Guor Marial

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Joshua Kors

Investigative Reporter, The Nation

Guor Marial was prepared to sacrifice his Olympic dreams.
The South Sudanese marathon runner swept through the 26.2 miles of Minneapolis' qualifying race in just 2 hours, 14 minutes and 32 seconds, a mark that should have secured his slot at the London Olympics. But nothing in Marial's life has been that simple.
South Sudan—a one-year-old nation born from the bloodshed of 39 years of civil war—has not yet set up an Olympic committee. And according to International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, nations without an Olympic committee cannot send athletes to the Olympic games. The IOC urged Marial to come to London and compete on behalf of Sudan, the country he fled when he was 15 years old.
Marial refused. "If I ran for Sudan, I would be betraying my people," he says. "I would be dishonoring the two million people who died for our freedom," including eight of his brothers and sisters. The IOC does have an alternate path for refugees like Marial: they can compete under the Olympic flag as "independent athletes." For nine months the IOC pondered whether it would grant that status to Marial, leaving his Olympic hopes dangling, until Saturday when it announced its approval, clearing the way for him to compete at the 2012 Games.
On Friday, one day before the IOC's announcement, Marial and I spoke about his extraordinary Olympic journey: from Sudanese refugee, to New Hampshire high school student, to Iowa State track star and now London Olympian.


Marial: To compete in these Games would be such a great honor. Of course, it would be unfortunate not to hold my nation's flag. But people would know that I'm there representing South Sudan. That would be special, a real source of pride for my country after two civil wars that have pretty much demolished the whole region.
Kors: How did you discover running?




Marial: When I was 15, I fled Sudan. My uncle and I received refugee status and were sent to Concord, New Hampshire, where I joined the high school track team. I saw the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, and it was something to dream about. I thought, "One day, if I work hard enough, I could be in the Olympics."
Kors: Joining the track team was a smart move.
Marial: (Marial laughs.) Oh, yes. At that time I didn't know any English. It was very challenging to talk to people. Being on the team pushed me. My teammates corrected me. I picked up on the way they spoke. I started making friends. Eventually my uncle left New Hampshire, and I ended up living for several years with one of my teammates and his family. I consider them family to this day.
Kors: You set the national record with your two-mile time, earned a track scholarship to Iowa State, where you won All-America honors. Did you feel like you had a natural talent?
Marial: No, not at all. I was just discovering stuff about myself. I tried running, I succeeded, and I thought, "Okay, I'll go with this." Everyone in New Hampshire was very supportive. See, America, it's all about success. People are focused. They're determined to succeed. And when the community in Concord saw my potential, they were ready to stand by me. My success now is due in large part to them.






Kors: If you don't receive "independent athlete" status, if the only opportunity to run in these Olympics is to represent Sudan, what will you tell the IOC?
Marial: I'll tell them no.
Kors: You're willing to sacrifice your Olympic dream?
Marial: Absolutely.
Kors: Some people are going to wonder about that. I think a lot of people would run under the Martian flag if it got them a shot at Olympic glory.
Marial: Maybe. But some things are more important than Olympic glory. If I ran for Sudan, I would be betraying my people. I would be dishonoring the two million people who died for our freedom. I want to bring honor to my country. People who just want glory, the spotlight of the Olympics, they don't care about other people. I'm fighting for independent status because I do care. When I run, I want people to see me and say, "He is from South Sudan."
Kors: Yeah.
Marial: Also, I'm not a citizen of Sudan. That's not my country. Would you represent England because England once ruled America? It's as if the IOC thinks South Sudan and Sudan are the same country. We are our own nation, with our own president and our own flag.
Kors: What's the latest news with your independent status?
Marial: Right now there isn't much news. We approached the IOC last October, nine months ago. And we're waiting.
Kors: Give me some running advice. I've been really focusing on my running these last three years. I'm down to about a 10-minute mile. I'm thinking about the 2016 Olympics.
Marial: (Marial laughs.) I see.
Kors: What are you thinking about when you run? Is your mind blank, or are you focusing on your form?
Marial: Well, I train seven days a week, sometimes twice a day. And for each run, there's a different approach. If I'm going slower, if it's a recovery run after a longer race, then my mind drifts. I'm thinking about what I'm doing later that night. If I'm working on my speed, I focus on my breathing and my pace. Your mind starts doing the calculations: Did I make my time markers for the first mile and the second? I'm maintaining my form, making sure I'm not dragging my legs, tensing my shoulders or throwing my arms too high. The goal is to cruise, to push hard and widen your stride without running out of gas before the finish line.
Kors: If you make it to London, you'll be competing against some stiff competition.
Marial: I know. Ryan Hall of the United States. Jaouad Gharib of Morocco. London will have the best runners in the world, men with much better qualifying times than me. To compete with runners like that, it's exciting.
Kors: That doesn't intimidate you?
Marial: No. I'm never afraid of other runners. Because I'm not really competing against them. Of course, we all want to win. But they're going to do their race, and I am going to do mine.


Update: Yesterday morning Marial's phone rang. It was Brad Poore, a friend who has been helping him with his IOC filings. "He said, 'I have good news: you're going to the Olympics,'" Marial says with a laugh. "It was so amazing. I started jumping around in my room. Then I called my uncle and my family in New Hampshire. They were so happy."
This has been "a long road," Marial says, "but I'm so grateful: to the New Hampshire senator who spoke out on my behalf, to the journalists who covered my story in the newspaper and on the radio, and to the Olympic Committee. By granting my request, they're giving South Sudan a chance to be part of the world community."

