One Couch at a Time

 Douglas Lima dougsocial@gmail.com to alexandra Liss <alexandraliss@gmail.com>,
Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 2:07 PM

First of all I’d like to tell a little story about… me.

Sometimes life gives us the opportunity to find people in the most unusual ways, and although it seems to be a coincidence… it’s not.

Time is the best thing in our lives, to make us understand how many parts of ourselves we simply leave behind, and we keep living our lives, never looking up inside, trying hard to find what is the most important thing for us. For me… taking this time, stop and stare, means getting appart of all the things that really made me be who I am, to feel free to learn new things, evaluate my behavior and thoughts, and discover what’s up to come in the near future.

Life is a very interesting thing. And “to live” is also.

Having life, is like to perceive energy to spread your wings and feel the air between your feathers, while you go gliding, closing your eyes, feeling in connection between you and the universe, that you can’t see.

“To live” is about the way you use the power of the gravity while you’re coming down… And how you can go through the wind, longer and longer. Deep into your dream of seeing the world from a different spot.

The thing is… As the saying goes… “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.
Maybe the truth is right in front of your eyes, and you don’t want to see. Or you are simply denying yourself, the right to attend your own expectations.
I’m in this moment. It’s time to observe many mistakes I have done in life, look up to the future, and make different next time.

But, what I can feel, is that this “future” is already happening all the time. And that maybe I’m loosing a very special moment of my life trying to persist in the same.

One week ago, I had the fortune to know two persons, that maybe have changed my life, for better and they don’t know.

It’s easy to understand why, although they were not in tune with that. The energy, that I mentioned as “life” before, is the right word to describe Alexandra. All the passion and heart that she puts in everything she does, does not compare to anything I’ve ever seen in life. Seems to be one of the craziest glimpses of light in the desert, that makes you believe that althought you may be feeling alone, you may be not the only one, so try to find the way.

At the same time, David, the one who comes full of expectations, and ready to face all the fears, as nothing could arrest him of his long way to explore everything that touches deeply into his heart, is so open to share his peace and interest with you, that makes you feel secure and trustful to do what you have to do.

All these words are just a try, to thank them for giving me one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life through CouchSurfing. I don’t care if they will put any of the words I said in the documentary, or not. But I care of make sure that I’ll always hear about them. And that always when I get one step up, they’ll be part of it. Because the inspiring words they told me, as the stories I heard, the challenges they have given me, makes me wish to do the same. Makes me wish to follow my dreams, and to believe that I CAN, as I know they do.

Alex and David, thank you so much for everything in this short but amazing experience. Be sure that you passed through my life, in the most important moment of it, and that your presence gave it new colors. New inspirations, new desires, motivations, affections, and I’m now feeling encouraged to make it happen!

Something tells me that we’ll have much work to come, maybe together… Maybe in parallel ways. But connected, anyway.

I can’t wait to see you again.

—
Douglas Lima

Koblenz, Germany. 

Today’s theme is serendipity. 

The day started off with my host, Hans, cs aspiring filmmaker, family man, and maybe the most organized and helpful German alive— handing me these thick, black leather biker pants … He was taking me on a tour of Alken, Brodenbach, Macken, Burg Schoenburg… country side of West Germany. 

We were meeting up with fellow Csers, Marko and Lucie, who CouchSurfed with him a few short months ago in May. Interestingly enough, Hans, who is an aspiring filmmaker and shooting a short on CouchSurfing in India, found me through the promo video on youtube. Excited to meet another filmmaker whose work was quite impressive, I asked Hans if he would be interested in hosting me in July and assisting with the film by helping me meet with some local csers he thought may be of interest. 

So hans writes to Marko, to tell him about an American CS Filmmaker — and Marko responded “not Alexandra Liss by chance?” Turns out Marko donated to my kickstarter campaign for the film back in February!!  We had never met, but Marko was one of the supporters who made this film possible. A-mazing!

So…despite how ridiculous I felt in these biker pants which made a squishy sound everytime I waddled about, I forged through the embarrassment (but its better than being street pizza, eh)  and rode on the back of Hans’ Yamaha Virago 535 to Marko and his girlfriend, Lucie from Czech republic.

Marko was Lucie’s first CouchSurfer about a year ago — and they ended up falling love and giving their relationship a go in Germany. Now, I was apprehensive at first to interview them because as we can all recite in unison ” CouchSurfing is NOT a dating site.” But after 5 minutes of chatting with them, it was clear that they understand the ethos and spirit of CouchSurfing and as in life, sometimes love just happens. It was a marvelous interview. 

Hanging out today with Hans, Marko and Lucie, was like spending time with old friends. We cut through the surface very quickly, all in a bit of awe of our connectedness and intertwined history surrounding this film. 

Although I have my own skepticism when it comes to religion and destiny — I can not deny the serendipity that took place today and continually reveals itself. Although there is much uncertainty between who I will meet, where I will sleep, or how the shoots will go, this path seems to be guided by many happy people… and many happy accidents.

Bring it on!

Although I have only left March 30th - a little over 3 months ago, marking the half way point of this shoot, I feel like I have grown years. Time feels confusing lately, until dear friend and CouchSurfer, Claudia Sigala, helped put into perspective:

“THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION”

Life is a constant journey, which to me, translates to BE THE MOMENT. 

It is our cognizant ability as humans to foreshadow and reflect using measures like time - which is helpful towards fulfilling greater goals - however, enjoying the process - which is never ending,  to me, is the key to happiness and success.

In the spirit of drafts and processes, I uploaded a screenshot of the PROCESS my graphic designer and artist, Cece, goes through en route to the finished piece. Often we cringe at exposing our process — but I show this because every destination or finished project has its stages… It takes mistakes and wrong turns to expose the right ones.

So today I rejoice at todays journey — which the process has recently brought me to an epiphany about shifting focus on the purpose of this film. Shooting a documentary can be such a cathartic process that reminds me of sculpture that we slowly pick at, forming the shape every day. So, although, I am very much intrenched in that process, I rejoice at todays destination.

Southwest France hospitality is unparalleled to anything I have ever experienced! My host, Raphael Bosc, who I hosted for a week in my Upper West flat in New York last August returned the favor TEN FOLD! He brought my camerahand/producer, Chelsea and I , to his parents house in the deep country.

They cooked up duck, potatoes, with cherry pie — everything from the garden and home made. Although they spoke little English and my French is nothing to brag about, we had a wonderful exchange of laughter and delicious food!

YES!!!