You get to choose...

Hello my dear readers,

hope you are well and enjoying the final weeks of 2012 :)

Here in NYC it got really cold and now that Christmas time is almost here, the city turned into a sparkling and glittery star - trees are covered in mini-light bulbs and Christmas decoration is placed all over the city! Tomorrow is THE day - the big Christmas tree will be lighted up - don't worry, if you can't be there, I will feed you with some nice pics :)

I'm sure it will be suuuper crowded tomorrow... so, I'm prepared for showing up with some good temper and patience. It is all about keeping your inner calmness in busy and stressful situations - my patience will be put to the test ;)

I have developed a pretty strong brain muscle to not let crowded places or cranky people get into my happy mood *happy-thoughts and smile* - But what do you do when something really stressful or bad happens? 

Unfortunately, we do not have influence on the things that happen around us - be it in your job, relationships, family, ...! Of course, we can act on the best of our ability to be a good human being, but certain things we cannot control - and often times 'just' thinking good thoughts won't help to improve your situation - and I'm talking about your own state of mind. 

Certainly, thinking positively does not prevent you from feeling pain (being left by your boyfriend or girlfriend, getting laid off, beating yourself up because you ate the whole box of cookies, *fill-in-the-blank*), but it is on YOU to choose what you will make out of this situation... will you go into the deep suffering state - sure every feeling and emotion needs attention and being with the pain for a while is more than okay, BUT what are you going to do next? Hide out and wait for better times OR take action!? 

Taking action means that you are stepping into your power to be the co-creator of your life. This can simply be that you say 'ok, this thing happened to me, NOW... What did I learn from it? Or how will I take the chance to grow and move on?'

The cool thing is you get to choose to be happy or miserable...

Take every breakdown as an opportunity to grow! Take every breakdown as an opportunity to rewire and recalibrate your energy! See every breakdown as the start of something new, and new is exciting because it means change!

This way you can be sure that you will have access to your full potential to fulfill your dreams and be HAPPY again :-)

Every breakdown is followed by a breakthrough! Trust in that!

Love,

xoxo

Feeling overwhelmed by your own plans?

The answer is simple: Appreciate the baby steps! 

Thank you my dear readers, this was the post for today - just kidding, but it is as simple as that...

Most of us have a plan for our life - we all thrive to achieve really great things, whether we are aware of it or not! One important thing to mention here is that the perception of great is different to each individual - some project their plan on career, others on family or personal development. Some of us have good patience to get to their desired state and others (like me) can't wait to get it all at once.

I'll admit to something here, my big ideas have changed over the years and have radically changed since I moved to NYC. The 'transformation' began on the day of arrival, when I took my first intenSati class - life has never been the same for me... Those who have been following this blog (You guys are awesome!) have witnessed my shift, which does not mean that I have become more patient with craving to get what I want ;) 

I have been developing big ideas of how I would imagine my career to be like as a coach and trainer *yay* and I created this plan aka how-can-I-get-there-as-quickly-as-possible! Unknowingly I have overloaded my mind with all those plans that I started to compare my efforts to the efforts of others and that I felt I had to do everything I could to get there as quickly as possible and to become greater. I researched the various classes and courses I could start, like right NOW and finish them preferably tomorrow. 

Even though I have been thriving and following my dream, I felt more disconnected to it than ever!!!

Only this week during a coaching call I was introduced to a great concept that has become my new mantra: 

• You are holding your vision >
• The feeling that is created within you is JOY, PASSION and HAPPINESS >
• Passion makes you take the first step, which leads to success >
• Then you have your vision in mind again >
• The feeling of joy and passion lead you to take the next step to get closer to the vision... >

It is like the most 'vicious' as in radically awesome cycle ever!!! 

The baby steps will always get you closer to achieving your goal and as soon as you start appreciating the baby steps, the whole journey becomes a joyous adventure for you. Moreover, by maintaining an overview of how you actually got from your beginning to your big YAY, you will have more moments of pride for yourself, which will fuel your creativity to make your YAY even more amazing!

