My horizons. Your horizons.

Some people say that if you are not broadening your horizons, you are narrowing them. So if you're feeling stuck in life or find yourself being narrow-minded, it might be time you adopt a friendly attitude to life.

“The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me,
the Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.”

That was part of one of Maya Angelou’s poems, which she recited at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993 and in which ‘that farthest place which you can see, where the sky seems to touch the land or sea’, is reaching us and offering us changes, improvements, opportunities, and possibilities in life.

And now I tell you... feel the sun and wind on your face and let nature show you its wonders. Explore nature, learn from nature, and let yourself have a grandstand view of life. Step outside, sit in your garden, walk in an open field, climb a mountain, or walk on the beach. Literally expand your visual horizon. Develop an enquiring mind but be always critical. Always analyze, evaluate, reflect, and reason.

Travel the world, get to know different people, learn their names, and become interested in their cultures: become tolerant. Be willing to accept their beliefs even though they are different form yours. Walk in another person's shoes and see the world through their eyes. Opening your heart will most definitely broaden your perspective on life. Rediscover gratitude, forgiveness, and generosity.

“Now, bring me that horizon.” Those were Johnny Deep’s words in one of those “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies in which the good guys must cross big expanses of ocean to fight with the bad guys and so find a safe haven for themselves. Then, our own eyes can be up and looking for new and newer possibilities in the distance while we call out, “Now, bring me that horizon!”

And it’s never late to broaden your outlook on life: As Mark Pattison, a 19th century British author and teacher once said, “…the horizon recedes as we advance, and is no nearer at sixty than it was at twenty.” You can always look ‘out there’ and find your individual horizon.

And if this soundS like daydreaming, you only need to think about all those people who have once succeed in broadening their horizons throughout history. These were once ordinary people as we are.

"Firmly United"

I was thinking of important events that unite the world. In the past, the only thing that came to my mind was the world cup. You know... “It’s the world cup!” But then you have stories like this, of tragedy and miracles, and you feel really touched to see that all human beings being so distant and close at the same time.

Some weeks ago 30 miners were rescued after having been trapped for 70 days three hundred metres underground. Every channel and TV programme around the world followed the extraordinary rescue, man by man. And when the last miner exited the depths of the mine, everyone was moved as every miner himself was. Since then, they have become a source of inspiration: they have proved the value of faith, the value of commitment, the value of teamwork.

And this has not been the only case when the entire world felt and showed compassion for others. Many other tragic events have helped develop gestures of goodwill throughout history: massive earthquakes that have struck entire cities, or floods that have left thousands of families homeless, heavy storms, tornadoes... and wars. Did you know that the “League of Nations” was created at the end of the First World War to ensure that war would never break again? Then, we can assure that human beings only react after extreme situations. Why never preventing them?


Before having 33 miners trapped underground, people did not care if they were working in bad conditions or even running the risk of getting trapped. There was no source of inspiration in their faith or their commitment or in their teamwork. And there was no world united, but for the World Cup.

Teens

Three weeks ago I finished my practice period with adolescents after one month and a half of hard work. Fortunately, I had an extraordinary group of 18 students aged between 14 and 16 who were eager to participate and enthusiastic about learning a new language. Some people say teenagers are hard to motivate and impossible to deal with. Let me tell you that is not my opinion.

Of course there must be some troublesome teens out there waiting the enemy to come in the battle field only to declare war: they are completely aware of the fact they have the tools to hurt anybody’s feelings deeply and threaten to boycott anybody’s lesson, no matter how carefully prepared it seems to be.

Most of teenagers go through periods of extreme discomfort, anger and rebellion, and that is by nature. So why not perceiving their behaviour as a sign of health and maturation? We all know that the transition from childhood to adulthood must be rocky, so helping our teen students in their process might mean dealing with a handful of unexpected ambivalent attitudes at times. Whether you like it or not.

However, working with these guys should not be ALWAYS a pain in the backside. Teaching teenagers with their fresh and unadulterated perspectives can be great fun and a self-rewarding experience as well. Adolescents have boundless creative energy, they are talented and they are passionate about the things they like. Maybe, we only need to bring their realities into THEIR classrooms, help them think critically and push ahead with this adventurous experience of “educating the beast”. And always give them the best you can, because teenagers are the most perceptive of all and they feel pleased and grateful for our efforts.

And continue learning from them. It’s a wonderful truth that of all relationships between teacher and student is truly symbiotic. On a daily basis, you learn as much from your students as you try to impart to them, and this is why, without a doubt, we continue to teach.

TECHNOLOGY- THE TIMELINE?

When we describe technological advancements we tend to refer to modern systems, methods, techniques and tools which permit scientific discoveries to take place. Then, we tend to believe that at the very core of these developments is the “discoverer”: manipulating, trying out, controlling, measuring, adapting, experimenting, combining all these systems, methods, techniques and tools to, out of the blue, come up with something “new.”

But let me tell you that such ‘discovering’ is non-existent. Nothing in this material world could be developed without its previous counterpart: an idea. Some time before, some enquiring mind with plenty of innovative ideas for the time had already been paving the way for every technological advance.

Take the case of the telephone. Although its history goes back to the year 1665 when a man called Robert Hooke experimented sound transmission through a distended wire, and tin cans and paper cups became the most transcendent means of communication of the time, we only remember Alexander Graham Bell when talking about the history of the telephone. Then, nobody actually remembers the other guy when talking about the mobile phone.

