Embedded Files
Dear readers,
In my life’s journey, I consider awareness a great treasure, as it helps us protect ourselves from negativity, which, in the form of thoughts or beliefs, traps us in vicious cycles that limit our growth.
For this reason, I’ve decided to share some of my deepest reflections with you, hoping that at least one of them will resonate with you in a special way.
Happy reading!
(1) What is a language, and what does it truly mean to learn one? (new translation)
A language isn't merely a collection of words and grammar—it's a tool through which we express our way of perceiving and thinking. It's the imprint of a culture, shaped by the lived experiences of its people, by the events that have molded their emotions, and consequently, their soul. By "soul," I mean what stirs within us, making us feel truly alive—the vibrant, flowing part of our being. Each language can be likened to a custom-made garment, tailored specifically to the culture from which it originates, reflecting that culture’s unique and living essence.
This is why learning a language different from our own means acquiring a new personality: each language has its own character, its own energetic identity developed over time. Consequently, once we've genuinely absorbed the essence of another language, we manifest a different personality—our facial expressions change, and we may even speak and behave differently when encountering the same situations, viewing them from the perspective typical of the culture whose language we’re speaking at that moment.
Many people claim, “it’s important to learn the culture as well as the language,” which is true. Yet, often, they view these as two separate elements that somewhat influence each other—an incomplete perception at best. Frequently, people just repeat this idea because someone else said it, and mentally, it “makes sense” to them. Very few genuinely reflect on the profound link between these two aspects. Worse yet, among those people are language teachers, incapable of conveying something they haven't fully—or at least adequately—understood. (Fortunately, there are exceptions.)
Language and culture are intrinsically intertwined, permeating each other so deeply that through language we perceive culture, and through culture we understand the logic behind language. Every language holds a unique vibration that can be felt and decoded.
The real difference doesn't lie in the number of degrees or certificates obtained in linguistics or psychology, but in having embarked on a deep journey within ourselves—aimed at understanding and liberating our soul, which has been suffocated by mental constructs: a set of rules we faithfully follow but never truly observe or question. Everything our parents and teachers teach us becomes our religion. The quality or profound understanding of these teachings matters less than our obedience—and ideally, our unconditional acceptance.
Liberating our soul allows us to reconnect with our sensitivity and perceive the world more clearly and profoundly. Knowing ourselves better helps us better understand the rest of humanity.
It might seem strange or unusual to discuss these things in a language course, but we are studying a “human language.” Humans are part of nature, just as weight is part of lead. Everything we create, especially a language—which expresses our feelings and thoughts—bears nature’s imprint, just as we ourselves do, although sometimes we forget this.
Learning a language while seeing it almost as a being with its own personality allows us to fully grasp its meaning and unique essence, absorbing and making it part of ourselves. Approaching language study mechanically, almost mathematically, filled with fixed, standardized, and rigid patterns, will make the experience burdensome and fruitless. It’s necessary to dive into its world and live it fully, following our emotions and guided by freedom. Observing it only through books or constantly holding onto something out of fear will only make us victims.
Once we understand this, we realize learning a language is far more than just an educational process—it's a true adventure capable of offering us an infinite variety of emotions.
Emotions suit humanity best. Our ability to feel emotions is innate, though humans aren't the only beings possessing this gift. Yet ironically, we are the only ones who perceive our emotions as problems rather than blessings. Indeed, since childhood, we’re often taught to suppress our emotions—to control and suffocate them—especially as we grow older and face increased responsibilities like exams or work. Everything must conform to society's imposed framework.
Freedom makes us real, unique, and original, but above all, it makes us human.
Considering language learning solely as an academic topic is extremely limiting, robbing us of all the beauty this experience has to offer. Learning a language means learning art and science intertwined with history and psychology. It's an intimate and priceless experience—overwhelming and magical in the truest sense of the word—that enables us to break barriers within and outside ourselves and expand our world. It shapes us, granting deeper knowledge and mastery over ourselves. Self-knowledge is a source of inner light that lets us perceive the subtleties of the world, becoming our source of inner strength and confidence.
