Tag: empower women

How Turning 60 Can Be Fabulous

How Turning 60 Can Be Fabulous

 

How Turning 60 Can Be Fabulous

 

Hello my sweet friends….. How are you? I hope you are enjoying the warm balmy weather, I sure am and  I'm so glad you are here, let me guess…. you must be close to turning 60 or just turned 60 or maybe close to the occasion?

How does that make you feel?

 

I turned 60 a few weeks ago…… There is a wide variety of feelings connected to aging, but no matter how you feel about it, you do not have a choice, like it or not, you can't change the fact.  A few lucky "angels" find it easy, while it’s a visit into the abyss for others.

 

For some it’s the realization of….. oh my god, my skin is sagging, I hate those bumps… and the next action is to call a surgeon and get liposuction, a facelift, or maybe the famous breast lift….. Can you relate?


I can…  it was a big decision to let my hair turn gray, which I had dyed blonde for 10 years. About 2 years ago I had enough of running away from age and of soaking chemicals into my skin. I asked my hairdresser for moral support, which he gracisously did….. so I got my hair cut very short and let it go gray over the course of six months.

 

It was a stretch, but now I love it. I wear a bit more makeup, more colorful clothes and fun jewelry.

Acceptance is such a huge help with anything in life….. have you heard the saying?

“What you resist not only persists, but will grow in size.” Carl Gustav Jung


The other difficult experience was….. when I noticed white patches all over my body and face…. I actually panicked. These spots were familiar to me, my mother and grandfather had them. It’s called vitiligo, a skin condition, where areas of the skin don’t pigment any more.

 

Not really that bad, but I freaked out, I thought…. oh my god I don’t want this, this can’t be true. Unfortunately my complaint and shock did not help. The fact is: I have it, it will not go away and there is no treatment.

 

When this sank in I started to be grateful, that it’s only that and not a life threatening disease. The next thought was ok, I better accept it, because the resistance of not wanting it was very painful and it made me feel insane, yes… like "ouch" 🙂

 

To minimize the contrast in skin color, I stay out of the sun, wear tinted sun lotion, a hat, long sleeves and it’s fine..

A friend of mine actually said, Marita you are beautiful with your spots, why do you think you have to be perfect, just love yourself the way you look and are. That was candy for my soul….. ( I love my friend) 🙂

 

Now of course….. looks are not the only thing that need to be adjusted. What about attitude? For me getting older means that I look at myself more closely and every day I ask myself a few questions.

  • Who do I want to be?
  • What’s most important?
  • What do I want to do in the world?
  • Who do I want to hang out with?
  • Is this really what I want?
  • Is this good for me?
  • What simple thing can I do to make this world a better place?

When I was still married, I used to be afraid of being alone…. now I love it. Somehow it just happened, the more I like myself the way I am, the more I enjoy my company. What am I doing different now?

  • I hang out with positive people,
  • I Do things I enjoy
  • Go on little adventures
  • Hang out with people who are positive and nourishing
  • Exercise and eat healthy food
  • Laugh a lot
  • Listen to my needs

I also noticed that it feels good to express my uniqueness instead of trying to fit into the small box of what others want me to be like….. So why not get a crazy haircut, a tattoo, or maybe wear some wild clothes? Why not……have deep conversation, even if most people don't understand it. Why not say that you can start a new life with 60, or finally live out your passsion. Why not???

 

Would you allow yourself to do that? Ask yourself the question: What is one thing that you always wanted to do? And then....would  you allow yourself to do it?

 

Please let me know what’s helping you to accept reality, be happy, be grateful, age well and be fabulous, I love you sisters….. and I love to read your to read your comments 🙂

 

Spring Cleaning To Empower and Renew Yourself

 

Spring Cleaning To Empower and Renew Yourself

Spring Cleaning To Empower and Renew Yourself

The secret of getting started is breaking complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” ~Mark Twain

Yipppeeee, it's spring again, time to get the cobwebs out of your minds and homes, it sometimes even helps to get unstuck. Spring cleaning is a simple task to refresh and renew your senses. Sometimes you will feel like new after the spring cleaning. So put your favorite music on, use natural cleaning soaps and bring "happy energy" to the task. Go through your drawers, cabinets and closets.  Take a few boxes, or bags and label them.

