The babies of imagination

Gandhi once wrote "If we want to create a lasting peace we must begin with the children".


Dear fellow explorers,

Last time we met, I invited you to create a powerful image and to cultivate it in the garden of the mind. Now that you have been in it for a few days, what have you found? Is the garden of your mind wild and mossy like a forest, or  is it smooth and has impeccable mowed lawn like a palace's? Do you like being in it? What have you learned about yourself? I am interested in your stories, please leave one of them here and share it with the other explorers, your voice will be heard.

"These are troubled times", wrote a journalist, and every journalist seems to repeat this mantra again and again. So troubled that we cannot take our mind off the economy, the politics, the labour market, the bad things happening all around us. We cannot seem to disconnect from our daily disgrace dose. We seem to swallow this spiky pill every day as if it were the right thing to do, just because it is served in a shiny silver tray, just because it is designed to justify the state of things.

Believe me, you don't have to swallow that pill every day. You don't have to eat from that shiny silver multimedia  tray. You don't have to feel justified. There are inspiring actions, beautiful sights, good will and caring people all around us. Every day. Open your eyes.

Fellow explorers, get up, it is time for action!

Now that you have a garden, you must fill it with children.

The garden of the mind

Gandhi once wrote "The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states."


Dear fellow explorers,


The last time we met I left you swimming in the ocean. I also went swimming in my own current. How did you find the experience? What type of marine life did you encounter? Did you follow the currents or swim against them? Please let me know by leaving your comment in these pages. I am very interested in hearing your experiences.


In any case, I hope you are dry now, because the visit to Gandhi's Gardens continues. Take a sip from the water bottle in your backpack if you need. Ready? Do you remember how I found the statue of Mahatma Gandhi for the first time? So unassuming, so simple yet occupying the right place for such a man. I need to tell you a little secret, and I apologise in advance in case it might alter the image that you had formed in your mind about Gandhi standing in his gardens. Can you picture this image now? Is there a fountain and flowers? Maybe little animals: ducks in a pond, squirrels...? Who is walking and playing in these gardens? Are you in them? Please close your eyes and hold this image for some seconds. 

Introducing Gandhi

Gandhi once said "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty".


Dear fellow explorers,


I hope that you have gathered your provisions and placed them in your favourite backpack, together with your camera and a little notebook and pen. I want to ask you to ready your imagination and set your mind's feet in motion. We are setting off on our voyage. Hop! I want you to walk with me to a little part of Barcelona called Poble Nou.


Its name means "new town", and it was for me when I moved here about one and a half years ago.
It is close to the coast, so if you want you can take your shoes off and walk lazily on the sand whilst listening to the little waves crashing, or take pictures of the high brick chimneys which illustrate its industrial past, or even have a well-deserved cup of coffee in the Rambla del Poble Nou, the main artery of strollers here. Because its citizens do love to stroll, sit at a terrace and have coffee, although not necessarily always in that order, and so do I. However, today I want to take you to a public garden.

A beginning, a voyage

Dear fellow explorers,

To begin anything one must move, express and denote intention.
To commence a voyage, one must prepare the mind and flex the body, gather provisions, a map, water, a camera, a nimble imagination.
My first move, these words. My intention, to capture moments of beauty in the daily traffic of our lives.
My mind is improvising on the eternal path, my body is aching for action. Thank you for helping me prepare for this voyage, thank you for sharing it.
A voyage that begins and ends in Gandhi's Gardens.