GABRIELA YARELIZ

I have been thinking of Dewey Bozella, the boxer who was in jail for most of his life for a crime he didn’t commit. He came to the University of Florida this past school year. When one hears his story there is a lot one can learn; he is a man of faith, courage, integrity and strength. There is one thing he said that stands out to me always.

He said we should think along these lines:

“What would you do if you had no fear?”

I think this is a reminder of the way we should live. Everytime I think about taking an easier way, a more comfortable way– I think of his words.

What would I do if I had no fear?

What would you do?

It is time we start living with no fear– as if we walked straight out of the lion’s den. Stories before us stand to testify that with God’s help, we’ll walk out fulfilled; strong; alive.

When you really want something

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I began reading the book of 1 Samuel. It begins with the story of Hannah, the childless woman who wanted a child more than anything. It is a story I have referred to before, because it is one that I really love. During the festivities in Shiloh, she is upset. She won’t eat, drink—she is really upset. She decides to go to the temple and pour her heart out to God.

1 Samuel 1:10

“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.”

Eli, the priest sees her and thinks she is drunk. Hannah makes a vow to God that if He gives her that which she desires she will dedicate the child to Him. In other words, give it back to Him.

Eli has no idea what is going on, but he realizes the distress she is going through and tells her, “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant you your petition that you have asked him,” (17).

When Hannah left the place she was not sad or distressed anymore, she had left everything there in God’s hands.

When Samuel is born, she said, “For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him,” (27).

This story is a reminder to me always. There are things we want so badly that they weigh down our souls.

How many of us do as Hannah does and remove our pride and humble ourselves, even in our bitterness and pray and weep to God.

How many of us vow to use that which we want to glorify God and honor Him. Hannah prayed and received what she wanted. She said the Lord gave her that which she asked him for.

If there is a desire weighing down on your soul, my wish to you as you pray is Eli’s wish,

“Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant you your petition that you have asked him.”

Today’s Top Picks: Peace, Clarins and Futbol

By: Gabriela Yareliz

1] Thomas Merton said something along these lines: We cannot have peace with one another because we are not at peace with ourselves. We cannot have peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.

2] Clarins App en francais

On a Shallow Note

If you thought I was shallow with my Monica Bellucci blip, I have got news.

Elle (FRANCE) just announced a new and free App for iPhones and Androids. It is an App by Clarins (the brand with amazing self tanners) in which there are beauty advisers who can tell you how to improve your look if you send them photos. Imagine! You are walking to work. You take a photo of yourself before an important meeting and someone tells you to put on some lipstick, and ta-da; you look amazing!

It is a genius idea. Practical, but shallow.

3]Euro 2012

Guess who isn’t playing with the France team for Euro 2012?

Yoann Gourcuff-sadness.

4] Top 10 Spoken Languages

Watch the video on Bing 🙂

5] My Friend TED

I love TED talks; I recommend this one. This TED talk is about how we expect more from technology than from each other. (TED is dangerously addictive…. for those who have seen speeches on it know.)

“We seems lonely but afraid of intimacy. Siri, the social network, digital assistants, all of these give the illusion of companionship without the demands of relationship. The path we are seems fraught with paradox and about the most important human matters.”-Sherry Turkle

Click here to see it.

Be the change you want to see… write your story.

Then you are alive- Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

If you carry your restlessness in your heart, then you are alive
If you carry the flames of your dreams in your eyes, then you are alive
Learn to live free like the gusts of wind
Learn to flow like the waves in a stream
Embrace every moment in life with open arms
Each moment your eyes see is a new season
If you carry wonder in your eyes, then you are alive
If you carry your restlessness in your heart, then you are alive

[From Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara]

Bellucci; lipstick; Syria; among other things…

By: Gabriela Yareliz

She is back– and with her own line of lipstick. Monica Bellucci, out of hiding and back. I felt like I hadn’t seen her forever until I opened this month’s Vogue. Fantastic! It is terribly shallow but there is something awesome about red lipstick and curling your hair…

The New Yoker had a fantastic article by Steve Coll, about why he is “Leaving Facebookistan.”

