A lovely conversation with writer and palliative care specialist Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes
Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes is a Brazilian doctor specialized in geriatrics and palliative care. But she is not just a doctor, she is a...
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In order to navigate in our lives, we need a compass for our inner world - where we process thoughts and feelings - and the outer world - where we participate with others. In order to live a meaningful life, it is crucial to get to know our depths, tell our stories, share our visions and engaje in meaningful interactions with a conscious mind and an open heart.
By nurturing our own humanity we accept the humanity of others. We are able to identify the need for change in many different aspects of our society and meaningful change stems from our minds+hearts+souls.
What moves you?
How do you relate to people?
How do you live meaningfully?
Who will you become? . . .
Questions I invite you to explore
Here I am! Allow me to introduce myself.
I'm a woman, daughter, sister, friend, wife,
mother, psychologist, psychotherapist and
immigrant.
I am a curious person, sometimes bringing too many questions to the conversation.
I understand that we create our world based on our life events and how our minds and our consciousness can process these experiences. And unless we are in touch with our inner world; our emotions, feelings and thoughts in a gentle and respectful way, we cannot make the transformations we desire. It is this connection within us that sets the direction for our vital compass and reorientes us in a path of meaning, being and becoming.
It inspires me to listen to people telling their stories, sharing their lives and it provokes me to form questions about awareness, freedom, culture, health, love and so on encouraging new connections amongst distinct themes, so we can allow ourselves to explore different realities.
The idea of it developed slowly, in 2017, after having lived in London for two years.
To know more, check out the post "From Vital Compass the workshop to Vital Kompass the website and podcast", in the Explore page.
If you want to have a free 15 minute conversation over the phone, book a session or an activity, just click on the link below.
Photo by Theo Prade
Photo by Theo Ferraz Prade
Vital Kompass is a project that I have been developing for the last few years. It promotes therapeutic interventions in different contexts, focusing on offering tools to promote well being, mental health and social healing, both in individual therapeutic sessions and in group experiences.
It invites you to explore your mind, heart and soul in an open gentle manner, thinking creatively, sharing experiences, questioning together. It encourages compassion, joy and quests for meaning.
"Vital compass is an inner force that helps us connect meaningfully with our own journey in life, our experiences, aspirations and inspirations."
I first heard the term "vital compass" from Tatiana Grinfeld, an amazing and brave human being. At the time, she was being treated for GvHD (Graft-versus-Host disease) after enduring many years of treatment for leukaemia. She said that she had long wanted her life to return to the way it was before the disease. It took her some time to process all she was experiencing to finally understand and connect to her own "vital compass", to be able to move forwards cherishing her past but wanting to live her present in the best possible way. She was an astonishing inspiration for her family and friends.
"Vital Kompass encourages questioning, creative thinking, compassion and joy."
The project has been transformed and reshaped to a website-blog and podcast experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. It stems from an urge to voice myself and to hear others.
You can find the writings in the Explore page, and if you enjoy listening, you will find the Podcasts below .
Photo by Priscila Prade
Awareness Experience
Sharing Ethics
During the coronavirus pandemic I keep thinking about ways to continue the original Vital Kompass project (face-to-face workshops). It is taking me sometime to understand that, if I am feeling that there is an urgency for change at so many levels, I also have to be willing to change my projects. I felt resistance within me; worried if I was going to be good enough to present the topics, my views, talk to different people about challenging themes in an open considerate way. As a therapist, I was concerned about what I should say regarding my own life; would it be ok to expose myself in this way?
So many questions and some (maybe more than some) insecurities...
In spite of all that, or perhaps because of it, I feel it is time to put myself out there and make my small contribution in gearing the world towards a more humane and ethical way of being.
Check out the Podcast and let me know your
thoughts and feelings about it.
Cris Ferraz Prade
Links
Here are some people, projects and NGOs that I worked with, work with or simply invite you to take a look
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