Searching, letting go and MIRACLES...

Visualizing, 

manifesting, 

vision-boards,

praying, 

meditating, 

affirmations, 

feeling, 

searching,

goal setting,

what do you do to get what you want in life?

I do pretty much all of the above and sometimes more than one at a time ;-) 

All of those are great tools to get clear on what it is that you want in your life. However, there is a chance that this is not enough! 

Hm... I used to be manic in searching for what I want, until I understood this:

Sure, it is very important and great to have a plan and direction for where you want to go and how you want to live your life. There is nothing wrong about thriving for a great career, the relationship of your dreams, the 'perfect' body, etc. 

By applying one of the techniques above, you want to achieve your goal the way you imagine it. You might think: 'What is wrong about that??' The answer is: NOTHING! 

But since it is a great goal that you want to achieve, as human beings we tend to obsess about our desire and become very impatient for it to come true. If you tell yourself: 'When is it going to happen...When, when, when?' that is when you are in the manic-search-spiral!!! 

We get hooked onto a certain outcome or goal that we block ourselves to the infinite opportunities around us! Through this ever-searching neediness, we will become desperate for the things to happen our way and we risk losing the faith in our power, if they don't!

What we need to do is free our mind from pre-set outcomes and let the universe do her thing - once we start to relax, miracles will occur naturally!

Have you ever 'given up' on a dream or a goal, by accepting your current state and suddenly your dream materialized?!? 

Again, it all comes down to being present and putting your full attention on the present moment. Seeing the opportunities right in front of you will be easy, because you are not busy looking to and obsessing about the future anymore. By letting go of your expected-future-reality, you open up to far greater experiences than you could imagine.

For attracting what you want, all you need to do is to set the intention - YOUR INTENTION CREATES YOUR REALITY! ~ Wayne Dyer

I set the intention to live a life beyond my wildest dreams - I'm committed to live in the present moment with curiosity, gratitude and openness!

What is your intention?

Hope you are enjoying your holidays :-)

Love & Joy

Reflections on expectations!

One could say expectations have been a loyal companion throughout my life. Where ever I could find something pleasant (!) to expect I did and I became really good at creating fantastic illusions around these expectations, be it in relationships, career, you-name-it... Of course, I was on a super-high when everything worked out, happy, strong, faithful, etc. 

But guess what happened when it didn't - crazy-town was the next destination. My ego/inner-mean girl would be supported in her strong belief 'You are not good enough' or 'If you would have done it this way, you would be happy now!' 

But what if you could be on that super-happy party of feelings all the effin' time!!! Note: if you CHOOSE to do so! Release your expectations - and here is why:

I personally had a hard time understanding why having expectations is bad; and then I found the answer by experiencing being expected to be or work a certain way myself. 

The truth is that the person, we put expectations on energetically feels that they do not act the way we want them to. But who are to tell the other person how to BE!?

Usually when we do that we come from a place of lack ourselves - we are unhappy with a certain situation or we want more than we currently have. The important thing we have to realize is that we are making the other person feel that they are not good enough, if they cannot meet our expectations.

Have you ever heard: 'You deserve better!' - Yes, you had some high expectations there!!!

 

Essentially we should be grateful for the presents the person gives us in the present (I love this beautiful word game^^). Of course, we appreciate the great feeling that we have of meeting someone or finding a new job or co-worker, but we crave for more, it's like sugar. We crave more and more and more and develop this story/illusion in our head, until we realize we have put our health (relationship, job, -self) at risk, because our ego's expectations might not correspond with the other person's plan or personality. And then we feel hurt, angry, not loved or resentful against the other person for not making us happy, while we know that HAPPINESS IS AN INSIDE JOB :-) read on...

Another thought why having expectations will not lead to the super-happy feelings is, there are things in this world that we have no power of controlling them. It is simply impossible to have full control about WHAT happens in our life - and here comes the biiig BUT, we can choose HOW we see and think about the things happening to us and what we will focus on. 

Rather than focusing on the future (projecting new expectations), focus on the NOW!!! 

I have to tell you this is a great challenge for me too because I have to say good-bye to my year long companion and invite the faithful dreamer in, who is able to handle situations and people from a place of gratitude and power over negative emotions.

The very good news is, life has become very light - my new companion is a really freeing and uplifting fellow :-)

I hope you all have a reflective pre-Christmas time, without having expectations - BE happy and grateful & watch miracles occur!

Lots of love,

xoxo

Giving is fun - Join The Great Give project!

Nur noch 15 mal schlafen dann kommt das Christkind!