“It takes a while to find it, but if you are a Facebook user, there is a small settings button entitled “deactivate account.” If you click, Facebook displays the faces of people “who will miss you.” If you are determined nonetheless to depart, and scroll further down, you are required to choose a “reason for leaving” before you are permitted to go. Unfortunately, “inadequate citizen rule” or “doubts about corporate governance” are not among the choices. From the available list, I went with “I don’t feel safe on Facebook.”

Farewell, Facebook friends. May you enjoy everywhere the full rights of free citizens.”

I liked it. Congrats Steve Coll.

Also, this Economist cartoon was great… Merkel and Hollande:

Also, the news about Syria is raising questions…all of those people and mostly children killed.

It reminds me of the book of Judges, a book I just finished in the Bible. If you want to read about chaos, atrocities, sadness, abuse, oppression, violence–you can read this book. Israel at its peak of insanity you could say. Ironic, that it is called the book of Judges.

At the end of one of its most horrific chapters it ends saying:

“³⁰And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” (chapter 19)

The book ends saying: “²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (chapter 21)

What is the international community doing when such terrible things occur? Are we considering it, taking advice and speaking our minds? It is clear that what people do now a days is what is “right in their own eyes.”

In this age of relativism, we see anarchy of the soul–

Unknown

By: Gabriela Yareliz

We meet again… it is hot outside. Let me rephrase: HOT. The best thing about a car with no AC is the fact that the open window suffices to blow you away. I look like some random gypsy today with a scarf around my head–I think I scared the Subway guy. Poor fellow. I have terrible allergies; my eyes are numb after I put in the allergy drops.

Today is a day for random flow–so it begins here:

Abuela

My days have consisted of taking shopping trips with my Abuela. I think we have managed to make it to the store every day. I hate the store, but I like being with Abuela. She obviously likes the store; we seemingly need something from it every day. This is a record. This reminds me of Europe where people go to markets every day. When you live in the middle of no where with cows in the U.S., this daily shopping experience is less than ideal, however. I have also been reading and chilling with friends. I miss the routine and social aspect of school, not the work, though.

I sit on the counter and watch her cook. She is gracious enough to watch Bollywood films with me, though I am sure she finds the subtitles annoying. She and I read on opposite couches and discuss our readings.

Reading

I keep eyeing the Civil Procedure text book Suffolk U College of Law was so gracious to send me. Maybe I should flip through it before I am officially welcomed to the craziness of New York and law school. The closer it gets the more real it becomes. Naturally.

As far as books are concerned, I read some Shashi Tharoor. Excellent reads on politics, the UN and India. I think I am done reading books on the failures of the U.S. It gets depressing after a while. You can only take so much about how stupid we have become as a culture and our imperialism which oppresses people around the world. Most people who read these books already know these things; the preaching-to-the-choir thing always proves true. Those who the book talks about are too busy stealing from people, manipulating governments and watching E!

Cricket

What else is new? Shah Rukh Khan was banned from the Mumbai cricket stadium. Wow. Which reminds me, I need to pick a pro cricket team to follow… That has been on my to do list. I really love this sport and I watch it for non-shallow reasons. This is impressive. It joins my sports seriousness with hockey and futbol.

Age and romance

I found a funny article on Bollywood movie matches (“He is old enough to be her father”), and how the guy tends to be way older than the girl. I noticed this in Saawaryia between Sonam Kapoor and Salman Khan. I can write a whole blog on this age difference stuff.

Felicia and I were talking about this last night. The whole whether “your love for men transcends all ages” or if you have “daddy issues.” I used to be more accepting of age differences (I am talking like 8-29 years of difference), now I am more wary of it….

