day 7. SuNdaY Spend a few minutes cultivating good feelings towards yourself! Give yourself unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance!
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day 6. Saturday You're special! Pamper yourself!
Enjoy the moment! Let go of your worries! Center yourself! Appreciate the small pleasures of life. Anxiety and stress will fade away. day 5. friday guincho, cascais, portugal Feeling amazed by natural beauty makes people happier, more altruistic, less intolerant and less nervous. Feeling wonder at something superior develops the mind! Today take some time to connect with nature or to contemplate a beautiful landscape. The beauty of nature can have a profound effect upon our senses, those entrances from the outside world to the interior.  pena, sintra, portugalday 4. thursday  Think about the purpose of your life. If it helps, look to old pictures that remind you of the things that make your life meaningful: family, friends, your work, your victories, your mission!... Awakening up old memories connects you with the past and helps you to put recent events in perspective, giving you peace and vision to support your next move forward!
day 3. wednesdayGiving thanks regularly and feeling gratitude improves life satisfaction. Today we’re going to think about the 5 people we love the most (if you think 5 is a small number than you’re ahead on your road to happiness!). Let’s take a few moments to appreciate them and think about the joy they bring to our life. If this doesn’t make a change inside your heart imagine, just for a small instant, life without them… Now realize how good your life is because they’re around! SMILE.  DAY 2. TUESDAYGenerous people are happier and healthier. So write down on your to-do list ‘act of kindness’ and give it a try! It’s so simple! I already figured my act for today and I’m going to buy gum for the team. Yes, it doesn’t have to be anything big. Go for small and simple and see how you can affect people around you. At the end of the day this will work out really well for you too!  Happy people are Confident people. They’re happy about who they are, how they deal with things, where they’re going, where they spend their time. They have a good system to keep up with life, work, friends, family, themselves. They know, they’re unique, they’re in control, and they love their days! Let’s work on our happiness and see that lead to a sustainable increase in confidence! Let’s work throughout a whole week! I guess it makes sense to focus on being happy a whole week. Let’s go: day 1. mondayExpress yourself in a diary: writing for 15 minutes a day on your journal can diminish signs of depression and anxiety, will strengthen your immune system, and increase your performance at work.   To be excellent at work and really make a difference you need
a) TO BE SMART >> Protect the Asset It’s not easy for me to obey this rule, straight from ‘Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown but after a long night sleep, the miracle morning routine (let me know if you want more about this! It’s very powerful!!), gym, and a couple of calls to friends and family I feel balanced, with a strong mind, and capable of progress on my journey! Feeling well, being happy, makes me confident and productive. Don’t underestimate the power of 1. sleeping well, 2. eating well, 3. connecting and 4. exercising! It’s much easier to develop good work when you can keep yourself balanced! Make it a priority! This will help you feel that you have everything under control and will build your confidence every day! b) TO CARE Make it a priority to bring your brain and your heart to work every day! Even on the bad days, even when you put in extra hours. Don’t limit your positive influence, reach not only people you like but also the ones you’re not really fond of. Through good times and bad, long days and short... to people you adore, and to people you can’t stand. CONTINUITY is what matters. Be persistent. This will separate the best people from the average people. 1. Organize Before you launch into your inbox, take 5 minutes to assemble yourself and your papers. Sort through what's essential and recycle everything that's not. This will get you to a good start! 2. Nap A mere 10 minute rest after lunch will boost your energy for the rest of the day. It's definitely worth a shot if you have a good spot available to you (try your car if you prefer). 3. Stretch There are several easy stretches you can do quickly at your desk. Try it! It will help you refocus on work. 4. ‘That’s all, Folks’ It's not always possible to leave right when the clock strikes the end of your 8-hour workday…but try to get as close as possible, make it a rule and protect your heart! This will help you be disciplined and productive during your working hours and it will also send a message about the importance of work life balance to everyone around you!   Ever looked around and wonder why people ‘aren’t there’? I mean… being on holidays and checking e-mails every half hour, being at a birthday party and missing the fun because of next day’s responsibilities, being at an office party and being busy talking on other people’s backs instead of getting to know your colleagues better, having a conversation face to face while keeping a different one on your phone at the same time… what a waste of precious time, precious moments, big discoveries, and good relationships. We will not have another try at this same day! Make the most of it! Keep your expectations high and make it a purpose to meet them in every area of your life!