For me personally this information helped me a lot to connect to my desire again and to see the next steps clearly (one of them definitely is to write this blog and to share my learnings with you :))

If you have similar experiences or if this was helpful for you... OR if you have tried the 'most awesome vicious-as-in-radically-awesome cycle'... I would love to read about all of it in the comments below :)

One motivating thing to remember is: FOLLOWING YOUR DREAM(S) SHOULD BE FUN AND JOYFUL! (not exclusively but a great deal of times!)

Thank you all! 

XOXO

p.s. The song for this post is Jordin Spark's 'One step at a time'  :)

The HAPPY Diet...

... What? The words HAPPY and DIET together in one headline - yeah, sure... crazy-cr*p again, right!!! No thanks! I'm outta here...

You might want to hear me out on this one here, I promise it is worth staying!

Today's post is inspired by Gabby Bernstein's vlog The Lovetarian Diet, in which she talks about exactly what I translated into the Happy Diet. Now, both include the two beautiful concepts of LOVE and HAPPINESS - coincidently the two emotions everyone is looking for having in their lives. 

Achieving love and happiness is strongly interconnected to the thoughts we think during the day. Thoughts are the food for our mind! We have been educated that healthy foods, rich in vitamins and nutrients feed a healthy and strong body *yay* We also know that greasy and heavy food does not contribute to our physical and mental health *puh*

The same thing is true for the thoughts that we think every day. Every thought we feed our mind with is going to have an impact on its well-being, in effect on our happiness and love.
By allowing negative thoughts to flood our system we let them become our reality, and as I elaborated in a previous post 'We are THE co-creators of our lives' we give so much power and potential away - let alone the beautiful moments of pure happiness and  joy! If we only hold thoughts of anger, self-criticism, judgment, jealousy, fear, _________ (fill in the blank!), how can we possibly expect to experience happiness and love 24/7!?!?!?
We do not expect our digestion system to easily digest crappy foods without longterm consequences - the same applies to when we keep thinking negative thoughts of "I'm not good enough! Others are better than me! I can't do that! Me???" - we feed our minds with heavy take-ins and expect to become more and more happy in our lives... Guess what, this does not work!

Being living proof that this diet works within a short period of time, I would like to share my routine with you :) all you need is commitment, faith and determination!

1. Breakfast: Meditation! Upon awakening I listen to a nice guided meditation that prepares me for the day ahead. Meditating is a great way to center in and ignite your personal greatness to spark into the world! You can consciously choose you thoughts and attitude - choose love instead of fear! Variations of this breakfast can be: morning work-out, journaling, reading in your fav book, waking up saying 'Thank you!', ...
2. Snack: Do something good that serves others! Does not have to be something huge, but a nice gesture to someone you know or don't know. Can be a nice text or email to a loved one, which you know will make the person smile. Or you hold the door for someone, smiling at a stranger or give up your seat on the subway for another person, who might be not as agile.
3. Lunch: Move your body! Get active, work-out, walk instead of taking the bus or elevators, sweat, smile and be proud of your accomplishments :) intenSatiiiii *yay*
4. Snack: Listen to uplifting music! What is the simplest and most efficient thing that will bring you out of a baditude?? MUSIC *yay* create your playlist and listen to songs with positive lyrics and energetic sound! I'm actually listening to my "Happy playlist" right now ;)
5. Dinner: Journal! I used to be a journal-avoider, was considered as waste of time... I couldn't be more wrong! We are used to writing down every important piece of information when we listen to a lecture or our boss telling us what to do next - How do you know that what your emotions and feelings tell you is less important?? Our minds are sort of our bosses... but here it is ok to question our thoughts! One thing is sure, our mind is probably the most adaptable boss we will have - so take advantage of it and choose to hold loving and happy thoughts and write them down! Also if you are not feeling all easy-cheesy-super-happy... JOURNAL, because it will give you the chance to look at your feelings on paper and I've experienced it multiple times that I had to start laughing at my anger/anxiety etc.

One more important thing: make GRATITUDE your WATER!!!

Adults should drink 2-3 liters of clear water per day, this is how important gratitude is in our lives. We can be grateful for sooo many things, e.g. to live in a healthy body, to be able to read this post right now ;) etc. Gratitude is a powerful tool to become conscious about how many things we have we can be pleased to have, but tend to take for granted! Showing appreciation for things and actions of others will attract more happiness, love and blessing into your own life!

