who fought or by the mother whose son was lost in the front. Open Mindedness means considering all these variables, i.e., the multiple stories about the same fact.

Science provides explanations about many natural phenomena, based in theories that change as times goes by. It would be a mistake to blindly believe in the wholeness of a scientific theory. New theories pop up and replace the old ones, as they are able to explain the same phenomena in a broader way. An open mind is able to envision that science has its limitations, and something today accepted as a rule, tomorrow may be considered too simplistic or insufficient.

Films, books, choreographies, songs and other types of art are part of our daily life. Many times they are mistakenly seen as spaces of permissiveness, or unbound freedom. Therefore it’s always worth having a critic look on certain artists intentions: sometimes they are magnificent, sometimes somber. In other occasions, beware of the authoritarian impulses of those who exercise censorship on arts. Artistic creation is the produce of a culture and of an environment, at a certain historical moment. An open mind will try to understand the motivation for the artwork, instead of hastily praising or condemning it.

Having an open mind does not mean to accept everything, good or bad, and plainly approve them. To have an open mind means being aware that other views exist and ponder about their content. If the content is good, maybe it will be possible to adapt its new, positive aspects to your own reality. If it is bad, it will be an advice to steer clear. Search your inner peace, try always to keep your mind open !

Consider

In your everyday life, you are faced with decisons. In simple tasks, or planning a long range enterprise, you play with two possibilities: what to consider and what not to consider.

Let us take a quick glance on examples, where common sense tells us what to consider. Eventually we can talk about its opposite, what not to consider.

Planning a trip is perhaps the first hard test you take while learning what to consider. It is simple: if you fail to consider a crucial detail, the trip may be interrupted or not happen at all. The planning process goes like a mental checklist, with inumerous questions:

As a kid you would ask…
What clothes should I bring ?
Will everything fit in my suitcase ?
Shall I bring sunglasses along ?

And as an adult…
Will I arrive on time at the airport ?
Did I apply for the visa early enough ?
Are there health issues involved ?
And so on.

A second example is trying to set goals for an specific project. Here too, your sucess may depend on considering issues. Let’s have a look on what could be a long list:
What will be the ideal time to start ?
Will the resources be enough in all stages of the project ?
Do people involved have enough expertise and motivation ?
When the project is done, will its final result still make sense ?

The third example is about interpersonal relationship. Remember that the way you talk to others will build your personal public image. Therefore, treat others with respect… Try to put yourself in the situation of the person you are talking to. Consider personal variables, like:
Is she older or younger than me ?
Perhaps richer or poorer ?
Does he have any impairment (hearing, visual, etc) ?
What kind of education did he have ?
How is life where this person lives ?

Further than seeing it as a mental checklist, the act of considering facts can be compared to a search. You will have to guess or imagine what no one has written down before. Ask yourself: did I get all what we need ? Did I forget something ? This is a rational effort, it is the exercise of meticulous thinking.

We are humans, and therefore, rational beings… But we carry another feature, which is to act spontaneously, in an apparently irrational manner. We will deal with this issue in another text. So, when the situation requires, be rational and search considering !

Count-it-not

There has been a lot of talk about “considering”, as a rational effort, the practice of meticulous thinking. Now let us talk about “disregarding” !

The word disregard may be interpreted as:

erase
cancel
completely ignore
exclude

However, to disregard is not necessarily the opposite of to consider. It may be the following stage. After having lengthy considered several factors, you decide to disregard one of them.

To think about all details of an issue is something important and healthy. Nevertheless, in practice, to disregard a fact may be the key to solve the issue. This means, to make possible something otherwise said impossible, if we would keep considering it.

In human behavior, we could compare disregarding to forgiving. The biblical account in which Jesus forgives the unfaithful woman is such an example. By forgiving her, he is canceling her guilt and making possible a new spiritual and balanced life. If he would have kept considering her infringement, she would have been stoned to death, finishing the whole story at that point.

In the sciences, the term disregard shows up many times in questions of exercises. A hypothetical situation is proposed, in which calculations must be carried out. To make them feasible, some factors are ignored (like air resistance, age group, etc.). If the question proponent is extremely meticulous, being keen on considering some factors, less students will be able to understand the subject. In this case, disregarding may be seen as a way to simplify, in order to achieve a learning objective.

“Who thinks, does not get married”, some people say. This is a classical example of a question “out of rationality”. Even having been very fuzzy by considering several factors, the brides’ final decision to get married, will contemplate the act of disregarding. It will be something emotive and spontaneous where the involved ones will erase some factors to make the final objective possible, i.e. the wedding.

