Twist on it! Stay playful

Dear The Lighthouse Readers,

This second week of February, our 24th Edition together, has been very special, with many hearts in my mind, and much music festivals to celebrate, id est The 66th Edition of the Grammy Awards, the Sanremo Italian Music Festival and the Super Bowl LVIII!

Listen, Enjoy, Share!

Big Hugs,

Your Gaia – from the Lighthouse

On the Spotlight… Music!

Watch the Super Bowl LVIII Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers Half-time show performance of Usher – R&B takes the main stage

Watch all the best commercials of the Super Bowl 12 February 2024 on this link

My fav commercials

Twist on it – Oreo

Whatever you forget, Uber Eats gets anything

Rachel & Ross, 10 years later on

Change is coming, YESS!!!! Reese’s

Peanut butter & caramel !

On my mind

Throwback at my singing promising career : Claudio Baglioni – Cuore di Aliante

Question of the day: better to be rightly informed or to bask in lies? Listen

Angelina Mango- La noia, Winner of Sanremo Italian Music Festival 2024

Flowers – Myley Cyrus Record of the Year Grammy Awards 2024

Tyla – Best African Music Performance of the Year, with the record Water

Spotted! New very well-curated new songs, by Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well & Beth Gibbons – Floating on a moment

Worth-reading:

Great Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, continues to enrich, ennoble, &  empower with his teachings well into his nineties.

The articles below stem from the website Marginalian.org

1. How to transform fear into love
2. True Love and the five Rivers of Knowledge
3. Deep Listening – understanding and loving are inseparable
4. what makes a good communicator

United Nations Priorities for 2024

UN Secretary – General Remarks to the General Assembly on UN Priorities for 2024, read here Peace is our raison d’être

Special Love day

Loving each day – Ronan Keating

Tell it to your heart – Meduza

shared by a friend Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack

Pills of wisdom

• Hone/Smooth and Sharpen your Hope in language (repeat a mantra & clear your mind, to the very essence of your heart). This transforms your Hope into an actionable and practical element;
• A mantra simply clarifies, concentrates, and consecrates intent, and all meaningful transformation springs from purposeful, devoted intent.
• look inside yourself. The ability to love another person, depends on your ability to love yourself, which in turn depends on your degree of self-understanding.

• Your wholehearted presence is a miracle
• according to Buddha, for true love there is no place for pride
• five rivers: the body (“which we do not know well enough,” he rues); sensations (“Each sensation is a drop of water in the river,” he writes, and meditation is the practice of sitting on the banks of the river, observing the passing sensations); perceptions (“You must look deeply into their nature in order to understand.”); mental formations, of which Buddhism identifies fifty-two — feeling-states and faculties like happiness, hate, worry, distraction, appreciation, and faith; and consciousness, the last and deepest of the five rivers
• The intention of deep listening and loving speech is to restore communication, because once communication is restored, everything is possible, including peace and reconciliation

May this week be filled with deep inner joy, and the willingness and the possibility to make a real transformation in your life!

always, with Hope & a Smile!

Yours,

Gaia

Sustainability is the Future

Welcome to the 15th Edition of the Lighthouse, wishing to all a joyful and cozy November, filled with coffee, whipped cream & good company around!

This week we are featuring a mix of good new music, 3 good news for the week (maintaining the spirit of 3 good news a week keep the doctor away!), an inspirational quote & some photos!

Enjoy & keep shining! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

sustainable definition: able to be maintained at a certain rate or level/able to be upheld or defended

Let us maintain a steady emotional & physical health and well-being, and let us protect and defend our planet earth, by being responsible producers and consumers! (let’s not waste food!!)

3 good news:

• UN Sustainable Development Group: ensuring mental health in Peru: https://un-dco.org/stories/putting-mental-health-first-view-peru
• Atelier Jolie: Angelina Jolie starts ethical & sustainable fashion clothing line, with refugees & local tailors as creators of unique designs https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a44116944/angelina-jolie-chloe-collection/
• The world’s best tourism villages in 2023: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231030-the-worlds-best-tourism-villages-in-2023

TV shows, books, philosophical pills

• The Diplomat TV series- Netflix
• Music & The Body – on Marginalian
• The rigor of angels – by William Eggington

Musical essentials of the week

• Shine– Take that
• NEW RELEASE Now and then – The Beatles
• Jesus knows me– Genesis
• Gimme shelter – The Rolling Stones

Good faces, Photos!

food, chefs, port of Djibouti, school meals programme….Djibouti, this, and more!

Quien no arriesga, no gana – dixit in Djibouti on 2 November, International day to end impunity for crimes against journalists UNESCO day

Big hugs, and good week to you!