Who joins me on this miraculous diet?
I AM a Happytarian!!!

Love, xoxo

p.s. in a state of love and gratitude our bodies are able to digest and take in the actual food in much more gentle way, that vitamins and nutrients can be processed to their highest potential = A happy soul equals a healthy and lean body!

Song for this post: Colbie Caillat - Think good thoughts

Thoughts and reflection in difficult times!

I am up since 7am, watching the news and getting as much updates on what is going on around the city! Sandy hit hard! No public transport since Sunday 7pm, train stations and streets are flooded, half of the city is without electricity and heating, ... I do not even want to get started on the devastating damage Sandy caused in the very South of NYC and New Jersey *terrible* 

The preparation started on Sunday already - I was having a wonderful brunch on the East side with one of my dear friends and as I was making my way up to my apartment, the thought of "oh, grocery shopping might be a good idea" crossed my mind ;) I was passing by people lining up in front of stores and still I wasn't feeling any pressure of moving faster to get into a super market - obviously the lines were in front of super markets to get prepared with water, food and other supplies for the upcoming and uncertain days...

Well, I spent about 1 1/2 hours in the super-market and I wasn't even sure what I was really preparing for - We don't have hurricanes in Europe!!! Fortunately everyone in the store was very calm and I could not sense any feeling of impatience as people were lining up through the aisles! Here is my survival cart ;) Got my veggies, water and coockies^^

So, I'm watching the news today, which I couldn't do for longer than 5 minutes yesterday!!! I felt really nervous about what is about to happen to a city that is with its surroundings inhabiting more than 20 Million people! This uncertainty was such a weird and insecure feeling... Obviously most stores and business were closed, so everyone was hiding out at home waiting for the storm to hit!

I couldn't be more grateful for my housing situation! (apart from the big old tree that we feared could fall on one of the surrounding buildings ;) but it didn't *yaaay*) and we taped the windows... just in case ;) 

Up here on the Upper East Side not much damage has happened - this morning I went outside and apart from small trees on Park ave everything seemed pretty calm! Totally different situation in the south of Manhattan, the other boroughs and New Jersey! If you follow the news you see the devastating outcomes of this hurricane! Being that close to a natural disaster like that, makes me aware and conscious about the necessity of being grateful everyday for waking up WELL AND SAFE!!! 

I'm sending prayers and love to every person out there who is affected to much worse degrees! May they have the strength and faith to move on in this terrible situation of loosing their homes, cars or of facing other major difficulties the storm might have caused!

I was watching Oprah's 'Life Lesson' on Sunday night! It was an inspiring show on the power of the words I AM with Joel Osteen. "What follows the words I AM will come look for you!!!" Oprah emphasized on the importance and power of gratitude in that connection as well - Saying the simple words THANK YOU, DANKE, MERCI, GRACIAS, Cпаcибо, GRAZIE, ευχαριστώ, ... in the morning before getting out of bed will make you aware that you can be grateful for just waking up in a healthy and strong body, a safe room and that there is a new day ahead of you! I believe that having such an awareness helps in dark hours as these were last night and still are for many people close to where I am right now!

Oh, I am getting spiritual again ;) but the truth is that this is all interconnected and even if we are not out there helping to cleanup, we can at least take care of having positive and faithful thoughts towards ourselves and others!

May everyone be safe in the aftermath of the storm! I hope that all of you are well and receive the help needed in case of emergency!

I AM so incredibly grateful for my family, all my friends and friends of friends who contacted me or contacted each other to find out if I and NYC are alright :) YOU ARE amazing - Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I love you and I miss you!

Xoxo

Spirit Junkie Sati = RoCkStAr-Awesomeness

Yesterday morning two powerful, beautiful and inspiring practices merged! 

intenSati and Spirit Junkie are both spiritual practices that have a common goal: to pursue happiness and strengthen our believe in miracles, by eliminating fear and doubts (the EGO) from our mindset and attitude!