I found out the other day that my great grandmother was like 30 years younger than my great grandfather… no wonder she was widowed so soon. But see there is also a cultural element that goes into this. I am not talking about the movies anymore. They pick people for roles based on hotness, and how young they can make them look; I am talking real life now.

I once liked a guy that was older than me, not by 10 or 20 years mind you, and he turned out to be a selfish, egotistical flake. Bad experience. I think mentally though he was younger than me… now that I am reaching the age he had when I knew him back in the day I wonder what the heck was running through his head.

Or take men and women who have yet to figure out themselves and they spend time speed dating girls or old men who could be their daughters or fathers–yeah. It is gross.

I guess it all depends on the people, where they are in life and the motive? And as Felicia would add, whether they have “daddy issues.” This is open to discussion.

The sisterhood

More in my random flow goes to: I read the fifth book to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which I had read throughout middle school and high school. The sisterhood, 10 years later.

It was terribly sad. [SPOILER ALERT]

Sisterhood Everlasting was a great read, for those familiar with the characters you’ll probably cry or bite your nails through half of this one.

Problems I had with this book (yes, I had problems with it…)

-Tibby dies. Yes, rebellious, sarcastic Tibby dies. She was one of my favorite characters. It sucked.

-Carmen is engaged to Jones (guy with shaved head who could care less about her family and culture and cares only about money and show biz) “DUMP HIM!!!” I was screaming in my head throughout the book.

-Lena is boring. She puts her life on hold for the Greek guy, Kostos, she fell in love with while in high school when he went and slept with half the world; OBVIOUSLY not caring about her one bit. Why put your life on hold for someone who doesn’t care and hurt you?

-Bridget is still reckless. Nothing new.

The things I loved about the book (It was an awesome book despite its character’s life crisises):

-Motherhood is praised throughout the book. I think this is rare, and so many young women could care less about being a mother these days, or the value of a tiny human life inside of them.

-Carmen does not marry Jones. As she said, “Not now, not ever.” YES. He didn’t care anyway.

-Tibby has a little girl named Bailey. Smile.

-Bridget starts a family with Eric. She allows herself to be loved. YAY.

-Lena ends up with Kostos. I am not going to lie. I wanted this from book one. But at this point I don’t know… He was an idiot and she was like a slave, waiting for him to come around. They deserve each other, but this relationship was in no way healthy.

Anyone else a fan? It was a great book.

Unknown

My last thought was something I was meditating on recently… have you ever had those epiphanies in life; it can be about love, reality, yourself…. when something completely unknown comes and hits you in the face. It feels like a pile of bricks fell on you. Something clicks. It can be in a moment, with a glance, some weird eye locking moment, a moment where all the noise fades into the background and all you are left with is yourself?

The unknown can be frightening, overwhelming, hard to point out even, like a grammatical or editing mistake…

A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Picture of Dorian Gray & Sensuality

By: Gabriela Gonzalez

Why is it that things like pleasure, beauty and art end up leaving us empty and guilty? I found a fascinating book/play on the topic. It is a short play, a fictional conversation between Oscar Wilde, known for his if it feels good, do it philosophy; Blaise Pascal, the brilliant mathematician, and Jesus. The words are taken from their actual writings or real accounts of them or words implied by their writings or words spoken. The conversation takes place in Paris, as a syphilis-suffering Wilde contemplates his death. Below are some of my favorite excerpts and quotes from their conversation.

[From: Sense and Sensuality: Jesus talks with Oscar Wilde on the pursuit of pleasure, by Ravi Zacharias, Multnomah books, 2002.]