Gaia

PS. ❤️

💃 🏊‍♀️ a mix of Dance & Swim on !

Dear The Lighthouse Readers,

for this week, and until the beginning of July, this will be our fourth encounter. I hope you will miss reading me, and I promise I will come back with cool & fresh news for you, for sharing, thinking & acting, in Togetherness!

keep swimming, keep learning, keep growing!

Big Hugs,

Your Gaia – from the Lighthouse

On my mind

World Refugee Day, 20 June 2023, this day is very dear to my heart, as I worked with refugees in Bangladesh, women entrepreneurs n Burkina Faso and Djibouti, and I hope I will have the energy in my simple life to continue advocating for better representation of women in society, more decision-making power and more space for women on all domains of society, from sports to media, from business and to politics.

Women in sports: Sport is about conviviality, teamwork, unity. Sport allows to lead healthy and active lifestyles. It teaches all human beings to get to know their bodies, learn resilience, confidence and self-reliance. Sport has the power to change lives. Sport has no gender, and in all corners of the world, everyone can play, have fun and equally participate, in inclusion and if good sports infrastructures are in place. Learn more about Women in Sports and inspirational role models that can bring about transformative change & new images of women athletes in the world! #GenderEquality & #WomenInSports

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-sport

for your enjoyment, no reading list, an energetic liberating playlist:

Soul Music – all the Freedom that you need

a dolly shot of visual photos, in my two favorite settings, working in communications with creative & united people, and splashing in the water, with smiley girlfriends!

Encouraging women in sports activities to lead an active & healthy lifestyle, on the SES Facebook page, the Djiboutian secretary in charge of sports, by clicking on this link

Top 5 songs – one for each working day

1. Sunday Dream on – Aerosmith
2. Monday, Bootylicious – Destiny’s Child
3. Tuesday: I wanna dance with somebody – Whitney Houston – she is my top singer of all times, when I was a child I could sing all her songs, and she was the aspiration I wanted to be, very much recommended her movie, named after the same song Movie Trailer
4. Wednesday: Riviera – Max Gazze’ Frenetik & Orange
5. Thursday: You get what you give – New Radicals

My world is……WATER!!

Finally, this is a special post by UN Women, on equal pay, more visibility, recognition for talent & safe playing field, bringing in Women in Sports, deserving the same treatment & respect that all male athletes!

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/un-women_womeninsport-activity-7075985588918603776-7CyL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

Ciao!

Effervescent Beats & Visionary Energy – Life as a Movie Soundtrack

S. S. Rajamouli is the Movie Director of RRR, Rise, Roar, Revolt, whose song has been nominated at the 95th Academy Awards on 12th March 2023. I like the rhythm and the perfectly syncronized moves of the two protagonists, engaging the crowd in a dancing competition. They infuse adrenaline, a sensational willingess to move and dance with them. They are graceful and energetic, and our hearts beat faster. It feels like a joyous blast.

I love Indian cinema, and Bollywood movies, and I still recall the wondrous soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire (2008) that made my heart and mind wander and imagine India. I enjoy the enthusiasm and the joy that brims out of me when i see people dancing, and also when i dance too. The beat pulsates through the body, the flying feet and the flashing eyes!

About filmmaking in general, i love the idea of making movies, and I think the best secret for a successful movie is the soundtrack that accompanies the motion pictures and the emotional, adventurous and action-oriented storyline.

The list of Nominees for Best Original Scores (songs) is long & of prolific artists & songwriters. My favorite are Lady Gaga – Hold my hand from the movie Top Gun Maverick and Naatu Naatu from the movie RRR. Larger than life!

from the movie RRR – watch the trailer, here, and it is also available on Netflix

Hit parade songs for you:

Naatu Naatu Full Video Song (Telugu) [4K] | RRR | NTR,Ram Charan | MM Keeravaani | SS Rajamouli

Paola & Chiara – Furore (Official Video – Sanremo 2023)

Eagle-Eye Cherry – Save Tonight

Ultimo – Vieni nel mio cuore

Listen to the best scores nominees for the Oscars 2023

Bonus track: 2023 Oscars Nominations: See the Full List

in the cover image: Gaia acts like an Italian movie director, imitating the inimitable actor Federico Fellini

How to be a Leader

Each experience comes with happiness & sadness. It comes with learnings & deceptions. It comes with people and departures. It comes with discoveries & possible improvements (always improvements, sempre e ancora imparo, – and, still, I am learning- as Michelangelo – the well-renowned Italian sculptor used to say, even when it was 87 years old).

Here comes the first part of my year. A discovery of Japan, a training on leadership and communications, and a departure from the kind Burkina Faso.

