Connections

How much time do we spend in pursuing our virtual identity? How much time do we spend in selecting which picture to use as a profile picture - how to write our status to make it as more attractive as possible to the majority of people? How clever we think we are in using smiles and emoticons to blur the edges of what we would really like to say? I'm afraid sometimes we just hide from truth. Today I had an amazing experience, something that never happened before to me. I decided to join a friend in  a free-hugging event. Yesterday we prepared our papers and today we were ready to join all the Focallocal guys in Trafalgar Square. That's not much a big deal, apparently: you just have to show up there with a paper saying "Free Hugs" and walk among people, move towards them and just...hug. But the actual deal is much more than just that. To me it has meant quite a lot. I don't know if it was because of the gorgeous location - Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery are two of my favorite spots ever all over the World I've seen so far - but suddenly emotions got the upper hand on rationality and I got immediately involved in that thing. I didn't realize what a thing I was about to do until the very first person, a girl, came towards me to get a free hug. I immediately felt tears streaming to my eyes and I had to swallow them back because I didn't want to get too emotional. To hug a person is a very simple thing to do - and yet is one of the most moving, happy things anybody could ever do. No need to hide behind any fake smile in a chat. You're living the moment, one hundred per cent. No way you can get distracted by something else in that very moment - no way you have the time to think how you should put it to get more appreciated by people. You are just...You. And people thank you for that. An elderly woman told me these exact words I'll never forget: "You're doing a great thing today. You're making people smiling". Another man told me: "Thank you. You're connecting the World". The World's not going so bad, though. Most of us may reckon we're getting more and more individualistic and selfish, sharing less and less with people in live interactions. And I might agree with that, but yet when you try to go out of the schemes there's still someone who follows and support you, and that's a good thing. It means people, of course, still feel the need of brotherhood and openness. Once you understand you can be different from what you usually think you are, things can change for better. Apparently effortless actions can get people to think a bit more deeply about connections. And if you believe in connections, you'll start seeing how many of them are just around you. No matter if you're too young or too old - it's never neither too early nor too late. Let Life surprise you. 

Free Hugs with Focallocal, Trafalgar Square. 

A second start

Friday. I spent the whole day at home. Watching tv series, doing the laundry, cooking, drinking tea, studying phrasal verbs and cooking again. Apparently, I should have nothing to say about today, as I only stepped in the garden to hang out my laundry and nothing more. I am here, sitting on my bed, twisted and turned into layers of sweaters and blankett as the weather is terribly cold - especially considering that a month ago I was enjoying the hot sun in Florida, dipping my feet in the Ocean. And I suddenly realized it's not true that I spent all the day at home: today, after almost one week of rushing all around the City to see rooms and houses that could potentially become "home" to me, my head  and body needed some rest. I can still feel the rain pouring on my hair and on my face, the desolation of that bus stop in the cold evening, my tears streaming down and mixing with raindrops. Today, all I needed was the calm and the warmth that you feel only when you are at home - and in some ways, I was able to find them even if I'm everywhere but home at the moment. I didn't actually spend all the day here: today, my thoughts have reached the furthest corners on Earth, from New Zealand, to Germany, to Switzerland and Argentina, and so on. I had this strong feeling of connection with other Friends who are trying to make their ways somewhere in the World. What if, in our lives, we could be gifted with a second start? What if we were given a second chance to start our lives over? Once you're stucked in your routine, in your own Country, it's almost the same places and faces you've always seen for ages, the same daily habits. For ages. You start wondering how would it be to have a second chance, until  you start gathering all your strength and energies and you decide to leave. And then? Trying to make a comparison between the two situations would be both silly and useless, as I would need ages before starting to have a daily routine here. At the moment, each little moment of joy is a bliss, and each obstacle on my way is a curse. Today I realized that even though a little bit of courage is enough to leave your Country, then only patience makes the difference and gives you the answers. That's why today I've decided to stop making questions - as it's not the right time to find answers yet.