Ana Teresa Silva

Journalist and I’M Magazine director.

If asked what I have done over the years, I would talk of my brief stint on radio, and of another in RTP (national television), of documentaries that I developed, of regular collaborations with the press, of columns I wrote, of the daily television series I worked on, of the creation of IM Magazine, of MSN Health & Living, of the theatrical plays I’ve worked on, of the books I’ve written…

If asked what I am, I would surely lose myself in endless pondering and deliberating, like I was in a maze, searching for the way out.  

In the last book I wrote, one of the characters says: “Let us inspire all lives that are erased during life, all minds that still slumber, inspire the arms that are strong but resign themselves, inspire the eyes that fail to see while seeing.” And there is something similar to this in what I have done professionally, on informative and inspirational projects that I have developed: in the background of these there has always lingered an absolute belief in human potential.

Nowadays I would add “Let’s bring out the courage that got stuck somewhere, let’s rediscover the lost dreams, let’s observe with the powerful rose-tinted lens of love and compassion, rediscover the power and strength of those who have forgotten the best of themselves.”  

One day I also wondered, like Barry Lopez: “How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself?” He speaks of accepting our own lives at the center of this paradoxical existence. Of understanding that there are no answers to some of the most pressing issues. He reinforces the possibility of making our lives a valuable expression towards brightness.

I think this thought also directed my journey. Just like the feeling that we need to become unstuck in order to move forward. One step at a time. It was buried at the center of my imperfections that I found myself. At the bottom of the pit of sadness that I realized I could fly. It was at my most vulnerable that I found love. It’s within those hidden scars that my most beautiful stories are discovered. Woven in-between the lines is where I’m most revealed.  

Somehow, all this led me to create IM Magazine. It is, like one of our interviewees said, the language of gifts.