The Art of Living with an Awakened Spirit

The deep desire to connect with the divine
and the constant urgency of surviving the everyday.

This is a letter from that edge,
from that crack where both worlds meet.

An intimate journey toward the reconciliation between soul and matter.

Maybe you're there too.
Maybe these words are a way for us to breathe together.

We live in intense times, full of demand.
The material world constantly asks us to keep moving: to produce, respond, be available, compete.

To secure our daily bread, a roof over our heads, the desire to do what we love.
And in the midst of that tide, there is a longing: a connection to the divine.
A deep thirst, an inner whisper calling us.
But that call often gets interrupted by routine, by tiredness, by urgent tasks.

How can we keep that connection from fading away among emails, to-do lists, and responsibilities?
How can we nourish the spirit without abandoning the world?
Why do we sometimes feel we must choose one or the other, as if they were incompatible?

I've seen—and lived—both extremes.
Spiritual teachings that call for total detachment from the material world.
And others so immersed in productivity that they forget the soul.

And I wonder: why this dichotomy? Why this polarization?
Aren’t we being called to reconcile these two loves that live within us?

Living both worlds from my center

In my experience, this tension is not theoretical, it’s daily.
Every day, I navigate between administrative tasks, emails, creative projects…
and my deep need for silence, connection, and spiritual practice.

For a long time, I tried to divide my time: mornings for the spirit, evenings for work, but I realized something:
it’s not about time, it’s about presence.
It’s not about separating worlds, but weaving them together.

Integration.

Bringing the comfort I find in my spiritual practice into my everyday actions.
Taking a breath before replying to a message.
Listening with care. Delegating with clarity.
Resting without guilt.
Finding delight even in the mundane.

Practicing silence in the midst of noise.
Listening to the body.
Speaking from the heart.
Being patient — one of the hardest practices, especially with myself.

Vibration that aligns

One of the practices that most deeply connects me with the divine is chanting mantras.
When I chant, something aligns.
The body, the mind, the heart… everything shifts into a new frequency.

The voice becomes a channel for healing and joy.
The space becomes sacred.

And curiously, after singing, even the most mundane tasks feel lighter.

There is no conflict.
No tedium.
No unnecessary anxiety.
Everything flows with more grace.

For me, spirituality is not about escaping the world,
but about inhabiting it from another place — with more tenderness, more listening, more authenticity.

Today I write to you from the island of São Miguel, in the Azores.
A place that has become home.

Here I connect with an ancient and wise part of myself.
The green island, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, strikes me with its wind, caresses me with its volcanic sand, and revitalizes me in its bubbling waters.

Here, in her womb, I’ve had profound awakenings.
I’ve felt my ancestors supporting me, licking my wounds, embracing me fiercely, whispering without words, I love you.

And maybe…
true spirituality is not about effort or isolation,
but in how we wash the dishes, how we breathe before we speak, how we listen without interrupting.

Maybe, if we stop judging, if we let go of the extremes,
we can reconcile the sacred and the everyday.

Maybe divinity is not something distant.
Maybe it’s right here, in this moment.
In this reading.
In you.

I embrace you.