Month: March 2022

Violinists in the subway

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Life is full of little details, of those details that go unnoticed when we´re lost in our own thoughts, which is most of the time. More often than not, our auto-pilot is turned on, and we´re worrying about the future or ruminating about the past, thus missing the present.

And of course, ignoring as we are all those details that make each day unique and special, it´s no wonder that we feel like we´re living in groundhog day!

But if we get to slow down a little, and focus on being alert and present as the mindfulness practice teaches us, then we start noticing surprising things, amazing things, wherever we are. Because there´s beauty everywhere, as long as we know how to see it.

I recently heard a really cool story related to this (thanks Paz!), an experiment that was carried out a few years ago in the United States. A superfamous violinist, one of the best in the world, set himself up as a busker in a subway station in Washington D.C., playing with his Stradivarius violin during rush hour. He played for almost forty-five minutes, and during that time, only seven people stopped to listen to his music, and only one of them recognized him. All the rest walked by, carrying on with their daily stress and worries… Is that really the way we want to live? Always passing by, only to complain afterwards about how we´re stuck in a rut?

The good news is that we can break that cycle. Each morning when we wake up, we have a choice between turning on the auto-pilot and living one more groundhog day, or shifting our perspective, and letting ourselves be surprised by the “subway violinists”: a spectacular sunset, your children´s joy when arriving home, a chat with a loved one…

Today´s “violinist” for me is realizing that this is the fiftieth post in this blog 🙂 What´s yours?

Go raibh mile maith agat

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It was Saint Patrick´s day earlier this week, and all around the world there were celebrations of everything to do with Ireland and the Irish, including their very own language: Irish (or Gaelic).

I used to think that I was good at languages, but that was before I moved to Ireland and bumped into Irish… I find it really interesting as a language, but also very complicated to learn; it took me years to learn how to say something as simple as “thanks”.

Although, in fairness, saying thanks in Irish is not as straightforward as saying it in Spanish or English…

This mug was a birthday present (thanks Irene!), it literally says “a thousand thanks”. It´s one of the few things I do know how to say in Irish, together with the colours, counting from one to ten, and some of the most popular names for boys and girls, which I learned by meeting people whose names I had no idea how to pronounce 😊

Luckily, you don´t have to speak Irish in order to live in Ireland; English is more than enough for day-to-day life. Children do learn it in school from an early age, and even though it´s not going to help them to communicate with people from other countries, it will help them to preserve this country´s legacy and traditions.

Also, on top of that, learning languages in general helps to open our minds, because it forces our brain to think differently, and allows us to explore, through the use of words, other ways to see the world that are different from ours. So whatever we get to learn, be it a lot or a little, will be welcome.

For the moment, here is the message from the mug again, and let me take this opportunity to thank you for being here and reading me every week:

Go raibh mile maith agat

101100

/ binarybea / 4 Comments

It´s been my birthday this week, this is how old I am now: 101100.

Written in binary format, of course, honoring my training as a computer scientist, and the title of this blog 😊

But given that a person is way, way more than just one single identity, and given that I never liked that division between “people of science” and “people of letters” (which was very much in fashion, at least in Spain, a few years ago), I´m telling you with letters as well:

It´s been my birthday this week, this is how old I am now: XLIV, in Roman numerals.

Then, if we want to go into “geek” land (which is a term that I do identify with, because if you think about it, deep down we are all “geeks” for something), we can express it in hexadecimal code as well: 0x2C.

My only regret is that I haven´t been able to write it in a particular code that I really like, but that unfortunately only contains symbols for letters, and not numbers… Maybe one day I´ll take my geekiness to a whole new level, and invent Dada Urka numbers 😊

Do not let

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Today I´m bringing you a poem by Walt Whitman, for those days when you feel like saying “stop the world, I´m getting down…”

close up of open book on a table, against dark background
Do not let the day end without having grown a little, without being happy, without having risen your dreams.

Do not let yourself be overcome by disappointment. Do not let anyone take away the right to express yourself, which is almost a duty.

Do not forsake the yearning to make your life something extraordinary.

Do not stop believing that words and poetry can change the world.

Whatever happens, our essence is intact. We are passion-full beings.

Life is a desert and an oasis. It knocks us down, it hurts us, it teaches us, it makes us protagonists of our own history.

Although the wind blows against, The powerful work continues: You can make a stanza.

Never stop dreaming, because in dreams man is free.

Do not fall into the worst of errors: silence.

The majority lives in a dreadful silence. Do not resign escape.

Run away. “I create my screams through the roofs of this world”, says the poet.

Appreciates the beauty of simple things. You can make beautiful poetry about little things, but we can not row against ourselves. That transforms life into hell.

Enjoy the panic that causes you the life you have ahead.

Live it intensely, without mediocrity.

Think that the future is in you and face that task with pride and with no fear.

Learn from those who can teach you. The experiences of those who preceded us, of our “dead poets”, they help you walk through life.

Today’s society is us: The “living poets”.

Do not let life happen to you without you living it.

I only knew the beginning of this poem, I read it in full today for the first time, and I have to say that I love it, each line has so much to extract and reflect on…

By the way, thanks to this, now we know where the “Dead poets´ society” movie got its name from 🙂 (If you haven´t watched that movie, I totally recommend it, and if you already have, I´d recommend it again, it´s worth a re-watch after all these years)