The Road

It is both for and because of my three daughters that I lost myself—for the good and the bad; but it is also because of them that I was alerted to the need to stand up for myself.   As I watched them grow up, I would occasionally see myself reflected in them: a facial expression, a gesture, a choice of clothing, but more importantly: an observation, an opinion, their choices and their plans for the future. I came to appreciate the enormity of our influence as parents and to realize that they will follow in my path, whether I like it or not.  They will either mimic my behavi...

I am an emotional person. I find myself crying from a romantic teen movie. Tears fill my eyes whenever I read a birthday card aloud to my loved ones. But nothing touches me more than observing an individual's achievements. It is the human ability to envisage a goal, work for its accomplishment and, through its outcome, touch and influence the lives and inclinations of others that makes me so emotional. I admire people who do amazing things and maybe that is why I believe so strongly in striving to reach the potential you believe you have.  It is often not exception...

Tokujin Yoshioka: Crystals create spider's thread chair The seeds of our inner drive are planted sometime in early childhood either by our own dreams or by the expectations of others. For years we irrigate this inner source, plowing and trimming, but when the time come to harvest, we realize that either we used the wrong seeds or that we are left with no energy to continue the pursuit. By rewinding, I went back to look for the original drive and motive, that preliminary dream that may have been the start of my journey. It took me a great deal of time to start listening to my inner vo...

It may be only a self-perception that makes us drift away from our purpose. But it is this internal search, or awakening (according to Carl Jung), that may occasionally lead the way to our true calling. Call it dreams or call it awakenings – it is the awareness of the need to find them that starts the search for meaning. The famous psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl called the human search for meaning "self-transcendence." This term describes a positive result in the individual search for meaning together with long-term emotions of happiness. His model concerns self-fulfillment an...

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream." Martin Luther King, Jr Freedom and hope are part of my DNA. And though I don’t run around wearing hippie skirts and peace necklaces, I have come to realize that freedom and hope both represent for me something far beyond their prevailing interpretation. They are fundamental elements of our being; and as they are, thankfully, commonplace around these parts, most o...

I must admit I have never considered myself a feminist. There was always something about the interpretation of the term that I couldn’t relate to. I have always found it difficult to be treated as inferior, as the victimized sector of society (though I have never been oblivious to unjustifiable favoritism on the basis of gender).  The fact that feminism represented something against femininity, against men, something revolutionary in terms of women's evolution, trying to convince us that we should forget how we were raised and even some of our inborn inclinations, well...

There is an enormous gulf between the stage where I started conceiving this exploration and the stage I am aiming for. Even the phases that shape this journey demonstrate how difficult it has been to get on the road, not to mention keep on going. Finding the strength to pull yourself out of despair and hopelessness and restore your belief in your ability to improve your life, to be happier and to be fulfilled is unbelievably debilitating. The changes are very slow, large intervals elapsing between each improvement, each one taking its time to make the necessary impact before jumping...

Being involved in a creative process is like existence in two parallel dimensions, the physical and earthly, and the spiritual, whereby you are floating within your imagination and the stories you build in your head. It is the dream of the innovator who connects the seemingly impossible with the possible by linking the two dimensions and making their paths cross.  It is not by compromise, surrender and oblivion that you can live a fulfilling life. To me, creating your reality means pursuing opportunities, being conscious of your own strengths and weaknesses, cultivating fl...

Will self-actualization be a goal for many of us in the 21st century?  Whether it is a goal we intentionally set for ourselves or whether we are simply looking to find more purpose at work, the world of employment in the near and distant future will provide us with challenges that we had better be prepared for. It will require us to cultivate a very wide, macro view of our potential contribution, be it as employees, employers, entrepreneurs, leaders or experts in the field. In this post I would like to share some of the factors that, from the experiences of my own journey, I have...

I remember one of the first times I sat with a former colleague from the high tech industry trying to brainstorm an early incarnation of my idea. I had so many doubts at the time. At that point, I knew only one thing: I was not going to fake the self-assurance or confidence that I lacked. Although he wasn’t such a close friend, I felt no need to pretend to be someone who I was not, and so, in a rather naive, and in retrospect, foolishly honest way, I shared with him one of my deepest fears by asking the question: "But what if I fail?" He probably doesn’t remember a thing; for him, an...