La pasion como puerta de la magia en la vida: Maria de los Milagros Baylac at TEDxBahiaBlanca
Translator: mariana vergnano Reviewer: Camille Martínez I learned how to be myself. And when you learn to be yourself, you are not afraid of anything. You realize that every day is magical. And I'm going to ask you 3 questions, because I want you to participate in the conversation with me, I want you to also be artists in your own universe and in your own life, every day. You can be artists every day with small actions, simply by looking at the person next to you, taking in what you see. Searching for the little details. I also want to thank the speakers who preceded me because they said a lot of things that needed to be said so that I could tell my story. What dream have you not yet fulfilled? What did you want to be when you were a kid? And most importantly: What makes you happy? These are the only 3 questions that I ask myself every day. I've done it since I was very young, like in this picture, where you see that I wanted to fly. I wanted to fly, I dreamed of utopias. I thought about love. I thought about being happy. Every day. Because I was a book addict. I read passionately. I just read to learn new things -- the subject didn't matter. I didn't just read about art, I read about everything. I wanted to know how everything worked, why everything was connected, what inspired a particular person to come up with their invention, why we have phones, why electricity existed, what it was like to be Marco Polo and travel around the world, how a person could travel great distances and conquer other worlds. I read a ridiculous amount. I say this because I only read when I was little. Now I read, but I no longer soak things up. I decided to live. I decided to live what I dreamed of as a kid. And I tell you this because often times people think that I do magic. Or that I have a power that arose from somewhere that is not real. And the fact is that the only power I have is being myself. Every day, I decide how my day will be, because I try to do things differently. If there's a traffic jam, I try to put on a smile. If the bus driver is angry, I try to joke with the person next to me. I try to get to know the baker: "What's your name? Who are you?" I ride a bike in Buenos Aires. Coming from Bahia Blanca, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do that here! I am grateful to have been born in Bahia Blanca, I appreciate having had the opportunity to go to the sea, to go to the mountains. It's a worldview that seems very simple, but many people spend their entire lives without having gone to the sea, without having seen the mountains. Knowing both places makes you live differently. They teach you that it's easy. Life is easy. It's simpler than we think. We all love beautiful things. And the truth is that my magic is in a magic wand. I do have a magic wand, and that is my paintbrush. Since I was a little girl, I've dreamed of traveling the entire world. I didn't think I'd be able to do that, because you need money, you need a lot of things, and being young, I didn't know what exactly they were. But I'd dream of places I'd go. I would live in Holland, I would live in Paris. I would meet the Eskimos, I would be able to go to Japan. And the truth is that I'm 35, and I have the luxury of saying that I've practically seen it all. There are places I still need to see, and I definitely know where I'll end up, and where I'm going. And in a magical way, whenever I think something, it comes true. I'm almost a sort of walking Internet. And I say so because I feel I am like that, press some buttons, you'll get your answers. I didn't prepare for this talk. I did feed myself. I read, I watched a lot of TEDx talks I had never seen. Actually, yes, because I can assure you that the first time I saw one, I figured I would give one. Simply because ... I have fun. I enjoy myself. I believe in the magic that's present in our existence. And that each one of you can fulfill your dreams. Fulfilled dreams are gold coins. They're a piggy bank for your heart so that, no matter what happens, you can have a good time. I paint, but truly I never thought that I'd become a painter. I always knew I'd be an artist, though, and I always drove myself crazy trying to think of what I could invent. And the truth is, almost everything I saw was already invented. So how could I resolve this crucial issue? And at 35 years old, I realized that my great invention is to believe that every one of you can be an artist in your day to day life, and that each one of you can let yourself dream. You can let yourself dance without being a great dancer. You can let yourself play an instrument. You can let yourself dance, you can even let yourself paint. Creativity is innate in humans, because we are beings that feel. We are born to be happy. We are not born to accumulate things, not born to have titles. We are born to be passionate. We are born to wake up every day with a smile, and decide how we want to enjoy life. There are 3 variables that make happiness a constant. Being an artist is the ability to navigate uncertainty. For the last 8 years I've made my living from art, in this country with all its red tape, and with all the problems that we wake up to every day. But this is a country accustomed to change. We constantly have to adapt. The rules are constantly changed. That's the essence of being an artist. No matter how, no matter what, you overcome and jump over the obstacles that are presented to you. I've painted with my fingertips, I've painted with leaves, with ice cream spoons, since, while eating ice cream, I imagined I was in art class. I've been in the jungle, I've been in Japan, I've been Japanese, I've gone zip-lining, I've even faced my deepest fears by going parachuting, and I thought I was going to die. Because at some point, my passion was based on being very afraid to die. When you're very afraid to die, you try to protect yourself, to make sure that nothing happens: "I hope nothing happens to me." So, we imagine things instead. Imagine what we could do, without allowing ourselves to do it. Because if I allow myself to