Today was “One of Those Days”. Although when you say this sentence it has a negative meaning, for me it was positive. I was mentally stimulated a few times by situations that are rapping around our lives, my wife and mine, and it’s a pleasant feeling sometimes being intellectually involved in something rather than being continuously straining my body looking after my physical status rather than my mental one.

My knee is injured again so I had some time to think and talk and read about stuff that may be a nice and fun change in our lives.

The day started with a delightful sleeping in and some kisses and romanticism with my lovely wife...We moved on doing breakfast and myself checking the surf, the usual quick check from the beach situated a few hundred meters away from our house (and by the way, I check the surf whether I can go surfing or not............just a habit). When I came back the first highlight of the day was waiting for me right there, on the couch, sitting close to Jenny, it was an article from my favourite surf magazine SBC Surf, it’s a Canadian surf magazine. The article was written by Mike Janz, a Canadian surfer that had a dream- surfing perfect waves, only a few steps from his home-and this is what he does. Mike now lives in Nova Scotia and his house is open from each side to the ocean so, that he can see the change of the ocean every second of with his wife, daughter and a dog by his side, he is happy. He surfs when the water is close to freezing temperature, as well as, when it’s warm enough to swim in board shorts. He loves the ocean and his family, but the most admirable thing about Mike is that he surfs alone most of the time and in this solitude he found the real meaning of happiness. In the article he makes a few good points on solo surfing, the quietness of solo surfing and contentment; he says many other things but, these two points captured my attention in particular.

Mike said that “you can drive to an empty break, but it requires skills and practice to quite yourself and slow down your mind”. This is the truth. We can be surfing empty waves, be walking on isolated beaches, but our mind is always suffocated by useless thoughts that blind our eyes and don’t allow us to see the real beauty of what’s surrounding us. Mike also says that “surfing alone doesn’t always lead to contentment”.  He experiences something that I experience every single time I surf, when I finish my session, I look back at the waves and even though a few minutes ago my legs were shaky and tired , my arms were falling apart and I had caught tons of waves, I still feel the need to go back in the water, and it doesn’t matter how many times I will go back in, I will still be missing something in my life, love, food, relationship with other people, real genuine friendships, helping people in need...

Today in the morning I realized that surfing is a huge component of my life that I couldn’t live without, but I also realized that deeper emotions are hidden behind other things in life that we need to nourish the same way we nourish our need to surf. We are made of body, soul and mind, our life is made of ourselves and other people, our house is made of wood, bricks, cement, dirt, our yard, the driveway, our beach, our ocean, the whole earth..We need to preserve it.

The second part of my day was a phone call. This phone call is a must once in awhile because it is made to my Guru, also known as my Mom Carmen. She is a great listener and I realize that at the end of every conversation I have with her. I also realize that sometimes I have no idea of how her past week was because I tend to focus the whole conversation on myself. But I know she is happy in that way, she knows what I’m doing and she gets to give me some spiritual support that moms give to their children. Today the conversation was about a plan that Jenny and I have about the future. We would like to teach English in Canada and Overseas as a foreign and secondary language. The idea that is leading me to this decision is of course travelling first of all! There are many schools around the world that need teachers and we would be able to visit amazing places not only as a tourist, but also as an inhabitant of the place where we are, learning the culture and customs of the people.

I also had this profound thought about life and working: I haven’t yet found a job that fulfils me and one that I enjoy, because I think that every job is a waste of time that leads only to money, but no real purpose. Take tourism as an example, we count on it and without it we couldn’t make any money and without the money we wouldn’t be able to have the necessities of life. I love teaching surfing and every kind of sport because it makes people feel better. I think that teaching sport goes beyond tourism; it is an act of courage that requires self motivation; and practising sport is good for us. However, we can survive without it, when we travel and we meet different people we don’t speak with them by surfing, or moving, we do it with words. My deep thought was that being able to communicate would give us a complete experience in our journey; it would benefit our sight, but also it would benefit our soul and enrich it with the culture and knowledge of other people. Being able to speak the same language would allow us all this. A simple holiday to a different country would become an exchange of souls, a Canadian soul with Italian, Portuguese with Indonesian etc.

My conclusion for this part of my day was that I want to teach English so, that I can help people all over the world to communicate and exchange ideas, emotions and customs.

The rest of it was all about this excitement of starting a new journey, watching a movie with my wife, making bread and biscotti and listening to Italian music...After all a day to rest your body and work out your mind isn’t bad for anyone.......so enjoy that time when you have it.

For now I’ll say Bye.......... see you soon for the next update.