Guor Marial

Las sombras de una noche hace muchos años permitieron que el entonces pequeño de 8 años de edad Guor Marial, escapara a través del desierto y se alejara de los mercenarios que lo habían secuestrado de su casa junto con sus hermanos para ponerlo a trabajar a su servicio, en medio de la cruenta guerra civil que azotó a Sudán durante 39 años. Apenas el año pasado, luego de más de dos millones de personas muertas por la guerra y el hambre en este país africano, se decidió la creación de Sudán del Sur, la región donde nació Marial, quien oficialmente ha sido aceptado por el Comité Olímpico Internacional como competidor, aunque lo hará sin ninguna nacionalidad, pues no nació en lo que ahora es Sudán, radica en Estados Unidos legalmente, luego de haber sido aceptado como refugiado y Sudán del Sur no es reconocido aún no tiene una representación ante el Comité Olímpico Internacional. La tragedia en la vida de Marial, se explica al conocerse que 28 miembros de su familia fueron asesinados por el gobierno de Sudán, incluyendo a 8 de sus hermanos y hermanas, que oficialmente le extendió una invitación para que representara a este país en la Maratón durante 2012, misma que fue declinada por el atleta, que aunque vive en Estados Unidos, no tiene aún la naturalización. Sin embargo con el apoyo de algunos congresistas de los Estados Unidos que enviaron un comunicado oficial al COI, solicitándole que se le permitiera participar, finalmente recibió la respuesta que le confirma que podrá estar en Londres 2012 como atleta independiente. Apenas hace unos días, Sudán del Sur celebró su primer año de Independencia, el 9 de julio, y aunque Marial sabe que no se le permitirá portar la bandera de su naciente país, pues lo hará con la del Comité Olímpico Internacional, considera que parte de su misión en la vida se ha cumplido pues el mundo sabrá de la existencia de su país. Algo que mueve a la reflexión es el hecho de que hundido Sudán del Sur en la pobreza extrema, su padre tendrá que ir a más de 70 kilómetros de distancia al pueblo más cercano donde hay una televisión disponible para poderlo ver competir. Marial fue secuestrado por mercenarios cuando tenía 8 años y logró escapar del campo de concentración donde fue recluido para trabajar a servicio de sus captores, y logro escapar con otro niño, sobreviviendo de comer hierbas y animales silvestres, durmiendo en cuevas en las montañas y alejándose simplemente siguiendo el sol al amanecer cada mañana durante meses. A los 15 años pudo encontrar la forma de salir de Sudán con destino a Egipto como refugiado, y luego llegó a Estados Unidos hace algunos años en esa misma condición, y desde entonces se ha preparado para cumplir el sueño de participar en unos Juegos Olímpicos. Su marca de 2 horas, 14 minutos en el Maratón de las Ciudades Gemelas de Minneapolis y Saint Paul en los Estados Unidos, le hubiera valido su calificación directa a los Juegos Olímpicos, pero tuvo que esperar nueve meses antes de que el sábado el Comité Olímpico Internacional finalmente aprobara su participación. Este hombre desfilará el próximo viernes junto con otros tres deportistas de las desaparecidas Antillas Holandesas, quienes se han negado a competir bajo la bandera de Holanda, toda vez que su país dejó de existir oficialmente en el 2010. Durante los Juegos Olímpicos de Barcelona, los atletas de Yugoslavia compitieron bajo la bandera olímpica y la misma fue izada cuando fue necesario por sus éxitos en pódium de vencedores y se han dado otros casos como los de Timor Oriental en Sydney 2000, y Kuwait quienes también actuarán como Independientes, toda vez que por interferencia del gobierno el Comité Olímpico Kuwaití ha sido suspendido. Hoy por hoy, Marial ha pasado de ser estudiante de secundaria en New Hampshire a un atleta estelar de la Universidad de Iowa… El camino pudo haber sido peor, según ha asegurado, pero al desfilar, si logra llegar a tiempo el viernes a Londres, habrá cumplido con la mayor las metas en su vida: Decirle al mundo que Sudán del Sur vive gracias al sacrificio de los más de dos millones de víctimas de la violencia interracial, que culminaron el año pasado el nacimiento de una nueva nación, su nación, que lamentablemente no podrá ver aún su bandera en el desfile inaugural de los Juegos Olímpicos el próximo viernes…

Bruce Lee

Bruce's family never called him "Bruce." They preferred to call him by his nickname "Sai Fon" or "Little Phoenix." It was a girl's name, deliberately chosen by his parents because they believed that evil spirits did not like boys in the family (their firstborn was a son who died in infancy). So, by giving Bruce a girl's name, they believed they could fool the demons into sparing his life!

Actually, "Bruce" was a name given by a nurse at the Jackson Street Hospital, San Francisco, where he was born (Bruce's father was traveling with an acting troupe at the time). The nurse thought that giving the baby an English name would help avoid any confusion with his American birth certificate (yes, Bruce was an American by birth - he never had any other citizenship).

Soichiro Honda

An independent person in a country not known for its willingness to accept nonconformists (those that do not cooperate with customs), Soichiro Honda created an automobile giant despite the opposition of the Japanese government. One of his company's cars, the Accord, was a best-selling model in the American market.

