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The Power Of Vulnerability

The Power Of Vulnerability

My friend and meditation teacher Claudia, sent me the link to this video. What a beautiful story and so well presented by Brene Brown, I just love it. I also decided to write less and offer you more thought provoking videos to have more fun…………..

Do YOU like the idea?

Researcher and storyteller Brene Brown is telling a story about vulnerability and how it affects the quality of our lives, she has a great sense of humor too……. I hate to say it but most scientists are not so funny……… but more dry………ooops that was a judgement. I would like to use less judgment in my life, which is easier said than done, but I am aware of it, that's the first step. It's all a process 🙂

So what is vulnerability and how do we deal with it?

Most of us do not want to have anything to do with our own vulnerability or other people’s vulnerability, or better said we run the other way when we are confronted with it.……….

But the sad truth is, that the more we are denying our vulnerability the more we deny other qualities, like aliveness, creativity, joy and self-expression.

We all want to belong, to be loved and to be connected to others. We are trained to perform, to hide our feeling, to be strong to pretend we are perfect, to know it all, to never ask for help, sounds familiar?

So what do people do in order to not feel these feelings?

For example: eat, drink alcohol, take drugs, shop, work, rage, try to be perfect, complain, gamble, sex……….of course I'm talking about excessive behavior, yes all this numbs the stuff we don’t want, but also all the good feelings that make life worth living.

So what do we want?

To be loved
To be seen
To be heard
To be enough
To be accepted the way we are
To express our selves

Yes, it's that simple. If you can think of anything else let me know, I will stop now and let you enjoy the video 🙂

Are YOU ready to dive into a great new life? This might be start 🙂

What Do You Do When You Feel Like The Lights Are Out?

What Do You Do When You Feel Like The Lights Are Out?

Of course this is meant in a metaphorical sense 🙂 When I say lights I mean; creativity, happiness, aliveness, a good sense of self and motivation. It does not feel good, "when the lights are out", but unfortunately it happens. I just experienced an episode………….. Everything was fine, I got a lot of projects done, had good insights, was full of creative energy and then………

I found out that 2 wonderful people I knew, died unexpectedly,
One of my clients did not show up for her call
I got a bad score in a practicum

All these events threw me off track. I felt sad, unloved, stupid, unfairly judged and deserted, yes all the "yucky things"…. Normally I can take this as an adult and it would be ok, but this time it threw me back into being a 5 year old, feeling rejected and yelled at for something……………can YOU relate?

It took me 2 days to recover and it sucked all my creative energy out of my system. All I wanted to do was sleep, which I allowed myself to do and I did not force myself to do anything, I thought I needed to do.

For example tell myself that now I spent enough time feeling sorry for myself and it's time to get back to work……., no I just let it be. . After the 2 days I felt that my lights came back on and I was back to my adventurous self. So what was it?

Sometimes when we want to move ahead, make life experiments and try new things in life and businesses, "the play safe team" gets overwhelmed and wants to remind us to better play it safe. It creates challenges for us to say: don’t do this it’s not safe, this is too scary, I will not venture there, I rather stay where it's safe.

Because it’s the job of the "play safe team" to keep us safe, not happy, not thriving, but SAFE. The good thing is; that the more we practice self-awareness or mindfulness, the easier it will be for us to feel what’s going on. If we can be very compassionate and loving with this scared part of ourselves, it will cooperative, the more love it gets, the faster it will recover 🙂

What do YOU think, have YOU experienced something like this? What has helped YOU to get out?

How To Turn Work Time Into Fun Time

How To Turn Work Time Into Fun Time

Hello my friends, how are YOU doing? I hope life is treating you well, or if that's not the case that you find a way to make the best of it.

Some people wait for retirement to have fun…. no no no don't do that, make it fun now 🙂

I am self-employed and work out of my home office, which is great, but sometimes I like to be around people. It’s so important to have fun at work and find ways to create an environment that inspires the creative juices to flow.

In the spirit of play I took myself to my favorite bookstore, ordered a cup of Cappuccino, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the old cathedral, the tall trees and the people streaming by below. The cloud formations floating across the sky were like pieces of art……….

All this inspired me to write and I thought to myself: I am so lucky to be able to work like this. It was so easy to write, the words just kept flowing out of nowhere onto my paper.

Other times I go to the library to work on my laptop, which is another favorite place to have "fun at work." It’s a great place to take a break and look at books or magazines to get inspired in between.

