*...In Realife...*

I LEAVE to LIVE...
To build a future;
For my dreams.

Swim fast,

Breathe deep;

Find out what life really means.

There are millions of reasons not to leave, not to take the leap.
Fear can dictate most of them. Fear most of the times wins the battle. We need safety, or the need to feel safe.

What does it actually mean, to leave your home? Leave your family behind? Everything that you love and loves you; the very bricks that created you; the seeds that gave you roots? What does it take in courage and character to rip the roots off? To walk away from what your heart and memories keep dear? How much does a dream cost? Till how far should one go?... 

I tell you, to change your life in few moments is so overwhelming that your thoughts can't keep up with your heart's rollercoaster feelings. It's like a sky, that stages a dance between the sun and the clouds, one leading the other endlessly. You take off and you fly high, become part of that dance. Really, where did you leave your heart? Where did you leave your mind this time? What do you expect from the new life's stories to tell you? What will you write in your new life book?

The pages are empty... The space is yours to paint with words and images. That can really stress you, but it also gives you all the freedom to express your thoughts, deeply or abstractly. But remember this... Never look back! You should open your eyes and gaze acutely ahead, stare forward. Contemplate as well as observe: the truth is hidden from the empty gaze and is truly found in the details and in the simple things and the simple moments.

Life is a huge and very detailed PUZZLE... we only see a handful of pieces each time, and we might never even get to see the whole picture. Many don't even realize they are collecting pieces for a PUZZLE... And In Realife, some pieces might be lost, might be confusing, might not match, might be ugly... Most of the times, we probably want to paint a different picture, and refuse to see how things really are; what life and the universe has for us.:.

What we should always remind ourselves is that this PUZZLE that speaks for us is placed on a canvas called "Happiness".  And for myriads of moments, the canvas won't be easily visible or accessible, due to the great pile of little life pieces covering it, casting it overwhelming to make sense. But the philosophy of the PUZZLE is to unscramble the pieces, match them, and reveal the big picture. And always keep in mind, that happiness is always there, being the foundation to build your life... 

...In Realife, the difficult part is that you don't see or know what the final picture will ever look like... And that is why it is a cunning play, to let our heart paint another picture instead of the actual one. It tricks our subconscious eyes, and that's how we can miss out on myriads of images that are right in front of us, but we can't or refuse to see them.

So, let's LIVE to LEAVE all the blindness behind; open our eyes wide, and get to know, really understand life and accept all that it revolves around. Let's listen to it dictating us what to challenge in us. Let's love it, even if it tests us constantly. Let's allow the tears to drop, the smiles to radiate, the breaths to deepen, and the mind in new places to nest; places full of adventures and questions to answer.

*My Musicave*

The Liberty to sing

Is caged in a box...

"Dressed up" where no one ever thinks

So the music does the talks...

On the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Gijon, Spain

It is truly amazing how many secret and magical places can exist in any given town or city... Regardless of whether or not a place is developed or underdeveloped, one can discover small jewels, where no one expects them to be. And the satisfaction and bliss is really worth it... They can become your home! 

For someone to find his or her spot in a given space, all that is needed is to know what to look for. And it's true that sometimes that can be difficult... But once you know what you are looking for, the only thing left is to put up your radars, put on your night vision, and follow your heart and instincts. It's like a treasure hunt!

A corner in a commercial center. Athens, Greece

In every city, there is a fair amount of brilliant street musicians and performers, who entertain the public and add some colorful vibes to the streets. These talented and special individuals, wake up the city, express its moods and ways, and share it with anyone who happens to pass by. Your attention and smile is a greater reward to them than money, although the latter is unfortunately necessary to have in our days.

For me, the perfect spot is not where people can see you... They only need to listen to you! You become a-live radio, that plays favorite tunes all night long. So, the perfect spot is where no one sleeps; where people pass by all the time; where you are not exposed to the eye; and of course there is a good acoustic setting... Sounds like an exciting treasure hunt, searching for that golden spot! Actually, there are many spots like that in every city. Here are some suggestions, how to spot a spot, from personal experience:

• Try the commercial streets or open-air commercial centers during the night. You bother no one!
• Try finding corners or places where there is enough space to sit, and some good acoustic feedback or even a natural reverb effect. In other words, find your *Musicave*
• Sing and play the songs that you love and express your mood, and give all of your self to that. But be sure to also capture the mood of the place and your audience's as well. 
• Have your instrument and your voice in good condition. You might stay there longer than you think!

These points can of course change, according to the needs and the circumstances of each individual. For me, the above formula has helped me enjoy some of the best nights of my life, and share the music with some great people who willingly enter the *Musicave*,

and sit down by your side, 
drink a beer, 
sing their favorite songs, 
carefree and sincere. 