Early life

The first son of blacksmith Gihei Honda and his wife Mika, Soichiro Honda was born on November 17, 1906, in rural Iwata-gun, Japan. In 1922 he graduated from the Futamata Senior Elementary School. Honda had little tolerance for formal education and jumped at every opportunity he had to work with his true love: motors. Throughout his life Honda never forgot the impression that was made on him when he sighted his first automobile.
After leaving school Honda began his career as an apprentice (a person who works to gain experience in a trade) auto repairman for Arto Shokai in Tokyo. In 1928 he returned to his hometown as a master mechanic and soon established a branch shop for the firm in Hamamatsu, Japan.

    

Building an empire

During this time Honda also participated in auto races and became interested in cars and motorcycles. Soon he was experimenting with engines, and in 1928 he organized the Tohai Seiki Company to manufacture piston rings, some of which were sold to Toyota, a major Japanese car manufacturer.
Honda's first attempts at the personal motor business came in the mid-1940s when he designed and manufactured a small engine that could be attached to a bicycle to create a motorbike. The venture proved a great success.
Encouraged by his early success, in 1948 he organized the Honda Motor Company. The following year Honda manufactured a small motorcycle called the "Dream D" and prepared to enter the highly competitive Japanese market, which he did through effective advertising. Within a decade Honda was the leading motorcycle manufacturer in the world and had a larger share of the American motorcycle market than Toyota and Nissan (with its Datsun cars) had in automobiles.
Now Soichiro Honda attracted press attention, and, unlike most Japanese businessmen, he loved it. A small but talkative man, he was the opposite of what westerners imagined Japanese businessmen to be. For example, he promoted executives on the basis of performance rather than age, an unusual practice at large Japanese firms. Honda continued racing autos and motorcycles, dressed casually, and took pride in maintaining his independence from the Japanese business establishment. In addition, Honda openly voiced his admiration of American business practices and way of life.

    

Automobiles

This was at a time when the powerful Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) was

trying to unite several small companies into a third large one to compete with Toyota and Nissan. MITI and the Department of Transportation tried to discourage Honda from adding to the number of companies, but he persisted. He won MITI's permission by coming out with a low-priced small sportscar, the S 500, which was different from anything produced by the other companies. He followed it up with other sports models. His company was still very small, producing only three thousand cars in 1966—half of what Toyota was turning out in a week.

Honda introduced the Civic to the American market in 1972. It got thirty-nine miles per gallon (mpg) on the road and twenty-seven mpg in city driving, remarkably efficient for an automobile. The popularity of the Civic rose throughout the 1970s, and in 1980 Honda sold 375,000 cars in the American market—almost three times as many as Subaru and twice as many as Mazda, but still behind Toyota and Nissan. The reasons for this success were obvious: Honda combined high quality with efficiency and economy. But his small cars still appealed to a limited market.

Transforming Honda

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Honda expanded his car company overseas. In 1979 he opened a motorcycle plant near Columbus, Ohio, and an auto plant followed soon after, prompting other Japanese companies to follow his lead. In the late 1970s Toyota and Nissan sold one-third of their cars to the United States, while Honda sold half of his in that market.
Soichiro Honda did not directly supervise these introductions or the development of overseas plants in the United States and Europe. He resigned in 1973, but stayed at the company as "supreme adviser." In 1988 he became the first Japanese carmaker to be inducted into the Automobile Hall of Fame. Honda died of liver failure August 5, 1991, in a Tokyo hospital. Honda's rise from humble beginnings to a powerful and influential businessman is one of twentieth century's most inspirational stories.

Alea Jacta Est

Frente al río Rubicón, límite entre Italia y la Galia, después de haber conquistado esta última se encontraba Julio César cuando mencionó esta frase. Sabía que cruzando el río daba comienzo a la guerra civil en Roma, contra Pompeyo y la autoridad del Senado.
Hay varias versiones de la historia y la frase: "La suerte esté echada", "Echad la suerte", "Los datos están echados, esperemos ahora la suerte". Pero en cualquier caso, el mensaje es el mismo. Julio César sabía que el cruce del río por su ejército era un punto de no retorno y la suerte estaba echada a partir de aquel momento.
Actualmente se utiliza esta frase para indicar exactamente esta idea, la suerte está echada, ya no queda más remedio...

 

Challenge

Smile

Change

George Bernard Shaw

 While conversing with George Bernard Shaw and his wife one day, the writer Patrick Mahony asked Mrs. Shaw how she had dealt with her husband’s innumerable, and often persistent, female admirers.
“After we were married,” she began, “there was an actress who pursued my husband. She threatened suicide if she were not allowed to see him.” Shaw, of course, had denied her the privilege. “And did she die of a broken heart?” Mahony asked. “Yes, she did,” Shaw’s wife replied. “Fifty years later.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

Cuestionario surrealista

1. Escriba una letra O, ¿quién quedó adentro y quién afuera?


2. Piense o imagine un animal cualquiera; cuando lo haya olvidado, ¿habrá dejado de existir? Existió alguna vez, aunque sea en su imaginación? ¿A usted también lo estará imaginando alguien?

3. Dado que va a ocurrir no se qué ni cuándo, ¿qué precauciones toma usted?

 

4. ¿Cuál es el camino más largo entre dos puntos?

