2 fun strategies that help to leave old problems behind - check it out!

I love synchronicity, meaning that when you think, speak or deal with something more in-depth, you suddenly realize that this topic, person, group, community appears more often on your radar.
Has that ever happened to you? I'm sure it has.
The truth is that once we get interested or engaged in something (or someone^^) our brain gets wired to notice the topic of interest more and more consciously - and consciousness is the key word here!

I love these moments, when I think about something - as I had it yesterday with the topic of change and the new approach to dealing with problems or failure - everything I read and listened to afterwards, has dealt with the exact same topic!!! Coincidence... I don't think so!

Well, so much about my love-relationship to these small miracles (which always make me smile^^). The fact that the issue came up repeatedly after I wrote the last post, I decided that there is more that I have to say about this, and here it is ;-)

What do all problems have in common?

In one way or the other they have their sneaky roots in the past. Some are stronger and louder and we repeat them over and over again in our mind, with the effect that they (those sneaky problems) influence our being in the present; in fact, we cannot be fully present when we still dwell in our old problems or the failure that we did years ago...

We feel blocked to move on. We feel stuck with that problem FOREVER. We feel powerless to change. We think that we have tried everything and change simply does not work. We are terrified to get out of our 'comfort-zone'. (ironically we call it comfort zone, but it is really that comfortable??) One more... We might even feel embarrassed of having that problem, which leads us to hiding and concealing ourselves in fear of judgment from others.

Yuck - that sounds a terrible place to live from, doesn't it?

What is another thing that all those problems from the past have in common? They are IN the past, not the present - and that is the best thing about all this! THE PAST HAS PAST!!! That is the awesome and naked truth, because now all that is left for the problem to be there is YOU, and only YOU holding on to it!!!

I offer you some cures from NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) here, that have helped me in the past:

Oh, before I reveal some really juicy, fun and good stuff, I want to make sure that you are aware of the one single and most important prerequisite to be effective with those exercises: YOU'VE GOT TO WANT IT! You have to say with conviction: Thank you fear, problem, (fill in your blank), you've been around for long enough, I have learned my lesson - enough is enough!!!

OK, ready!? :-)

#1: Enough is Enough Pattern:

1. Think of five times where you felt having or even embarrassed by having that fear or problem.
2. Make a movie of all five scenes.
3. Put all 5 movie scenes together - one after the other looking ridiculous of having this fear!
4. Now, it gets really fun... make the pictures bigger and brighter, play circus music to it (my favorite and sooo effective :D) as you run the movie of all five times in a row looking ridiculous until you get more and more embarrassed!
5. Keep on doing it until you start to say to yourself 'OK, this is insane! Enough is enough!'

#2: Laugh away your Fears (very effective if you're like me - love to laugh ;))

1. Think of a time you laughed your a$$ off. A time you couldn't stop laughing. A time when you had to love so hard that milk came out of your nose (or whatever it was that you were drinking :D) Remember how that felt, what you were thinking and feeling vividly!
2. Keep going :D
3. Keep on laughing and dwell in the experience :D :D
   Still, keep on doing it -feel what you felt, think what you thought, see what you saw, and feel feel feel gooood!
4. As you keep having those giggles, begin to think about what you used to fear and notice that as you laugh at it how it begins to change in your mind - the shift in perception!

The best outcome will of course be accomplished if you follow both scenarios one after the other - the first is to really ensure that you are fed up with keeping that fear or problem around and #2 is a great tool to really begin to laugh about your problems.

What is it that we do about problems, addictions, fears that we have 'overcome' or 'left behind' (= they do not have an effect on your present, and YOU have put them into the past!)? Yesss, we laugh about them!!!

Why wait? Start now!

You deserve it :)

Can you think of one person in your life who could also benefit from these tips? 
Remember sharing is caring ;-)

I would love to hear from you, how it works and your unique experience!

Happy Easter =)

xoxo

About ChAnGe!

Wow, it's been a while...

Arriving back in Austria after spending 7 transformational months in NYC has been a process in itself.

