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How To Make A Goal Board For Your Business

How To Make A Goal Board For Your Business

What's the difference between a goal board and a vision board?

A goal board is similar to a vision board or a dream board, but more specific. A vision board is more about your personal life, see below.

New love
New career,
Better health
Balance,
Money,
Travel and so on

Either way, vision boards and goal boards are effective tools to empower your life. A goal board is more about how to achieve your business goals and intentions. Let's say you work in Real Estate: you would make a list of goals, you would like to achieve. This will be the same for any business.

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Start The New Year With A Vision Board

Start The New Year With A Vision Board

I just remembered what my grandmother used to say: "Beware of your dreams they might come true." Unfortunately it was not meant in a positive way. My family is afraid of asking for good things and "manifesting dreams" is not a possibility. I am happy to say that I'm the only positive thinker in my German family and considered a "rebel" with pink glasses, who spent too much time in California:-)

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How Vision Boards Can Empower Your Life

How Vision Boards Can Empower Your Life

Most of us want change at some point in our life, but on the other hand we don’t. Change can be scary and it's definitely kind of uncomfortable, but also essential in order to grow.

A few years ago, I started to Feng Shui my home and all of a sudden my life was upside down. It wasn’t really what I wanted right at that moment, but now I know it was all good and in my best interest.

A vision board is a great tool to empower your life and if you create it, your life will change. How it will change is up to you, the more intentions you set, the more you visualize, the more you will attract those things to you.

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How To Make Decisions When You Don’t Know What To Do

How To Make Decisions When You Don’t Know What To Do

Do you sometimes have a feeling that nothing in your life works and you feel stuck, like a hamster on a wheel?
Well I did, actually I am happy to report that I just moved beyond it. There is nothing more empowering than making a decision and once you make it the energy starts to move.

For weeks maybe years I had this one big decision looming over me. I knew I would had to make it eventually, but did not know when. But I always felt slightly off track. Until one day I made the decision, coming from nowhere, I just knew what to do. Has this happened to you, that you wake up and just know

So what happened to lead to this event?

Several things happened that made everything even more difficult in my life, I had a very stressful, transaction at work, I had problems with my living situation and nothing made sense anymore. It was so weird that I had an intuitive reading and whatever I was told was another piece in the jig puzzle, that I needed to know.

I got a hint that something was telling me it’s time to do something, a hint that turned into a bill board, telling me: Marita it's time to do it and eventually I listened.

It felt like a "knowing", or certainty" that now is the right time to move into the next stage.
The next stage for me was making plans to move back to Germany as my parents are turning 80. I lived on another continent for 34 years. I had my kids, my businesses and all my belongings in California.

Nevertheless, I had a feeling it’s time to go back. It was 3 months ago, that the universe kept telling me it’s time to go. I organized everything, gave things away and put the most important stuff into storage. In order to avoid the last minute moving craziness I stayed with friends. Just the thought of staying with friends gave me anxiety attacks and I was a nervous wreck. Now looking back it was all wonderful, I had a chance to spend time with people I loved and connect at a deeper level.

The move was made, I 'm in Germany now and everything is falling into place, I will move into an apartment in the heart of the city. I will have everything in walking distance. I will have time to focus and develop the things I am passionate about. The more I think about it, the more I know it was the right decision.

Do you listen to your feeling when you make major decisions and how do you know?

Empower Your Life With A Daily Meditation Practice

Empower Your Life With A Daily Meditation Practice

Most people have a hard time to meditate, you are not the only one! I had a very hard time to get my practice going, I found it extremely difficult to sit down, do nothing and just watch my breath.
Actually I could not do it.

Finally a friend told me about a meditation instruction class. I was desperate, my life was totally out of control so I tried it. This structure helped me to get into the habit. I just kept sitting down until my mind stopped chattering and there was peace for 10 minutes.

This practice has changed my life, gave me more peace, kindness, and awareness.

A few of the benefits of meditation are:

It will help you get into the creative zone
Reduce stress
Improve your overall health and wellbeing
Improve communication
Improve awareness
Improve realtionships

Yes and it’s free, all you need is a quiet place to close your eyes, focus on your breath and that’s it.

What does it do?

This space of non-doing and non-resistance will give you a chance to feel your own energy field and stop the stream of thoughts. The moment of "not thinking" will give you time to recover from constant “thinking strain” which is also called "monkey mind" and resistance.

You create resistance when you have thoughts of wanting to be happy, content and successful, but you also have negative thoughts like: "it''s not possible". When you don’t have resistance, you can choose how to act and it will be easier to attract all the good things into your life.

The less resistance you have, the less negative thoughts you have and the less you will repel the good things. (Thinking, especially negative thinking can be a very strong energy and as long as we are involved in it, we might not be able to let in intuition.)

It's a magical process and very simple. But sometimes we don’t want to do the simple and obvious things because we get too intellectual about it and our mind takes us out.