 

5. Un rayo cae sobre usted, ¿por qué no lo quiso evitar?

 

6. ¿Cuánto tiempo tarda una hormiga en pronunciar la palabra "eternidad"? ¿Y si la hormiga es inglesa?

 

7. Extraiga una conclusión y proceda a su autopsia.

 

8. Suponga que usted no es usted: encuentre un reemplazante.

 

9. Aplaste la superficie de la provincia de Córdoba, ¿de qué tamaño aproximado sería?

 

10. ¿A qué hora y en qué circunstancias siente usted con claridad a su "yo"? Describa si tiene olor, sabor y color.

Cuestionario Surrealista

Algunas de las mejores respuestas:

1. Escriba una letra O, ¿quién quedó adentro y quién afuera?
Vos quedaste afuera y tu vista adentro/ si le sacás los ojos capaz que desaparezca. (A. Tesio)

2. Piense o imagine un animal cualquiera; cuando lo haya olvidado, ¿habrá dejado de existir? Existió alguna vez, aunque sea en su imaginación? ¿A usted también lo estará imaginando alguien?
No puedo morderme el codo, no puedo hacer que me salten los ojos, no puedo aguantar una caída como el coyote... ¡qué idiota el que me imagina y no me deja hacer cosas divertidas! (A. Issidoro)

3. Dado que va a ocurrir no se qué ni cuándo, ¿qué precauciones toma usted?

"El mayor peligro en la vida consiste en tomar demasiadas precauciones" (Alfred Adler citado por A. Fiori)

4. ¿Cuál es el camino más largo entre dos puntos?

-La ruta panorámica, o el camino que hace el sordo y ciego, guiado por un mudo (M. Tracz)

-El camino del "ya voy" (J. Floreano)

5. Un rayo cae sobre usted, ¿por qué no lo quiso evitar?

-Estaba antojado de un poco de electricidad (D. Mema)

6. ¿Cuánto tiempo tarda una hormiga en pronunciar la palabra "eternidad"? ¿Y si la hormiga es inglesa?

-Depende de cuánto dure la eternidad, cuánto falta para la eternidad y me falta a mí para oír el ruido de una sola mano aplaudiendo. (M. Tracz)

7. Extraiga una conclusión y proceda a su autopsia.

-La abro y lo primero que se ve es que está llena de ideas que no sirven para nada y está toda infectada de palabras sin sentido. Se murió por pensar demasiado. (J. Pignata)

8. Suponga que usted no es usted: encuentre un reemplazante.

-Mi reemplazante sería una momia (¿Nani Roca?)

9. Aplaste la superficie de la provincia de Córdoba, ¿de qué tamaño aproximado sería?

-Casi tan grande como las orejas de Felipe (J. López Marziale)

10. ¿A qué hora y en qué circunstancias siente usted con claridad a su "yo"? Describa si tiene olor, sabor y color.

-8:15, es un momento muy confuso, en el cual no entiendo nada. Sabor a yerba, muy rico olor, y todos los colores (F. Laguzzi)

Viktor Frankl

"WHY DO YOU NOT COMMIT SUICIDE?"
DR. FRANKL ASKS HIS PATIENTS from preface to Man's Search for Meaning by Gordon W. Allport
"...in one life there is love for one's children to tie to; in another life, a talent to be used; in a third, perhaps only lingering memories worth preserving... As a long-time prisoner in bestial concentration camps he [Viktor Frankl] found himself stripped to naked existence. His father, mother, brother, and his wife died in camps or were sent to gas ovens, so that, excepting for his sister, his entire family perished in these camps. How could he - every possession lost, every value destroyed, suffering from hunger, cold and brutality, hourly expecting extermination - how could he find life worth preserving?"

       We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road running through the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his hand behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: "If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us."

---

Both a concentration camp prisoner and world-respected author and psychotherapist in his lifetime, Viktor Frankl writes the following advice about happiness:

"Again and again I therefore admonish my students in Europe and America: Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run - in the long-run, I say! - success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it."

Even in the degradation and abject misery of a concentration camp, Frankl was able to exercise the most important freedom of all - the freedom to determine one's own attitude and spiritual well-being. No sadistic Nazi SS guard was able to take that away from him or control the inner-life of Frankl's soul. One of the ways he found the strength to fight to stay alive and not lose hope was to think of his wife. Frankl clearly saw that it was those who had nothing to live for who died quickest in the concentration camp.
"He who has a why for life can put with any how."
Frederick Nietzsche

Frankl wrote the following while
being marched to forced labor in a Nazi concentration camp:

       That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another on and upward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look then was more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.
       A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way--an honorable way--in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life, I was able to understand the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."
       In front of me a man stumbled and those following him fell on top of him. The guard rushed over and used his whip on them all. Thus my thoughts were interrupted for a few minutes. But soon my soul found its way back from the prisoners existence to another world, and I resumed talk with my loved one: I asked her questions, and she answered; she questioned me in return, and I answered...
       My mind still clung to the image of my wife. A thought crossed my mind: I didn't even know if she were still alive, and I had no means of finding out (during all my prison life there was no outgoing or incoming mail); but at that moment it ceased to matter. There was no need to know; nothing could touch the strength of my love, and the thoughts of my beloved. Had I known then that my wife was dead, I think that I still would have given myself, undisturbed by that knowledge, to the contemplation of that image, and that my mental conversation with her would have been just as vivid and just as satisfying. "Set me like a seal upon thy heart, love is as strong as death."

