I’ve been planning to write an article about José Mujica, the president of Uruguay, for a very long time. I admire him for his life, lived with courage, authenticity, consciousness and on-going reflection, assumed risks, pain (but no more suffering!!), healed wounds and love for every moment he spends on this Earth! I might not know all the facts of his life or all his (supposedly) life mistakes. It doesn’t even matter. I look at him in this video below and I admire the human being that’s he’s become, the synthesis of good and bad that have inherently happened to him. He seems to be standing in a space which is just beyond any good or bad actually!

This video sums up everything I ever thought I could learn from him and not just intellectually: I learn from his humble attitude, his soft and non-judgmental tone of voice and his warm and wise eyes.  This man walks his talk!

I would name this video in one word: sobriety. It means not just adopting an apparent grave attitude or manner, but to be awake (sober), to be aware, to be in the present moment and to reflect upon what life brings you, always adopting a moderate (a “relative”, equidistant) attitude towards anything. This attitude helps in taking decisions according to your true self, because in this way you cannot be manipulated, you cannot fall into the trap of choosing according to peer or society pressure.