MAITE LÓPEZ
Resources
Maite Lopez, PhD, MPhil, MSc, ACC-ICF, OOM Certified Women’s Coach.
This section is to share resources shaping and supporting my coaching journey: courses, books, podcasts… While I gather them, let me begin with the “soul resources” of a coach working in our global world.
Poems inspiring me
Poem of the Future Citizen – José Craveirinha
I begin with this poem by the Mozambican poet José Craveirinha. I adore the way he speaks of a citizen who comes from a world that doesn’t yet exist. And you may think: if it doesn’t exist—how can one come from there? That contradiction, for me, is such a beautiful way of acknowledging co-realities—not in a Matrix kind of way, but rather as a sense of belonging to something that hasn’t yet become the norm, yet lives inside so many of us.
Craveirinha was likely referring to Mozambique under colonial rule. It is a similar sense I have of belonging to one united world, one without borders or North-South labels, where we are just one—on est ensemble. And where there exists a form of global governance capable of managing us all, ensuring equal rights for everyone, regardless of … those artificial excuses. The United Nations is the closest we’ve come to that: imperfect as it is, and still a baby —the UN is less than 100 years old—it is the nearest attempt we’ve made at building a society based on justice for all its citizens.
A global society that may not yet exist, but that´s where I, personally, come from.
Poema do futuro cidadão
Vim de qualquer parte
De uma Nação que não existe.
Vim e estou aqui!
Não nasci apenas eu
Nem tu nem nenhum outro…
Mas Irmão
Mas
Tenho amor para dar as mãos-cheias.
Amor do que sou
E nada mais.
E
Tenho no coração
Gritos que não são meus somente
Porque venho de um Pais que ainda não existe.
Ah! Tenho meu Amor a todos para dar
Do que sou.
Eu!
Homem qualquer
Cidadão de uma Nação que ainda não existe.
Jose Craverinha, Xigubo, 1980
Poem of the Future Citizen
I came from anywhere
From a Nation that doesn´t yet exist.
I came and I´m here!
I wasn´t born just I
Nor you nor any other…
But a Brother.
But
I have an armful of love to give.
Love of which I´m made
And nothing more.
And
I have in my heart
Shouts that aren´t mine alone
Because I come from a Country that doesn´t yet exist.
Oh!I have my Love for all to give
Of which I´m made
I!
Ordinary Man
Citizen of a Nation that doesn´t yet exist.
Jose Craverinha, Xigubo, 1980
Mornings at blackwater- Mary Oliver
The second poem is by Mary Oliver—not one of her most famous, but it beautifully conveys the message/mindset shared by many coaches: that warm and respectful invitation to leave the past behind, take ownership of our days, and go all in, Darling Global Citizens.
Mornings at blackwater
For years, every morning, I drank
From Blackwater Pond.
It was flavourd with oalk laes and also, no doubt,
The feet of ducks.
And always it assuaged me
From the dry blowl of the very far past.
What I want to say is
That the past is the past,
And the present is what your life is,
And you are capable
Of choosing what that will be,
Darling citizen.
So come to the pond,
Or the river of your imagination,
Or the harbor of yoru longing,
And put your lips to the world.
And life
Your life.
Mary Oliver, Red Bird, 2008
(from Devotions- The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, 2017)
Mañanas en Blackwater
Durante años, cada mañana, bebí
del estanque de Blackwater.
Tenía el sabor de hojas de roble y, sin duda,
también de las patas de los patos.
Y siempre me calmaba
de la sequedad del pasado más lejano.
Lo que quiero decir es
que el pasado es el pasado,
y tu vida tiene lugar en el presente,
y tú eres capaz
de elegir lo que será,
querido ciudadano.
Así que ven al estanque,
o al río de tu imaginación,
o al puerto de tus anhelos,
y pon tus labios al mundo.
Y vive
tu vida.
Mary Oliver, Red Bird, 2008
(de Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, 2017)
Adaptado de una traducción de Chat GPT
And as for books, courses, podcasts, and other poems—there’s still plenty of 2025 ahead of us. For now, I hope these small treasures inspire you as much as they’ve inspired me. See you soon.
Self-Care as a Radical Act
Let me close by sharing this message: self-care is a radical act.
I took this photo at Circa Theatre in Wellington on 21 September 2018. It was part of the stage design for the play Modern Girls in Bed, which drew a parallel between the suffragist feminists around 1893 in New Zealand—the first country in the world to grant women the vote !!! —and today’s feminists.
The message: these days, staying in bed for one day, doing nothing, can be a radical act. Taking the time to pause and care for ourselves—above all the obligations—can be the beginning of a silent revolution.