  • Donation
  • Second Hand Store
  • Trash

Things that have not been used in a while can be donated or when something is more valuable and you need the money give it to a second hand store. After you've gone through everything it's time to take the boxes into the car to make sure they don't go back into the closet. (We know what you're like) 🙂 Step one completed, now let's start with step two.

Spring Cleaning:

Vacuum everything, wash the windows, remove the cobwebs, dust the furniture, mop with Meyer's lemon soap, wipe the shelves. Ahhh, it feels good already, now new things can come into your life and here is why: According to Feng Shui, clutter is low, stagnant, blocked energy that drains energy from you and lowers the quality of your life. As soon as you get rid of the clutter in your life you create space for something new to come in………….. how wonderful is that!

Now that you've done your home it's time to "declutter you". Take a bath with 6 cups of apple cider vinegar, which will draw the negative energy out of your body and energy field, it also softens your skin. Let go of all the old stuff that is bothering you, say good bye to the anger, hurt and disappointment. Why is it a good idea to let go of it? These negative feelings are like cobwebs in your mind, you want to make room for something new, happy and exiting feelings!

When done, get your favorite essential oil and diffuse it. Now sit in your favorite chair or sofa and just reflect. Enjoy the feeling of well being and know that you created it!

If you have any tips on spring cleaning, share them with us and leave a comment below.

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

do what you love to do

 

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

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!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change Your Life With Gratitude

Change Your Life With Gratitude

Change  Your Life With Gratitude

Happiness and gratitude vibrate at the same level of energy.  Somehow it's hard to know what happiness is, or how to generate it, but most of us know what gratefulness feels like. So let’s keep it simple and just bring more gratitude, or thankfulness into life.

Yes, I know, it's not always easy to be grateful, especially when everything goes wrong, but that's exactly the most important time to be thankful. Make it a daily habit. Add it to your daily schedule together with exercise and meditation. Remember why you do it: you want to attract good things into your life!

I found this wonderful quote in one of my books: It's said to be from the Matthias gospel”

"He who HAS will be rewarded with more, but the one who HAS NOT, will even lose the little he HAS."

What does this mean? It's not exactly fair: unless we add gratitude to "having and not having." If we have gratitude we get more good things, if we don't have it we lose what we have. "The law of attraction," in action.

Continue reading “Change Your Life With Gratitude”

Change Your Mind Change Your Life

Change your mind change your life

Change Your Mind Change Your Life

How are YOU doing with change? Is it hard for YOU or easy? Life is so full of changes and most of us resist it, don't YOU think so too?

Speaking for myself I can say that I used to fight changes fiercely, until I was over 50 when everything in my life was changing, if I wanted it or not. Resisting it was extremely painful, but I did not know what else to do until………….

Somehow I had the idea to just go with the flow, accept the changes and make the best of it. You know what? That was the best thing I ever did in my life, besides having my beautiful kids 🙂

What helped me in my search of a happy life was a book by the psychiatrist Jerold Jampolsky: "Change your mind changes your life"…………He was miserable too; actually he said he was an alcoholic and eventually got so miserable that he wanted to end his life. Thank god he found the course in miracles and it started to change his life.

He started to write books, present courses and started the center for attitudinal healing in Sausalito. The concept how changing our attitudes makes us happy is inspiring thousands of people.

Wow, what a concept, YOU don't have to stay the victim, YOU could change YOUR mind, be happy, forgive, let go and do whatever YOU want.  This idea can be the beginning of a new life. What is there to lose? What is the risk? It might be time to risk doing something new and be happy.

When we grow up we do not learn these concepts, we mostly learn to fit in, to not risk, to play it safe. But today we have all these wonderful programs, books, movies, meditation centers and coaches available, who can help us go through the changes. It's much easier to accomplish with a good support system.

Below are a few methods to help change our way of thinking.