Have you ever heard yourself say?
• It’s too easy, this cannot work,
• How can sitting somewhere with my eyes closed make my life better
• This is stupid
• I don’t have time.
• I cannot do it

Now the good news is: you do not have to listen to this voice and you do not have to sit and meditate for hours, or even ½ an hour. If you start with 5 minutes a day it will be a good start. Probably it will feel so good to take some time out that you will want to meditate longer. But this is up to you.
So try it out and have fun with it. If you need more instruction get a guided meditation CD and start changing your life!

What is your meditation practice? Please leave a comment and let us know:-)

How To Empower Your Life With Creativity

How To Empower Your Life With Creativity

Creativity is not about intelligence or information. It's about inspiration, from the Latin word "spiritus", meaning "breath, courage, the soul." Creativity is about being fully alive, living courageously, or as the painter Joan Miro´ says, "Expressing with precision all the gold sparks the soul gives off." When was the last time you felt fully alive? What is it that triggers your courage and challenges your fear of sharing your soul? Knowing this is the key to discovering the creativity that is waiting to be expressed through you.Expressing your creativity, your true self, is one simple way to empowe your life.

When people ask you if you are creative, do you say: No I’m not creative at all.

I can't draw
I can’t paint
I don’t have it

If so, you're not alone. Many people think that creativity has been gifted to some selected few. If they can't paint like Van Gough, sing like Maria Callas, sculpt like Rodin, write like Simone De Beauvoir, they don't dare claim to be creative. It feels like an arrogant thing to say about yourself. If you are not an expert, or not making a living from your creations it feels like a sin to say you are creative.

But creativity is our very birthright, our gift. Why, when we're asked to think of someone creative, do we rarely think of ourselves, but of famous people, that have defined creativity over the years? We think of Picasso, Mozart, Diebenkorn, Matisse and their likes, when the real truth is that every one of us is a born creator. It’s the gift we bring to the world: the ability to create, to turn something invisible into something visible, to create something out of nothing and to fully express ourselves.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of the book: “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention”, says that creativity doesn't happen in our heads but in the interaction between our imagination and our social context. It's a matter of experience and response, a matter of relationship to others and a commentary on the significance of our encounters.

Creativity is the vivid expression of who we are in the world

our imagination creates our thoughts
our thoughts create our words
our words create our actions
our actions create our experience
our collective experience and expression create our culture

Each of us is contributing part to the creation of the cultures we participate in. The world is not divided into two groups of the creative and the uncreative. If there's a distinction, it's between those who are creatively productive and those with unexpressed potential. People who do not express their creativity are not happy campers, they are the ones who feel unfulfilled, bored and resentful. We are creative by nature aand need to find a way to live it.

Each of us, to varying degrees is unconsciously motivated to create, to be original and to solve challenging problems. The question to ask is not, "Am I creative?" But rather: "What inspires me to create?"

Creativity can be expressed in simple ways. It can be how we dress, how we communicate, how we interact, how we move, how we solve problems. It can be expressed in cooking, or dancing, in decorating our homes and many other simple pleasures. There are unlimited ways to express creativity. It’s having fun in life, it’s laughing, it’s all the good stuff.

What about you? Do you not allow yourself creativity and time to play? Do you say: I will do it when I have time, first I have to practice, go to school. I will do it when I’m not so stressed out or maybe when I’m retired……….Does this sound familiar to you. If it does please reconsider and try to do the things you love to do, it will lift your spirit:-)

Please leave a comment with you thoughts and I hope this inspired you to find your creativity.

Let Go Of Trying To Be Perfect, It’s Boring

Let Go Of Trying To Be Perfect, It's Boring

What kind of a reaction do you have when you read this?

What a stupid thing to say
I don't understand what she is saying
I like to be perfect
Hmm, never thought about it

Perfection is a strange thing, in some ways it might be good, but for most people it actually is a hindrance to get into action. Let's say you know you need to get something done and it is important, but you procrastinate and procrastinate…………..

If someone asks you why you have not done it, you say

I want to get it right
there is something missing
It's not the right time
I have to learn this and that first

And on it goes listening to the voice in our heads, that keeps us from taking action or completing things.

BECAUSE………..IT'S NEVER GOOD ENOUGH

I remember when I started learning about social media: one task was to set up Twitter and send out a tweet. I was in pure terror thinking that everybody out there in Twitter cyberspace would just wait for my 140 character tweet and scream: Look at Marita, it's so stupid what she is saying.

That was 5 Years ago, I am happy to report that I am not afraid to put myself out there anymore. Now I write articles, post on all social media, create silly videos and publish them on youtube. Nothing is perfect, but people have fun with it. I learened to overcome my perfection and life is a lot more fun and adventurous.

When was the last time you had fun with something "perfect"? Ok, professionals have to strive to do a perfect job, but I'm talking about a different kind of perfectionism. If you are a mechanic, a surgeon, a pilot or a book keeper, it's good to not make mistakes :–)

But in other areas it's good to lighten up and have fun, be creative, be playfull and enjoy the process.