For me personally this combo is magical - I am practicing intenSati joyfully and extensively (as you know^^) and I am reading and fell in love with Gabrielle Bernstein's book 'Spirit Junkie'! 

Spirit Junkie is telling Gabby's story and journey of how she became a miracle worker and spirit junkie and in her book, Gabby introduces the reader to very accessible ways to arrive at this desired, miraculous state of happiness and joy!

So, Patricia Moreno and Gabrielle Bernstein teamed up to host a Workin' it out event, combining both methods and bringing together communities, which left all participants to be inspired, sweaty, happy, smiling, transformed and grateful!

In today's post, I will let the pictures speak for themselves and let you become inspired by Gabby, explaining the affirmations of the intenSati workout!

The Power-Duo: Patricia and Gabby <3

Hildie and I *yay* <3

Tamara and I <3

Team Celebrate SatiSistas :) xoxo

Gabby is ready for the gospel and workout!

Warming Up & having fuuun :)

Gabby and I *yay* :)

Patricia and I <3

Gabby Gospel - We need more light-workers! Accepting and shifting from body identification to spirit identification! When you express your truth, you are a teacher!!! 

Egoeradicator *amazing* #Kundaliniyoga

Egoeradicator!!!

Thanks for making this miracle happen :)

Let's get sweatin' :D

Today is the day I embrace change
I choose to love myself again
My mind is free from false beliefs

I’m willing to see the truth about me
I’m letting go of fear I release all doubt
I’m a messenger of love I kick the ego out

I’m guided by love I’m full of gratitude
I’m loving my body and my new attitude

Thank you both! It was ah-mazing! *big-smile*

Photo sources: my phone, Gabrielle's & Patricia's social media channels (Twitter, Facebook)

My first intenSati class!

Yesss, I taught my first intenSati class :) it felt sooo good! I am still on this vibe teaching this class gave me! Sure, I was very nervous at the beginning, but the fact that I had one student, who is my dear friend too, took off a lot of pressure about getting the music and cueing right... I still need practice but, IF IT DOESN'T CHALLENGE YOU IT DOESN'T CHANGE YOU ;)

I was so psyched about teaching yesterday and I want to share my intro with you (almost as if you were there too ;D):

Hi dear warriors,

My name is Alexandra, i am from Austria and I am so grateful to be here today with you :)

How are you feeling? Energy level???

This is intenSati - it is made up of the words intention and Sati, which is the Sanskrit word for mindfulness.

IntenSati is the practice of combines powerful affirmations with intense exercise that make you feel and embody those affirmations.

My Personal connection - First read about the practice in German fitness magazine & first day in NYC 25th of July: where it all started @ the Workin' it out event! I knew I had to become an intenSati leader!

I am so happy to be standing here today... This is my first class and I'm nervous ;) 

Today's series is called the Warrior series and I love this series... There are so many powerful affirmations in there! And for today I picked the very first one, which is YES I AM COMMITTED TO LIVE A LIFE I LOVE (repeat) And for me this is such a powerful and strong affirmation, especially because I became clear about something in my life the other day, which caused me to shift my mindset towards many aspects of my life immediately... and that was that I tend to settle with OK states - that might be having an having an OK job, OK love life, following an OK diet, earning OK money, etc. 
How will I ever be able to truthfully life the life I love if I settle with OK!?!?!?! 

We all have visions of our dream job, home, love etc in mind, which we will block by settling with OK! Can you relate to that a little bit?! 
We have to be true to ourselves and others and allow ourselves to be unapologetic about what we really want! Honesty, clarity and having the right attitude are the key ingredients! Having faith in your miracle to come true is also essential - it might not come at your desired schedule but it will come!!! Have faith!

So tonight I want to call your unapologetic dreams and desires *MIRACLES* into your life!

Sit up nice and tall (close your eyes) and think of one area in your life where you settle with ok and now imagine that this area becomes uplifted, gets a little push (whatever that might be) into the direction of the desired state! 
And when you are ready come up into standing in ready pose and keep that image of your dream in the forefront of your mind!!

WarmUp...

Yay, that was the prepped intro for the class :) It was AWESOME! 