'Gut Ding braucht Weil' is a saying in German that means that all good things take time to flourish/come out/reveal! And that's how it has been and felt for me for the past 4 weeks.

I am very blessed to have a family and friends, who welcomed me wholeheartedly and remained patient for my fully integrated arrival (sure, I was physically present, but I also had to let the busy NYC gal and conscious Sati-warrior arrive back in cosy Austria^^)

What I could actually say is that 'daily life' has me back - but what does that really mean?

Thanks to many amazing experiences my perception, awareness and consciousness of many areas in life have changed. Be it body-, relationship with myself and others-, conflict- and goal perception have transformed... to be very specific they are all ever changing.

 

 

With every decision we make, we change in a way. We let go of something old to experience something new. 

Now, this does mean that we dare to try new things, which in turn has us come out of our comfort zone and yes, we might 'fail' (important note: this is only a matter of perception!!!)

I listened to one of Tony Robbins' tapes yesterday where he brought this right to the point:

If I would ask you if you like to fail - sure, you would intuitively say NO (and think 'crazy gal' to yourself - and that's ok^^) Let me re-frame my question: DO YOU LIKE TO LEARN?

Hm, so as many things in life - a matter of definition! What does learning mean to you?

Tony's approach offers us a tool of handling situations that surprise us negatively, which he calls PROBLEMS ;)

I encourage you to rethink your model of approaching failure and problems - when we come from the place of being the curious student of life, failures all of a sudden turn into lessons and problems become the playground of experiences to learn from!

When you are courageous enough to take this new approach (and I know you are), you'll soon start to realize that you dock onto the same stations (aka problems), but your docking tools have changed!

So go for it and enjoy the worry-free student life :)

xoxo

p.s. good to be back *yay* missed the writing!

6 a.m. in NYC ;-)

I didn't think I could (would) do this...

In about 12 hours I will be up in the air - leaving NYC to go back home to Austria (returning time indefinite!)...

It is 6am and I'm wide awake, reflecting on my NY-moments and writing the last blog post in my beloved city...

Was it hard? Yes! Did I feel lonely and missing my dear ones in Austria at times? Yes! Did I have fun? YES! Did I enjoy it? To the fullest! Did I learn a lot? YESYESYES! Do I have a hard time leaving NYC? Oh, yeah! Am I excited to go home? Hell, yeah!

My NYC adventure started with going to an intenSati workout for the very first time on my very first day (actually the day I arrived in NYC) - having already signed up for leader training, to become an instructor. Kind of crazy, when you think that while being in Austria, I have decided to become an instructor for a workout that I haven't even tried yet - that was pure intuition that I followed and excitement for a workout that strengthens the mind-body-spirit connection!

God, was I blown away by what I intuitively signed up for - this was beyond what I could have imagined it to be. So much fun, joy, sweat, tears, love, faith, empowerment and oneness in one practice that has become my companion throughout the past 7 months!

My gut and intuition were right... and they most of the time are. But you have to dare and trust to make the intuition thing work. Dare to dream and go for your dreams - don't hold back, when your gut keeps telling you DO IT, you may consider your option to DREAM!

What will come with it is faith, trust and action - essential ingredients to make things work! The truth is that we always have a choice... to be faithful or hopeless... to trust or to doubt (a decision, ourselves, others)... to take action or to cocoon in self-pity and the belief of 'it is so hard'!!!

You might think 'right, this chick has lived in NYC for a few months and now she thinks she is Ms. Know-it-all' (your choice, hehe) - I'm not saying this is easy... there are days filled with faith, trust in the process and power *yay* and there are days where things go 'wrong', but once you catch yourself and CHOOSE to trust the process again, meaning that 'this is a lesson I need to learn in order to follow through and pursue my dream' - THAT is where the magic happens!!! This is the miracle!

Last weekend (Feb, 16&17) I got the unique chance to be at the Hay House 'I can do it IGNITE' conference, where Dr. Wayne Dyer told the story about an orange:

What happens when you squeeze an orange? - Sure, orange juice comes out, because that's what is inside!