There is a type of perfectionism that's listed as a mental disorder, psychiatrists call it maladaptive perfectionists. These people need to be the best at everything, and if they make a mistake, it’s a crisis. It’s also not just about how they perceive themselves, but about how others perceive them: they believe they will lose the respect of friends and colleagues if they fail. They have to hit all their marks all the time. Their need for perfectionism can sabotage their own success. What a sad life!

Below a quote by Anne Lamott about perfectionism.

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”
Anne Lamott

What do you think about about perfectionism?

Sometimes We Need To Say No

Sometimes We need To Say No

Women have a hard time to say no, mothers have a very hard time to say no.

Why is it so difficult?

We want to avoid conflict
We want to be nice
We have a good heart
We want to fit in

For me "no" is one of the hardest words, but the good news is: it can be learned, like anything else that's new. First it feels uncomfortable, but it gets easier the more we practice it.

How to do it!

Have you heard that it takes 21 days to learn a new habit?

For 21 days say "no" whenever you know that you do not want to do something. Make it a practice just for the heck of it! Empower your life by saying no. You have to be ok with the feeling of unease in your body until you get used to it. This is tip #1 when trying to learn new behavior, do not let it scare you away, it's a normal reaction of the body.
Be with the feeling of discomfort
Be aware and take the time to pause every time someone asks you for something. No exeption, you just say: Let me think about it or: I will let you know tomorrow, giving you enough time to sit with it. You can feel it in your body, if you do not want to do it, it might be a heavy feeling of unease in your abdomen.
Pay attention to your body, it's empowering to know how your body reacts.

I always admire people who are determined and tough, who know what they want and do what they say, but that's not me. I am so compassionate that I always want to help everybody, even if I do not have the time or energy to do so. One would say that there is nothing wrong with this, but if you do too much of it, especiallly for people who take advatage of you, you get resentful and that is not a very empowered place to be.

We are in integrity when we feel good about our actions.

Below some quotes about saying "no"

“…there are often many things we feel we should do that, in fact, we don't really have to do. Getting to the point where we can tell the difference is a major milestone in the simplification process.” Elaine St.James

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“No is a complete sentence and so often we forget that.
When we don't want to do something we can simply smile and say no.
We don't have to explain ourselves, we can just say "No".
Early on my journey I found developing the ability to say no expanded my ability to say yes and really mean it.
My early attempts at saying no were often far from graceful but with practice even my no came from a place of love.
Love yourself enough to be able to say yes or no.” Susan Gregg
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“Buy yourself some time. Interrupt the ‘yes’ cycle, using phrases like “I’ll get back to you,” then consider your options.” Auliq Ice
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“Being unable to say no can make you exhausted, stressed and irritable.” Auliq Ice

So just for this week practice to say no and let me know how it worked, leave a comment below 🙂

Why It’s Sometimes Good To Go Through Big Life Changes

Why It's Sometimes Good To Go Through Big Life Changes

Did you ever go through big life changes and came out with a much better life?

Sometimes we do not want to make changes, although we are miserable in a situation. Why do we want to hang on to a relation ship that makes us unhappy, or a career we hate? We all know it's crazy, so what is it?

Fear of change
Fear of the unknown

Those 2 are normally the main reasons why we stay in miserable, sometimes abusive situations. I myself stayed in a bad marriage for 32 years and if it wouldn't have gotten absolutely crazy I probably would still be in there, miserable, unfulfilled, unhappy, depressed and resentful. I can only say: thank you universe 🙂

I did not say this when I went through the worst, at first I was angry and resentful, actually it was so bad that I wanted my husband to die. So I could stay in the house I loved and hang on to the things that were precious to me. Yes it was not pretty and I was not nice.

Now for the first time in my life I am doing the things I love to do, I love what I do , I love who I am and I am full of possibility for my life.

If you feel like you are not living the life you want to live, get out and do it. We have only one life and it's too precious to be wasted on people who do not love us, or things we do not want to do.

I believe that if we fully express ourselves we will find happiness, if we try to fit into the box this might not be the case.

So dare to be you and if you are in a situation like this remember that the changes are hard and life might be challenging for a while. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I know it, I've been there.

Sadly we are programmed to always look for security and I believe that if we are ruled by security, the reward will be a dull life.

Below is my favorite quote, it says it all!

“Come to the edge.' 'We can't. We're afraid.' 'Come to the edge.' 'We can't. We will fall!' 'Come to the edge.' And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew.” Guillaume Apollinaire

What's your story about a Big Life Change ? Please leave a comment

Believe In Your Potential

Believe In Your Potential

I love this quote by Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make and manifest the glory of god that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~Marianne Williamson

So what exactly does this mean and how can you believe in your potential?

For the people who are familiar with the law of attraction and spirituality this is easy to understand. For all others it might not make any sense. So if it does not make sense to you, don't worry, it's hard to understand and it might take some time, it's ok.

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