SiX Inexpensive Tips to a Happier YOU

It all starts with YOU. It is your movie and you are the ACTION star. You have the power to take action in your life. You deserve to be happy and stress-free. I want you to be happy and stress-free. I want you to be well.

Here are the gifts that I want to share with you:

1. Get Organized. It makes life so much easier when you know where to find what. Invest on jars, boxes, and BPA-free plastic organizers (no more toxins!). Label them with stickers. Clean your closet and donate stuff you no longer want to keep (or designate a box for all the stuff that you no longer want to keep but still somehow have an attachment to and let it sit until you are ready and you feel good about it). Donating is the ultimate recycling! Being organized helps so much with time management and being punctual. Use your smartphone or computer calendar for your appointments. Set an alarm. A notebook is very handy for quick lists and thoughts that you do not want to forget (you’ll never know when creativity oozes out of you!). Create a journal. I use this app called Day One on my iPad to write down all the things that I accomplished and did not accomplish for the day and many more. It is fabulous!

2. Self-love and Self-care. These two are partners–meaning you can only show yourself true love when you start caring for yourself. Screw all the things you have to do for other people. You first. Always. I know we can be selfless at times because we want to be helpful and show our love and dedication to our work and the people we care about, but we can’t give our best if our own basic needs are not taken care of (the people who depend on you also want to see you happy). YOU FIRST before your employer. Eat good and never settle for less (I mean get rid of junk food and all that processed shit that they sell at the grocery store and fast food). Learn to listen to your body. Care for yourself and love yourself. Set aside a special time for you everyday whether it’s meditating for 15 minutes under the sunshine or taking a long walk, or screaming in your car to let out some anger and frustration…whatever YOU like to do for yourself. You deserve it. Take it. I love long baths, snuggling, and good food.

This image courtesy of Foodmatterssays it.

3. Surround yourself with people who are good and inspiring to YOU. When you are surrounded by inspiring people, you will be reminded of your own potential. Notice how this reignites your own power and the power of your own imagination which will allow you to be more creative and bring creation in your own life. It makes you want to show up as a better version of yourself everyday and “say bring it on!”. Take notes of the things that will come up for you once you decide to enter a transition. Be aware of your self and what you want in your life. If you are not feeling that great or that good about what you are doing, fake it till you are it. Think about reinvention and not being ashamed to reinvent yourself. Instead of being jealous and insecure every time you see someone you admire, be that person. Be the person you want to admire. Remember that you will be accepted by the people who truly loves you no matter what you are, who you are, or what you do. (And minimize seeing or talking to people who create stress & drama in your life but you still want to be friends with. Seriously.)

4. Be honest. Stop lying. Stop talking shit about yourself. Stop talking shit about other people. YES YOU CAN. When you are living an honest life, you are taking care of your soul. Because LYING IS EXHAUSTING to the self and the soul. When you are being honest and truthful in your ways, you become clearer on who you are to yourself, who you are to others, and who you are in this world. It feels good to carry the truth. YOUR truth (and not someone else’s).

5. Show up and be productive. Whether you are self-employed or have an employer or you are a homemaker, KICK ASS in your work. Be mindful of your work–even if you hate your work. Doing shitty at your work and the work itself won’t make you feel good. Show up and use your skills and talents. Show up for YOU. Feel good with your accomplishments. Our work is a playground where we are given an opportunity to shine and inspire other people.

6. Share your smile and goodness. You are here and this is an opportunity to share YOUR being. Share yourself to your loved ones. Share yourself to the world! Believe that you have the power to influence and inspire the lives of those around you. Share. It feels amazing.

Let It Be: Breaking-free From Expectations

We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you’ll have no problem.
-Trungpa Rinpoche

Over the past week, I’ve been observing my own process of letting go of the expectations that I have of myself and everything else around me.

I remember the moment when I decided to begin the journey of seeking my spirit, I was really excited to break free from the routine of having to be somewhere for 8 hours. I created a line-up of the things that I have “expected” to get into which for the last 3 months has kept me occupied. I’ve always had an attitude of creating challenges in my path and of doing things just for the sake of entertaining the part of me that fears to be empty.

I go into cycles of disappointment and redemption doing these things, these so-called challenges that I have put up for myself. In my head I already have expectations of doing so well, that everything I do will be perfect. I get hurt when it doesn’t turn out the way I expected things to be or when things are not done in a specific way a.k.a “my way”.

I started feeling how my expectations are beginning to suck the joy out of me. I am becoming the victim of my actions. I was trapped in my own trap of expectations. Everything was getting so shaky. I fear being empty. I fear not doing anything. I fear not knowing. At the same time, I was also beginning to fear that I am once again doing things that I don’t want to do.

It was in a recent conversation with my husband, Scott, that opened my eyes to the truth that I am using my imagination to get stuck instead of using it to create possibilities. I can turn things around by using the imagination in a way that benefits my well-being, TO CREATE POSSIBILITES.

It is so easy to create our own suffering, it is so easy to cause our own pain.

The things that we run in our imagination doesn’t turn out the same version as it is in our reality. This will always be the truth. Reality is its own version. Reality is the course of the present moment,

In healing myself from this experience, I must always remind myself that,

I am choosing to let go of my fears, first by no longer masking them,

I am embracing my fears by trusting my experience of the present moment,

I am allowing the journey to take me where I need to be,

I take responsibility of my well-being,

I express,

I enjoy,

I stop when it’s no longer fun,

I am fully trusting myself,

I am bestowing loving kindness upon myself by being very honest with everything,

I am practicing compassion, compassion, compassion towards myself and all beings around me, especially in annoying situations.

I see my being as open-ended,

I am loving and respecting myself by accepting and embracing who I am right now.

Leaving my old mantra of “Being Broken”

I spent almost my entire life thinking that I am broken (or that a part of me needs to be fixed). I feel residues of shame from my childhood come up every now and then. That somehow if something can be changed in the past, it would make a huge difference in my present. My thoughts get very dark sometimes but I can handle it.

Last night I realized that this is false. I am not broken. I just spend too much time believing the thought of being broken that I built a wall between myself and my experience of reality that often times hinder my ability to express my presence.

During a recent conversation with my husband about the way I produce sound when playing the piano or the violin, he said he noticed that there is a moment of retreat in claiming to be good at it. My violin teacher said the same thing to me today.

This is true, it happens. I get into the flow of the music until I start to get in my head about it. I panic. Then I lose focus on the notes and begin to stumble my way through the piece. Then I stop. It feels like a perpetual cycle of dissatisfaction with myself and it needs to change. My inner work is to learn how to get present when I panic and remind myself that I am good at this. I am good and I can refocus on playing because it is what I love to do. It’s one of the many things I love the most, making music.

I am grateful for meditation. I am reconquering my kingdom. I sat and meditated on this subject that I am dealing with:

“Breathing in, I know I am breathing in,
Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
I play music with my hands of love,
I am in the now and I am healing my wounds.”

Happy Friday!!!

With much love. Always.