When the situation requires… count-it-not !

Faith

“Consider” and “Count-it-not” were our last texts, where we focused on a rational manner of dealing with certain facts of life.

Now we talk about a non-rational concept, but certainly human: Faith. To do so, we will unfold it in two categories. Religious faith, which nurtures us inside and leads us to a sublime stage. And material faith, mondaine by nature, which can be defined as a strong desire that a thought becomes reality.

Let’s start with the expression “religious faith”, many times used as a synonym to religion itself. “What is your faith ?” will some people ask, when they want to know your religion. “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see”. This definition is written in the Bible (in the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11), where Saint Paul, the Apostle describes the deeds of several jewish patriarchs. Moved by faith, as an absolute trust in the divine precepts, these biblical heroes reached their objectives and have been widely rewarded.

But here comes the question: what divine precepts ? The Ten Commandments ? Yes, these and all the religious culture of one people, acquired along its history. There is no way to explain them rationally. Faith is simply accepted and practised, and this is a way to define it. Examples: in Christianity, it is accepted that the Virgin Mary became pregnant without having prior relations, and that Jesus died and was raised from the dead on the third day. Both facts are not explained by science, but are accepted by those who follow this faith.

We have just talked about two facts that occurred in the past. But there are facts that are in the future, and are reported as real and belong to the same faith: the prophecies. Example is Revelation, the last book of the Bible. This account of facts happening in the future also contradicts our logic, however it is part of the religious faith of millions of people around the world.

In this case, faith would be something that apparently does not exist, but in fact is present in our minds. It is a certainty that motivates us to live according to this reality, which has been created inside our minds.

In a way, material faith is not far from this. Many create and feed desires in their brains, in the hope that they might come true. The expression “faith in the lottery”, or in a sweepstake, is such an example. This faith is not based on tradition or on historical precepts of a people, but merely on something that a person or a group of persons wishes to come true. If this desire is not controlled, it can become a problem, as is the obsession for games or cassinos.

It is worth mentioning that optimism and positive attitudes sometimes are remembered as synonyms to “faith in life”. This expression is the closest to “religious faith”, independently of denomination. We were born to be alive, so it is up to us to have faith in life !

Courage

To define courage is a challenge. It seems to be something outside of us that we look for when necessary. Something closely linked to initiative, perhaps a complement to it. To better understand what this word means, let’s analyze how it is used in different expressions.

“Take courage”
Someone realizes that an action needs to be taken, has the initiative to carry it out, but first needs to “take courage”. It would be something analogous to an elixir, an energy drink, or a coffee, who knows.

“Pluck up the Courage”
After realizing that action is necessary, the initiative comes up against the fact that there are dangers involved. Courage would then be a shield, and perhaps a spear, used for protection and attack, as in a war.

“I lacked courage”
After the awareness and initiative stage, a person concludes that he or she is not ready for action. The person doesn’t have the energy (the elixir) or the weapons (psychological, whatever) to act.

“Discourage”
Here we have an opposite concept. Instead of “providing” courage, someone or some fact has the opposite effect. After the initiative step, the action does not take place. Something generated the change of the initial idea.

“Take one’s courage in both hands”
Taking something in hand is synonymous with taking on a proposal. Taking it in both hands means treating it even more carefully. In this case, it could mean doing something and being fully convinced of its validity. Even being subject to criticism.

Courage would then be a psychological factor, something that can be awakened within us. One is often reluctant to take courage when he sees that the dangers involved are of great proportions. But maybe they are when you’re alone. Courage can come when you perform an action as a couple, or in a group.

It is said that whoever is with God is never alone. Trust in God, the certainty of his presence at our side, increases our courage to face the unfavorable facts of life and its challenges.

Determination

I’ll do it ! I’m gonna make it ! I’ll get there ! These are phrases commonly associated with determination. In many cultures, a typical gesture for this attitude is knocking a table with the fingers’ crook.

Determination bears similarity to courage, and also to motivation. Mainly in its initial stage. We can say that someone must have courage, be motivated and determined to start a project as well.

Let’s say a musician is determined to compose a symphony, a writer to write a book, or an engineer to build a house. After the initial motivation, his or her determination must be permanent so that the work can be finished. Greater difficulties may arise, to the point that determination will be confused with obsession. In fact, many professionals attribute the completion of their work to obsession. This would then be a heightened state of determination. It is when a person focuses only on his work, leaving aside the many issues of life (health, family, personal appearance, etc.).