What happens if someone pressures or squeezes you? Is it anger, defense, fear, doubt OR compassion, love, faith, strength, ...

What comes out of you is what is inside! The neat thing is, you can choose what is inside!

Gabby Bernstein also said it right: Real change happens when you allow yourself to see your crap. You will be given a tremendous amount of assignments - which represent the greatest opportunity to change and rise!

Always ask: 'What can I learn from this?'

Looking back, I was not always asking this question in difficult situations, but I can definitely say that I learned from all of them. It is all about awareness and consciousness about that we have a choice!

I AM deeply grateful and moved by all the beautiful people that I have had the pleasure of meeting and calling my friends - I hope to see you all soon, back in NYC or elsewhere in the world!

I can't wait to see my family and friends again after all these months *sooo excited*

Life is a gift and I love it ;-)

I will 'see' you all soon here, on Facebook, in person, Skype, etc.

Lots of love and have an amazing day!

Xoxo (last time from NYC)

Time to get real...

My last post was on change and has been hugely inspired by my current situation - another big change in my life is coming up! For the past 7 months I have been given the gift to live and experience mind-blowing NYC - and in about one week I will fly back to Austria. 

Those of you who have been following me on my journey know that I have changed a lot and immersed in personal growth through my intenSati practice, meditation, reading and Robbins-Madanes coaching training. 

These tools and practices have heightened my awareness to how I actually want to live my live - being a happy and free soul that is embodied in a healthy and fit body!

Discipline, self-control AND appreciation are key to living in integrity with who you want to be.

NYC offers so many crazy-great things, like green juice bars, raw food shops, fast food salad bars, vegetarian and dairy free food choices everywhere, hardcore workout routines (guess which one is my fav :D) and so much more ;)

After I posted The change formula a few days ago, I began to question myself if I'm really walking my talk here... What is this uncomfortable feeling when I think of my soon-to-come departure? It was FEAR (of judgment, sadness, powerlessness, being dissatisfied)!

Hm, what did I do with that fear... 'Coincidently' (haha) I read in an inspiring blog post by Mastin Kipp that said: in order to grow and learn, we have to do what we fear most!

Bye bye Fear... that went really fast - I am the co-creator of my reality!

Learning something new, exploring places and cultures, studying, reading, meditation, working out - intenSati ... fill in your blank ... means that we are GROWING and this equals CHANGE!

Every new experience and possibility to change is an opportunity to grow and expand.

What I want to say with this is that, only when we face our fears and the things we are most resisting, and then decide to take aligned action, we can actually break through old and limiting beliefs that prevent us from being happy and free!

Always ask yourself: what can I learn from this? 

Thank you all for reading and supporting! 

Love & miracles.

xoxo

p.s. to be completely real... I actually do not have to give up any of the things that I love so much now. their frame will simply change *new challenge* - I bought a juicer and I will teach intenSati classes in Austria *yaaay* AND happiness is an inside job!

pp.s. I was really terrified to publish this post, but I decided to do it anyways - facing my fears ;)

The change-formula

Change is easy.

What is she saying there??? Yeah, sure...!?

Is that what you're thinking right now - I understand, but I still stand behind this statement 100% and let me tell you why:

I am someone who seeks and embraces change (be it consciously or unconsciously). I need variety and spice in my life to feel fulfilled, but it does not always mean that these times are easy. 

Discovering that you are unhappy or not fulfilled in a certain area in your life is painful. There might be times when you manage to suppress and deny the discomfort but sooner or later it affects your everyday life. In my case it is definitely sooner than later ;-)

What to do in such a situation??? Hm??

And there it is... CHANGE!

The reason why we think change is hard is because we associate the whole process of being uncomfortable and unhappy for weeks/months/years until we reach a certain point, where we say 'No more!' with it. However, the actual change is a simple decision to do, feel, speak or act differently with the goal to be happier than before - sounds great, right.

Here is what we need to make it happen:

1) Willingness: we can wish, want or desire something but if we don't bring up the willingness within us to put the stake in the ground for what we want to be happy, we will miss the chance to live fulfilled and with integrity. To be willing to change is to show up for yourself - and honestly, what is more powerful than that!?!!

