Get to know Mariposas

I’m Pao, founder of Mariposas, and I’m here to share how I came to realize that by replicating traditional education patterns, I was nurturing unhappy and empty souls. I’d also like to tell you how, by embarking on a journey of self-reflection and personal discovery, and discovering tools based on spiritual wisdom and science, I became the guide and companion my daughters needed to unlock their full potential and live a truly happy life.

It all started around my thirties. I had checked off many of the boxes I had dreamt of. I had Loren, a partner who had achieved many of his dreams and a father who never missed a night reading with his girls. Two daughters with whom I lived in the house of my dreams. My résumé had the stamp of one of the top universities in the world, and I had a job that challenged me intellectually, assured me a monthly paycheck, and a couple of vacations a year. I had made some investments and saved for my retirement. My future was secured.

My daughters had a room straight out of a magazine and toys I never imagined existed. Paz, my eldest daughter, was attending the school of my dreams, and Paulina was being taken care of by an angelic woman while I worked. While we didn’t have our family nearby, we had an army of unconditional friends with whom life is a party.

Everything was going well; I swear I was happy.

Until one day, Loren and I, rushing to get to the office on time, sit Paz at the table while she is literally asleep. While I push spoonfuls of food into her mouth, Loren puts on her snow boots and coat. Minutes later, I shout from the car, as I do every morning: “Don’t forget to bury your head in the sand.” Unlike other days, she doesn’t respond. Her silence, her lost gaze, and glassy eyes replaced the daily laughter, and forever interrupted the state of bliss I believed I lived in.

I find myself arguing with Loren in the car. I cancel a lunch. I turn off my phone. I walk among gray streets and downtrodden zombies trapped in a parallel reality. The movie of my life unfolds before my eyes. I witness moments of self-doubt and hear the echoes of external voices that have shaped my decisions. I observe the societal values of speed, efficiency, competition and obedience. I regret the times I resorted to short-term strategies that often leave behind deep wounds which are difficult to heal. I clearly hear the external voices that managed to make me doubt myself. I understand how external abundance covered up the wounds, still unhealed, that Loren and I wanted to escape from.

I recognize myself in the person who becomes a slave to economic stability and status; in the one who endures long workdays without passion for her work. I acknowledge in myself the tendency to hold a partner responsible for one’s own happiness and doesn’t know how to love herself. I see myself in the person who prioritizes what society values and gets pulled away from what nourishes. I detect in myself the arrogance to believe that one becomes a mother to raise “successful” children and ignores that they are the teachers who come to challenge and teach us everything. I feel the fear of scarcity that unconsciously has been instilled in us since childhood and turns us into vultures and jackals who lack the skills to build together.

I lost sight of the horizon; I had no idea what it meant to be truly happy and, therefore, it was impossible for me to impart that wisdom to my daughters. 

Now, I stand at a crossroads. Do I keep living on autopilot? Or do I challenge entrenched beliefs and patterns, learn the art of happiness, and give my daughters the tools they need to become genuinely happy and awake souls?

Of course, I choose the path less traveled. I choose awareness; I choose to AWAKEN.

I start therapy. I invest hours in books I never thought of reading before. I immerse myself in the art of happiness. I rise with the birds to meditate and exercise. I embrace uncertainty, cease my fight with reality, and, for the first time, feel genuine compassion for others. I reconnect with spirituality, which I had previously set aside after confusing it with religion. I write, read, dance, paint, sing, come alive again. My mind stops wandering between past and future. I strive to be as present as I can be, and so, little by little, all moments become sacred.

But life presents another challenge.

We move to an island in the middle of the Caribbean. The educational options are limited, so we enroll Paz and Paulina in the school recommended by the majority. They are greeted with colorful classrooms, building blocks, aligned desks, and giant screens on which they watch television while having lunch. The coordinator has reasons to walk with her head held high. The innovation lab, art, music, and dance studios, the Olympic pool, and the library are all on par with those of an Ivy League university.

Something feels off.

Paz confirms I failed my intuition once again. One day, she cries inconsolably and says: “Mom, you told us that playing was learning, and I don’t play; I don’t rest. I’m afraid they’ll send me to the principal’s office and hear my sister crying in the classroom next door.” My heart sinks. Not only did I ignore my intuition, more importantly, I failed my daughters.

Unknowingly, I was guiding my precious daughters, my greatest treasure, into the rat race from which I was trying to escape. But they, my Mariposas, my teachers, reject the packed, “advanced,” and accelerated agenda. They turn down standardized tests and grades that supposedly define their intelligence. They refuse numb legs after spending six hours at a desk and the scant half-hour of fresh air they get during their school day.

I embark on an even deeper journey than the previous one. I see the gift hidden behind this pain with extreme clarity. I observe, heal, and transform myself. I make decisions and take actions which are much more conscious and aligned with my essence. Now, my beliefs, behaviors, and opinions belong to me. My inner and outer life start to synchronize. I change; everything changes. For the first time in my life, I experience genuine happiness and peace, which allows me to give my Mariposas the possibility to experience it too.

After living more than thirty years in a state of slumber and being on the brink of raising my daughters as just another mold, I undergo a radical transformation, and Paloma, my younger daughter, is fortunate enough to be born into a different home.

I, finally, become the mother who becomes aware of her inherited conditioning and makes the radical decision to transform it. The one who refuses to see herself as a victim of society, family, and history, and decides to take responsibility. I let go of my limiting beliefs, harmful patterns, and the compass that once guided my life. I become the mother who can finally see herself and refuses to live someone else’s path. I break free from the cycles and dare to challenge traditional ways of educating. I am finally so deeply connected to my being and so at peace that I can transmit it to others. I am the mother who can channel her energy into teaching the art of genuine happiness instead of multiplication tables.

My story brings me to you and all the mothers who have fallen prey to the trap of the modern society and have decided to AWAKEN, and gather. My greatest aspiration is that my letters, stories, and practical tools grounded on both science and wisdom inspire you to lead a life of tranquility and to cultivate truly happy souls.

Welcome to Mariposas!