Coaching to live your best life
You Can't Use Up Creativity
The more you use it, the more you have. Are you creative? Sure you are! Creativity does not mean you have to paint like Monet or write like Ernest Hemingway. Creativity shows itself in many ways and it can be simple things like flower arrangements, table arrangements, your garden, taking pictures. Expressing yourself with how you dress, the jewelry you wear, the make up you choose, the way you communicate, it's all creative.
Empower Yourself – Nourish Your Soul
Instead of making goals for your business or material needs, why not set some soul intentions for the well being of YOU, your spirit.
I read it somewhere and thought: "what a splendid idea". So what's the difference between soul intentions and other intentions, or life goals?
For example most intentions or resolutions are kind of competitive. We want to make more money, do more work, be better at something, look better for others, in short have more and be more.
Soul intentions are about our soul needs, which is: more love, more compassion, more forgiveness and more acceptance.
Below are my soul intentions and if you don’t know what yours are, please borrow some of mine…………………………soul needs are universal🙂
Ok, I’m overdoing it, but this is what I need to do in order to be content. Most of the items are incorporated into my life already, so it does not feel like “oh my god I have to do all this”. No it’s how I love to live my life. My life is a spiritual practice and sometimes it’s all great and sometimes it’s the pits, but its ok.
Sometimes everything is easy and flows like a miracle and the next day nothing flows. I’m learning that if I don’t get so attached to the good days, it’s not so hard to not get attached to the "not so good days". It’s all just energy, good, bad, negative, positive vibration.
It is very important to not make important decisions when angry, tired or disconnected. Self care is improving your connection to your life force and the more you take care of your body mind and spirit needs, the better you will feel.
We live in a world where stress, workaholism and self abuse is awarded. So it’s time to undo the damage and incorporate play, fun and some serious "self indulgance" into life.
Some simple tips how you can do it:
Place your vision board or a poster board with your written intentions, where you can see it. You will notice that the more you will take care of your needs, the happier you will be. This in turn will attract more of the same energy into your life. It’s a miracle, it truly is. Make a commitment to yourself!
A simple lovingkindness meditation for you from Jack Kornfield.
May I be filled with lovingkindness.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be well in body and mind.
May I be at ease and happy.
May you be filled with lovingkindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy
What have you noticed when you take care of your needs and you nourish your soul? Please leave a comment 🙂
How To Stay Positive In A Negative Environment
You might say that it's not a good idea to hang around negative people and I would say the same. But sometimes these people are close family and we might not want to stay away.
For example parents: They might be getting old, in pain, scared and in a situation where they have to let go of control. Can YOU see how hard this is? I sure can and if someone does not have training in spiritual principles, or personal development it's hard to deal with these facts and the default might be: NEGATIVITY.
My choice was to move back to Germany to be closer to my parents. After living in California for 34 years, this was a hard decision, but somehow my feeling told me: Marita it's time to go back and be there for them. One problem is that there is a lot of negativity in my parents environment and I will need a strong practice and support system in order to not get sucked in.
Watching the news several times a day, complaining about the state of the world, the greed, the problems, the cheeting. Getting together with others, all this gets discussed and it's a vicious cycle of a hostile world, injustice, powerlessness and sickness. Wow it's no fun, I don't even want to know.
A toxic environment, but I make it my practice to be present and to stay positive, I want to be a "breath of fresh air". Detachment with love is the practice and I watch everything around me like a movie. The practice is to not react and to be loving and patient. Thank god I have a good meditation practice and support system of friends who will keep me on track.
I am so amazed and grateful about my progress. All the work with 12 step groups, spiritual programs, personal development and coaching have made such a difference in my life. It empowers and supports me through difficult times. The important lesson for me is to know that not everybody around me has the awareness to be on this path of forgiveness, acceptance and letting go and I have to accept this.
Living in a space of mystery and not knowing what tomorrow will bring is also challenging, to say the least. Living life outside of the comfortzone, having faith that everything is the way it's supposed to be and just flowing with whatever happens. That's the space where miracles happen.
My " Simple Miracle"
The beginning of December I applied for an apartment in Germany, I was hoping to be able to move in January 1, but I will not be able to move in until February 1. The thought of staying with my parents for another month was hard for me and for them. Now the miracle was, that I applied for US citizenship and the only thing left to do was my "Swearing in Ceremony, which I did not have a date for at the time. One day later my friend checked my mail and I got the date for the ceremony, January 8th. I booked a flight and decided to stay in California until the end of January. So, it worked out perfectly!
These miracles strenghen my trust in the universe and the more I notice them, the more I can let go of trying to control everything. What a relief that is.
What's your recent miracle?
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.
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.
Continue reading “How To Make A Goal Board For Your Business”
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:-)
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.
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
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:
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
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.
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
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
What kind of a reaction do you have when you read this?
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
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?