2) Strong enough reasons: in order to be able to change we need compelling and strong reasons - we have to create leverage why we want to take this step. Start with WHY!!! Why, do you want to improve your health? Do you want to look more fit or sexy? Do you want to have that promotion or job? You have got to want it REALLY BAD!!! Commitment and focus are key - what you focus on you become!!!

3) Action plan (I call it passion-plan^^): What are the steps that will get you there? When we start to break our goals down, two powerful things happen: 1. we appreciate the baby-steps, which allows more successes on the way and 2. we allow more space to really enjoy the process, because LIFE IS ABOUT PROGRESS AND NOT PERFECTION!

With that in mind, change becomes effortless and fun instead of scary and unpleasant. Sure, the real outcome is uncertain, but what if we make shift the negative suspension to the excitement for a surprise... we all love surprises don't we ;-)

"There's something inside every human being that will make it click...that today is not like yesterday, and tomorrow will be different forever, and that process is an emotional hook." ~ Tony Robbins

Looking forward to your thoughts on this! 

Take care & love,

xoxo

Are you up for a challenge?

A challenge that will boost your health, your happiness and your belief in your own power!!!

I AM living fit & excited for a great health challenge this month :) are you?

Something miraculous and powerful happens when we start taking care of ourselves, of our health - you realize YOU ARE PRECIOUS :)))
I'm very excited for this month's challenge and I hope join me!

Let's make it even more powerful... I put mine out here in writing again:
1) no refined sugar
2) one green juice a day
3) no white flour

Let me know what your 3 challenges are, in the comments below!

Making yourself accountable for something is very powerful and enhances the probability to follow through and succeed!!! Isn't this what we all want!? ;)

I'll see you soon :)
Lots of love,
xoxo

Physical exercise: feel good and MORE...

Wow wow wow, today was an amazing day - I mean really!

I'm so fired up... I guess the close end of my time in NYC makes me embrace and appreciate every minute in this magnificent city even more ;) also I attended a great event today - an intenSati class that was followed by a lecture both led by Wendy Suzuki, intenSati leader and professor for neuroscience and psychology at NYU.

intenSati was AH-MAZING (as usual) and the lecture's topic was about Wendy's latest study: Can exercise change your brain?

Here is a little review of the evening and some food for thought ;-)

Hope you enjoyed the video!
All comments and thoughts on this are very welcome :-)

BE the master of your craft & life with passion!

Lots of love,
xoxo

Impressions from my trip to D.C.

This weekend I visited the United Stated capital city - Washington D.C.

Beautiful and calm (probably I'm saying this because I have lived in busy Manhattan for the past 6 months) city with amazing buildings and friendly people.

This weekend was also a special one: Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the 44th president of the United States was inaugurated and I witnessed the preparations for this big national event.

Enjoy the captions of some moments of this weekend :-)

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The Smithsonian

George Washington Memorial

CNN reporting on inauguration day!

View on the GW Memorial from Lincoln Memorial!

Lincoln memorial

Happy ME :)

Huge and clean subway stations - getting spoiled here & not missing NYC that much to be honest ;)

When you wish upon a star *love*

Can't touch this ;)

Thomas Jefferson memorial

apparently girls like to take pics like that... this time I followed the trend ;D

Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial *beautiful* *mindful*

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today!

Let us move forward with strong and active faith!

Martin Luther King Jr. memorial

freakin' cute squirrels

 

Ice-skating in Georgetown!

I hope you enjoyed some pics instead of writing for a change ;-)
Sending you lots of love from NYC (again) and watch out for miracles!
Xoxo

Reflections & outlook :-) week 1!

Wow, amazing - week 1 of my May Cause Miracles journey is completed!