Determination also boosts political and religious proselytism. We see commited people trying to convince us of their ideas. They seem to talk with authority, without stopping, about subjects that we know little about. They are determined to earn our trust and thus be able to count on our support.

Another facet of determination, little fortunate however, is when it becomes a guise of greed. Generals want more territory, millionaires want to double their fortunes, and they get fully determined to achieve these goals, often without any scruples.

It is actually a personal choice to act with ethics. Determination is a very precious gift that can be taken away from us at any moment. It is expected that it will always be used wisely, selflessly and consistently, for the well-being of all.

Initiative

Certain words are shrouded in an aura of mystery, and initiative is certainly one of them. It refers to “an action that takes place at the beginning” and also “to the one who is at the beginning”. It is a quality of something or someone that initiates a process.

It can be defined as a skill or talent characteristic of those who exercise leadership, someone who goes ahead and guides others. Sometimes it is synonymous with pioneering spirit, like a rooster that crows at dawn and warns that the day is about to begin. At other times it looks like a locomotive pulling countless wagons, which appear in an inhospitable landscape.

In Physics, the initiative impulse is the one that generates the movement of a body. In everyday language, it’s the well-known initial push.

In practice, she is the one who takes someone to help victims in the event of an accident. Or to propose an action with a social scope, such as the construction of a safe sidewalk for pedestrians or a bicycle path where they do not exist.

Taking initiative is something similar to taking courage. As if it were an elixir. It’s when someone creates a new product, to produce it and sell it in a new market, running all the risks that everything ends up in failure. It’s the so called free initiative (“free”, in the sense of not being subject to central planning).

Linked to initiating, initial, and initially, initiative refers to starting something new. Similar to a sown field, where the first sprouts of the next harvest appear. In this context it represents a new cycle, a creative impetus, which reflects the dynamism of life.

Knowledge

We start going to school and, without realizing it, we begin to learn to live with other children. We also learn to pay respect to teachers. It doesn’t seem like it, but these lessons, which are not in the curriculum, are extremely important for the rest of our lives.

We then learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. We get the basic tools for our pursuit of knowledge.

Class after class, we learn about historical events, the names of cities and we listen to poetry. By doing so, we get involved with the culture of the society in which we live.

At the same time that we learn facts that seem obvious to us, we gain knowledge of non-obvious facts. Already in the early years of school, we learned that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not the other way around.

Perhaps this is the main difference in acquiring knowledge or not. If we didn’t learn that the Earth revolves around the Sun, we would spend our lives believing that the Sun revolves around the Earth. After all, this is the impression we have at the end of the afternoon: that the Earth is still and that the Sun is going down.

That’s what our ancestors thought, so much so that even today we say “sunset” and “sunrise”. An important aspect of this fact is that in the past it has been the subject of litigation and persecution between the Vatican and Galileo.

The cost of a simple teaching is rarely spoken of. In order for the movement of the Earth around the Sun to be taught today in the early school years, a veritable revolution of thought had to take place in the 16th century.

Therefore cherish the school and its teachers. Treat them with all due respect and consideration. School is a place where we learn to live in society, to acquire knowledge and to value our cultural heritage.

Well-Being

“I’m feeling good. I feel in harmony with my body, with the people around me, with the city where I live, with the planet and the Universe. I’m not afflicted by any pain, I have no negative thoughts, I have no debts to anything or anyone. My memories of the past comfort me and my prospects for the future are the best.”

Of the eight billion people living on Earth today, how many of them could say the above sentence at a given time of day? For how many days? It’s hard to say. But it could be a definition of personal well-being. Ultimately, we are all human beings and, for reasons of survival, we are always in search of individual well-being.

In order to live, we need to eat, to avoid dehydration by drinking water, to use the toilet periodically, to protect ourselves from environmental risks and excessive temperatures, and also to sleep. What we consider basic in everyday life is at the same time an instinctive search for our own well-being.

From this personal context, theories and categories of well-being were created, as synonyms for quality of life. Here are some examples:
human well-being
physical well-being
mental well-being
financial well-being
complete well-being
psychological well-being
emotional well-being
animal well-being
social well-being

Social well-being is an expanded concept that relates the State as a social and economic promoter, whose laws and actions would result in the improvement of the population’s living conditions.

Physical, mental and social well-being together are indicated by the WHO (World Health Organization) as prerequisites for enjoying health. In ancient times, harmony between soul, body and mind was already related as a determinant of a healthy life.