Certainly, school can play a vital role—especially if teachers are enlightened, as they’ll do their best to help us achieve the utmost from the experience. Yet much depends on us and the attitude we choose in approaching this adventure.
You won’t become a superhero after embarking on this experience—such heroes exist only in comics. But if you live this experience the right way, you’ll discover a part of yourself and the world around you that previously remained hidden.
Brandon - July 2024
(2) The true duty of a teacher (new translation)
A teacher who humiliates or penalizes a student when they’re struggling is not worthy of this profession.
The duty of a teacher is not to use the rod to instill discipline, but to help a sincere student find the light within what is being taught.
Brandon - July 2024
(3) There is no reason for shame during the learning process
None of us is born knowing how to do things. Everything in nature is in a continuous evolutionary process, each being and element in its own time, including humans—or at least it should be... In many circumstances, from a young age, we are taught that we should feel ashamed when we can't do certain things. But in reality, it's just a baseless belief that everyone accepts without ever truly evaluating it.
Humans are, in fact, the only beings who often make exceptions to this natural logic because we've placed a division between ourselves and nature. We increasingly identify through a set of mental frameworks, many of which have nothing natural (nor logically sound) about them, and only a few of which are healthy. From this perspective, we find ourselves in a process of involution because we pretend (often unconsciously) not to feel like children of the earth but rather children of a society to which we owe obedience.
As a language tutor, I can say that among the various things we seem to find normal to be ashamed of is not being able to speak a new language we are learning. This belief is quite dysfunctional and creates unhealthy effects within those who submit to it. Every skill has undergone an evolutionary process that has forged it through mistakes and direct experimentation; this has already given us dignity. There's nothing else to prove; we just need to continue to evolve with strength and love for ourselves, recognizing our natural rhythm and perhaps finding the way that suits us best to learn, which is fundamental, though often completely ignored.
Brandon - August 2024
(4) It happens very often but we don't realize it; We even do it to ourselves
Blame an embryo for not yet being a complete being. If it could speak, it would tell you that you're completely out of your mind.
Is one of our developing abilities perhaps different from any embryo?
Give yourself the necessary time to grow in learning everything!
Brandon - August 2024
(5) A great truth
I have never said that learning a new language is simple, but I have always asserted that it can be a truly exciting experience or a real nightmare, depending on how we choose to live it. When we realize that we are part of nature and that we are all truly interconnected—in fact, we are all part of a whole (including animals and plants)—and all this takes root in our hearts, we understand how barriers are secondary things, even linguistic ones. This is because we all communicate with an invisible energy (that magical understanding you can feel with a dear friend or other people). This type of communication surpasses everything because it is primordial.
But our minds are too busy to notice this, and we have been taught to fear not knowing how to do things and to judge ourselves (so when there is no one in front of us who can criticize us, there is always an inner judge; thus, we are never alone—we are always in the crosshairs of a sniper, which is a stupid and harmful thing). If we base language learning on this awareness and on the flow of human emotion, things we could call magical will start to happen. A part that we currently ignore will begin to function and will help us learn more quickly and more deeply.
I say this because I have experienced it personally.
Brandon - September 2024
(6) Loving Yourself: A Journey of Healing and Awareness
Truly loving ourselves is the first step to feeling better because we finally stop criticizing and judging ourselves as a despotic person would. This alone will give us much more energy. Treat yourself as you would treat your best friend or a child. Inside you, there's another you who is often scolded, criticized, humiliated, and sometimes even beaten. We do this to ourselves, but we often don't notice; then we don't understand why we feel frustrated and depleted of energy. But feeling bad under these conditions is absolutely normal.
Love yourself, silence the conditioned mind that sees evil everywhere, make peace with your past and understand it, so that it doesn't pollute your present and doesn't inhibit love and understanding toward yourself and others. Take care of yourself. I hug you tightly!