Viktor Frankl
Man's Search for Meaning

Cadena de favores

Jung

Elaine Fox: La gente que está muy implicada en lo que hace es más feliz. La felicidad no depende del dinero que se gana, sino de estar contento con lo que se hace, estar comprometido. Ese es uno de los elementos clave de la felicidad.

¿Podemos rediseñar nuestro cerebro?

Hasta cierto punto, sí. En mis investigaciones entreno a pesimistas para que dejen de serlo. Utilizaré como ejemplo la adicción al tabaco: de forma subliminal, el fumador asocia el tabaco con las áreas de recompensa. Mediante imágenes, conseguimos resintonizar imágenes y asociaciones.

¿Qué podemos hacer para ser un poco más optimistas?

Escribir un diario de la positividad en el que explicaremos todo lo bueno que nos ocurre. La memoria de las personas es muy sesgada: un pesimista recuerda más lo negativo que lo positivo, de modo que si escribe las cosas buenas, descubre que sus días son mucho más benévolos de lo que pensaba. Y está demostrado que diez minutos de meditación al día son muy poderosos.

Se asocia optimismo a ingenuidad.

Las raíces del pesimismo están en el sistema del miedo, y las raíces del optimismo, en el del placer. Debemos mantener un equilibrio entre ambos; se trata de llegar a un optimismo realista. Pensar: “Hay cosas que pueden salir mal, pero yo podré superarlas”.

Jung

 Jung recuerda en uno de sus escritos una experiencia que tuvo con una de sus pacientes, cuyo esposo murió de una afección cardíaca. Momentos antes del fallecimiento, una bandada de pájaros se posaba sobre el tejado de la vivienda familiar, como ocurriera antes con su madre y con su abuela, quienes, en efecto, habían muerto poco después de que se produjera dicho fenómeno. El científico, (no debemos obviar esta palabra; Jung se inició en la Medicina y, como sabemos, dejó honda huella en el campo de la psicología clínica), recuerda otro caso de sincronicidad: en cierta ocasión, una de sus pacientes soñó que le regalaban un escarabajo dorado. Al día siguiente, la paciente contó a Jung su experiencia durante la sesión de terapia, y, durante el relato de su sueño, el médico suizo oyó cómo “algo” golpeaba en repetidas ocasiones los cristales de una de las ventanas de la sala.
Jung interrumpió momentáneamente a la paciente y se acercó a la ventana, y contempló con asombro a un escarabajo con tintes dorados, una “Cetonia Aurata“, especie altamente infrecuente en el Centro de Europa (Jung era suizo, y fue allí donde llevó a cabo la mayor parte de sus investigaciones, así como esta sesión terapéutica en particular). Este escarabajo parecía, en palabras del psicólogo, que quería entrar en la habitación justo en el momento durante el cual la paciente contaba su experiencia onírica.

Jung

Carl Gustav Jung

Albert Camus

Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl

Breaking the Illusion of Limitation

Government

Who are you?

http://dotsub.com/media/15f0467f-d351-4224-acf5-df3f2ba9d5a0/embed/spa

Teoria de Cuerdas

Flatland

Benedetti

Me gusta la gente que vibra, que no hay que empujarla, que no hay que decirle que haga las cosas, sino que sabe lo que hay que hacer y que lo hace. Me gusta la gente con capacidad para medir las consecuencias de sus acciones, la gente que no deja las soluciones al azar. Me gusta la gente justa con su gente y consigo misma, pero que no pierda de vista que somos humanos y nos podemos equivocar. Me gusta la gente que piensa que el trabajo en equipo entre amigos, produce más que los caóticos esfuerzos individuales. Me gusta la gente que sabe la importancia de la alegría.Me gusta la gente sincera y franca, capaz de oponerse con argumentos serenos y razonables a las decisiones de un jefe. Me gusta la gente de criterio, la que no traga entero, la que no se avergüenza de reconocer que no sabe algo o que se equivocó. Me gusta la gente que, al aceptar sus errores, se esfuerza genuinamente por no volver a cometerlos. Me gusta la gente capaz de criticarme constructivamente y de frente, a éstos les llamo mis amigos. Me gusta la gente fiel y persistente, que no desfallece cuando de alcanzar objetivos e ideas se trata. Con gente como ésa, me comprometo a lo que sea, ya que con haber tenido esa gente a mi lado me doy por bien retribuido.

Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.

And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.

You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.

And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.

You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.

If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.

And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.

So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

You can check out a few effective tips to overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for more on the best tip for taking more action that I have found so far.

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.

Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences – or reflecting on past failures – of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.

Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit – a sort of muscle – that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.

6. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.

And I think it’s important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within you.

It’s also important to remember this to avoid falling into the pretty useless habit of beating yourself up over mistakes that you have made. And instead be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake. And then try again.

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.

Find what you really like to do. Then you’ll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going. You can also find a lot of useful tips on how keep your motivation up in How to Get Out of a Motivational Slump and 25 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself.

One reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non-violence was because he and his followers were so persistent. They just didn’t give up.