This is what I used to say when I was a little girl, waiting for Christmas day to come - counting the nights that part me and the greatest night of the year ;-)

And today we are close to Christmas day, which I have to spend (physically) apart from my family for the first time in my life this year. This is a great challenge for me because I'm a great family-person and madly in love with the tradition of Christmas as being together with your loved ones and grateful for the great gifts we give each other (not necessarily of material nature^^) everyday.

My mother is the best in the world (to me and my sister^^) - she has sent me two beautiful boxes with Christmas decoration and the obligatory Adventkalender (actually there are 2 of them) ...

My favorite Austrian Christmas traditions have been sent to me *yay* Thank you!
I wanted to share this beautiful gift with you, but my greater intention for this post today actually is the following: A project that I joined today and would like you to participate in as well! It is about GIVING something to someone everyday!
Most of the time we come from a place, where we say 'What can I get??' rather than 'How can I give or serve?' Without realizing one important thing: the more you give, the more you get! And this is true for all areas in life - love, relationships, truth and wisdom, job, money, etc.
When the holidays get closer we get reminded of this more intensely... greater reason and opportunity to take action ;-)
Let's be honest, giving and making others happy feels good - and let's admit something else: WE ALL WANT TO BE HAPPY! Think about it...
When you genuinely give more, you will also receive more! 
So here is 'the Great GIVE' project, which was started by Abby Allen, intenSati lover, ad exec, yoga teacher, urban goddess warrior, who is on a mission to spread the magic of giving!
The challenge is to give something to someone everyday - whether you give heartfelt advise, a smile, a donation, a compliment, an expression of gratitude - just something that serves someone else and brings joy to their life! And report your great givings on this website: greatgive.us

Here's what I've been experiencing since I started participating in this amazing initiative:
The opportunities of giving are infinite if you pay close attention!!! This is very much related to my realizations about miracles ... It is great fun and joy to be able to say to yourself (or/and on the great give's website^^) 'Yay, I just gave something to someone' and recognize how it feels! I'm pretty sure veeery good :-)

Let me know if you are in - I'd love to share the giving all over the world! Tell your friends - make it a fun and engaging project and watch miracles occur! Christmas time is the time to share love <3

Have a wonderful week!
Love & Joy
xoxo

Do you see the miracles happening in your life?

Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong.

This is one of the principles of miracles in a meta-physical text, called A Course in Miracles, which has been repeatedly present in my mind lately. Feeling poised and ready for this, I officially started studying the course. It is a complete self study spiritual thought system that is laid out in three volumes - I began with studying the lessons yesterday (there are 365!)... One day at a time ;-)

But back to the daily miracles that are happening right in front of you... Are you familiar with synchronicity? I looove it! 

Have you ever thought of someone and the person texted, emailed or called you all of a sudden?! 

Or have you ever read a book, article or watched something and the information in there was the topic of your next conversation with others (not initiated by yourself, of course^^)!? 

Have you ever envisioned a situation, a desire, a wish, a feeling (fill-in YOUR blank) and all of a sudden you are living it!?

If you can answer all, some or at least one of the above (rhetorical) questions with YES - Congratulations, you have been experiencing miracles :-) YaY!!!

Do not freak out if you think that this has never happened to you, because it is simply not true! You were probably too busy or focused on other things to consciously realize it and now you are unable to remember it... Don't worry, your miracles are always there, you have to simply be open and curious to watch them occur.

What I want to emphasize on in today's post is really to make you aware of how much fun it is to see and honor the miracles happening in your life! 

The small miracles count too! When you experience this synchronicity of attracting people, conversations, events etc. into your life you immediately get a vibe of 'yeah, I AM powerful!'

A little story about one of my miracles this week... I had the intention to buy scented joss sticks this weekend, in order to create a nice atmosphere when I write my next blog post - so here I AM :)

And my dear dear friend Lucy (I love you and I miss you!) has sent me a gift box, which I picked up Thursday night...

... I was brought to tears of joy and gratitude by the sweet packaging and when I opened the parcel, guess what I found in there, besides some great heartfelt gifts: scented joss sticks of various forms :-))) sooo amazing! I really planned on buying them, now I don't have to and I am marinating in this feeling of 'wow, our energy is so strongly connected even if an ocean is between us' ... very emotional, I know but the point that I want to make here is that if you begin to see, honor and acknowledge all these synchronistic things (I call them miracles) happening in your life, you get more conscious about what you are creating - the good and the bad - and it is fun to say 'ha, look what I created there'! Plus, you become more mindful about what is happening around you! 

Life is not happening TO you it is happening THROUGH YOU!!!

With this I will leave off and wish you a wonderful weekend, lots of fun, love and miracles :-)

Xoxo

p.s. I know, I promised pics of the Christmas tree lighting... unfortunately there was no way getting close to the tree, too many people (even 3 hours before the show started!!!) - So we watched the miracle in a bar on TV ;-) xoxo

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