TO RETURN
(English Version)
April 25, 2016.
Airplane. Smiling from cheek to cheek during takeoff. Glass of white wine.
The return from Jamaica does not signify my return back home. It does not mean my return to Brazil, to Rio. It represents my return back to my body. It means the return of my happiness, my understanding of me, who I am, the personality that I have, the realization of all I can do and accomplish.
I cannot even count how many days I was there. I feel like one who has a cloud under her feet that made me float through the unexplainable things that I experienced on this trip and that did not allow me to have a complete understanding of the day I arrived, how many nights I slept, how many smiles I gave and received.
5 Lessons I learned in Jamaica:
1) Be Grateful
I met a Ninja who had an alarm on his phone with the following reminder: Be Grateful. Every day, when the alarm sounds and the sentence appears in his cell, he stops what he’s doing to think about the things for which he is grateful for. Grateful to be where you are, doing what you’re doing, with whom you’re doing it with. Thankful for each breath, for the friends you have, the person you are and how many lives you can change by being what you are. They say he is a Ninja is because he knows how to fall absurd heights without getting hurt, do handstand on the top of a cliff, how to flip acrobatically. I think it’s because he knows how to be grateful.
(Thank you, Travis Ninja. For teaching me the value of being grateful!)
2) “Never, Ever Stop Dreaming on it”
One easy English night by Red Stripe (Jamaican typical beer), outlined by a conversation with new californians friends, I commented that my favorite american expression was “Sleep on it”. I use this expression even when I am speaking portuguese. This expression is used for put the person to think about the last message. “Sleep with this message” “Put your head on the pillow tonight and think about it” “digests it.” After that night, by day we were using this expression for almost anything that happened. The great thing is that every night in Jamaica I had reasons to dream about what was going on. Every night I put my head on the pillow and remembered the magical day that I had lived. It did not take anything for us to exchange the ‘Sleep’ for ‘Dream’. “Dream on it!”. On my last morning in Jamaica, I found the piece of wood that was left from the cuts made to build the first Ninja Park facing social development with a message from Casey:
“Never, Ever Stop Dreaming on it!”
I will not, Casey!
(Thank you, Travis, Casey and Nicholas, for encouraging me to keep dreaming)
3) Have Fun!
I was about to enter in an Acroyoga posture with the founder of the sport, the camera to record the video was set. The clothes were chosen, the sequence of movements were in the head. My expression was almost serious given the previous concentration. I was looking forward and waiting for the first sign of him to start practicing. At that point, he stopped. I looked down and he asked me: “Why do we do Acroyoga?” A thousand things went through my head. He replied, “Because it`s fun ‘!
That was the key. Because of what were we there? Why did we do Acroyoga? Because I had chosen to invest so much money, time and energy in it? No … the main goal was not to make a profit, to earn a certificate or millions of views on one video. The goal was to have fun! We do Acroyoga because we have fun doing it. We have to do what makes us happy, to be happy.
The next day I made a Pop video with Julio. I was about to jump on his foot and wait for him throw me high and receive me back into his hands. With a smile on my face, he asked: “Why do we do it?” I replied, “Because it`s fun!”
(Thanks, Jason and Julio, for I remember the sense of what I do)
4) “I am Strong !!!”
Last days of AYFit training. I do not remember his name because I started to call him “Bear.” He was a giant man, personal trainer in New York. The amount of muscle he had was proportional to the sweetness of his face. He looked like a Big Giant Bear. I wanted to hug. To be certified as AYFit Trainer, each student had to teach a class. The Bear Class was killing us. Pure abs training. The trump card he had to make us not give up any of the exercises was to speak the “mantra” loudly, “I am Strooooong, I am Strooong”. That’s how we managed to do everything. That’s how I got along in Jamaica. That’s how I had the courage to come, how I decided to get here. It was being strong! I am Strong! I will repeat it forever.
(Thank you, Bear, for reminding me that I am strong!)
5) “Every Little Thing, Is gonna be alright!”
Fifth lesson. The glass of white wine is already moving through my blood, making me type a little faster and feel every cell of my body. In Bob Marley`s country, something I had to have learned from him. The day I bought a ticket to Jamaica until the day of departure a lot has happened to make me think about not coming. I lost my grandmother, my financial security. I entered a new job, one of the photographers who would help in the documentary recording was denied the passport and my graduation thesis had to be typed in two days. Rationally, I could not come. But I came. A push from the bottom of my heart gave me enough courage to come. Nothing now can stop me in this world, because I know that everything would be fine. Every little thing would be fine. No amount of money in the world can pay what I learned here. About me, about life, about happiness. No countable years of psychologist on earth can make me more determined than I am now. there is no human on this planet that can rebut Bob. That tells me I can not go, because I know, I know that at the end it all. …. oh …. every little thing is gonna be alright! “Onda que segue”!
Flight captain speaking. Time for landing.
