Treasure Hunter | April 2020
It’s been 8 weeks since we went to quarantine. Does it feel right? Has it really been so long? What has changed? What have we let go of? Have we learned new habits, skills or stillness techniques?
April was a silent month. The streets of Lisbon have emptied out fully at the beginning of the month and slowly started returning to the outdoor gym that it has turned to become right now. It has also been a rainy month, so with no doubt has it been refreshing to finally tick off a few movies I’ve been keeping on my to-do list for what seems to be forever.
But, this month is not about me, but about us. What connects us with the new distances that we have and how we will create the new normal that the world is inviting us into. From June, it seems that the world will start moving again, so what will it be like for us? How will we live in the new normal?
As we ponder about these questions in the month of May, here are a few things that caught my attention in April 2020. The Silent Month.
1. Music
A huge shoutout to Lady Gaga for creating Live Aid style initiative, but for our Pandemic times. 8 hour music concert, filled with A-listers, called One World: Together At Home.
What will you get out of this? A gentle reminder that music is still a great uniting force and it might just inspire you to revisit all the Spotify playlists from a couple of years back to re-connect with your favourite tunes to boogie with. No Spotify account? Even better! If you still have a cassette player, please send me a pic.
2. Movies
Now this section is a bit longer than normal, just because apart from walking, reading one book, working and cooking, I ended up spending majority of my time this month catching up with some movies.
Start Wars Finale (2019)
This was a final movie of Star War Saga. We were watching the final bit with my little kitten and it naturally was a reflection of just the importance of Star Wars that had in our life. I was introduced to Star Wars by my good friend Luke Harcourt back in 2014. I heard about Star Wars a lot before and never thought that I would get into it as it was about sci-fi, but I couldn’t be more wrong.
The final episode really touched me and it was beautifully executed. It respected the past and the beautiful characters from the previous episodes. It also celebrated the next generation, the hopes and the future. It was really beautiful to see that Dark Vader found inner strength within to transform and let go of the dark side and Ray was able to face her biggest fear of facing herself.
I liked the message around our roots and the choice we have to either identify with it or not. We don't necessarily have to belong to our past, if we don't agree with the bloodline that we have not chosen. I liked how she chooses her path by calling herself Rey Skywalker at the end of the film.
Really epic, and beautiful ending. Thank you Star Wars for showing us that the Good will always rise if we believe and make the right decisions.
Little Women (2019)
The film is based on a novel by Louisa May Alcott. I loved the actors, the set decoration and of course the story. Some might say that it’s a bit cheesy movie, but I felt that it was exactly what I needed to see based on what’s going on in the world at the moment. I needed to see something that was human and showcase positive emotions, and reminds us of what connects us. I loved how the movie portrayed a beautiful friendship and sisterhood. Their bond and their togetherness. What you might get out of it? Warm fuzzy feeling and inspiration to find your element and flow in life.
Bombshell (2019)
I thought this movie was an important piece of art to create. It has a loud message to ensure that others are aware of. It’s disturbing to know what happened in such a huge company like Fox, but at the same time, it created a debate around what some women did to reach the top of their careers and made a choice to walk a certain way.
Female solidarity was something that I read a book about last month in The Cows by Dawn O’Porter and this made me think about the professional world and how we as women see each other. Most of the time, we are in competition with one another. Maybe we are not as supportive as we should be, but it’s something that long time we need to bypass.
I hope that we can stand together to receive the respect that we deserve and if it’s something that we are not comfortable with, to feel that we are in a safe space to do so. I admire Amanda Seals for that because she does really stand up for females and our rights in that particular way. I tried a little exercise in my company as well a few months back, where I challenged my co-workers in my team to stop calling each other girls and start referring to each other either by simply their first name or women. A girl is a female child. Here is a bombshell for you.
Neverending Story (1984)
“The Nothing is spreading. It’s growing and growing, there’s more of it every day. All the other fled from Howling Forest in time, but we didn’t want to leave our home. The Nothing caught us in our sleep and this is what it did to us.”
The movie reminded me of COVID-19 and our fight with it. The reference of The Nothing is the virus that kinda caught us out of nowhere. What it helped us to do? To turn inwards and revisiting our story and remind us of our own truth. What will you get out of it? A good old Sunday afternoon style adventure to story telling.
Few Others…
* Planet of the Aps
Lessons on character, Mercy, Leadership, Purpose and a reminder of the fact that together we are stronger.
* Murder Mystery
So I love Jennifer Aniston. My boyfriend loves Adam Sandler, so this was a great and entertaining movie. Very funny.
* The Gentlemen
I enjoyed the script a lot! Nice use of language.
3. Series
Friends
I started re-watching Friends just as the lockdown began. It was honestly very refreshing to reconnect with this series that I grew up with. It was launched in my second year of primary school and I remember watching the final episode on my final year in high school. Wow, the final episode was a huge deal for us and my tennis coach also gifted me with Season 10 DVD as my graduation gift. We even sang “I’ll be there for you” as part of our graduation ceremony as well. So yes, Friends were a huge influence. Funny fact, I associated myself much more with Rachel this time around. Maybe I’m the fashionista I always wanted to be after all? jk :)
Never Have I ever (2020)
And the final watch recommendation for the month is “Never Have I Ever”. It literally dropped on Netflix just a few days ago and I already finished it. I needed something light to watch to relax and this came to me in just perfect timing. I surprisingly really enjoyed it :)
The 10-episode comedy centers on the experiences of Devi Vishwakumar, a high-achieving high school sophomore at Sherman Oaks High in the San Fernando Valley who is navigating life with a short fuse that often lands her in difficult and awkward situations. Her mother (Poorna Jagannatha) was a fantastic actress as well. Just loved all the cultural references and a very diverse cast group.
4. Health
Pick up Limes
Really great blog talking about reconnecting your body with food (in case you are as lost as I am). Lots of gentle energy and nice reminders that there is hope to eat as intuitively as we first did it when we were babies. Here is a little daily intuitive eating diary, if you fancy to try it yourself:
So… one more month of internal cleansing and then lift off from May. See you then!
