Tag: empower yourself

Empower Yourself – Nourish Your Soul

Empower Yourself Nourish Your Soul

 

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🙂

  • I will do things that make me happy
  • I will float in hot water as much as I can
  • I will get at least one massage per month
  • I will eat food that nourishes my body
  • I will walk and go to the gym
  • Sometimes I will allow myself a burger, bacon and eggs and a cookie
  • I will find a spiritual group and 12 step meetings  in Germany
  • I will connect more with real people in life
  • I will be creative
  • I will accept and love my parents and kids just the way they are, even when they annoy me.
  • I will be aware of what I do and how I react
  • I do whatever I can to be kind and of service to others
  • I will do the things I need to do even when it scares the hell out of me.

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:

  • Do some lovingkindness meditation
  • Create a vision board
  • Keep a journal and write down your soul intentions
  • Create a ceremony about giving your vows to your soul intentions

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 🙂
 

Start The New Year With A Vision Board

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

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?

 

 

 

How To Empower Your Life With Creativity

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.

 

 

Believe In Your Potential

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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Empower Yourself – Eat Healthy Foods and Exercise

eat healthy food

Empower Yourself – Eat Healthy Foods and Exercise

The most common problem for women, especially women over 40, is to be out of shape, weigh too much and have no time. Most women are on double duty: Working, taking care of kids, taking care of husbands and households. No wonder it's daunting to find the time to exercise and pamper ourselves. 

It's hard to change from taking care of others to making time and taking care of ourselves. It's challenging to step out of the old patterns and  know where to start and how to change. I know, I've been there.

After my children were born I gained about 40 pounds and never got rid of the extra weight until I was 49. It just crept up and I had to get to the point where I was miserable, I did not feel good in my skin, I did not feel attractive, I got resentful. My marriage of 30 years failed and life was a huge mess. My children were teenagers at the time and instead of having a mom who was confident, fun and happy, I was depressed, controlling and in bad shape.

Eventually I started participating in support groups for women, immersed myself into self help books, learned who I am and what I need. So eventually, after hearing one too many times that I can only change if I take some action steps, I signed up for the gym. This step took some courage, but once I started I stuck with it. My diet changed, no more french bread, no more brie, no more roast and gravies, very little pasta and no more alcohol. I replace the white bread with coarse german ryebread, I added more steamed vegetables and salad to my diet and reduced my portions. The weight just kept dropping and I started feeling better and better, I bought new clothes and yes, I even looked good in a bikini!

Now 9 years later, I still look pretty good, but my exercise routine is getting old, my metabolism is changing, my favorite pants are getting too tight and there is a fair amount of flab bulging over my pants. I thought it's time to do something, but did not get into action, until a friend of mine introduced me to Visalus and the 90 day challenge. This sparked my interest, I signed up for the challenge and received the shakes and supplements a few days later. I had to publicly announce my goals on social media and keep track of my progress on the website., that was kind of hard but I did it, it helped me be more accountable.

Wow, how empowering that was, to see all these people comitted to fitness and living a healthier lifestyle, I was on fire. I signed up with a trainer and now I am learning that I have to change my routine around a little bit in order to have the disired effect. Some people told me that flabby upper arms are part of getting old, but my trainer said no, if I do the right exercises I will have tight arms in a few weeks, whohooo.

 I only wanted to lose 5 pounds, but the main challenge will be to replace the flab with muscles. I know I will be there by the end of the 90 days. I lost 3 of the 5 pounds already, so now I am going from replacing 2 meals a day with shakes, to just replacing one. It is totally inspiring to do this in a team with others.

I want you to be a part of this too. I want YOU to believe that you can do it, there is not I can't, there is only I don't want:-)  I am where I am because somebody else helped me to believe in myself.

 

 

Below the links to Marita's personal challenge videos:

Video 1           90 day challenge, please excuse the not so perfect quality 🙂

Video 2          Day 21 of  Marita's 90 day challenge

  

 Video 3           Day 35 of Marita's challenge

 

Check out the challenge by Visalus by clicking here

 

Are you ready for a challenge? Let me know