  • Mindfulness Meditation 

Do YOU have a meditations practice? If not I would highly recommend it. You can find a group anywhere, or you may want to set up a group with friends. If that is not possible or practical for you, just get some guided meditation audios and follow that.

The process of meditation is very soothing, extremely easy and helps to be more aware in life. It reduces stress and is good for YOUR health and emotional wellbeing. A lot of my friends love Yoga Nidra, which is a very relaxing guided meditation, where YOU scan your whole body.

There are lots of scientific studies about the benefits of meditation and if YOU think it's a religious thing and YOU don't like it, I would suggest reconsidering. There are also lots of meditation centers that offer retreats.

Retreats are my favorite kind of vacation. Spirit Rock in the San Francisco area is a magical place; they have great teachers, a beautiful setting and great food. But there are many others in most parts of the world.

Meditation and mindfulness has helped me through the hardest time of my life and now I know that anything can happen and I will be able to deal with it in a healthy, no drama way.

  • Supportive Environment

Do YOU have people around YOU who support YOU in YOUR efforts to change? Sometimes when we feel that change is necessary, we are surrounded by people who don't like change and they try to keep us exactly where we are. I had to let go of a lot of old friends, because they were hindering my process. Find groups of people who want to go a different route in life. 

There are many of them; you can find a meet up group in a topic that you are interested in. Surround yourself with like-minded people; create an environment that supports YOU.

  • Work With A Coach

A coach is the best support YOU can get, it's priceless to work with someone who is there to support YOU, YOUR well-being and help YOU uncover what makes YOU happy. Someone who reminds YOU of YOUR dreams and keeps YOU focused on YOUR vision. It's the best supportive environment YOU can get. Have YOU ever tried it? Book an exploratory session with me, it's my gift to YOU, click the contact tab and leave YOUR information if YOU are interested.

What's helping YOU to create change in YOUR life? Please leave a comment; it's always helpful for others 🙂

 

 

How To Bring The Spirit Of Play Into Your Life

How to bring the spirit of play into your life

How To Bring The Spirit Of Play Into Your Life

Have you noticed that when you have fun at work or play, life is lot more enjoyable, playful and adventurous?

Wouldn't it be great to bring fun to all the chores you have to do, the work that needs to get done, the jobs you have to go to. The approach is to turn everything, you don't like into something you do like. Yes it might require to make things up, or to pretend a little bit, but that's ok. 

Do you agree that YOU could be a lot happier as a result?

The problem is that most of us from the industrial generation did not learn to have fun at work or in life. We learned that everything needs to be worked at and that making money, or working has to be hard.  Nobody mentioned that it could be fun. Life was supposed to be hard and that reflected in everything we did. These were my messages when I grew up.

  • Artists always struggle
  • Work is hard
  • You must work hard for you money
  • People with lots of money must be crooks
  • Work is no fun
  • You must be practial

On it goes, have you heard these phrases? I made an experiment a few years back when I hated my business and my 1 hour commute. I knew there was nothing I could do at this time to change my work. There was also nothing I could do about the commute. So to constantly complain and resist reality made me suffer and was a  waste of energy. All of a sudden I had the thought:  what if I accept this as a fact and try to enjoy everything as best I can….. Well this was an interesting new approach and worth a try.

How did I transform my thinking?

I got great audios to listen to, which made the commute pleasurable and every day when I woke up, I said to myself "I am so happy I have this business and all these wonderful clients who are happy with my work. I am grateful for my employees, who like me and help me do whatever needs to be done and I can totally trust them. How lucky I am that I have this wonderful business."

Every client who called or came in was offered a silent prayer and was thanked for being so kind and for inquiring about my services and for being wonderful. (I was the only one who knew this). It was interesting that as soon as my attitude changed and I stopped complaining about it, I actually started liking my work.

Not only that the clients who came in were more considerate, but everything was more pleasant and less stressful, including me. This was my first awareness how positive thinking could change my reality, how people behave, how I feel and of course, I attracted more clients because I was cheerful, confident and happy. More clients meant more sales and more revenue. I was on the first step of a wonderful transformation of myself and the life arround me.

