Month: May 2026

Untranslatable expressions: the elephant in the room

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Today I´d like to talk to you about elephants and metaphors, though this time they´re not the same as the elephant and metaphor in this other article (which, by the way, I highly recommend that you read, if you haven´t done so yet).

There´s an expression in English that´s very widely used, the elephant in the room (which literally translates into Spanish as "el elefante en la sala") to refer to a difficult and problematic topic, something that nobody wants to talk about, but that´s at the same time impossible to ignore.

One such topic is mental health, which is fortunately being discussed a little more openly nowadays, although there´s still a lot more that needs to be done in that area. For a few years now, here in Ireland, there´s a movement called exactly that, Elephant in the Room, which promotes conversations about mental health in the workplace, with the aim of normalising them. And the way they give visibility to this problem is literally by placing an elephant in the room: so far, they´ve delivered almost two hundred artistic baby elephant sculptures to all kinds of companies, institutions and education centres, in Ireland and abroad. Here are pictures of two of them:

Elephant sculptures seen some time ago in Blanchardstown Town Centre (left) and Maynooth University (right).

These elephants are a reminder that, behind a facade of apparent normality, anyone could be suffering. And if we don´t go beyond the customary "hi, how are you?" and superficial conversation before hurrying to do something else, we´re never going to find out who´s dying to have the opportunity to let something off their chest. It´s up to us to dedicate time and effort to connecting with others and truly listening to them, and be part of a support network where we can be there for each other.

Because, in this day and age, who wouldn´t benefit from a little more support and understanding? We are living a historical period in which we´re both more connected and more disconnected than ever. And we´re also most certainly more disoriented than ever, with everything moving at breakneck speed...

There´s one more elephant that comes to mind that we can talk about, one that I personally avoid as much as I can, although it´s becoming harder and harder to ignore, having become almost omnipresent. A technology so radical and disruptive that nobody has any idea where it can take us. Can you guess what it is?

Of course, I´m referring to the the astonishing and terrifying artificial intelligence: a entity (or rather, the sum of millions of entities) with the ability to both produce the most incredible advancements for Humanity and cause more havoc than a bull in a china shop (another very graphic metaphor starring an animal, and in Spanish, the equivalent is actually an elephant in a glassware shop).

I have been resisting the idea of talking about AI in this blog, and to be honest, I still don´t feel like writing about it. For the moment, it´s enough to say that I´m finding it a source of a lot of uncertainty, as I´m sure it is for many others as well, and when there´s uncertainty, there´s always discomfort and restlessness. Interestingly, what I noticed that helps me personally is talking about this topic with others; not specifically about AI as such, but about my reluctance and my worries, my uncertainty and fears. I think it´s because it opens the door for others to also open up, and get to speak more honestly and openly about what worries them.

Which brings me back to the initial idea with the elephants and mental health: sometimes we don´t realise when tension and worry start building up, and one day we suddenly find that we´re carrying a heavy burden and we don´t even know where it came from. An open and honest conversation with someone we trust can be really beneficial, as well as dedicating time to take care of ourselves, in whichever way we need, without guilt, so that we can make sure we´re OK and have physical, mental and emotional energy to keep going.

What about you, have you seen any of the elephants? Which one is your favourite? And what´s your "elephant in the room" at this particular moment?

Five years of BinaryWords

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Today, May 18th 2026, marks the fifth anniversary of my starting to write this blog..

Five years, a lustrum! I remember that, when I was little, I didn´t know how long a lustrum was, but I did know it was a measure of time, and in my mind it was something huge, like a century maybe, an eternity...

(It seems that the word "lustrum" is not very widely used in English; I suspect its equivalent in Spanish, "lustro", is not too widely used either, but I thought it would be nice to use it today. Both words come from the Latin lustrum)

This picture of Killiney beach is also almost five years old; it´s the image I initially used as a header for the blog:

Many things have happened since May 2021, around the world and within each one of us. I remember I was going through some soul-searching back then; I wasn´t sure what to do with my life, but I knew I wanted to do something different. So I decided to start walking, to get moving, trusting that the path would appear before me. And I did it by resuming a hobby I had found very fulfilling in the past but that I had abandoned for several years: writing. Or more specifically, blogging.

Even today, if I stop to think about it, I find it strange: every week I sit down to synthesise my thoughts and learnings in a few paragraphs, and then I send them out to the world, a bit blindly, without knowing who will receive them or whether they will resonate with them. Deep down, my hope is that whoever stumbles upon these lines finds one or two ideas that cheer them up, help them or inspire them in some way.