live, what happens? I have to break that shell, allow myself to be aware. I have to go out into the world and take charge. Take responsibility for my mistakes. Know that life is not perfect, which is what makes it wonderful. The magic is in making decisions. Successful or not. And it's in taking trains. Often the right train comes, at the right time with the right person, but we don't take it. And really, nothing happens. All that happens is that 2 or 3 years go by until that train comes around again, until you decide to encourage yourself to take it. And until you perhaps decide not to take it, again. And on and on. Life is constant learning. It's a daily choice. How many volumes of my own story will I write? How many chapters? How much will I let myself do? I can write only one story. Or I can imagine all the possibilities. I wanted to be an actress when I was young. But when I grew up, I studied -- I never studied art, I mean, I'm a painter because I play, I enjoy it, I have a good time -- Do you like my paintings? Great. If not, it's OK too! I do it because it's part of my nature. It does me good. I like it. And I teach from that place. Why I was not an actress? Will I be at some point? Who knows. But I realized I didn't want to portray the life of another, I didn't want to be continually representing a story. I didn't want to be giving this TEDx talk after studying for it, writing it 20 times over, presenting 20,000 sentences. I wanted it to flow. I wanted to activate these buttons by feel, so that each of you here could begin to flow and tell a story. A story in which everyone can do what they want. And really, if you don't like your life, if you don't like your present, your job, ask yourself: Why am I here? What reality is this situation showing me? Which fear I am not facing? What am I bored of? What I am not taking charge of? Because when you take a few minutes, and begin to see that you're no longer a victim of circumstances, nor their master -- I had a boss who was a great teacher. I worked at the Argentine Foreign Ministry for 6 years; I wore a suit. I can assure you that if you saw a photo of me at that age -- I was 25, I'm 35 now but personally I feel 25, just because I do things that not even I know where they come from -- And it's a wonderful thing: preserving your innocence. Regardless of the wisdom that each of us has, regardless of the time we've lived, innocence is the surprise. It's the magic. It's feeling excited about that little detail. It's seeing a sunrise that makes you shed a tear. It's feeling the smell of a flower again, remembering that grandmother, tasting that cup of coffee, riding that bike, traveling to that place, that landscape. That way, innocence is not lost over the years. Innocence is within you. It is an emotion. It is a feeling that makes you passionate. Passion must be cultivated, nourished. Each one of you can tell me it's wonderful to work in your own field. But, there are many fields that are perhaps unexplored. And they, perhaps, are also wonderful. I have written many chapters in my life. And I will keep writing. Because I realized that this is my greatest virtue. That's the way I wanted to live. I've ended up in Asia. All my money got stolen. And it was the only thing I hadn't thought through, but I had wondered about it: if it ever happens, what would I do? And there were 2 options: The first was to become embittered, go back to Argentina -- because everything was based on the premise that I didn't have to go to Vietnam and Cambodia, because I wanted to take that trip with a particular person -- but sometimes certain people and certain circumstances are a lie that we tell ourselves to avoid doing things. Sometimes, it doesn't matter what the plan is. Sometimes, the time is now! You just have to say: I'm buying that ticket, I'm quitting that job, I'm changing partners. Love never ends. Love is eternal and has no limits, no matter if it's the company, or the situation, or the feeling of infatuation: whatever ends, you keep going. You journeyed with a particular person, traveled to that particular place, and you're forever imbued with the experience. It's like a footprint on us that can never go away. Then you have to integrate it. You have to embrace it. You have to know your family tree, where you come from. Where you are from. Who you are. Why you're here. What you came for. What you want to play. To be happy in this life, you have to enjoy it. The board games we all played when we were children, are the best teaching tool to show us that we can play again. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. We sometimes use the same tactic and it doesn't work for us, and sometimes when we're almost at the end, we go back to the beginning. But we always want to play again. Life is the same. And, really, being here, the only thing I want to tell you is to explore, play at life. There are 3 variables in life: time, money, and energy. Energy relates to age. There are many things that, if you do not do them by a certain point, then it's too late. Fears accumulate. It requires more energy. Energy is the here and now. It's being in this moment, regardless of what will happen and what's already happened. It's buying that ticket. It's being here because you have to be. It's believing in that opportunity. It's projecting, it's drawing that world you see. All you imagine, all you believe is possible, if you see it, you can have it. If not, that means you can't even imagine it. That's why it's important to nourish it. That's why it's important to experiment. So no matter if the yoga teacher or the 9 yoga classes I tried didn't work for me, because I didn't understand that yoga thing everyone talked about. What is it good for? Until I found my thing, the thing that works for me, that speaks to my soul, and that makes me feel like I can touch the sky for a little while. Because I'm in tune with myself. Because in 11 minutes, I can experience 3 hours, one day, a year. Because I can connect with my inner voice. I can sort this mental computer where we store our notes, but which can only be sorted out when we listen to ourselves. Thanks. (Applause)