I am looking forward to have more Warriors join me on my weekly journey of teaching, having fun, being happy and training to be the change!

Warrior power :)

Next class, tba ;)

Love love love, xoxo

p.s. Today is the Spirit Junkie Sati event with Patricia Moreno and Gabrielle Bernstein - two powerful women, who inspire me a lot! Stay tuned for that in my next post...

An inspirational walk through Highline Park!

Good morning world :)

A couple of weeks ago I went to see the beautiful Highline Park in NYC! What was once intended to become a train connection on Manhattan's West side was transformed into a very nice and calm park next to the Hudson! Today I want to share some inspirational quotes from the various books and teachers I have been studying lately! Why this park and inspirational quotes?! Well, walking through this park and seeing all the railway rails, which are still there, made me associate this place with change! We all go through a lot of changes in our lives - new jobs, new apartments, new love, new goals, changing environments, changing thoughts, transforming habits and circumstances! Enjoy and get inspired <3

Our lives are determined by our thoughts, our attitude and our actions! That is how we co-create our reality - every day and in a very true way!

Become the witness of your thoughts! The outside world is the reflection of our internal state. We should support ourselves and our experiences by choosing positive thoughts!

What you've done is unimportant compared to what you are about to do. How you have erred is insignificant compared to how you are about to create!

Doubt your doubts and they vanish! Feel your fears and they fade! Let go of your worries and they will let go of you! Give all of yourself and you will have all!

I AM that. I AM free. I AM great. The words you say after 'I AM ...' are very powerful. You are declaring who you are, who you have been and who you choose to be!

Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter!

All shallow roots must be uprooted, because they are not deep enough to sustain you!

LOVE (in a Course of Miracles): the right minded emotion of peace and joy! <3

I AM in charge of how I feel and today I AM choosing HAPPINESS!

I love the ones who are in my life and make it amazing and I thank the ones who left my life and made it even more fantastic!

I've seen miracles just happen, silent prayers get answered, broken hearts become brand new - That's what faith can do!

Don't let anyone ever dull your SPARKLE!

I believe that happy girls are the prettiest :) I believe in miracles <3 xoxo

Someday everything will make perfect sense. So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason!

Dream, desire, imagine your life and yourself in a greater state than you are now. Know that what you desire is on its way and and expect to receive all guidance that you need!

Thank you Patricia Moreno and Gabrielle Bernstein for inspiring me every day - I love your books!

"The intenSati Method - 7 Principles to thinner peace!" represented my Kick-starter to allowing and welcoming spirituality and unapologetic joy into my life! The whole practice of intenSati has caused such a tremendous positive shift of clarity in my life that I couldn't be more grateful and happy about this experience :) And it gets me sweating a lot^^

And Gabrielle Bernstein's "Spirit Junkie" is my current source of inspiration! I love Gabby's approach to explaining our interconnectedness, our oneness and how she always strongly relates to her own experiences - that brings liveliness the whole journey and makes you think "I can have that too! And I want to have that too!" 

Funny story to how Gabby's first book "Add more -ing into your life" has found its way into my life: I was still in Austria and after reading the article about intenSati in the SHAPE magazine I went to Amazon to order Patricia's book and Gabby's book popped up as recommendation. I read through the plot and intuitively decided to order it too, without really knowing who she was or what i can really expect from that book! Something simply dragged me to the "Add to cart" button! 

I received Patricia's book a week later and read it twice within 2 weeks! Gabby's book had shipping delays even beyond my departure to NYC. And then I came across Gabby's website (gabbyb.tv), because she was interviewing Patricia (who happens to be a good friend of hers) for the promotion of Gabrielle's new book "May Cause Miracles"! Interview series with miracle workers - Patricia Moreno

OMG, how crazy is that!?! (I thought) There are no coincidences! Now, I have become a huge fan of Gabby's vlogs and Particia's daily Sati moments! 

And guess what - to make my smile and gratefulness for having these two strong women as teachers and inspiration in my life, they will be hosting an event next weekend in NYC together: Spirit Junkie Sati!!! I AM very very very excited :)

Thank you thank you thank you!
Happy Sunday, everyone :)
xoxo