25 of January 2023 is a threshold in my timeline. It has been 37 years that my parents have been married (and still holding strong, and in love) & 15 February, a departure from another African country, that I had the chance and privilege to visit . Of this country I will hold dear the morning smile of Marina, and the morning delicious tropical breakfast with papaya, the warm weather, the swimming pool during the weekend and the leadership challenges I had to face while working. If, on one side, I could bring in energy, positivity, engagement, enthusiasm, willingness to do, a head full of ideas and initiatives, on the other hand I had to toughly learn the art of diplomacy, the political savviness that I had been missing until now, and that I had to navigate, to stay composed, patiently waiting, using dialogue and a calm spirit to reach consensus and go on, as ONE. If, on one hand, with time and countries, I became agile and easily adaptable to contexts and people, on the other one, I still need to feel that inner self-confidence that moves me up and allows me to be The Leader. I know I have been getting along all this time with people because of my Humility and my Modesty, but, in times of troubles and of frictions, I need to be able to step up and provide strategic advise and lead bigger teams on biggest projects, that include other people and are, most of the times, beyond my control. I learned how a coordination system works, where you need to be able to listen, understand, think wisely and take into consideration all components & elements before making a decision, that can positively or negatively impact many people around you, and many vulnerable people that can benefit or be hurt by what you say or decide. In this time that I will take it for myself, and for my family, and to be able to love again, I will make sure to focus on myself, take care of my brain and of my life, and cherish the moments that will soon come, again. The Future is our Mother and, and Life taught me, if you go slow, it is also ok, and it benefits your love and health too. To Infinity Do not despise your inner world: Advise on a full life from philosopher Martha Nussbaum : do not fear feelings & harnessing the power of storytelling

As we tell stories about the lives of others, we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events. At the same time, we identify with the other creature and learn something about ourselves. As we grow older, we encounter more and more complex stories — in literature, film, visual art, music — that give us a richer and more subtle grasp of human emotions and of our own inner world. So my second piece of advice, closely related to the first, is: Read a lot of stories, listen to a lot of music, and think about what the stories you encounter mean for your own life and lives of those you love. In that way, you will not be alone with an empty self; you will have a newly rich life with yourself, and enhanced possibilities of real communication with others.

Bonus: Live the questions: Rilke on embracing uncertainty and doubt as a stabilizing force

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.” Your doubt may become a good quality if you train it. It must become knowing, it must become critical. Ask it, whenever it wants to spoil something for you, why something is ugly, demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find it perplexed and embarrassed perhaps, or perhaps rebellious.

Gaia state-of-mind

“Somewhere else, there was a magical world of fantasy, where everyone could create their own fictional characters and stories.

A person with patience, love, determination, brains, a good karma and a nice smile could discover extravagant & mesmerizing things “.

These are the paraphrase of the words of University of Pennsylvania and first ever woman translator of the Odyssey, Emily Wilson, in his extract of essay on Paris Review.

Birthday Kids in Burkina Faso, karaoke & smiles

This morning, while sipping Café au lait, simultaneously responding to a voice message to one my favorite ladies in the world living in Italy & committed to Soroptimist, no to violence against children & yes to financial education for vulnerable women & mothers with drug addiction, but willing to stand up again, look for a job and learn how to save money & offer future opportunities for their children, and preparing to go to work after a country military coup, I dwelt on my geographical location & my inner dreams.

My window, planting the seeds of tomorrow, and open to the world magic

Loving the New York city life, and being in Burkina Faso, supporting and serving with my fast and detailed planning crisis communications skills the office here, I realized that it is not perhaps the place you are in, but it is about what you do, in the place you are in.

Togetherness, karaoke competition, the important is to participate & to have fun, l’amusement in French

While reading Emily, she asks the question: “how can strangers become friends, or the other way around? What is cultural difference, does it matter?” while pondering about Odysseus’ travels & homes.

“I still want to be Athena – competent, powerful & with the capacity of self-transformation” she continues in her essay.

Family & Friends

I still like myself, this ability of being the spontaneous, genuine, authentic & “pleine de joie”- full of joy, as my friends like to call me. I still like my Italian pizza, while being able to connect with many different people, in different languages and still, instill joie de vivre & Happiness. I love my culture, food, music, but i also still love being able to craft my identity, tell different stories, write about different life situations, connect with new people in other languages, and still preserve the good essence, the nut of myself, and the values of empathy, respect, honesty I was raised with.

