How to bring lightness into our lives

We are surrounded, sometimes besieged, by heavy people. People who puff themselves up, celebrate themselves, and by doing so become boring. Unbearably boring and heavy. Whereas instead we all need lightness, healthy lightness. Also because, as written in a best seller published in Sweden (The Scandinavian Guide to Living 10 Years Longer), lightness probably contributes to lengthening life and certainly improves it. In every sense, from every angle and edge, in the moments in which the world seems to be turning in the right direction and everything fits, and when instead we are gripped by a natural sense of defeat, abandonment and solitude.

There are many texts that talk about this fundamental way of life, but the unsurpassable one remains the little book written by Italo Calvino on the occasion of the five lectures he was scheduled to give at Harvard with his six proposals for the new millennium. It was 1985, still 15 years before the new century, the current one, and Calvino, who was unable to deliver the lectures due to his sudden death, with the visionary touch of the poet and fairytale writer, managed to capture in a few words the essence of lightness. That is, "gliding over things from above, without having burdens on the heart." It's all here.

Lightness, in fact, is a way of looking down on the harsh and demanding daily grind of life, from above, and not being overwhelmed by it, from below. Not with the eye of arrogance or haughtiness, but with a natural demeanor that allows us to see things in depth and at the same time distances them from the stress of the present. Just think for a moment about how many people around us always take themselves seriously, puff themselves up, represent themselves, praise themselves, quote themselves. They are heavy, devoid of the vital breath of lightness, which should instead be combined with self-irony, equally light and effective. A fantastic two-way game with existence, almost a tug of war, to never take themselves too seriously.

Calvino had understood well how the contemporary world was marching united and compact, in a mass blindness, towards the cloud of the I, I, I, where the We disappears completely. lightness, instead, brings us closer to others, helps us to feel part of a community, to weave the thread ofempathy and solidarity. It pushes us out of the ghetto of indifference and brings us into the free realm of the pleasure of feeling somehow, not virtually, connected, through relationships that are subtle, even light, but no less important. By allowing us to "not have millstones in our hearts," lightness, the opposite of superficiality (those who assimilate the two terms have understood nothing and must start from scratch), is a form of natural prevention against resentment, hatred, and the desire, even a ferocious one, to settle scores, sooner or later.

Lightness is and always remains the most solid ally of the optimism of the will, what is needed when life seems dark, when everything, even the chorus of clichés, seems to push us towards theabyss of pessimism, not always inspired by reason, but sometimes expressed simply by conformism. From what we listen to as background music and then repeat like parrots. Lightness is life, before being a lifestyle. And it is energy, precious as a talisman when the harshness of life does not give us any discounts, to be combined with some healthy and recurring laughter (of relief). If we then manage to lighten not only the head and the soul, but also the wardrobes which sometimes photograph our senseless heaviness, then it is likely that in the end we will be forced to agree with the author of the Swedish bestseller, Bertil Markulnd, a public health doctor: we live longer if we are lighter.

Lightness: famous quotes

• Leonardo Sciascia

Lightness is a form of expression of intelligence. And in this sense the two things coincide. Stupid people are rigid, obtuse, and have a huge difficulty changing their minds and to doubtThey can't see others, only their own navels. And they condemn themselves to heaviness.

• Paul Valéry

Observe the flight of a swallow, its gliding from above, and you'll understand this splendid and poetic definition of lightness. It has nothing to do with the fluttering of a feather, devoid of consistency, solidity. And, in the case of humans, personality.

• Michael Bay

How many people take themselves too seriously! They are full of their ego and their narcissism: for them, lightness is just a mirage.

Read also:

• Enjoy the Little Things: 10 Ways to Live Better and Be Happier
• "We need to rethink our lifestyles" (Zygmunt Bauman)
• The importance of apologizing. A keyword we've removed.
• How to stop complaining, it doesn't do any good. Much better to reflect and take action.