But I have to say that the person who benefits most, without a doubt, is me. On the one hand, for being able to use this creative outlet and contribute something I can be proud of, even if it´s small, and on the other hand, because I know these weekly reflections have opened the door to many other interesting (and challenging) things in my life.

For, as I had hoped, the path did appear before me; it keeps appearing with every step I take. Piece by piece, my project continues to take shape, although it´s still under construction, which is exactly the point: to continuously grow and to support others in their own growth. Both of those are tasks that last for life.

The blog now comprises over 250 articles; you can find them all in the archive. And if you´re starting to get tired of just reading, and you´re ready to step into action, have a look at the services page (recently updated) and let me know what change you want to make in your life.

Premeditatio malorum

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Today´s article begins with these words in Latin: premeditatio malorum, which we could translate as "pre-studying future evils".

And even though it sounds like a joke (to Spanish-speaking people, at least), like those fake Latin phrases we used to read in Asterix comic books, it turns out it´s a real thing, an expression from centuries ago. It´s a technique used by the ancient Stoic philosophers; I learned it in a Stoicism training course by Autognosis (thanks, Luis!)

(Flowers drawn by Eva, the artist in our family, on our kitchen whiteboard.)

This week, a few things happened around me that threw me off in a rather big way; things that made me consider situations I wouldn´t even have thought of until recently. And thinking about them, without noticing, I saw myself in the worst-case scenario. Which is exactly what this exercise is about: allowing ourselves a certain amount of time to recreate that situation we´re scared to see happening.

But not in a masochistic way, with the intention of suffering more, but, paradoxically, in order to suffer less. When we become worried about the future, we know only too well that just telling our mind not to worry doesn´t work at all; we´re going to worry anyway. So, what this technique proposes is not to run away from that thought, or to try and cover it, but to give it a chance to surface. This way, by visualising and imagining the worst-case scenario as if it were actually happening, we let ourselves integrate it, process it, and accept more peacefully the possibility (even if remote) of it happening.

Moreover, this technique can also help us to be better prepared for whatever may happen, or even to reduce the probability of it happening, if there are things in our power to try and avoid it. This is what I did as well, without noticing: I went what would I do in this situation? How would I manage? What resources would I have? And from there, I made a number of hypothetical decisions that provided me with a clearer picture of that imaginary future, which no longer looked that terrible.

At the end of the day, it´s all about "decatrastophizing" that future threat by bringing it down to earth, giving it a shape and coming up with an action plan that puts our mind at ease, as we position ourselves at the helm as opposed to staying adrift.

For best results, ideally, this exercise should be done in writing, reserving a reasonable amount of time (not too long) to get yourself in the situation, imagine all the details and observe the thoughts and emotions that start bubbling up. What options do you have?

You can write it all in three separate colunns:

  • Situation: your fear, the worst possible scenario.
  • Prevention: what is under your control to prevent this issue from happening?
  • Management: if it ends up happening, what is under your control to solve or mitigate the issue?

This way, by facing the threat and reflecting on it, anxiety paradoxically decreases instead of increasing. Because we go from being preoccupied about the problem to being occupied with building the solution. And on top of that, as it´s all written down, once the exercise is over, our mind can free itself up from this topic and focus again on other things.

As a final note, let´s all remember that we are stronger than we think. And as Marcus Aurelius, one of the great Stoic philosophers, once said:

Do not worry about the future.
You will face it with the same weapons
with which you face the present.

Quote of the day

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Do you like famous phrases and quotes? If you´ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I do like them; I often include some in my articles, though I try not to overdo it.

Today, as I started my computer, Google showed me a familiar quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson :

What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to
what lies within us.

Beautiful, isn´t it? I looked up more quotes from the same author, and found loads; here´s my selection.

(Photo taken this weekend, on our visit to Northern Ireland with Merche, Nacho and Miguel. Thanks, guys!)

People do not seem to realise
that their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.

What you do speaks so loudly
that I cannot hear what you say.

Without ambition one starts nothing.
Without work one finishes nothing.
The prize will not be sent to you.
You have to win it.

Once you make a decision,
the universe conspires to make it happen.

And one that I found surprising:

Make your own Bible.
Select and collect all the words and sentences
that in all your readings have been to you
like the blast of a trumpet.