Tuesday 14 December 2010

Bonheur vitale



Last weekend I spent in Sitges, near Barcelona for the first International Symposium of Caycedian Sophrology, and the 50th anniversary of its birth. And what a weekend it was!

Natalia, as always, and maybe even more than usual, was the very personification of "bonheur vitale". This is a phrase that I have been having a problem translating, to get the correct meaning. Vital Happiness,it just doesn't have the same ring, especially as "vitale" doesn't just mean vital, it also has the idea of life itself....

One possibility is "The Force of Happiness"

And in many ways that sums up Sophrology, the force of happiness.

Another is Essential Happiness.....

The jury is still out!

So my weekend, full of many many highlights.

On a practical level, I shall be involved in the translation of the new site. That is very exciting for me.

However, there was another highlight. As I am hard of hearing, I sit near the front, so that I can lip read. This time I was beside two visually impaired ladies, one of whom, I spent a lot of time with. I became aware of the difficulties for the visually impaired when speakers depended on powerpoints, and demonstrations and I ended up at times describing what was happening on the stage, or reading the slide. I was reminded of when my very hard of hearing sister taught at a blind school, and of the pupils remarked "We see with our ears, you hear with your eyes"

This was even more true the following day. We had a walk of the tridimensionality of the being, that is the past, present and future, with an emphasis on love. These walks are wonderful, we look at things as if it were for the first time. I feel a closeness with nature that is awesome. My neighbour asked to walk with me. She has not always been blind, and colour is still very important to her. As we walked, I described what I could see; as we left the hotel, whe asked if the sky were blue. I remplied that it was, but that there were some clouds; she particulalry liked the desciption of the clouds as being candy floss! Another lady spoke to us, as we went towards the beach.



She remarked on the complicity between us, and I could see that she asumed that we had know each other for a long time. We explained that we had only just met. That was such a lovely thing, that we were seen as being so close.

I learnt a lot as I was desribing what I saw, I really did look at things as if for the first time, with the positive aspect always being first. It is somthing I am trying to keep on doing, looking for the positive in whatever I am doing. Not always easy, but worth the effort.

One thing I did not descibe in detail were the three nude men sunbathing....the other lady did however make the following observation "It's brings a whole new meaning to tridimensionality!"