Creativity and playtime need to be nurtured and it’s much more fun to work when creativity is flowing, so it’s important to come up with creative ways to do that. Sometimes we can’t draw it out of ourselves, but need to do little things to invite inspiration.

Meditation is a great way to get into the creative zone
Listen to your favorite music
Go for a walk in between to clear you head
Take regular breaks
Talk to some fun people

Some parts of work might not be fun……. period, but instead of complaining about it nonstop and giving it all this nasty, negative energy, try to make the best of it and change your perspective about it. YOU will see that it's a lot easier to just do it and then voila, it’s done. Now you just have to pat yourself on the back big time!

Mastermind groups of like minded, fun people are also a great way to have fun and get more ideas. We are communal beings and need the connectedness and exchange with others. This is a great way to practice connecting and exchanging………………Now I'm running out of ideas, the ball is in your court now 🙂

What helps YOU to have more fun at work? Please leave a comment to share your insight, we love to read it.

Oh, I almost forgot, check out my "Dive into a Great New Life Experience" it's my gift to you.

Two 45 minute coaching sessions, a fun assignment in between and a great follow up.

Just do it! It's never too late to have a great life 🙂

email me at maritasteffe@gmail.com to schedule your appointment

Dive Into A Great New Life

Dive Into A Great New Life

Hello my friends, yes I am talking to YOU! Are you ready to dive? Are you sick and tired of life the way it is and would like to explore something new?

So what happens to women over 40?

As long as the children are at home everything seems to be ok, but as soon as they leave, this nagging " what's next, or is this all there is," is knocking on the door.

Sometimes dramatic things happen, the marriage might not be working anymore, maybe death took a partner, maybe the career YOU had for a long time just isn't fulfilling enough, it’s too stressful, or maybe it's just this dream, that has been dangling out there and now it's time to pursue it……………………

What is it for YOU?

YOU might realize that life is short and even when YOU are successful and have all the material things, it might not satisfy YOUR heart’s desire. It's a time of searching and evaluating and it can be very confusing and crazy making. I know it was for me.

I remember going in spirals from the time I was 50, I tried several things, thought it was a good idea at the time but it really wasn’t.

Like a miracle, in the end every little piece of the puzzle brought me to where I am today. A huge part of finally getting there was to trust my intuition and learn to listen to the quiet hints and iintuitions I would get.

Well this might not apply to everybody, but I know it applies to lots of women. I have been talking to lots of them in Germany and the US, we talk at meetings, at events, on social media and so on.

If YOU are interested, I tell YOU a little bit about my time of searching and what I came up with: I had my first experience with life coaching when I was 50, I was fascinated but somehhow I forgot about it again and started doing other things. YOU know they were kind of practical, but not expressing my passion.

Somehow, when I was 57, I started taking classes at CoachVille to learn better communication skills, then I noticed oh, I love this life coaching thing and so I pursued a career as a professional life coach.

I realized that being immersed into deep, life changing conversations makes me come alive. It’s the most inspiring environment for me. Working with a coach has been a life changing experience in my life.

He helps me to focus on essentials, to value myself, keeps me on track, inspires me, believes in me and we also have a lot of fun designing a life and business game that works for me and my nature. I learned that I don't have to do it alone, what a freaking relief that was…………..:-)

Just in case YOU wonder why I’m telling YOU all this: it’s because when most people are left to their own devices it’s very hard to make changes. The bigger the game is, that we want to play in life, the more challenges appear, accompanied by fear and resistance.

If we think we have to do it all alone, most of us don’t do it…and yes, that's the end of the dream.

Don't let that happen!

A coach will help YOU to get out of YOUR own minds, help YOU to be aware of the possibilities, reminds YOU of YOUR potential, champion YOU through the challenges, believe in YOU when YOU don’t and helps to design actions that will get results.

PS: I just designed a new “Dive Into A Great New Life” experience, which will provide great value for YOU. It’s not one session but two and it’s my gift to you, wohooooooooo.

Let me give YOU an idea what we will do and to say the least I am very excited about offering it

Session one: Together we will determine what it is that “something” that you wanted to do for a long time?

Assignment in between session: I will give you instructions on how to make a powerful vision board.

Session two: We will discuss the vision board and look at YOUR environment to find out:

What needs to be eliminated,
What needs to be transformed
What needs to be added in order to support your success.