Brandon - September 2024
(7) The Real Source of our Fears
When you’re afraid of something or someone, or feel hesitation or a sense of self-devaluation, stop and ask yourself: “What have I forgotten?”
This is an important question because, nine times out of ten, these kinds of weaknesses are caused by past events related to our parents’ attitudes toward us and our relationship with them during childhood or adolescence.
Not everything parents do is truly for our benefit, even though it’s often claimed otherwise. Parents are people just like us, with their strengths and weaknesses, and like all of us, they have mental patterns and fears that can lead to dysfunctional behavior. Not all parents are really ready to be parents, and becoming one places additional pressure and fears on them. Often, they too are victims of their own circumstances, and, lacking a profound inner journey in their lives, they haven’t understood how to truly love themselves—nor how to properly love their children.
A child tends to forget, excuse, or ignore parental behaviors that cause them pain, just to maintain a good relationship with them. As a result, the child continually blames themselves, thinking they are a “bad” child, unworthy of love and approval from anyone, and thus believes they must do something special to earn it.
Providing a child with medical care, education, food, and valuable items does not mean loving them; these are the basic duties of a parent. Truly loving a child means focusing primarily on their real emotional state rather than only their academic performance or career success. Above all, loving a child means: accepting them for who they are, loving them simply because they exist, showing them in countless ways that they are precious just by being in this world, apologizing to them when you’re irritable and take out your anger on them, helping them understand that it’s not their fault if mom or dad are a bit distant, but rather that they’re going through a difficult time. It also means showing them that they are as important as a tree in the forest.
In this way, no one will be able to make them doubt their intrinsic value, because they will have full awareness of it.
Brandon - February 2025
(8) Distorted Reality – The World as Our Family
The way we perceive reality depends greatly on our relationship with our parents, because their regard for us, from childhood onward, shapes our sense of personal worth.
If they listened to us, respected us, and appreciated us for who we are, we’ll feel worthy of love and see the world as a benevolent place: criticism or negative behavior from others won’t weigh us down much.
If, on the other hand, they gave us “love” only in exchange for achievements, obedience, or physical appearance, we’ll tie our self-worth to those things and try to please everyone, just as we did with them.
If they neglected or criticized us when we needed them, or abandoned us to pursue other goals (like a career or money), we’ll assume everyone else will do the same. Any time someone doesn’t respond or is busy, we interpret it as rejection, because we believe we aren’t worth much.
In other words, we project onto others the same attitude we once had toward our parents, and build our view of the world based on how they made us feel.
If the environment around us is fairly calm but we still perceive it as hostile, it’s because we’ve repressed negative memories of our relationship with our parents. In fact, to protect ourselves from pain, we create a separation between the “good parent” and the “bad parent,” forgetting the bad part each time physical or psychological abuse ends.
Furthermore, if we justify the few negative memories we still have by telling ourselves “They did it for my own good,” we’re reaffirming the idea that we deserved the mistreatment, which is absurd. A child who’s lazy might be so because they’re depressed; if they aren’t studying, it could be because their mind is distracted by some difficulty; if they’re always playing video games, it’s because they’re escaping a reality that makes them feel bad. Instead of humiliating or punishing them, parents should reflect on themselves and ask, “What am I doing to my child that makes them feel so miserable? I need to go and ask him.”
But unfortunately, not everyone can do that… Many parents feel like semi-gods… they have an image to protect, even at the cost of their child’s mental health.
If you recognize one or more of these signs in yourself, yet at first glance think you had a happy childhood, stop and reflect, because that might mean you’ve blocked out many events and situations that caused you pain.
A child will do anything to maintain a good relationship with their parents. It’s far easier to believe they are “bad or wrong” — since that means they can still change and be accepted — rather than feel hopeless by admitting they have parents who don’t love them enough or have no idea what they’re doing.
A child’s mind can effectively erase negative events (often even the most serious ones), but the pain remains within us. Once the memories fade, our parents become wonderful or at least decent, and at that point our rational mind can only conclude that the evil we sense must come from the world. This is how the pain from our past haunts our present like a ghost. To varying degrees, it happens to all of us.
