Vida Amorosa

Déjalo ir – Let go

If I could summarize the mood of my recent vacation to San Juan, Puerto Rico this would be it.

From the morning that I reached, I felt a sense of relief, of space, of familiarity in the streets of Viejo San Juan, of warmth in the hearts of the Puerto Ricans, of nostalgia in the simplicity of life there, and acceptance in the form of the Nature that I was surrounded by.

A look around and I couldn’t imagine this was the same place that was recovering from the devastating impact of hurricanes – the pure happiness on the faces of the people, the very ones that had lost so many loved to this wrath of Nature.

“Déjalo ir, we have to move on.”, said an Uber driver who had moved back to San Juan right before the calamity.

“Vida Amorosa, love life!”, said Hector, our concierge at the Serafina Beach Hotel as he encouraged us to tell our friends to not be afraid to visit Puerto Rico.

I took his advice and spent the next 4 days simply soaking in all the blessings that I was surrounded by. For the first time, I consciously practiced keeping an open mind to experience what life had to offer. From the birthplace of piña colada, to the fortress guarding the Caribbean, I indulged in the moments that were born in these spaces, moments that imprinted a sense of gratitude in my mind.

Lying in the sunny waters of the Atlantic Ocean at Luquillo Beach, looking over at the vastness of the El Yunque rainforest, as dark clouds enveloped it and rain descended on a plethora of natural wilderness, slanted but standing tall, refusing to give in to Nature’s devastating plans, I had an overwhelming realization of the power of Nature and its intricacies, none of which make any exceptions for money, race, success or failure.

In that moment I understood the value in slowing down.

We are all simply moments in time, single mortal beings, tiny specks in the universe, certainly not the center of it.

We get one life. How we choose to live it, in the end, defines us. We can paint our journey and strive to stay on the canvas, or we can just follow the brush strokes as we continuously edit this masterpiece of ours.

So there I was, living a moment in the breath of my life, making a mental note of the life lessons that I had imbibed in just 4 short days, making a promise to spend the rest of my moments more mindfully, a promise to continuously edit my life, my perspective – to be more open, more inclusive, more accepting, to be more simplistic and grateful, to be more noticing, of others and myself, of life as I know it and as I don’t.

As I flew out of Puerto Rico into my concrete jungle, where space and time follow their own dynamics, I jotted down a quick note which serves as a gentle reminder of my promise to myself :

“When you let go of how things should be, nothing can go wrong.”

– Vida Amorosa, July 2018