Financial well-being is a term from the social and economic sciences: a counterpoint to poverty as a generator of numerous evils that would end up compromising an individual’s complete well-being.

External factors are obviously very important for well-being, but apparently feeling good is a personal determination. “I feel good when I’m at home”, says a mother, or the famous phrase of a Formula 1 champion corroborates this fact: “I feel good when I’m inside a car”.

Patience

The verb to wait and the word patience are closely related. We think about “being patient” while waiting at the bus stop or at a table, after placing our order with the waiter.

When we talk about waiting, we talk about time, which is a succession of events. Sitting at a table, or facing other circumstances in life, we would simply have to wait for each of the events to happen, whether brief or not, with the firm conviction that at the end the expected result would happen.

Anyone who goes fishing has the patience to wait the necessary time for a fish to take the bait. This can happen in a matter of minutes or hours. Not everyone is convinced that a fish will appear, nor will subject themselves to this uncertain wait. Mainly children.

Being patient is a characteristic of certain professionals. Let’s think of a painter working on a photo realism painting, a style that became popular in the late 1960s. Each tiny portion of the canvas is painted in such a way as to perfectly imitate the equivalent area of the photograph on which it is based. The final result turns out to be magnificent, but it will depend on the artist’s tenacity in finishing it.

Being patient in traffic jams is another aspect of this same virtue. Unlike the painting, in which the painter committed himself voluntarily, traffic jams take us by surprise, and for an impatient individual, this can be a tremendous challenge. People with little patience can become hasty in these situations and have violent reactions.

In social life, patience can be a synonym for good manners. Treating the elderly, children or foreigners with courtesy may seem obvious to some. For others it seems to be something non-existent. This is when patience is lost or runs out, as if it were an input. And unfortunately, stupidity and “lack of education” come into play.

Another aspect that encompasses the concept of patience is resignation. Faced with the occurrence of an unwanted event, many resort to the expression: “Let’s be patient, what shall we do otherwise ?”. These are certainly words that induce self-control towards an obscure fact, when actions of revenge usually have little or no effectiveness.

Good Will

Will is something you have inside yourself: the will to read, to walk, to talk. Or something you don’t have: will to climb the stairs, to wash the dishes, to eat popcorn.

We can exchange these expressions for “I want” and “I don’t want”:
I want to read
I want to walk
I want to talk
or
I don’t want to climb the stairs
I don’t want to wash the dishes
I don’t want to eat popcorn
Simple, right?

But the focus of our text is “good” will. The adjective “good” here seems to have a greater meaning than just being good (the opposite of bad). In the example above, “good” will would be equivalent to doing something without complaining, whether pleasurable or not.

For something not pleasant (washing dishes, for example) the word “good” takes on the meaning of “doing something necessary even with resignation, but without complaining”. This does not mean that the action is good or bad, but that it was carried out without complaints.

Ill will, in this case, would be equivalent to “acting with resignation and, probably, complaining”.

To do something necessary even with resignation, but without complaining, you need to be patient. Good will and patience go together and demonstrate a greatness of character that is highly appreciated in social environments.

Health

When we talk about health, we usually think about the proper functioning of the human body. Something opposite to illness. In practice, however, health is a broad concept. We talk about the health of the body, mind and soul. For centuries, it has been said that these three areas of our existence are interconnected. “Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano” (“One should pray that the mind may be healthy in a healthy body”), a Latin quote by the Roman poet Juvenal, already illustrated this fact. We can then talk about bodily health, mental health and spiritual health.

There are also non-human applications of this same word, such as animal health or the health of other living beings. The “health of a company” or “finances health” would be demonstrations of vigor and robustness (concepts created by comparison with human health). Interestingly, in the Portuguese language, “health” is an expression used when drinking (toasting to someone’s health) and also when sneezing (said to a person after they sneeze).

Let us now focus on the economic aspect of health. In the globalized society of the 21st century, products and services related to physical health are of enormous importance. Examples include the production and sale of medicines by the pharmaceutical industry, special supplies by the food industry, and support items by the cosmetics industry. Also notable are the hospital equipment and accessories produced by cutting-edge and conventional industries. Universities, technical courses, research centers, testing laboratories, hospitals, and clinics generate millions of jobs around the world.