9 October, world post day!

Maybe this life will teach me to be calm, to be happy, to love people, and to find connections among what happens to me. We are what we do, and we shape the image of ourselves by how we behave and how we interact with others. This is called our personality and it is important to reflect on it, as, it should, be the (almost) exact reflection of what we look at in the mirror at night (doing some karaoke with the hair comb as microphone)!!

I always incline towards the hard-working & discipline, work culture & ethics, fun & bubbly personalities of Japan & Japanese people (trust me, in each country I go, it repeats itself!)

With much of self-reflection & introspection, voilà a couple of songs for you:

Que será será -Doris Day

You make my Dreams (come true) – Daryl Hall & John Oates

The Conqueror – Yves Paquet (new release of this song, a good friend of mine

She is so high – Tal Bachman

What good am I? I can look through you – by Playing for Change – music as a tool for social change

Magical mystery October

The transitional month is here, the one between Fall & Winter. The month filled with magic, mistery.

The month of celebration of Latin American heritage & history.

The Pink month, raising awareness of breast cancer.

The month of the United Nations day, winding down towards the month.

The month of many of my friends birthdays, who happen to be Libras, Sagittarius & Aquarius (the three of my favorite horoscopes signs).

The month of el día de los Muertos.

The month of Halloween & costumes, of tricks and treats, of pumpkin spice lattes – if you happen to swing by Starbucks – the month of Saints and of having fun with make-up on, if you wish to!

I like mistery & magic. I love high school movies, new music and new Latin American songs – to dance at night after work – I love imagining the man of my dreams, smiling at me & inviting me to a dance – and why not, humming in Spanish!

Dia de los Muertos – Mattel dolls

As new movies for October, I am pointing to BBC culture, the 11 movies to watch in October, as well as fun Netflix movie, Senior Year, where Australian Stephanie wakes up after 20 years of coma, with her mind as a 17 years old girl, in a body of a 37 years old young woman. Nice messages and story of Prom, true friendships and new popularity (Instagram & hashtags #) & political correct world. Must watch! Soundtrack is simply… Awesome! (listen especially to this one)

Starbucks, my favorite consumer brand, came out with a Spotify playlist to celebrate Latinx Heritage month, here, enjoy the sounds!

And… Already smelling pumpkin pies and spicy lattes on the way…..

Be always friends with your spirits, see where they point you at, let them guide you in some unexpected paths, & see what’s going on around you!

I will harvest new ideas, trust my instincts and indulge in new knowledge coming my way!

What happened at the very very beginning of the month shall not put us down, but, instead, give us the willingness to keep serving the people who need the most, instilling hope & doing great humanitarian, development and peace work, also if in difficult conditions.

Keep… DREAMING!

Your, always, Gaia – the goodess of Earth (the Greek one, yes, I am just a human version of a lover of gigantic Baobab trees!)

I can’t wait to see you

Brother’s wedding, successful!

Zoagli, Liguria region of Italy, in between Rapallo & Chiavari

I met so many new friends, we spoke about Love, affection, shared many dances & made thousands of toasts to the bright & in love young couple.

View from roof of Castello of Canevaro, where the wedding took place, on 16 September 2022, a date to remember!

I feel happy inside, because I have a solid, strong & united family that supports my “around the world” choices, serving an organization that thinks & acts to change & improve lives of other people.

My family – mamma, Max, Gaia & dad-wedding day

Maybe the Dream has already come true, and I had not realized it.

But when I am sitting on a plane to Accra – Ghana, talking to military, security force personnel & non-for-profit organization that believe in the same ideal of trust, order, strong institutions & governance, national cohesion, peace and dialogue to reach well-being and social protection for vulnerable & displaced people… Mmmh, maybe yes, this must be the place and this shall be exactly what I had dreamed of.

The speech moment, recounting stories of Max & Gaia’s childhood, our big quarrelling & our unconditional brotherly love.
The physical distance will never stop us loving one another & supporting each other

“I can’t wait to see you” is for someone I still have not totally understood, grasped, or just have not had the chance to meet & exchange ideas with. It is also inspired by the song ” I can’t wait” song by the Cocoon.