Success or victory will seldom come as quickly as you would have liked it to. I think one of the reasons people don’t get what they want is simply because they give up too soon. The time they think an achievement will require isn’t the same amount of time it usually takes to achieve that goal. This faulty belief partly comes from the world we live in. A world full of magic pill solutions where advertising continually promises us that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton of money in just 30 days. You can read more about this in One Big Mistake a Whole Lot of People Make.

Finally, one useful tip to keep your persistence going is to listen to Gandhi’s third quote in this article and keep a sense of humor. It can lighten things up at the toughest of times.

8. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on. And if you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.

And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give. And the people you help may feel more inclined to help other people. And so you, together, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.

By strengthening your social skills you can become a more influential person and make this upward spiral even stronger. A few articles that may provide you with useful advice in that department are Do You Make These 10 Mistakes in a Conversation? and Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills. Or you can just move on to the next tip.

9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself.

When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. Because now you have your voice tonality and body language – some say they are over 90 percent of communication – in alignment with your words.

With these channels in alignment people tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness.

Also, if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you’re communicating then you start to hurt your own belief in what you can do. And other people’s belief in you too.

10. Continue to grow and evolve.

”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.

Sure, you may look inconsistent or like you don’t know what you are doing from time to time. You may have trouble to act congruently or to communicate authentically. But if you don’t then you will, as Gandhi says, drive yourself into a false position. A place where you try to uphold or cling to your old views to appear consistent while you realise within that something is wrong. It’s not a fun place to be. To choose to grow and evolve is a happier and more useful path to take.

Discipline

Dreams

Deepak Chopra

“1. Escucha la sabiduría de tu cuerpo, que se expresa por señales de comodidad e incomodidad. Cuando elijas cierta conducta, pregunta a tu cuerpo que siente al respecto. Si tu cuerpo envía una señal de inquietud física o emocional, ten cuidado. Si tu cuerpo envía una señal de comodidad y anhelo, procede.

2. Vive en el presente, que es el único momento que tienes. Mantén tu atención en lo que existe aquí y ahora; busca la plenitud en todo momento. Acepta lo que viene a ti total y completamente para que puedas apreciarlo y aprender de ello; luego déjalo pasar. El presente es como debe ser. Refleja infinitas leyes de la Naturaleza que te han traído hasta este pensamiento exacto, esta reacción física precisa. Este momento es como es porque el Universo es como es. No luches contra el infinito esquema de las cosas; por el contrario, sé uno con él.

3. Dedica tiempo al silencio, a meditar, a acallar el diálogo interior. En momentos de silencio, cobra conciencia de que estás recontactándote con tu fuente de conciencia pura. Presta atención a tu vida interior para que puedas guiarte por tu intuición, antes que por interpretaciones impuestas desde fuera sobre lo que conviene o no te conviene.

4. Renuncia a tu necesidad de aprobación externa. Sólo tú eres el juez de tu valer; tu meta es descubrir el infinito valor de ti mismo, sin dar importancia a lo que piensen los demás. Al comprender esto se logra una gran libertad.

5. Cuando te descubras reaccionando con enojo u oposición ante cualquier persona o circunstancia, recuerda que sólo estás luchando contigo mismo. Presentar resistencia es la reacción de las defensas creadas por viejos sufrimientos. Cuando renuncies a ese enojo te curarás y cooperarás con el flujo del universo.

6. Recuerda que el mundo de allí fuera refleja tu realidad de aquí dentro. Las personas ante las cuales tu reacción es más fuerte, sea de amor u odio, son proyecciones de tu mundo interior . Lo que más odias es lo que más niegas en ti mismo. Lo que más amas es lo que más deseas dentro de ti. Usa el espejo de las relaciones para guiar tu evolución. El objetivo es un total conocimiento de uno mismo. Cuando lo consigas, lo que más desees estará automáticamente allí; lo que más te disgusta desaparecerá.

7. Libérate de la carga de los juicios. Al juzgar impones el bien y el mal a situaciones que simplemente son. Todo se puede entender y perdonar, pero cuando juzgas te apartas de la comprensión y anulas el proceso de aprender a amar. Al juzgar a otros reflejas tu falta de autoaceptación. Recuerda que cada persona a la que perdones aumenta tu amor a ti mismo.

8. No contamines tu cuerpo con toxinas, ya sea por la comida, la bebida o por emociones tóxicas. Tu cuerpo no es sólo un sistema de mantenimiento de la vida. Es el vehículo que te llevará en el viaje de tu evolución. La salud de cada célula contribuye directamente a tu estado de bienestar, porque cada célula es un punto de conciencia dentro del campo de la conciencia que eres tú.

9. Reemplaza la conducta que motiva el miedo por la conducta que motiva el amor. El miedo es un producto de la memoria, que mora en el pasado. Al recordar lo que nos hizo sufrir antes, dedicamos nuestras energías a asegurarnos de que el antiguo sufrimiento no se repita. Pero tratar de imponer el pasado al presente jamás acabará con la amenaza del sufrimiento. Eso sólo ocurre cuando encuentras la seguridad de tu propio ser, que es amor. Motivado por la verdad interior, puedes enfrentarte a cualquier amenaza, porque tu fuerza interior es invulnerable al miedo.

