A KEY TO EMOTIONS

By Ángela López One of my readers asked me what my main quality is, well, I would have to mention patience. Few things get on my nerves, as I always try to imagine how difficult life can be for many of us at certain times.  By emotionally putting myself in someone else's shoes, I am able to develop a level of understanding for the frustration, temper and even envy that others deal with. In addition, being a teacher has fueled my desire to understand the different ways of learning that others have, which also applies to the multiple interpretations that each of us give to life. By this I do not mean that I am an enlightened and perfect being; on the contrary, I strive not to taste the irrational banquet that anger, sadness and frustration prepare for me on a daily basis. Streams are beautiful as long as they are just that, harmless rivulets with pebbles and flowers around them, but when it rains incessantly on them, the flood is imminent, and with it, the charm transforms into des...

By Ángela López Words caress sweetly or strike cruelly, that is a fact. A couple of years ago someone told me that, "Although I thought I was intelligent, in reality I was not" and, moreover, "I was a weak woman.”  I don't deny that these were difficult words to assimilate, however, I questioned internally those statements. Were they absolute truths what this person was saying, or were they simply comments from someone who wanted to hurt my self-esteem? By asking myself this question, in a way, I took away someone's power to pollute my thoughts.  I imagine that you too have gone through similar situations where you have had to challenge the blatant and malicious opinions of others.   Each of us has tasted a "you're great" as well as a "you are not valuable.”   Paradoxically, many times, it is not necessarily someone around us who can hurt us with their statements, but it is we ourselves who mistreat ourselves psychologically during those endl...

In my country, Colombia, December is undoubtedly the happiest month of the year. I don't know if it is because we are a tropical country or because our veins have all that Latin flavor, but the truth of the matter is that this is the time when Pastor López's music, dancing, custard, fritters, liquor and roasts have their most desired reunion. Even, after going through such a complex year as 2020, we Colombians are looking to shake off all the bad things of these 365 days. It is as if during this month we had a clean slate, or simply suffered amnesia for 31 days. I sincerely hope that this year that is ending will not leave you wounded, dear reader. However, if that is the case, remember to give healing a chance. Easy? It will never be, so let's learn to smile at the process. And how do you do that? I once wrote in one of my blogs that as a teenager I suffered a car accident, which left a deep wound in my right hand, as well as multiple traumas. My...

By Ángela López Singing is one of the skills I have most admired. Listening to Luciano Pavarotti, Freddie Mercury or Pedro Infante, is like touching a little piece of heaven in the stormiest moments.   Without being a proper Whitney Houston, I must confess that my off-tune sounds glorious in the shower.   Fortunately, there are other talents and different intelligences (Howard Gardner - Multiple Intelligences).   So, I started researching how I could improve both "spatial-visual" and "linguistic-verbal" intelligence.   However, despite my advances, the comparison exploded like an erupting volcano. Repeatedly, I confronted my work with that of others.   Generally, I used to feel that theirs was far superior to mine, and that my efforts were in vain, as I would never produce anything with characteristics of excellence. In a way, I was showing glimpses of a rather limiting and unpleasant feeling: envy . It should be noted that, envy or that feeling of sadness b...

By Ángela López Do you have any words that you find pretty, inspiring or comforting? In my case, I would say "ineffable. "   I love it because of the warmth of its sound when pronounced, and, because its meaning cannot be easily explained due to its characteristics of singular excellence. For example: "the expression of love on her face was ineffable, and it was all due to her close relationship with herself".   A few days ago, while writing one of the stories for my book, I came across a term that caught my attention: " Achromatopsia ".   Basically, it is an ocular pathology in which one can only see in black and white. And, although it is considered a rare disease, I couldn't help but think that, when it comes to emotional vision , it is quite normal to suffer from it. In a world fragmented by divisions, we tend to ignore the beautiful kaleidoscope that is our heart.   Desperately, we look for any reason to create boundaries and classifications betw...

By Ángela López. "I found myself on a cliff holding someone's hand so that he wouldn't fall, I never managed to see the face of the one who was hanging from me, but for some reason, I felt that he was also the person who was eagerly holding on to the hand of her salvation,” that was for years one of my recurring dreams. This makes a lot of sense, because to be honest, on countless occasions this is precisely how I have felt, hopeless and lonely; trying to help myself so as not to melt completely into despondency.   On some occasions, I have been able to reduce the intensity of devastating thoughts through drawing, writing or sport. Other times, even a simple strawberry ice cream brings me out of my low mood, however, there are extremely difficult moments when the anguish goes deep inside me to the point of feeling absolute pain...physically everything works...but, there is that "I don't know what" bowing to suffering. You've probably thought ...

Without being a big fan of action movies, I have to admit that I felt a great affinity with a phrase said in the Fast and Furious franchise (delivery 7).  In a somewhat melancholy scene, Dominic Toretto tells Letty, "You can't tell someone they love you. ”  Apparently this sounds obvious, but, don't believe it... sometimes we stubbornly forget it! Loving is undoubtedly an emotion that can lead us to "the need", the need for our loved one to correspond to us in the same way. However, what happens when you are not reciprocated? Is it wise to surrender in love? I must emphasize that I disagree with the very popular statement "All’s fair in love and war .” I think that the word "victory" in war is stained by the death of many, so there is no prowess in it, only shame. And if we speak of love, when we cling to someone who does not want to be with us, we are directly attacking our dignity.   Love feeds on its freedom, the day we try to force i...