Previously, my love of becoming a jazz or Bossanova singer occupied my mind. Chet Baker the embodiment of Cool Jazz probably unfolded my childhood love for singing letting a mark of blended emotions. 

In my late adolescence, I found out that many remarkable contributions to the soundtrack of Italian black and white movies I used to watch during my childhood were Chet Baker's collaboration with Piero Umiliani and Ennio Morricone. I can't say exactly how the transition between the love for singing and the love for writing took place, perhaps during my hospital stay after I fell into a glass door and was stabbed by a piece of glass that missed my lung by only a millimeter. 

 

My sister Germana or maybe dad, in the little box of memories I can't distinguish which of the two gave me this fascinating book on the events of a teenager’s diary capturing the reality of life under Nazi occupation. The following quote from The diary of a young girl riveted my attention from beginning to end. "If I'm engrossed in a book, I have to rearrange my thoughts before I can mingle with other people because otherwise, they might think I was strange.” Anne Frank.

I am a people person. Life, my friend, is the art of the encounter using the title of an album published in 1969 by Vinicius de Moraes, Giuseppe Ungaretti, and Sergio Endrigo. These are the nuances in which an underlying message of wisdom and love for life is expressed. I consider our existence like a treasure hunt where I find happiness using the simple, ordinary things of every day for delight; and play the game of either labor or recreation, irrespective of rewards. 

 

I always find mutual understanding with strangers, and I like making people feel at home in my presence. I tend to click instantly bonding in a nanosecond with whomever I come across. I love meeting new people and learning about their lives, and their backgrounds, enthralled as if listening to the enchanting customs of a far-off land.  Most of the time what matters is not why is being talked about, but being there and sharing the moment.

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I am sensitive to sounds and fragrances; for instance, I like to stare at the rain silently while sipping a foamy semi-hot cappuccino. Our existence is often referred to as a movie or about the zany adventures of human beings. A big chunk of my life is devoted to Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism, and all that remained were memories of this remarkable human being and of the play of consciousness that he represented. The purpose of religion is to enable human beings to become happy.

 

The goal of Buddhism practiced in the SGI (Soka Gakkai International) is to allow every single person to become happy without exception. We chant every day about our happiness and for our problems not only to resolve them but to create within ourselves an indestructible joy and acknowledgment of life. As Daisaku Ikeda says When we change our attitude, our actions change too. And when our actions change, everything around us changes. Every day when I join my hands and the place becomes pulsing with life in the ceremony of the air to achieve Kosen Rufu means to declare and spread widely the teachings of the Buddha, another meaning is also "world peace through individual happiness."