I love the sea, it makes me happy, relaxed & willing to live, fly, dream & do big things for people – Golfo del Tigullio

Enjoy this little “on the plane” Road trip playlist, and.. See you soon! Merci Air France

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

Luna Misteriosa (featuring Luigi Catalano) – Buscemi

Stop this flame – Celeste

Little lion man – Mumford & Sons

All star – Smash mouth

Sing – Travis

Slow hands – Niall Horan

I am like a bird – Nelly Furtado

Catch & release – Matt Simons (Deepend Remix)

Walking on Sunshine – Katrina & the waves

Only human – Jonas Brothers

Mr. Jones – Counting crows

All I wanna do – Sheryl Crow

Mr. Brightside – The Killers

A thousand miles – Vanessa Carlton

Say what you want – Texas

Bang-A-Boomerang – Abba

Peter Pan-Polo & Pan

Best days – Alessia Cara

Life is out there: Embrace Diversity & Cultures – Bangladesh moment

This morning I was humming Katy Perry & Kylie Minogue in my head, & I started walking by the wondrous longest beach in the world, in Cox’s Bazar – Bangladesh…

Come into my world – Gaia on 6 November 2020 – Kylie Minogue song

On my way, while watching fishermen and many boats, I stopped on rocky stairs, to soak some sun & enjoy the sound of the sea…

A group of beautiful ladies, all dressed with colorful hijab, started talking to me, curious about my funny presence there: Hello, how are you? “Khemon achen” they started.

“I am good, just taking some sun, I am so white!”

“Oh, we want to be like you, we do not like the sun too much”

“I want to be like you” I told them, smiling. Bangladeshi women are extremely stunning, and I love their skin color.

After some nice discussions about Bangladeshi boys (they should have a little more respect, and be more polite, I added to the conversation) , religious diversity & peaceful acceptance and respect of all, we took some selfies as a symbol of new friendships! new Bandhus! #Bandhutba

I appreciate and value diversity, tolerance, acceptance and a nice sense of belonging to something new, as worldly human beings, loving to travel & interacting with genuine people willing to smile, listen & get to know another culture ( – and, interestingly- visually attracted by different faces and skin complexion types….)

Girlfriends by the sea!

Togetherness in dialogue & smiles

Best song of my day – SIMPLE by Katy Perry, set in Japan, my Dream!

Fight for your Dream & Put Discipline on your Passion

At the 91st Academy Awards night on 25 February 2019, Lady Gaga won the Best Original Song for the Movie A Star is Born, the song is called Shallow, here.

I loved her acceptance speech, saying “all I have to say is that this is hard work. I’ve worked hard for a long time and it’s not about winning, but what it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it”.

She continued: “There’s a discipline of our passion and it’s not about how many times you get rejected, it’s about how many times you stand up and are brave and you keep on going.”

I find the words very inspiring and definitely to live by. How many times have we tried something, and then it did not work out? How many times did we have the patience, the calmness, the strength, to continue persevering and to continue fighting for our Dreams?

From my humble experience, a lot comes from Hope & Visualization, from Determination & Perseverance, from Daily Discipline & a strong balance of work and friends time, who can listen and support you in tough times (and vice-versa).

If we know ourselves a little bit – the Greek philosopher Socrates used to teach us “Know Thyself”– Know yourself, every day, we must find a balanced combination of professional time, where we dedicate our time & energy to work, fulfilling our dreams and aspirations, and some time to unwind the mind and think of the beauty of life, of nature, of people who love us and whom we love, and all the kindness we can spread by simply putting a smile on someone’s face, or help out someone in need, or a friend, or becoming engaged in a community and do some volunteering work ( cooking for someone, keeping someone’s company, participating in some clean-up initiatives in your city or neighborhood). The Mind needs to be fueled and the Heart needs to be nurtured. All the Love and Passion that we can spread in the world, it is all welcome. 

I think we also need to consider and try to look at the bigger picture, the Gestalt, the sum of the parts. By looking at our past we understand our trajectory, by being in the present we shape our daily actions in the direction of our future, because we know where our Future wants to go, we have imagined it, we have drawn in somewhere (if not, take a piece of paper and try it !) we have dreamed about it for the longest time. Dreams and Aspirations can of course change, with time and with different needs, so we need to be calm and embrace the change within ourselves, understanding that it is ok to be wanting something different, better, bigger, more fulfilling, somewhere else, with someone else. it is part of the human nature, part of nature, part of river flowing, trees growing, flowers blossoming. In apparent static life, there is always a fire that never goes out. Therefore, it is important to know how to manage that fire, and to direct it towards our future dreams.

For the time being then, let us not forget our Greek philosophers Socrates (Know Thyself) and Heraclitus (Panta Rhei- Everything flows, nothing stays the same), and let us keep a daily journal, or a praying time at night, where we feel completely joyful and grateful for what we have, recharging and getting the strength that we need to keep persevering, to keep believing, and to keep thinking and twinkling at our dreams, which are dancing stars in the sky, and therefore, we can see them, aim at them, and we can dream about them, and, day by day, get closer to them!

Enjoy the Oscar’s night! Live updates on the Oscars, on this website! 

Ciao!

@GaiaParadiso

Photo credit of the featured image: Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga at the 91st Academy Awards, 25 February 2019, photo