Until we open our own Pandora’s box, we’ll go on living in our past every day, and remain unable to feel the unconditional love that people — and nature itself — offer us.
I love you. A big hug!
Brandon - February 2025
(9) A School Grade Does Not Define Your True Worth
If you receive an average grade, you don’t become any less attractive; if you achieve the highest grade, you don’t magically become more beautiful or important. The truth is that no one will remember your grades— not even you. Strangers couldn’t care less, while those who genuinely care about you focus on who you are as a person, not on your academic performance.
Those who truly see you appreciate you for who you are, enjoy your company, and exchange energy with you. On the other hand, anyone who makes a big deal about your grades (parents, relatives, friends…) isn’t really seeing you deeply—and often isn’t even able to recognize their own worth. They’re clinging to a “social ladder” mindset to which they themselves have submitted.
Also remember that a teacher is a person just like you: they have a private life, insecurities, happy moments, and difficult times. Whether we like it or not, a person’s mood influences everything they do, including how they evaluate others. If a teacher is in a bad mood—maybe they had a fight at home, were robbed, or received sad news—they could, without meaning to, project some of their tension onto you, reacting sharply to a small mistake or your shyness. Conversely, if they’re in a peaceful period or something nice has just happened to them, they might encourage you even if they see you’re nervous. (Of course, these are just a few examples and don’t encompass every possible situation.)
In any case, the final outcome of an evaluation can change, and that’s perfectly normal: we are human beings, and what happens in our lives affects us. The alternative would be to entrust everything to artificial intelligence, but we will have to discuss its ethical implications in the future.
So, should we stop studying altogether?
Of course not. We should still do our best: increasing our knowledge is important because it opens up more opportunities and helps us defend ourselves in various areas of life. However, remember that grades—whether they’re high or low—don’t directly measure your worth as a person; they only reflect a single performance in a specific moment. And very often, a test can be retaken with better results.
If one day you become a teacher or someone influential, this won’t turn you into a “demigod.” You’ll remain yourself: a human being among many others. If the opposite happens, it means you haven’t found your true value, and so you feel forced to seek it through external validation and titles.
Brandon - February 2025
(10) The false ego: the “self” that suffocates your true being and harms those around you
The false ego is a “false self,” an “other self” (from the Latin alter ego) that operates within us, possessing a personality and characteristics utterly different from our true nature. We all have it to varying degrees, and we don’t develop it out of malice but rather for self-preservation: it’s an attempt to be accepted by our parents and, by extension, by society.
However, this artificial front smothers our true self, intimidating it more and more until it eventually subdues it (if we could see it, it would be quite a violent sight). Deep down, we feel worse and worse, while the moments of emptiness and silence grow longer because we lose our sensitivity… We end up perceiving only our artificial identity—cold as metal, fragile as glass, but seemingly as solid as steel. The more empty and sidelined we feel, the more we try to display the opposite, both to others and to ourselves, adopting arrogant or vain attitudes and drawing on our “social standing” to feel special and look down on others.
It’s a widespread phenomenon because, to some degree, we’ve all felt the need to please our parents, and our parents themselves weren’t entirely exempt from this dynamic. We shouldn’t condemn ourselves for developing a false ego, because it doesn’t mean we’re bad—just that we’re trying to suffer less. We don’t deserve judgment, but rather understanding and help. If we feel the need to judge ourselves or others, let’s stop and ask, “What am I missing here?” and start anew. Judging is quick and easy, but it restricts us and makes us accusatory; understanding, instead, opens the doors to awareness and makes us stronger than before.
How to dismantle the false ego?
It takes courage and willpower to revisit our childhood, analyze our parents’ behavior, and understand how often and why it caused us pain. By doing so, we stop seeing parents as “untouchable” or “semi-divine” and begin to view them for what they truly are: people on the same level as ourselves. From this vantage point, the rest of the “temple” collapses too: teachers, employers, doctors, friends, office workers… we realize that each one is simply our equal. Recognizing our true worth makes us feel more grounded and balanced, and we can show ourselves to ourselves and others more naturally and spontaneously. We become more sensitive, more human, freer, and stronger, because truth is unshakable.