Professionally, health is mostly a mission. At one side, think about rescue teams that care for accidents, or surgery teams that stay hours in a surgery room. Doctors, nurses, support personnel, or ambulance drivers that face crucial time challenges. On the other side, think on psychiatrists with an immense patience to hear, guide and medicate. They represent two different facets of health professionals. There is a plethora of medical and paramedical specializations, and health-related activities. The most basic of all would be self-medication or self-treatment (such as taking laxative caplets or placing a bandage on yourself).

On a personal level, maintaining health gives rise to tasks and concerns, taking up our time with visits to doctors’ offices, procedures, control exams, physiotherapy, specialized gymnastics, etc. Health becomes an objective, a goal to be achieved. Whether it is recovering health as a result of an illness or accident, or maintaining it preventively. Both recovery and prevention will require our dedication, with attention to daily habits, correct medication, diet, physical exercises, and rest. As a result, health will also be an achievement !

Self-Esteem

Some facts in life seem to be obvious, while others seem less obvious. Not mistreating yourself seems to be something intuitive, instinctive, put into practice from birth. Not getting too close to fire, because it burns. Not jumping from a high place, because it hurts. Not eating spoiled food, because it causes stomach ache.

These attitudes seem to follow us throughout life. They would be the obvious facts. However, as we grow up, we come across family education, then formal education and the moral principles of society. Some of them concern selfishness and altruism and at this point a supposed tension begins between the obvious and the non-obvious.

On the one hand, some preach that other people’s well-being should come first. Thinking about oneself would be selfish. There is a real ideological patrol aimed at controlling minds and social behavior with this objective. However, being extremely altruistic often leads to abuse by other people or governments, as Andrzej Wajda’s film “Man of Marble” showed.

Others preach the opposite. Everyone should worry about themselves, and a better society would emerge from a Union of Egoists, as Andrew Carlson proposed. Nevertheless, excessive focus on oneself can lead a person to become narcissistic or hedonistic. In other words, a stage where one lives in constant search of pleasure and cares little about others.

The concept of self-esteem, to be better understood, suggests a search for balance. Neither extremely altruistic nor extremely selfish attitudes. Both would be behaviors out of tune with reality. The laws of nature tend towards balance: therefore, there is nothing better than being inspired by their examples.

Self-control

Each of us lives and behaves according to the reality in which we live. The first reality is living in a body with a brain and soul, which interacts with a second reality, the environment around us.

We speak of self-control as the ability a person has to control herself. Applying this concept to ourselves in isolation, we can mention some situations in which we need to act to control ourselves.

Let’s start with the most basic, such as drinking a coffee so as not to fall asleep, going down the stairs slowly so as not to stumble, or waiting for the right moment to go to the toilet. These attitudes are a form of self-control.

When the actions that require our response come from outside, however, the term self-control becomes notoriously relevant. Let’s suppose you have just received three text messages.

One of them gives you great news, which you have been waiting for a long time. The other is the announcement of a tragic event and the third informs you of a tedious problem that you will have to solve on your own.

What matters is how you react to the events, some say. In other words, the events have already happened and there is no way to undo them. So why let them destroy your inner peace?

Self-control in these moments is in fact a control of emotions. When reading the message about the tragic event you would want to cry, when reading about the exhausting problem you could have a fit of rage. Yes, and when reading about the good news you would want to run away and tell everyone.

Letting yourself be carried away by emotions can sometimes be dangerous. Controlling them is equally difficult, since we are all human. But, in the end, self-control is a personal decision. It is you who will wait five seconds to react or not (as some propose). Given our limitations, all we can do is pray for wisdom and the consequent control of our actions.

Calm

Chaos surrounds your routine. Bills to pay, headlines of tragedies, traffic jams everywhere. Someone says: Calm down, don’t worry ! It sounds like a prayer.

Sometimes our duties and worries seem to pile up, and we feel the desperate need to reduce its height. We hear the wise saying: calm down.

Then we try to solve problems by speeding up our usual rhythm. Nevertheless, we know that hurrying by itself will not solve them. Someone cries out meanwhile: slow down !

On other occasions, we get nervous while interacting with someone else. A silly argument, or a risky conversation. We feel like our cheeks and forehead are starting to burn. While losing our temper, someone says: cool down, take it easy…

Getting calm is a personal decision, though. People surrounding us may advise us, like saying “slow down” to a driver. But the driver is you, the one who can easily reduce the speed.

We are talking again about self-control. When the temperature rises in an argument, you are the one who can cool it down. You can put out the fire and prevent bad consequences from happening.

Calming down, slowing down, cooling down. In this context, they all mean the return to balance, peace of mind and well-being. They are at your reach, just let it flow.