Hi, I'm Matteo - and like the title says, I'm a joker, a globetrotter, a meditator, and I've been lost on Steemit for the past three days trying to figure out what it's all about.
it's fair to say I'm a globetrotter because I have so far travelled to about 40 countries, worked in 25, and lived in 10 different cities in 5 different nations. I'm definitely a jester, a joker of sorts because I love laughing more than working (don't you) and - in all honesty I prefer being with friends more than co-workers (don't we all?); I guess I like being un-serious rather than serious because (I really think) we all have a very serious responsibility to be happy. Aside from working, I practice Transcendental Meditation twice a day, and “Asian” sports when I can (Judo, Karate, and yoga) I enjoy hanging out with friends in Milan, my birth city. Here's a snap at my recent birthday toast at a terrace bar overlooking the main square of Milan (in the pic above, behind me, you can see the Duomo of Milan, our 700 year old cathedral.
Since my father is from Milan but my mother is from Palo Alto, California, I have grown up in an international environment, full of contradictions. Took some time to figure for me out what I was, but one thing I figured out, eventually, was that I need to be with international friends. Things aren't as fun when people of only one nationality are in the same room - in fact, sometimes it gets really boring – I'm sure i'm a bore too. Inversely, conversation starts to sizzle when the action gets multicultural (a glass of wine helps, of course) and when the differences expressed by everyone get harmonized through good socializing. Milan is reasonably international and since 2011 I belong to an international social circle, meeting people from all over – from Angola to Lithuania to China and just about anything inbetween. While i like all kinds of cultures, I am not big on making a global stew out of diverse cultures. I think safeguarding your culture should be important, and that is a big problem right now in Europe. Here are some pics of nice international crowd events in Milan:
one where I got to wear my favorite designer glasses:
Social life aside, as I was writing before, I am big in practising Transcendental Meditation - been doing it for 28 years. Life gets boring when lived at a sensorial level only (at least, for me it does) so while I enjoy the myriad facets of surface life, I also love diving in, folding within the deep silence and bliss of my Self. It might seem difficult to belive but meditation can literally give physical bliss, a long and durable experience of subtle spiritual pleasure which is felt even in the body, eventually – aside from giving many deep cognitions at times.
In 2015 I was four months in India. I worked, and meditated a lot as well there. Here is a pic of me spacing at a myriad of people, and all kinds of colorful, strange things in a street market:
Here is me always in India (l love cows everywhere), trying to look serious in a suit
Here i am teaching my Indian friends how to make spaghetti, and how to twirl it properly before putting it in your mouth. Was their first time eating pasta so that was cool
I am a political atheist and a concerned contrarian - I don't trust the current global mainstream dictatorship, more and more running the world. I am big on gold, Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, organic food and staying as mentally and spiritually “unchained” as possible.
I make a living working in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, and lately i also like to write articles based on various societal issues, mostly concerning Europe and Italy ("write about what you know", i read once); I have already posted one of them, entitled “Italy' multicultural beggars, overtaxed locals, and the great digital currency hope”. It got five likes but – hey, you got to start from somewhere!
Sincerely - and very un-seriously yours,
Matteo