We have a duty to take care of ourselves, both for our own dignity and so as not to inflict our suffering on others. This applies to everyone since we all have a job or role involving interpersonal relationships. It’s valid for anyone, anywhere in the world. Let’s be attentive and learn to love ourselves: only in this way can we also love others.
Brandon - February 2025
(11) The quality of a professional: A reflection of our inner selves
The reason it’s often difficult to find truly competent professionals and practitioners in any field does not depend so much on the number of years they have studied, but on how hard it is to come across people who have preserved their own soul. This applies to everyone: from custodians and office workers to consultants, teachers, and doctors of all ranks and degrees. After all, they are ordinary people — just like you and me — offering a service whose quality primarily depends on three factors:
The inner awareness they have cultivated (love, depth, and honesty with themselves)
Practical experience
The quantity and quality of their studies
Therefore, the quality of the help we receive is directly proportional to the overall quality of the person providing it.
It is normal that even professionals might make mistakes in good faith, and this does not diminish their value. However, only those who are truly enlightened have the strength to acknowledge their own errors and work to correct them. Others, on the other hand, remain trapped in their false ego — a mask constructed by the mind to shield itself from a sense of self-devaluation inherited from childhood. Thus, in a desperate attempt to feel like “someone,” they seek validation through titles and socially accepted accolades, often deluding themselves into believing they are above others — even when they deny it.
Some examples?
An office worker’s irritability toward a non-Italian person who struggles to understand him, creating discomfort for both and fear in the foreigner.
A teacher’s haughty or mean-spirited attitude toward their students, generating a tense, uncomfortable, and oppressive atmosphere — anything but stimulating.
A doctor’s inhumane approach in the face of a rare, chronic, or hard-to-diagnose condition, manipulating the situation by downplaying or “normalizing” the patient’s symptoms, sowing doubt about the seriousness or even the very existence of their distress — behaviors known as “gaslighting” and “normalizing,” two forms of psychological violence that can be dangerous and are often underestimated.
Unfortunately, such episodes are common… But thankfully, there are also professionals we can trust — capable and enlightened people who go about their work with dedication, authenticity, and freedom.
When confronted with certain behaviors, stay calm and hold your ground. Remember that these people try to appear strong to mask their inner fragility. They are trapped in an artificial identity in which they have placed their personal worth — an ephemeral value that they can no longer do without, because they fear facing a void that has never been filled; they live every day like tightrope walkers on a wire… They need help.
Understanding their situation does not mean justifying their behavior or the pain they cause, but it allows you to recognize that the real issue lies within them, not you. These individuals lack the clarity necessary to empathize with others—they cannot even see themselves.
The root cause of so much suffering in the world is precisely the lack of natural affection — an actual pandemic that afflicts humankind and takes over the hearts of those who do not take a stand within themselves.
Although it is not simple, we should all learn to love our inner child, to improve our own condition and pass on this love to others. It is important for everyone and absolutely indispensable for teachers (guardians of future minds) and doctors (guardians of today’s and tomorrow’s health) — categories that often bear a greater responsibility than most.
We must strive, each in our own small way, to make a difference, because human beings are also capable of extraordinary deeds. Yet these are reserved for those who develop awareness — awareness being the precursor of love, that essential flame no living being can live without if they want to see life in full color. By learning to love ourselves and sharing this love with others, we can hope for a better life for ourselves and those around us. Life is short; we need to try to live it as best we can.
And you, what kind of professional will you be one day? It all depends on how much freedom you give to the light coming from your soul.