10. Comprende que el mundo físico es sólo el espejo de una inteligencia más profunda. La inteligencia es la organizadora invisible de toda la materia y toda la energía; como una parte de esta inteligencia reside en ti, participas del poder organizador del cosmos. Como estás inseparablemente vinculado con el todo, no puedes permitirte el contaminar el aire y el agua del planeta. Pero en un plano más profundo, no puedes permitirte el vivir con una mente tóxica, porque cada pensamiento crea una impresión en el campo total de la inteligencia. Vivir en equilibrio y pureza es el más elevado bien para ti y para la Tierra.”

Hope

The Gift of Failure

Henry Ford

Liar

The meaning of TEAM. Together Everyone Achieves More !

Vince Lombardi

Henry Jordan jugó de tackle derecho en los packers de Lombardi entre los años 1959 y 1969 y declaró en una ocasión acerca del entrenador:
- Jugué por amor al deporte, por amor al dinero... Y por temor a Lombardi!
Según parece lombardi era un gran motivador. Es probable que sus métodos no fueran muy ortodoxos, pero funcionaban.
- Es un hombre justo- dijo de él Henry Jordan- nos trata a todos por igual: como a perros.

John Wooden on true success

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html

Attitude

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, then circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

A Most Important Lesson

 

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely, this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. "Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'hello'." "I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

Julie Parker

Julie Parker is a certified coach and clinical counsellor for women who want to shine with passion, confidence and unshakable self-respect – and take magnificent strides towards beautiful bodies, beautiful businesses and beautiful lives. Through 1:1 sessions, both in person in Melbourne and virtually around the world, Julie’s clients sift through their dreams, set crystalline goals, dissolve limiting beliefs and celebrate their successes as they begin to live their song. At Beautiful You, Julie shares inspiring images and empowering words to help women cherish their bodies and claim their brilliance.

1. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received? Who did you receive it from?
The best thing that someone said to me once (although I’m not sure it was advice!) was ‘You could be doing more.’ I was only 20 at the time but it felt like a lightning bolt to my heart and came from a man who was a leader at a conference I went to for young people. I greatly respected him for saying it to me and from that day on I really ‘upped my game’ in life and began to think bigger for myself and do more for others too.

2. How important is mentorship in terms of your success?
I think mentorship is hugely important. The man who said I could be doing more went on to be my mentor for nearly 10 years and I will always be grateful for the role he has played in my life. It has inspired me to now be a mentor myself, which I love.
3. What has been the best moment in your life so far?
It’s tempting for me to say my wedding day which was truly amazing, but I think for me the best moment in my life so far was when I made the decision to be a full-time entrepreneur. To step into a space where I would work solely for myself as a coach, counsellor and speaker took some very ‘big girl’ courage and I’m so glad I found it. It was a nerve-rattling but also liberating moment that has served me beautifully ever since.
4.What tips would you have for living a healthy life?
Apart from the usual drink lots of water, eat foods you love and love you back, and surround yourself with amazing people, the biggest tip I have for living a healthy life is to love yourself. When we love ourselves deeply I truly believe we develop all the beauty, confidence and health we could ever need.

5.How do you motivate yourself to persist despite setbacks?
I am a huge believer in the adage of ‘this too will pass.’ I try to remind myself if something is not going well or I’m feeling somewhat downtrodden that it’s only a moment or a day or a set period of time, and that I can and will come back from it. To motivate myself out of setbacks I always believe in taking massive action. Even just doing one or two things to take a step forward can make a huge difference; much more so than over thinking things which can make situations feel worse.
6. What has been your biggest setback? How did you deal with it? What
did you learn from it?
I think my biggest set-back was dealing with a broken heart many years ago. It left me reeling and in a place where I felt very lacking in self-esteem and self-care. I dealt with it by slowly moving through the painful feelings which involved seeing a counsellor and allowing my beautiful circle of friends to love and support me. I learnt so much from what was a painful experience – mostly that I am worthy of an equal and full love which I now have. I also feel the experience has made me a more empathetic and real counsellor as I genuinely do know what it is like to feel depressed, anxious and worried about who you are and even what the meaning of life is all about.
7.How do you deal with critics?
Honestly? I pay them no attention. If someone says something that I feel is constructive in its criticism and I can learn from it I gratefully receive that, but outright negativity I have no time for. I allow them the right to have their opinion but value my own as being of more importance to me and my life. I wish to always be my greatest judge, not someone else.
8. How important is social support in overcoming obstacles?
I think it’s hugely important. When I was recovering from that relationship breakup, I genuinely do not know how I would have made it through if it was not for the love and care of my best girls and also one very special male friend. They were my anchors when I felt adrift.
9. What advice would you give others about goal setting?
Write them down. Get them out. Speak them out loud. I truly believe that when made tangible through words on paper or pictures on a vision board, goals come to life. Much better out and proud than floating about in your head!
10.What life lesson have you learned that you would like to pass along to others?
Be yourself. Always. You are more than enough.

Amy Purdy

Massimo Banzi

http://www.ted.com/talks/massimo_banzi_how_arduino_is_open_sourcing_imagination.html

Grow

Martin A. Conway

Tengo 60 años y empiezo a lograr un nivel óptimo para mi bienestar al usar mi memoria: su fidelidad a los hechos es cada vez más irrelevante. Nací en Darlington, Inglaterra. Investigo y enseño en la Universidad de Leeds. Para aprender, el arte y la ciencia son igual de necesarios.





Cuál es su primer recuerdo?Juego a fútbol en el jardín.