YOU will get a sheet which will help you with the needed upgrade to your environment.

This could be a powerful first step to dive into a great life and this experience is my gift to YOU, e mail me at maritasteffe@gmail.com to schedule YOUR time, YOU will need 2 times 30 minutes.

PS: I will be on a meditation retreat until 8/17, so you will not hear from me until the 18th.

There Is No Program That Will Do It For You

Are YOU like me and you tried many programs and seminars just to wonder why the hell nothing is working? The sad truth is that all the programs in the world will not help you achieve your life dreams, or whatever you expected from it. I am not saying that it is a waste of time, seminars and programs are still my favorite thing to do, but now I see it as kind of a vacation and a great place to get inspired and meet likeminded folks.

When I started to be interested in human potential and spirituality, I wanted to believe that if I just take one more program, I would get it, but I did not. For many years I went from one seminar to the next success seminar and expected that one day I would get the answer to my problems and my dream life would just appear in front me and I would live happily ever after. Well, unfortunately it did not work, can you relate?

Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, met wonderful people and learned a lot of great material, but the big change did not happen this way.

So what can be done? I experienced that I need to do the work of exploring myself, recognizing the patterns that served me as a child, but not as an adult and practice new behavior. Success and transformation are an accumulation of things and if we are left to our own devices, most of us will miserably fail.

Continue reading “There Is No Program That Will Do It For You”

The Law Of Attraction And Vision Boards

The Law Of Attraction And Vision Boards

As a life coach it is important for me to offer tools that work. Vision boards are one of them; they are fun, creative and highly effective. The key is: YOU have to believe that the process works, if YOU doubt it, the process will not work.

I quickly want to tell YOU about my last magical experiences with vision boards: last year I created one with lots of photographs of houses I took in my hometown in Germany. Guess where I live now, in exactly this town, in the center of the city close to everything. It started with a tiny idea to make this move, nothing more…………….. Please trust the magic and make one, do it for YOU.

The law of attraction states that we attract into our lives anything that we give attention to, regardless of whether it's positive or negative. Now this is important: If you constantly think about negative things, guess what! YOU will attract the same energy into your life, YOU will be a crap magnet! It’s a quantum physics law, it states that we attract anything into our lives that we give attention to.
If YOU focus on negative thoughts YOU attract things that are negative, if YOU focus on positive YOU will attract positive events, people and things.

A vision board is a tool, to use to focus on positeve and inspiring images and words. YOU do not have to paint the pictures in YOUR mind, YOU just look at them, it’s the easy way to visualize YOUR life dreams. So start now and create YOUR life YOUR way and achieve YOUR life dreams.

How to make and use a vision board
YOUR personal vision board is limited only to YOUR own creativity and imagination. Some people have produced simple vision boards and others have made vision boards that could sell at art show for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. But let me tell YOU: artistic ability is not a prerequisite for creating a functional vision board. Anybody can do it and anybody will have a blast creating it, it’s so simple and creative, make it playtime

YOUR subconscious mind works in pictures and images, so make YOUR vision board as visual as possible with as many images as you can. Add inspirational and motivational words towards the end, they can be written onto the images, or YOU can type and print the words, cut them out and glue them onto the board.

Each picture on YOUR vision board should evoke a positive emotional response from YOU. The sight of YOUR vision board should make YOU smile and fuel YOUR passion to achieve your dreams every time YOU look at it. Be inspired by the images and feel them!

Place YOUR vision board in a prominent location where YOU have a chance to see it as much as possible. YOU need to constantly expose YOUR subconscious mind to this feel good energy. The more YOU look at your vision board, the more YOU feel it, the faster YOUR dreams will manifest. YOU do not have to know all the steps to get there. YOUR subconscious mind will do it for YOU.

Negative feelings like self-doubt and criticism can damage the delicate energy that YOU generate with YOUR vision board. If YOU notice these feelings YOU must do something to neutralize them.
Practice affirmations, they are very helpful to override negative thoughts and neutralize negative emotions. But it does not mean that YOU do nothing. YOU must listen to your intuition and YOU must go out and meet people.