Brandon - February 2025
(12) Repressed Desires
Repressing the desire to experience something that would harm neither ourselves nor anyone else means depriving ourselves of precious awareness and stifling a part of our being along with its vital energy. This triggers a subtle, constant sense of unease, difficult to pinpoint, which can literally poison our days and compromise our overall health. We become fully aware of this when, suddenly, we get the opportunity to fulfill that desire—sometimes in front of others (often completely unaware), other times in the depths of our innermost self—and we notice that certain troubles afflicting us diminish or disappear entirely. In that moment, we feel alive, free like any other animal.
But why should we suppress one of our desires?
Well... the conditioned mind—developed during childhood and adolescence—leads us to constantly judge and categorize every action as “right” or “wrong,” then further subdivide it according to externally imposed criteria that have little or nothing personal about them. Consequently, we sense a marked distance between ourselves and “new,” “unusual,” or “socially taboo” actions, which we often label as “wrong” or “negative.” This causes a high number of perceptual errors, prompting a certain mental resistance to those actions—a resistance that often proves contradictory because it goes against the desire of our pure instinct.
If you are sensitive to others’ judgment, it’s because you felt judged by your parents, directly or indirectly. This gave rise to an inner judge—a merciless false master—that constantly makes you feel inadequate and flawed, guilty of not being a “top” person according to their standards (i.e., your parents’).
If you look back on your past with a strong desire to rediscover your true self, you will start to notice the conditioning your parents instilled in you, whether in absolute good faith or through a scarcity of love. You will become aware of their errors in judging you (and themselves). Once you recognize this, all other forms of authority—teachers, employers, and so on—will gradually lose their grip, because you will have rediscovered your uncontaminated identity, which, being genuine, is unshakeable.
Pause for a moment on those thoughts that keep you from acting and ask yourself, “Does this voice truly belong to me, or does it come from someone else?”
Brandon - February 2025
(13) THE "HUMAN" ANIMAL
Humans often perceive themselves as superior to animals. However, this sense of superiority arises from cognitive bias—a conditioned mindset distorting reality and causing us to ignore that all forms of life share fundamental biological functions and an evolutionary origin on this planet. Humans themselves are animals; together with other animals and plants, they constitute just one of the numerous living species inhabiting the Earth, each with its unique characteristics.
Some examples? Dogs possess "quantum-level" sense of smell, cats have exceptionally acute hearing, geckos can effortlessly cling to smooth—even vertical—surfaces, ants communicate through chemical substances. There are even insects and amphibians capable of bioluminescence, animals able to undergo transdifferentiation (rejuvenation), and species that practice sequential hermaphroditism (changing gender according to the group’s needs). Plants too are extraordinary, and describing even just a fraction of all living beings would require entire volumes. Each species has unique abilities suited to its environment, and there is no objective criterion to determine who is “the best.”
The animal called “human” has developed complex language and versatile intelligence that allows it to carry out sophisticated tasks, but this certainly does not render it “superior.” Conversely, we could say humans are the only species that has lost much of its spontaneity, giving rise to a secondary "self" that leads them to judge themselves and others according to social criteria.
Measuring intelligence solely on the basis of human language or reasoning abilities neglects biodiversity. Humans are not a chosen entity, but simply animals with sophisticated cognitive abilities that, if improperly trained (consciously or unconsciously), result in a life filled with difficulties and turn them into their own—and others’—worst enemy.
The moment humans mentally separated themselves from nature, they signed their own sentence to unhappiness and illness. As part of nature, we need to live harmoniously with it, respecting and feeling ourselves as one with it, exchanging energies and awareness in a healthy manner, because we can learn from every being on Earth. Each of them has an identity and self-awareness often surpassing our own, along with abilities different from ours. They too possess a soul; they are indeed "animated," alive, just as we are. There is also the “spirit of the species,” an entity representing each species (also existing for trees, rivers, etc.).
We need to engage in exchanges with Mother Nature and our animal brothers and sisters. We can share energy, consciousness, and emotions, benefiting both ourselves and them. We should not consider them inferior, because apart from being an erroneous and utterly disrespectful belief, it also justifies our indifference when causing them harm.
Brandon, April 2025
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