¿Cómo sabe que sucedió?
No sé. Nadie sabe si lo que recuerda sucedió en realidad. Tal vez sí jugué o tal vez oí un día a mi madre: 'Martin de niño jugaba a fútbol en el jardín', y me imaginé a mí mismo jugando a fútbol. Esa imagen sería falsa; pero el recuerdo, no.

¿Hay algún modo de distinguir en un recuerdo lo real de lo imaginado?
No, porque la verdadera función de la memoria no consiste en recordar lo real.

Entonces, ¿para qué nos sirve?
Para darnos identidad y construir nuestro yo. Si el recuerdo es real o no es secundario.

¿Un recuerdo falso es igual de útil?
Sirve también para forjar esa identidad propia que nos permite interactuar con otros yo y así poder cooperar y sobrevivir.

¿Pero usted se ve a sí mismo jugando?
En nuestro recuerdo evocamos una imagen de nosotros mismos no siempre veraz.

¿Nos recordamos más guapos?
Nuestra imagen en un recuerdo suele ser mejor que la real, pero sobre todo es coherente con lo que creemos ser. Si me creo guapo, en el recuerdo seré más guapo de lo que era; pero si me creo feo, pero listo, me recordaré así más que como era en realidad.

¿Por qué recordamos unas cosas y otras no?
Recordamos los episodios consistentes con el conjunto de nuestro discurso biográfico, que es el que consolida nuestra identidad.

¿Eres lo que recuerdas de ti mismo?
Construimos nuestra memoria e identidad a la vez y al hacerlo también limitamos y enmarcamos lo que llegaremos a ser. Recordamos en el presente nuestro pasado y al hacerlo también prefiguramos nuestro futuro.

¿Cómo?
Si me recuerdo jugando a fútbol ya prefiguro una identidad de fuerza física. Si, en cambio, prefiero evocarme jugando al ajedrez, me construyo una identidad más reflexiva.

¿Cómo sabe todo eso?
Experimentamos. Por eso, sabemos que el primer recuerdo de los individuos de sociedades individualistas es más temprano que el de sociedades más gregarias.

¿El primer recuerdo de los japoneses es más tardío que el nuestro?
En Occidente nuestro primer recuerdo evoca un episodio biográfico sucedido de promedio a los tres años y cuatro meses. En cambio, el primer recuerdo de los asiáticos suele referirse a episodios de los cinco años.

¿De antes no recordamos nada?
Constatamos que un niño de seis años, por ejemplo, recuerda episodios anteriores, pero luego los olvida y, a los 10 años, cuando le preguntas por un primer recuerdo, evoca uno de los tres años y cuatro meses.

Es fascinante.
Asia y Occidente siguen estrategias bioevolutivas de cooperación diferentes. La madre occidental habla a su hijo como individuo -así ya le inicia el yo- antes que la asiática.

¿Cuándo empezamos a tener yo?
A los 24 meses sucede algo en nuestro cerebro que nos permite empezar a reconocernos como yo en el espejo. Así arranca el proceso que nos permitirá distinguir entre el yo sujeto y el mí objeto, Y llegamos a distinguirnos poco a poco en el Yo muerdo, pero también en el A mí me mordían.

¿La memoria varía según la lengua?
Los bilingües, cuando piensan en su primera lengua, tienen un primer recuerdo anterior al que tienen si piensan en la segunda.

¡Es verdad! ¿Y por qué?
Está relacionado con el momento de aprendizaje de las palabras. Porque la palabra es la llave del recuerdo. Le diré una palabra y dígame qué le sugiere: Restaurante. ¡Pero no se lo piense! Diga lo que se le ocurra...¡Ya!

¿Restaurante? Me dormí en una cena.
Si puede evocarlo es porque conoce la palabra restaurante. Un niño no recuerda algo hasta que aprende la palabra llave con la que clasifica ese recuerdo. Antes también almacena recuerdos, pero no podrá evocarlos hasta que no aprenda su palabra llave.

Sólo puedes evocar haber ido en bici desde el día que aprendes a decir bici.
Por mucho que antes ya fueras en bici.

¿Por qué contamos nuestra vida?
Porque disfrutamos contándola: la naturaleza nos gratifica con oxitocinas cuando explicamos -y nos explicamos otra vez- nuestra vida a alguien y de ese modo también haremos que los demás nos cuenten la suya. Es una estrategia de cooperación.

Si es que te dejan meter baza.
...Por eso, la cultura -escuchar es educado- refuerza esa tendencia cooperativa.

Leí que hablar de uno mismo activa los mismos circuitos de placer que el sexo.
Cierto, pero, además, ese placer para el ego dura más que el del sexo.

¿Por qué los viejos pierden memoria?
En realidad no es que la pierdan. Lo que sucede es que, con los años, aprenden a disfrutarla más y mejor que los jóvenes.

¿En qué sentido?
Son expertos en utilizar su memoria para maximizar su bienestar. Han aprendido a seleccionar qué prefieren recordar y a reinterpretarlo eliminando las incongruencias de lo sucedido con la imagen que se han construido de sí mismos. No es que se mientan: es que saben cómo contarse qué pasó.

A veces la memoria de los mayores también coincide con los hechos.
Sólo a veces y sólo en parte, afortunadamente. Por eso, cuantos más años tienes, más disfrutas contando tu -y subraye ese tu- vida. Y cada vez más a tu manera.