Let us begin with Jesus, who speaks of King Solomon, who at the end of his life had pretty much tried it all:

Jesus quoting Solomon: “I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under the sun… I undertook great projects: I built many houses, planted numerous vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted fruit trees. I owned more flocks than anyone before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired a harem… the delight of the heart of man. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” (62)

Jesus then explains to a processing Wilde that pleasure is always temporary if it is apart from God or if it profanes what God intended. “All pleasure, however good, is locked into the sensation of the moment.” (63)

Following this, Wilde asks Jesus some interesting questions: “Why did you make us thus? Why does this body crave pleasure to such a painful limit? We seduce ourselves by what You made us desire. We play with things You wanted us to treat as sacred. We run from things You wanted us to cling to. We make companions of those You never told us to embrace. We clutch in our hands what You wanted us to throw away. We throw away what You wanted us to hold fast to. We dream of things that make life a nightmare. Why this disorder in the way we are made?” (65)

Jesus then responds that every power man has, comes as a double edge sword. It can be used properly or it can be abused. It is the abused distorted desire that appeals to our souls. Wilde describes the book he wrote, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

It is about a very attractive young man, Dorian, who asks an artist to make a portrait of him. The young man knew he was incredibly good looking, and he wanted something that would last as a reminder of his amazing looks. He also wanted his “riotous and sensual living” to only affect the picture. So he could sleep with whomever he wanted, drink whatever he wanted, do whatever he wanted, and it would only affect the portrait. Dorian’s wish came true. His life or promiscuity and “pleasure” left him untouched, but UNKNOWN to him, because the portrait was in his attic, every act tarnished the portrait.

Later on, the artist pays a visit to Dorian, and the artist is in shock when the he sees the portrait. The artist says to him, “Doesn’t it say somewhere, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as wool’?” Suddenly, Dorian grabs a knife and stabs the artist to death (Gruesome, I know, but Wilde wrote it not me). Then he noticed that blood was dripping down the portrait. Dorian then grabs the knife and stabs the picture, and he falls lifeless to the ground. Then the story says that the portrait returns to its perfect state, but Dorian died with every scar of every deed, deformed, bearing witness to the life he led. (43-47)

When Wilde finishes the summary of his book, Jesus tells him, “When art and beauty are not governed by rules, they, in turn, break down.” (47)

Jesus continues saying that we are a generation that flirts with the idea of a dream. Something seems attractive or good, and we go for it. The young man or woman looks attractive and so we pursue him or her only to use him or her, and dispose of him or her. We use others; we hurt others; we manipulate others.

We suppose drug usage is enchanting and the idea of losing reality even if but for a moment is exciting, yet we come crashing back into life. “They’ll awaken one day to find that their dream has left them still empty. You see, this is the danger. First art imitates life. Then life imitates art. Finally, art becomes the very reason for life, and that’s when life breaks down, because life is not fiction… it is plain, hard fact.” (48)

It is interesting how much we sacrifice for that which is not real or lasting. We go for the feeling of the moment, and then sit guilty, hurt and empty. Strangely, we often go back for more, knowing we return to that which hurt us in the first place.

This leaves us in a “crux,” or cross… Jesus: “The cross is the ultimate expression of sorrow and pain combined. It’s because the price was paid at the cross that the law is affirmed…It was at that place that your ultimate worth was upheld. It’s because My heart was broken that I am able to heal yours. Blaise was right—all truths are governed by laws. This one is the way of life and death. I reach out to you through the price I paid for you. I am the artist that humanity sacrificed because I pointed out the defacement of sin.” (79)

Wilde ends his “vision” of the conversation saying: “And there, till Christ call forth the dead, In silence let me lie: No need to waste the foolish tear, For I have killed the thing I loved And so I have to die. Only the Blood of Christ can cleanse A sinner such as I.” (89)

I found the piece to be interesting, and it is impacting. Whether you believe everything that is said by Wilde, Pascal or Jesus, one thing is true: The pleasures we seek, the vice we often succumb to, leave us all with a certain feeling and bad aftertaste; dissatisfaction. This is as true for all of humanity as death is—it knows no color or discrimination.

It is a battle in each one of our souls. Pride; pleasure; sensuality; indulgence; emptiness; purpose; reality; hope.

Ordinary

By: Gabriela Yareliz

“We meet no ordinary people in our lives.” -C.S. Lewis