Now let's get started and create YOUR life YOUR way. The more YOU manifest, the happier YOUR lives are, the better this planet will be. There is no prerequisite for creating a functional vision board and the procedures I’ve outlined below can be used by anyone. Let me know what happens and leave a comment, I love YOU all 🙂

Simple Tips To Find What You Love To Do – Part 2

Simple Tips To Find What You Love To Do – Part 2

Hello again my friends, today we will explore a few more tips on how to find the things you love to do. Below are a few questions that I would like you to ask yourself. Yes it may be strange to ask yourself, but it's more like asking the question to the universe, you’re higher self or whatever you want it to be.

We have all the answers inside of us and yes even if you do not believe this you have them too. The trick is to get quiet enough to listen. The stronger your personality is; the harder it is to listen, so please, please, please do yourself a favor start to meditate and listen, it's the only way 🙂

• What are you passionate about?
• What is your biggest dream?
• Who do you want to become?
• What do you want to give?

I suggested 3 simple tips in the first part and today we will explore a few more. Please take the time and do the action steps, otherwise you can be sure that nothing will change. Small action steps repeatedly taken are required in order to create your dream life and please do remember: Everything we do that's new will feel uncomfortable.

7 years ago I did not have any idea what my passions are and if somebody asked me about my goals, it made me feel uncomfortable and I was avoiding the answer. It made me feel bad that I did not have any; actually I was afraid of goals, I was afraid of them because I knew that it would require commitment and commitment scared me, it was associated with: that's too hard.

Life felt stuck and I thought there must be something wrong with me, if I cannot answer these questions. The good thing is: today I am crystal clear about my passions and the goals I want to achieve and all I did was practice all the little simple exercises and practices, I am giving you right here.

The answers just appeared like magic out of nowhere, but I had to let it go when they come and how they come.

◾Get your local community college schedule and sign up for a class
◾Go to the museum, or a concert and get inspired
◾Take some time out and do something completely different
◾Get some inspiring books, for example the "Artist Way"
◾Find some interesting groups on Meet Up and join

Always, always, always keep the meditation going, even if it's only a few minutes. It will help you to get beyond your conscious mind, into the subconscious mind. You must make it part of your daily routine like food, drink or exercise, yes it's that important. Just let it happen whatever idea comes up: explore it.

The mind does not want to do new things and will come up with all kinds of reasons why not to do it. It's not the mind's job to make us happy; it just wants to keep us safe. This sounds self-defeating and yes it is. But the good news is that with some awareness and practice we can learn to move beyond the fear and do it anyway.
This is it for today, please leave a comment and if you have tips that I did not mention, please share it.

More instructions about:" how to make a vision board" when you watch the videos or click the links below

Vision Board Samples

Vision Board Meditation, created by Marita and lead by Marcela Manesis

How to help visualize and manifest your fitness and health goals with a vision board

David Lynch On Creativity And Meditation

David Lynch On Creativity And Meditation

Hello again; YOU are here that means YOU are interested in creativity and meditation, I am so happy you have found this 🙂 Getting in touch with creativity and letting go of the thought that being creative means YOU have to create incredible artwork can be life changing.

Just on a side note; if you practice to get in touch in your inner creativity the result might be great artwork. The difference is that you are not trying hard to do it, but YOU let it happen. Wow, it's the possibility of a new life how wonderful this that! Now….. if YOUR intellect tells YOU, ah, this is all bullshit, YOU have a choice to listen to it, or say: thanks for sharing but I would like to try this…………. I hope you enjoy the presentation as much as I do.

Filmmaker David Lynch is talking about the connection between creativity and transcendental meditation and how this simple practice can change YOUR life, if YOU let it!

You will hear how it changed his life, from a very angry man to a man enjoying his life, his creativity and spreading joy instead of egomania….., a quality filmmakers are famous for. This is such an inspiring video recorded life in Boston. I soaked up every word; everything he said rang a bell, ding dong 🙂

Question from audience: How do you think meditation helps the creative process?

Answer DL: Meditation creates more awareness, which is consciousness. Inside of us we have an ocean of consciousness, meditation will expand this ocean. Scientists call this ocean the unified field. Everything arises from this field, creativity, and bliss, universal love, intelligence. Side effects are; that negativity, anger and depression will start to recede.

Depression is a killer for creative people. With meditation you can grow solutions inspiration, innovative ideas and joy in life. Ideas just flow…………………….

Question from audience: What effect does pure consciousness have on our creative work?