It's like giving small private concerts out in the public... There are amazing people out there, and it's simply magical to share with them what makes you happy, even for a few moments. So, step out of your cave and step into your *Musicave*.  Share what you love the most, and let your Dreams Beget Reality! 

*DEvolution~>?<~

So, are we moving forward, or actually crawling backwards to where we came from...?

DareWin said that if you wanted to Win the evolution's game,
All you needed to do is adapt to it in the fittest way.

But wouldn't the dar-Winners be the ones creating the actual game and its rules, and thus surviving?

Pour more poor: It seems that humanity, for many specific reasons, is not moving forward, but probably sideward for quite some time. Generally speaking, there are more poor people in our days, more crimes, more atrocities, more racial and religious differences, while there are more resources and product solutions available, more security means, more wealth, more information and knowledge... Something is going wrong there...

Diver-cities: Cities were supposedly originally created to gather people in an organized fashion, to minimize the long distances, to improve services, health care, unite people together, and to give more opportunities. In the western world, it seems that a lot of things went wrong in the process of fulfilling that purpose. Cities are unquestionably where the air and water are more polluted; where there is more crime and more injustice taking place; where people have less space; where distances that are meant to be shorter become much longer with traffic; where the arts are meant to express the stories of our time and educate us but many times are filtered; where people abuse substances and destroy their lives; where children are less safe and free to play... where; where; where... in the cities. (http://cityoferrors.com/error6/)

Why; why; why? There is an amazing amount of inefficiency in our days, and an ineffective allocation of resources. Technology has advanced so much, yet many things around us, vital things, still remain prehistorical. People, companies and governments tend to focus on evolving services and attributes for their own profit's sake, and not sharing that knowledge with the rest, because they will lose power and shares... But, at the same time they are lying about it and delivering a benevolent image to the world. They, and we, are not learning from that. When it comes to chasing profit, one will forget the original goal and purpose to help, evolve, and improve (if that is not for profit as well)...

Cut the (cr)Act! If only we could stop the act in the middle, stand up, and leave or demand for it to stop. We are the ones paying to watch the show, right? So why aren't we doing it?  No one wants to stand up or out from the crowd (or too few do). It's called social pressure... or more generally, fear. We still feel fear, even though we know what causes it. And it actually does not exist... It's all created in our heads. There are unwritten rules, and from all those small little fears that one feels, we fail to act or react to something we are morally and personally opposed and against. For instance, we see a homeless person in the street, but we are afraid to approach and help him or her and even engage into a conversation and support that person, because society will think we are either crazy or our status is insignificant to us, or bla bla bla... And there, we lose our humanity. Even at work, you shouldn't be open and kind to people, because that will show signs of weakness.. For what??

Speaking about work, it is funny how it has become a synonym to (economical) slavery. Especially these last few years, with this crisis (that curiously doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon), people are fired after decades of work, without a tiny bit of humanity or a grain of gratitude. 

Wages are cut, 

expenses increase, 

sales and services drop, 

and myriads of businesses cease...

...their operations. OK, that is a logical argument. But even if that is happening, we are most of all humans in this evolving "civilized" society we have created, and have to still act as humans. If not, then let's act like animals without any laws and norms. We are simply stuck in the middle of animal behaviors and civilized dont's. How confusing is that! 

Common knowledge: The paradox is that we know how governments and companies work. We know it for quite some time. We have tons of movies, documentaries, stories, wikileaks, songs, news, and examples explaining to us what is happening out there and what is the main purpose behind all this. But we continue to deceive ourselves and believe that the next time something happens, it will be different. We fail to learn from our mistakes, from our own paradigms. Why oh why to we Devolve? 

Afraid to react: Our societies have become more self-centered societies, where people fail to react and decide collectively. Yes, they do indeed protest and strike, but has this ever brought any significant result? Are governments affected more than the citizens of a city during a strike, or is it the other way around? We are too comfortable with all our things and possessions, with all our everyday indulgences and rhythms, and the hope we prosper even more, that we are afraid to react and lose everything, even if we are aware of how unfair our lives are. We don't know who to blame; or we do know but are too confused to be certain about it.

A fishy wish: Why aren't we reacting to any of that? When many companies all of a sudden make their services worse, so that they can charge more for the "premium" services which are not other than the normal services. Well, interests are the toppings, and money is the flavor that everyone wants to taste, and feel the satisfaction and pleasure. Add some spoons of marketing, and voila! You forget about the unfair conditions, you forget the reasons you fight, and you give in to the wonders of bla bla bla. You are in a fishbowl but with all the decorations you feel you are in the Pacific Ocean. We just don't get the message even through repetition. And that is Devolution...

Darwin might have been right, but besides analyzing the "perfect fit" theorem, he should have restated that the one who makes the actual environment to thus better fit in it, is the one who survives in the end. A bit of a grey tongue on the blog today, but better out than in!