A Terrible Beauty is Born

A Terrible Beauty is Born

Easter, 1916

William Butler Yeats – Irish Poet

August 5, 2010

It seems as if humanity’s most celebrated moments usually arise from pain, death, tragedy, havoc, uprising, darkness, uncertainty, lack of faith. Poet WilliamButler Yeats describes it so in his poem, Easter, 1916, A Terrible Beauty is Born. From 1926 to 1929, the Cristero Rebellion fought to preserve the Catholic doctrine. In spite of the fact that many lost their lives, they prevailed. Thanks to them, Mexicans all through México are able to practice their faith without restrictions.

"Terrible Beauty"

“I have met them at close of day

Coming with vivid faces

From counter or desk among grey

Eighteenth-century houses.

I have passed with a nod of the head

Or polite meaningless words,

Or have lingered awhile and said

Polite meaningless words,

And thought before I had done

Of a mocking tale or a gibe

To please a companion

Around the fire at the club,

Being certain that they and I

But lived where motley is worn:

All changed, changed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.

That woman's days were spent

In ignorant good-will,

Her nights in argument

Until her voice grew shrill.

What voice more sweet than hers

When, young and beautiful,

She rode to harriers?

This man had kept a school

And rode our wingèd horse;

This other his helper and friend

Was coming into his force;

He might have won fame in the end,

So sensitive his nature seemed,

So daring and sweet his thought.

This other man I had dreamed

A drunken, vainglorious lout.

He had done most bitter wrong

To some who are near my heart,

Yet I number him in the song;

He, too, has resigned his part

In the casual comedy;

He, too, has been changed in his turn,

Transformed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.

Hearts with one purpose alone

Through summer and winter seem

Enchanted to a stone

To trouble the living stream.

The horse that comes from the road,

The rider, the birds that range

From cloud to tumbling cloud,

Minute by minute they change;

A shadow of cloud on the stream

Changes minute by minute;

A horse-hoof slides on the brim,

And a horse plashes within it;

The long-legged moor-hens dive,

And hens to moor-cocks call;

Minute by minute they live:

The stone's in the midst of all.

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.

O when may it suffice?

That is Heaven's part, our part

To murmur name upon name,

As a mother names her child

When sleep at last has come

On limbs that had run wild.

What is it but nightfall?

No, no, not night but death;

Was it needless death after all?

For England may keep faith

For all that is done and said.

We know their dream; enough

To know they dreamed and are dead;

And what if excess of love

Bewildered them till they died?

I write it out in a verse—

MacDonagh and MacBride

And Connolly and Pearse

Now and in time to be,

Wherever green is worn,

Are changed, changed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.”

A healthy Mind in a Healthy body

Mens Sana Corpore Sano

A healthy Mind in a Healthy body

July 29, 2018

(September 28, 2014) 

(June 24, 2014) 

As a teenager I suffered from body image and struggled with self-acceptance because of the pressure involved in growing up, and other personal factors. 

As a young woman, my main concern was to "look good," but I had a hate love relationship with food (I still do!) 

Later in life, my main inclination was to feel good and be healthy, to be physically strong and to always have a resilient body.

Now, my first and foremost priority, is to face and deal with the smaller little issues that come with aging, overcome them and keep going Adelante, moving forward and never giving up.

Every time I go through a new trial, I learn of new ways to get the best out of it and be grateful of how noble and loyal my temple has been to me. It has never given up despite the constant temporary setbacks. Every single time there's a catch-22, my body has rolled with the punches like a true and unscathed warrior! 

As an adult, I learned to truly love everything that comes with it at every stage because this is the engine I was given, and there's a reason for it. 

My body, mind, heart, soul and spirit are all linked together. Each one is an element to a chain that cannot function on its own. Each link needs the support from the other to remain resilient at all moments. That is why I always pray for overall health to avoid being corrupted and to truly have full peace of mind.  

“You should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Ask for a stout heart that has no fear of death,

and deems length of days the least of Nature's gifts

that can endure any kind of toil,

that knows neither wrath nor desire and thinks

the woes and hard labors of Hercules better than

the loves and banquets and downy cushions of Sardanapalus.

What I commend to you, you can give to yourself;

For assuredly, the only road to a life of peace is virtue.”

“Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.

fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem,

qui spatium vitae extremum inter munera ponat

naturae, qui ferre queat quoscumque labores,

nesciat irasci, cupiat nihil et potiores

Herculis aerumnas credat saevosque labores

et venere et cenis et pluma Sardanapalli.

monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare; semita certe

tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae.”

–Roman poet Juvenal (10.356-64)

“Se debe orar a los dioses que nos concedan una mente sana en un cuerpo sano.

Pedir un alma fuerte que carezca de miedo a la muerte,

que considere el espacio de vida restante entre los regalos de la naturaleza

que pueda soportar cualquier clase de esfuerzos,

que no sepa de ira, y esté libre de deseos

y crea que las adversidades y los trabajos terribles de Hércules son mejores que las satisfacciones, la fastuosa cena y la cama placentera de plumas de Sardanápalo.

Te muestro lo que tú mismo puedes darte, con certeza de que la virtud es la única senda para una vida tranquila."

My Spirit is Running Dry

My Spirit is running dry

July 4, 2018

By: Gina Yoryet Román

I don´t normally have quiet moments, “Me,” moments because there’s always someone blasting the volume of tv, the radio or the stereo nonstop, day and night, or there’s someone pulling me away from one of my ABC’s. Although this is my excuse number one to have given up one of my greatest passions of all time, there are other factors lying underneath it all.

Last year, towards the end of December I went through a drastic and abrupt life change. I also made a transition to the next decade. In addition to that, once again I went through a huge loss. During that hasty progression, all I thought was, “I won’t be able to get through this winter, not so much the weather itself, but the never ending internal winter…but somehow I pulled through the deep cracks.

Now I’m back to where I started with a new beginning, yet I didn’t expect to encounter several downturns. Since my return, I’ve gone through one disappointment after another (personal, family, professional, among others). At times I’ve felt as though I am fighting this battle alone.  Last week I had to do some intense soul searching when I came very close to giving up my childhood dream turned into passion, my passion diverted into my reality, my verdict that reveals my essence and proves that obstacles are nothing but tiny matters. My spirit was withering painfully little by little until I came to terms with myself and rose to the occasion.

As much as I may want what Ayn Ran once said, I have to remind myself that this journey called life can be a tough cookie to crack.

“I want to see, real, living, and in the hours of my own days, that glory I create as an illusion. I want it real. I want to know that there is someone, somewhere, who wants it, too. Or else what is the use of seeing it, and working, and burning oneself for an impossible vision? A spirit, too, needs fuel. It can run dry.”

I also have to be cognizant of the fact that not everyone will have the same determined mindset than me, or much less will most people hold high standards in any way. I have to bear in mind that this venture can be, and will be a very lone spiritual path. As daunting as it may be, this is the road that I chose, the less travelled road. Given this, I have to plunge into it and retaliate against all odds by dreaming, brainstorming, writing, planning, strategizing even harder to reach the summit that is one step closer to me every day that goes by.

My lonely path began years ago, when I was in my twenties. Back then, I made one of the most important life-changing decisions and quit my corporate job. Never again have I looked back. Today when I contemplated the documents that are setting the next milestone in my life, I realized that just when my spirit may have been running dry, there’s always hope, and someone out there that wants it as much as I do. I know deep down in my heart that I can share my vision with someone, so tonight I can be at ease and know that…

There is a Glory, and one day the use of dreaming it, visualizing it, manifesting it, wanting it, working for it, fighting for it against all odds, will persuade me to focus more than ever.