Answer DL: Anxiety lifts, wellbeing and peace improves. Bliss is happiness from within

What do YOU think? Well I love it and I am happy to share that I have experienced this myself. Improved awareness and consciousness will let the creative juices flow. It's a right brain process, you just do it, for example meditate and see what the results are, it’s that easy. Just go with the flow…………………………

Sample of simple 3 minute meditation

I found this wonderful easy to do 3 minute meditation for YOU, created by Deepak Chopra, check it out and do it, if YOU like it please let me know and let others know by leaving a comment or and sharing this post. Meditation is not only important for YOUR well being, it's also important for the well being of our world. If we all take care of ourselves we will have a better world!!!!!!!

Simple Tips To Find What You Love To Do Part 1

What do you love to do? What a huge question. So many of us are walking around and do not have a clue. If you don't know what your passion is, life can be pretty uninspired, it actually can be a drag. Life without passion and magic is stale and creates unhappy, resentful people.

That's one reason; gambling, shopping, excessive working; drugs and alcohol are so popular, because these substances create the illusion of bliss and fun. The illusion works for a while, but eventually it stops working and then…….. I know I've been there, I went through the illusion and I crashed. I had to do a lot of soul searching and ask the universe: Who and what do you want me to be? It took quite a while of listening but eventually the puzzle pieces came together. People with passions are more content and happier. This is not only good for us but good for our friends, families and the world. Do you agree?

As children we all instinctively know what we love to do, we get blissfully absorbed in the activity of play. But as we grow up and go to school we learn that other things are more important and we get drilled to fit in. Creativity and individuality get lost. The good news is: we all have this creativity inside of us; it just needs to be uncovered from deep inside of us. We have to find the hidden drawer and finally open it. The content of the drawer will be play, creativity, fun and beautiful life energy and we with it find the possibility to create a beautiful fabulous life.

If you would like to find out, start with these simple things.

Ask yourself the question: What do I love to do?
Simple meditation
Keep a journal and write down whatever comes up
Make a vision board

I know this sounds very simple, but it's effective. Do it every day and be aware of what comes up. Next week I will have some more tips for you, Have fun! Let's be happy and let's change the world to be a better place, by starting with ourselves. Vision boards are great tools to find our creative muse, if you like check some of the videos below. The meditation video is very helpful. One more fantastic book to read is the artist way by Julia Cameron, it's my bible 🙂

More instructions about:" how to make a vision board" watch the videos below

This custom meditation will help you get into the creative zone

This vision board will help you attract your ideal relationship

How to express your creativity

Simple Tips To Make Your Life Fun – Interview With Dave Buck MCC

Simple Tips To Make Your Life Fun – Interview With Dave Buck MCC

I hope YOU are well and life is fabulous and inspiring.

Today, I am so thrilled to introduce you to my teacher and mentor Dave Buck, CEO of Coachville LLC, Master Certified Coach and founding member of the transformational leadership council.

Coach Dave has changed my life with his wisdom and the concept to bring more of the spirit of play into people's lives. That was one missing element in my life. For whatever reason, I turned everything into a chore.

Even when I liked what I was doing, after a while I lost my joy in it and it turned into an energy drain. At 57 years old I decided to change my career from interior design and real estate to coaching, this not only changed my career but also my behavior and my way of thinking.

Most people told me, oh no way YOU are too old to start a new career, but I think YOU are never too old to start a new life. All we want is to be happy, to live a life that’s interesting, stimulating with meaningful, supportive relationships around us, it's never too late for that!

Find out why and how having a coach can change your life.

Coaching is helpful for people who want to get better at something in their life. Athletes have coaches to get better at their game and the same concept applies to personal coaching.

People hire coaches to

Find more joy in life
Be more creative,
Be more successful in business
Have more fulfilling relationships,
Live healthier more balanced lives.

Not only that, it will give you a wonderful support system, someone who believes in YOU.

How does it work for YOU when YOU are left to your own devices? When YOU listen to the interview you will hear what just happened in a coaching session I had last week, a new insight I got that might improve my life even more.

A coach can help YOU see situations in a new light and help YOU find the answers within yourself. Yes it might sound kind of wowoooo, but that’s how it works.

Ok, I will stop now, enjoy the audio and if it inspired you please leave a comment.

Oh, I almost forgot, if you get inspired by our conversation and would like to try a session. Take advantage of my fabulous offer: A 30 minute exploratory coaching session with me. It's my gift to YOU and it might give YOU some ideas on how to bring more fun into your life. Just click the contact tab and let me know.

Blessings

Marita

click the triangle below to listen 🙂