This process is ongoing and will last forever. It's a practice of mindfulness, or awareness that never stops, but it's a magical and fun ride. Do YOU have things in YOUR life that YOU don't like but cannot change right now?  Try this approach and I promise the results will be transformative. Life is a lot more fun when YOU are content, happy and fulfilled.  Everything feels so much better when YOU are grateful for what you have rather than to complain about what YOU don't have.

Bring more fun into life and create the life of your dreams by

  • Turning everything into a game
  • Looking at everything from the bright side
  • Find creative ways to do things
  • Inspire others to do the same

Have you tried this practice? If the answer is YES,  please leave a comment and if NO please leave a comment. Both will help others. wishing YOU a wonderful mindful week.

"When you change, the world around you changes"

How We Can Accept Getting Old

 

how we can acceot getting old

How We Can Accept Getting Old

Can you do it or can't you do it? This is a very personal subject for most women and there are many different ideas about aging. Some people like the approach of denial and postponing the visual effects of aging with facelifts, all kinds of surgeries and treatment,  which is totally fine.

But eventually there is no escape and as my every day practice in life is acceptance, I thought for myself it would be a good idea to come to terms with some of the effects of aging, like gray hair, white patches, dark spots and I hate to say it: sagging skin 🙂

"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old." George Burns

At 48 I started dying my hair to cover the gray. That was 10 years ago, a long time of applying toxic dye to my head. Last Year I let my hair turn gray. Every time I got it cut, more gray showed and after my last cut today, I am proud to say that my hair is all gray.

Continue reading “How We Can Accept Getting Old”

How To Be More Confident

How to be more confident

How To Be More Confident

Have you noticed how our attitude determines the quality of our lives? The more awareness  we have to control our attitude and our thoughts, the happier and more creative we can be. Supportive friends can be a huge help to keep us on track. There is a multitde of support available in form of: books, audios, workshops, webinars, forums, facebook groups.

Another great place to find like minded people is at meetup groups.

  • Step one is to sign up,
  • Step two is to find a group in your field of interest 
  • Step three is to connect, easy breathy…..

Sometimes it's hard to have one more thing to do, but it's essential to connect with people and to network….. Not only for our personal well being but it's great for business too.

"Remember, the thoughts that you think and the statements you make regarding yourself determine your mental attitude. If you have a worthwhile objective, find the one reason why you can achieve it rather than hundreds of reasons why you can't."  Napoleon Hill

Support is essential, unfortunately our friends and family members do not always share our need to change and grow. The desire to follow our dreams, to break out of the mold scares the heck out of some people. But we need support in order to move forward. If we cannot find this within our circle of friends and family, we have to look in other places.

Where do we find people who are on a similar path?

I've been lucky to meet a lot of like minded people in personal development seminars. The network is international and I don't have to rely on my "local friends". Whenever I have a hard time to believe in myself or I lose faith that I can achieve my dreams and goals, I can contact someone who will help me through the challenges, back to being in a space of possibility. Feeling good  and believing in ourselves is the key to success.

If you get discouraged……… your vision and your support system will keep you on track. Pay attention to how you feel and where you feel it in your body. It might be uncomfortable at the beginning, but you get used to it, just keep practicing to feel "uncomfortable," The feeling of fear and discomfort are part of the process, so just accept it and do what you need to do. Working with a coach is also very effective, if you have not tried it give it a chance and try a few sessions, it's one of the best support systems I know.

Pema Chodron, a buddhist nun, wrote a wonderful book, called. "Go to the places that scare you"

Every time we overcome our fear and do it anyway, we empower our life.

Where do you find support? Please leave a comment and share it with us.

Letting Go Of Family Secrets

letting go of family secrets

Letting Go Family Secrets


Do you have any? To be honest I did not think I had them, but eventually I realized I had to accept them and let them go, one secret at a time.

Up until 10 years ago I thought my life was great. I lived in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.  We owned a nice house with a huge garden and had 2 beautiful, healthy kids. The beach was our playground, we had good friends and we were creative. My husband worked in special effects and I had a successful business, so it all looked pretty good.

Continue reading “Letting Go Of Family Secrets”