“To be great, be whole; Exclude nothing, exaggerate nothing that is not you. Be whole in everything. Put all you are Into the smallest thing you do. So, in each lake, the moon shines with splendor Because it blooms up above.” Ricardo Reis / Fernando Pessoa Fernando Pessoa (June 13, 1888 – November 30, 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and translated from English and French. Pessoa was a prolific writer, and not only under his own name, for he dreamed up approximately seventy-five others. He did not call thempseudonyms because he felt that did not capture their true independent intellectual life and instead called them heteronyms. One of the most popular of these imaginary figures was Ricardo Reis.  I get worried every time a friend seems trapped into his own life. Grown up people that just don’t seem happy, and sometimes even realize this but don’t take the step to define their path, to move away from what is making themselves miserable… Sometimes it’s ‘just’ work, sometimes it’s other people’s expectations, sometimes is chasing everything without electing anything, sometimes is doing a lot of things and not enjoying one single thing, most of the times is consuming themselves in a road leading to nowhere…
So I urge you to stop. Think about your life: what is bringing you joy, what is attracting bad feelings. Make lists. Think. Decide. You must make progress so that tomorrow your list of ‘joyful things’ can be longer and your list of ‘gloomy things’ can become smaller. You’re the only one who can start making changes to become happier! Go for It! Don’t lose another day. I came across this text, or the Portuguese version of it, that relates to the same concerns I have and I sadly observe more often that I would like to… I took the audacious move to translate it and hope Ruth Manus will consider this a faithful English version of her great article. Congratulations Ruth on this alert! Hope it can impact captive people who read it in Portuguese or English. The sad generation that became captive – Ruth Manus Once upon a time there was a generation that though it had so much freedom. They felt sorry for their grandparents, who married early and never travelled to Europe. They were sorry for their parents, who had to work so hard on simple jobs and sweat many shirts to pay the rent, school fees and family trips to lodging houses in the countryside. They were sorry for everyone who didn’t speak English fluently. Once upon a time there was this generation who grew speaking two-languages. And then they were able to also learn roughly french, italian, spanish, german and mandarin. They went to the best schools. Attended the best colleges. They passed the most selective hiring processes and got their contracts. They were proud, and they were right to be proud. After that the master’s degree, MBA. Diplomas started filling their walls. Once upon a time there was this generation that at 20 earned a salary they didn’t need. At 25 they earned what their parents’ earned when they were 45. At 30 their income was more than what their parents earned in a lifetime. At 35 their salary was what their parents’ never dreamed to earn. Nobody could stop them. More know-how every day, a spectacular career, bank account got prettier every day. The problem was the summit was getting further and further. The finishing line was moving away from them. Something similar to the donkey that chases the carrot or the dog chasing his tail. The problem was this nebulosity where you could not distinguish the finishing line, the dream, the will, the ambition, the greed, the need or the addiction. The money in the bank account was enough to pay for a lot of trips. It could be used to visit that dear friend in Barcelona. It could be used to fulfill the dream to visit Thailand. It was enough to fly so high. But you know what? Priorities. They would always end up staying instead of leaving. That generation tried to convince themselves that they could buy well-being in little boxes. They would even believe that an hour of jogging would make up for all the damage done to their body each and every day. At 20: ibuprofen. At 25: omeprazole. At 30: rivotril. At 35: stent. A strange generation that would drink coffee to stay awake and take pills to sleep. They would always be between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Can you take care of this? Yes. Will it meet the deadline? Yes. Can you come in earlier? Yes. Can you stay up late to finish the report? Yes. Do you want to stand out? Yes. But for their own life, it was usually No: At 20 they couldn’t study to their colleges exams because their internship was demanding too much. At 25 they didn’t move abroad because there was this great chance to be promoted in the company. At 30 they didn’t go to thei good friend’s birthday because they could not leave the office before 2am. At 35 they did not see their baby take their first steps. When they got home, he was already asleep, when they left home, he wasn’t awake yet. Sometimes, they would cry in their car and started to ask themselves unguardedly if the life of their parents’ and grandparents’ could have been as bad as it seemed. For a brief moment they would think that maybe a small house, an ordinary car shared with the wife and holidays in a bed and breakfast could actually make sense. But it was too late. They we’re already prisoners of fast payments, French wine, resorts, pictures, company’s expectations, friends glancing with curiosity. Once upon a time there was a generation that though it had so much freedom. After all they had the knowledge, the power, the best positions, they had money. All they didn’t have was control over their own time. All they could not see was that days were passing by. All they could not understand was that their youth was slipping inevitably away and they year-end bonus would not buy them back the years. It's Nice to have the best player.... It's more important to have the best team!!! Believe!.. Anything can happen!   Faye Dunaway The day after receiving the oscar I came across the exhibition “Terry O’Neill. Faces of the Stars” during a quick lunch break in the Colombo shopping mall… How these famous works delighted me and changed my day!! Since the early 60’s, Terry O’Neill (London 1938) one of the world’s most respected photographers of our time focusing on the art of portrait, has skillfully captured intimate, candid, and spontaneous images of many of the biggest stars of our age. His use of the 35mm camera, beyond the restraints of the studio, brought an immediacy and intimacy to his photographs, which revolutionized the formal portrait. His images have adorned historic rock albums, movie posters, and international magazine covers many times over the years. From presidents to pop stars, he has been photographing the frontline of fame for over half a century. This exhibition is organized by Sonae Sierra in collaboration with Arthemisia Group and Iconic Images Brilliant work! Impressive arrangement! Life is full of surprises that can inspire you! Slow down, make yourself stop and see beauty surrounding you…  Paul Mccartney at Ringo Starr’s wedding
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ABOUT MEMy name is T. S. Coelho and I live in Lisbon, Portugal, with my husband and three kids. I work in the asset management industry, managing an equities fund. Archives
January 2021
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