Modern societies are used to rapid changes so they quickly forget what seemed to be a novelty yesterday. Then, newer trends replace anything in any field and we throw old goods, names, and ideas as well, away.

Technological advancements are much more than current inventions: they are the future, the present, and the past. They are the result of history, the result of necessities that have existed throughout different generations, and the result of people who once worked hard to satisfy that ‘particular need.’

DEEP INSIDE

I have always wondered how it is that dreams work. How it comes that every human mind has this extraordinary potential to make us almost experience this immensely exciting nonsensical nightly life which becomes so real at times and shows us the completely subjective and unique inner world of the subconscious.

However, when I watched this film called “Inception” last week, rather than paying attention to this entire dreaming idea, which is a kind of “protagonist” in the film, I asked to myself, “is there nothing private anymore?” It’s like if we could even imagine somebody going into our heads and entering our dreams, which literally happens in the film over and over again. So isn’t this movie showing us something else?

The fact is that this does not happen in dreams only but our subconscious is being permanently reached when are wide awake. I think there are no more aspects of our mind that remain private and individual anymore. But we are powerfully influenced by the media and the internet and EVERYTHING and EVERYONE “out there.”

We are educated with our families’ value, that’s for sure. But we cannot deny the influence that TV programmes and advertisements have in our minds, permanently sending messages addressed to our vulnerable subconscious. This way we are persuaded, or let me say rather manipulated, to feel, think and behave in one only particular “socially accepted” way. And we are convinced there is only one way to live this life: consumerism, superficiality, lack of values, shallowness.

Marketing messages seem sophisticated, inspiring, meaningful, and memorable. They show us a world of dreams, constantly suggesting what we “should” in order to be part of it. And our vulnerable subconscious gets that messages and obeys instantly. They are building up a robotic society, ready to respond, ready to obey, ready to consume, whether you like it or not. But does this sound like a dream? I believe this is a nightmare instead.

An Unlikely STAR

The moment she appeared as a contestant on reality TV programme Britain’s Got talent with her plain appearance, it wasn’t her who was ‘the ugly’ so much as people’s reactions to her. When she first appeared on Britain’s Got Talent she said her ambition was to become a professional singer; it was only raised eyebrows and stifled laughter what she got from the audience, then. The judges’ expression revealed mistrust, and even disdain, and the viewers were bitterly hostile to this rather chubby woman the moment she took the stage. Apparently, nobody was expecting her performance to turn her into an overnight global phenomenon.

Susan Boyle is a 47-year-old Scottish amateur singer who has recently come into international public attention. What was it that made her a public figure in the blink of an eye? I believe it was the contrast between the ‘ugly’ first impressions she gave and her lovely powerful voice. Then, cynicism turned into whooping and broad smiles. She finished to a standing ovation at her spine-tingling performance. Susan Boyle sang ‘I dreamed a dream’ from ‘Les Miserables’ in the first round of the third series of Britain’s Got Talent revealing her unexpected exceptional talent. And this was only the beginning.

In just a week her life had been turned upside down. By now, videos of Susan Boyle have been watched all around the world and she has proved more popular than any other character on You Tube. Her audition video has been viewed on the internet several hundred million times and she even has her own fans. Isn’t it amazing that just some months or so ago no one had heard of Susan Boyle? Well, now she has became one of the most talked-about people in the world. It is a dream come true.

"Men are from Venus, Women are from Mars"

“Men are from Venus, women are from Mars.” That is the title of a book written by John Gray which basically offers various suggestions aiming at improving men-women relationships in couples. However, I have recently realized how hard it becomes to try to understand people from another gender, let alone improve any relationship with them. Last month I watched this video which made me laugh a lot but at the same time reflect on the differences in personalities, attitudes, and behaviours of men and women, which have proven troublesome in any relationship, and which are an intrinsic part of them all. But, if it’s of any consolation to you, and me as well, let me share with you what I’ve learned in this video: we are different in nature, and nothing can change that.

One of the ideas that the mentioned video introduces in order to explain these natural differences between the two sexes is the one I am trying to express in my comic strip, and which Pilar Sordo, the psychologist in the video, called “magical thinking.” This is a thought structure, mainly developed in women’s minds, which lead people, more precisely women, to continuously compare the objective reality with their mental reality, the subjective images they create of people and things. Let me give you an example. We women are permanently expecting our boyfriends to be romantic with us and send us flowers daily. And it makes us so mad to realize that that will never ever happen, IN REALITY. What actually is making us so angry is in fact this so-called magical thinking, or magical thought, which is making us permanently compare the real man, our boyfriends, with this image we have in our minds of ‘the perfect man’. Of course we know who will lose the battle. And there it comes, the moment when we become intolerant, reproachful, and extremely unhappy as well.

It sounds complex. It must be complex. But learning to cope with the unlimited number of differences with the other gender is essential in order to improve all relationships. We can't deny we sometimes feel like crazy when not being able to control certain of our own emotions and reactions. And it frustrates us not being able to understand some of their behaviours. It is not a matter of just blindly and passively accepting each other, but of becoming more open-minded, learning about the other, understanding why it is that they, and we, behave in the way we do. And in the end, understanding and acceptance might lead us to complete happiness. How do you see it?