The past week has been about becoming miracle minded - that meant for me/my translation: Breaking free from limiting and fearful beliefs... letting go of self-doubt, fear, the 'I can'ts...' and the negative self talk that kept holding me back. In intenSati classes I called this voice the inner mean girl ;-)

This week I have (continued) built the muscle to consciously decide NOT to listen to my inner mean girl (= fear) and choose LOVE instead! This is also what intenSati is about and once I understood that personal development/growth is like building a muscle, committing to a daily practice has become effortless, even more it has become necessary and an integral part in my life!

The upcoming week is going to be about creating a new perception of YOURSELF!

Gabby is guiding the reader through the nitty-gritty of self-love (in the self-empowering way)! 

For me personally, self-acceptance and self-love are essential in order to have the strength to bust through your blocks and to pursue your inner-most desired dreams! Sometimes we are not even aware of the way we play small and that we let our inner mean girl/boy run the show.

Take a minute and ask yourself:

What would happen if you would operate from a self-accepting and -loving place? What would you be capable of achieving and believing?

I love asking these questions - psst... inner mean girls tend to be speechless this way, which allows you to listen to your authentic self!

Have a great week and I will be back with a reflection next Sunday!

Love & Miracles!

xoxo

MayCauseMiracles - Expect MIRACLES!

Today I expect miracles!

Being a student of A Course in Miracles, one of my most favorite definitions of a miracle is: 'Miracles are natural. When they don't occur, something has gone wrong.'

As I already mentioned in one of my video messages, a miracle is also a shift in perception! This means that if we choose love over fear, we set the ground for miracles to occur naturally!

Through the practices of this week - witnessing, willingness, choosing, forgiveness - we surrender our fear and false perceptions and are ready to let the miracles into our lives.

Love,
Alexandra

MayCauseMiracles - FORGIVENESS is running the show!

The F - Word!

Learning to forgive on Day 5 (Friday, in my case!)

Forgiveness is the bedrock of a life filled with love and miracles. Practicing forgiveness allows us to let go of our old fear-based past and center into the present moment.

~ May Cause Miracles

In past posts I have already begun to emphasize the importance of living and appreciating the present moment. One thing, I would like to point out is that most of my posts have always related to what is going on for me and what I'm currently working on. Sooo, I definitely practice on being more present rather than thinking about the future, which is usually very faithful, positive and exciting (sometimes a little stressful too, being totally honest) or thinking/obsessing about the past and my past experiences. As much as we can get energized and fired-up from lovely experiences from the past, we can detour into a fearful reality if we put our attention to negative memories. When we go into our past and unpleasant experiences it often has to do with things we have done or have been done to us, where we hold a lot of resentment, pain and anger within ourselves.

How shall we be present and live in the NOW, when we obsess about past resentment???

It is our task to forgive in order to become happy and present in the current moment! Forgive ourselves, forgive others, forgive the circumstances! Own your part, forgive and forgive the other!

This sounds like a huge task and it is challenging at the beginning - personal growth is like learning to play an instrument, play a sport, create a skill! Personal growth is like growing a muscle... you are training your soul, your brain and your mental abilities *yay* so, you are doing something great for yourself and others :-)

The moment you are able to say 'I forgive ...' is the best start! Even if it is hard to feel forgiveness at first, it gets easier over time! In Gabrielle Bernstein's 'May Cause Miracles' one day is dedicated to the F-word every week *aaawesome*

So stay in the F-game and be patient and the miracles will show up naturally :-)

Lots of Love&Miracles!

yours,

Alexandra

MayCauseMiracles - GRATITUDE is my attitude!

For the next 6 weeks, on Thursdays I will indulge in a full day of GRATITUDE!

I have picked up the attitude of gratitude as a daily practice a while ago - upon waking up I usually say 'Thank you' (for a new day, a new perspective, for the chance to do and think differently) - I picked that habit up from Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Wayne Dyer :)

Gabrielle Bernstein emphasizes the following in May Cause Miracles:

The ego loves to seek problems and focus on what we don't have!

When we focus on what we don't have, how can we possible be happy? How can we live freely with dissatisfaction with what is?

Dedicating one day of the week to become consciously grateful for the things and people you have in your live will free you from your ego beliefs and is a genius practice. Thank you, Gabby!

Today, the miracle worker is challenged to revisit the fear list from Day 1 and to acknowledge the learning and experience to be actually grateful for. Additionally, another gratitude-tool is the great gratitude list - What are the things you are grateful for in your life at this moment? (List 10 things!)

It is very powerful to see and understand that without the experiences, that you have perceived as fear and have created resentful beliefs, you wouldn't be where and who you are today!

All problems offer us the opportunity to strengthen our faith in love. It may be difficult to see that opportunity in some problems - but be willing to see growth and opportunities in all difficult situations. ~ May Cause Miracles

So, I challenge you, my dear readers to make a list of things you are grateful for in your life! And how could you turn one of your fears around and see love and learning instead?!

Thank you, my dear readers! You are on my list, by the way ;)
Love & miracles
xoxo

MayCauseMiracles - Only LOVE is real!

Hello my dear readers,

for the next couple of days I will be back in writing with you (instead of video-blogging) - I caught the flu and therefore I'm covered in sheets with tea and tissues! Enough of the whining - I'm the sneezing warrior^^

It is Day 3 of the May Cause Miracles transformation journey and I have taken or prepared you well for this piece (as I said I'm reading one chapter one day at a time!)...

Today it is important to acknowledge and really get that fear is only false evidence appearing real and that ONLY LOVE IS REAL!

There is always a choice to make - ask yourself, will I see this (situation, problem, feeling, ...) with love or fear? 

Let me assure you that there is always a loving perspective - even if you simply keep saying to yourself 'Love did not create this!' or 'I consciously choose love instead of this!'

If you go through your day and you manage to remind yourself about these few words a.k.a miracle mantras, you are in a great place to move towards your desires and goals! Because you cannot create from a fearful, doubtful and resentful place!

This passage of the chapter really got me:

Our fear-based minds believe that change is tough and self-reflective work is difficult. But let's face it: being consumed by fear is far more difficult than showing up for love - we're just tricked into thinking fear is "easier" because it's more familiar! ~ May Cause Miracles

So get your love-mind ON & expect miracles :-)

Love, health and light!
xoxo

MayCauseMiracles - Choose LOVE instead of this!

We always have this choice...

... I choose LOVE instead of this ... <3 ...

Lots of love,
xoxo

MayCauseMiracles - BE the witness

I am willing to be the non-judgmental witness of my fear!

FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real... do I need to say more!?! ;-)

Love & miracles!
xoxo

Happy 2013 :-) new year, new style, new challenge!

**^^**HAPPY NEW YEAR**^^**

Hope you all had a great start into the new year :) 

Have you made some thriving resolutions for 2013? 

I personally looove setting goals, especially when the new year starts - it is like a new beginning, a re-birth! You can decide to do something totally new, with a new attitude and the power of a new-year's intention! Remember... your intentions create your reality, as Wayne Dyer says very wisely!

And I have decided to get one step closer to my goal and I signed up for Robbins-Madanes training to become a Strategic Interventionist! Master coach Tony Robbins and well-respected psychotherapist Cloé Madanes joined forces and created this amazing education for people who strive to become a coach and much more! Yay, coaching career... I'm getting there :-)

You might also notice that the design and style of my blog has changed - I find hummingbirds adorable and they have a glorious symbolism too <3 hummingbirds are known as messengers and stoppers of time, due to their incredible speed. Also the smallest bird in the world is known as a symbol of love, joy, and beauty. It is able to fly backwards, which symbolizes that we can look back on our past, but we must not dwell on it; we need to move forward. The hummingbird teaches us that we should savor each moment, and appreciate the things we love.

If you follow me on Facebook you might have noticed that I have picked up a new book from  one of my great inspirations - Gabby Bernstein's "May Cause Miracles"

Since this book is a 40-day guidebook with wisdom and ah-ha moments for every day, I decided to start a video blog about the journey!

I'm thrilled (and nervous) to present you my very first video blog... tadaaa... daddaaaaa...

Hope this received you well and let me know what you think in the comments below :-)

Love & miracles!

Xoxo