What do I want?

 
Today I was doing a guided meditation from the Chopra Center and the mantra was “What do I want?, What do I want?, What do I want?”

Many times when we ask people “What do you want?” the answer is happiness, joy, loving relationships, peace of mind. Our desires could be external, like material gains. They could be physical desires, like food, water, sex. Also we have internal desires, like emotional or spiritual-soul connections. We all could have different desires during our life on very different levels. They change as we evolve in our physical and spiritual life, and that’s perfectly fine. It is part of being human.

We may want a good job, a big house, more money. We wish to have a fit body, to enjoy good health. We want to connect more with our family and friends, be able to feel peace and enjoy life; these are different desires, and it is our birthright to ask the Universe and be opened to receive.

Deepak Chopra teaches that one thing is always the same for all of us; it is what he calls the heart desires: Attention, Affection, Acceptance and Appreciation. When we fulfill those desires of our heart, our life is centered which allows the flow of our needs on the physical, mental and spiritual level; we are centered in Love, which is what we are all about. “We are spiritual beings in physical bodies”, as Deepak teaches, and our center is Love. Our happiness comes only when we are centered in the heart and Love is the center of the heart.

So today when I was asking myself during my meditation “What do I Want?” I just centered myself in my Heart. I opened my heart to Love and imagined that Love was flowing from my body and covering the world. I asked the question “What do I Want?” and set my intention and my desires, without expectation, knowing that any intention that is coming from my heart centered with Love, will be fulfilled at the right time. I will be open to receive, not on my time, but at the time that the Universe feels that is my time.

Remember your heart desires: Attention, Affection, Acceptance and Appreciation. Also remember that this Love comes from the inside of your being to the outside world, not in reverse.The starting point is to fill your own heart with Love: Accept yourself, Appreciate yourself, bring Attention to yourself and give Affection to yourself. Then you will be able to give and receive.

Go to your heart and be opened to receive. When we open our heart to Love, the Universe will open for us and our question “What do I Want?” will be answered at the right moment.....It is up to us to be opened and listen when the Universe is giving us the answer. Namasté......

By:  Evelyn Torres for AwarenessWisdom
http://about.me/evelyntorres

The Power of Persistence

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.” --Confucius

Persistence and motivation are two qualities that go hand in hand. In order for us to accomplish success in reaching our goals, it is necessary for us to have great motivation and be willing to persist on our route, even when we find bumps on the road.

I remember reading a quote from Sam Walton, one of the founders of Walmart --”it was an overnight success that was 20 years in the making.”* Nothing in life is an overnight success. Many times when we listen to a singer sensation, a famous actor or successful entrepreneur, we just notice the results -- FAME, MONEY- when in reality just a few people are able to accomplish great things in life without going through disappointments and failures. Many of those people that we consider “successful” have spent many years of rejection and pain, but never giving up.

The secret of PERSISTENCE is PERSISTENCE itself. If one thing does not work, learn the lesson, move on and try another way. Helen Keller once said -- “We can do anything we want to do if we stick with it long enough.”* We all know how this woman was able to overcome so many barriers in her life and became an example to humanity --- Persistence, Persistence, Persistence.

We start with a vision of an accomplishment we desire, then we set our goals in order to reach that vision, but if we do not have commitment to work hard to reach our goals, it will be almost impossible to be successful. Commitment to our vision will give us the power to move any obstacles that we may encounter on the road to accomplish our goal. The degree of commitment that we might have will be consistent with our motivation. The more motivated you are to reach your goal, the more committed you will be to whatever needs to be done in order to obtain success.

There is NO MAGIC to success. From learning to bake a cake to establish and run a business, be willing to accept the lessons of the disappointments, fall to the floor, stand up, learn, learn again and then try in a different way. No guarantees on how many times you have to try before you enjoy success, but if you are committed to reach your goal, I can guarantee one thing, that the length of time will not be important because you will be living your dream even when you are still trying. Learn to enjoy the ride before you reach your destination and you will find many surprises --- that’s a guarantee!!

Never give up...  ---- the Power of Persistence....

*Quotes from the book:
  Life Coaching Activities & Powerful Questions by Phyllis Reardon

By:  Evelyn Torres for AwarenessWisdom
http://about.me/evelyntorres

Self-Esteem and Happiness

 
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” - Eleanor Roosevelt

The way we see ourselves is a key factor to our success on the accomplishments of our goals. High self-esteem is a very important quality for developing happiness, fulfillment, rich relationships, and overall success in life.

Many of us confuse having high self-esteem with ego. This is a misconception of this quality so important in our development. A person that lives on a self-centered mode or what we call ego, obsessed with themselves and usually obtain their fulfillment at the expense of others; usually people that are self-centered do not possess high self-esteem. They always feel that they are not enough, a void in their heart that will not allow them to reach any success or fulfillment unless they sabotage the happiness of others.

On the other hand, high self-esteem means being competent and capable to share our blessings at the same time that we can appreciate and honor the blessings of others. This acceptance brings joy, good relationships, love, fulfillment, and all the positive qualities that we attract when we are living our lives understanding that we are unique and that others around us are as unique in their own way as we are. This possibility of living our life is priceless.  

Negative self talk many times becomes part of our personality because we think that this is what will protect us from the world that we perceive as harmful to us. We do not feel competent or lovable enough to obtain what we want to receive and that self-sabotage talk is the excuse that we develop to explain our lack of success of our goals or our lack of positive relationships. Those excuses are the signal for us that we are living in fear, anger or any dysfunctional state that is in the way of our success.  We adopt the talk of self-pity, a dysfunctional talk from a victim perspective. I compare this negative self-sabotage talk to the mean girls that we all witnessed when we were in high school. We bully ourselves… and from my stand point of view, that is not a very healthy way to live.

So the question is “how can I elevate my self-esteem? The most important step will be to develop awareness to the self-sabotage talk that you might have every single day.

Practice every day these principles in your life. Make them part of your daily routine:

1. Validate yourself --- not only on your accomplishments, but on also on your failures.
2. Learn from your experiences and enjoy every opportunity to learn.
3. Have gratitude for the blessings in life. Gratitude is key to appreciate and to love.
4. Accept that the world is an endless source of abundance if you believe in yourself.
5. Expect success, happiness, good relationships in your life; be open to receive.
6. Commit yourself to your goals with a vision of success without being attached to any result.
7. Empower yourself to win without diminishing others.
8. Forgive yourself for any error that you made in the past and use the experience to grow.
9. Learn empathy for your flaws and imperfections; that is what makes you human.
10. Be patient with yourself.

Louis Hay, a person that I greatly admire, recently mentioned on a seminar I attended that her daily practice every morning, after brushing her teeth, was to look herself in the mirror and say to the image in the mirror - “You are SPECIAL, you are UNIQUE, you are LOVABLE, you are SMART… and I LOVE YOU”.  What a great time to work on your self-esteem... no makeup, no beautiful clothes, no jewelry, just the beautiful inside of you, the really you... I think that this is a great practice. Remember, practice makes perfection and we all are a work in progress.

You have to reach the point where you understand that you are not perfect, nobody is…..

Let’s work to elevate that self-esteem in order to obtain transformation in our lives! Be the best you can be because you are worth it!!!


By:  Evelyn Torres for AwarenessWisdom
http://about.me/evelyntorres

Looking for the Big Picture....

Are you so focused on the details that you cannot see the BIG PICTURE in your life?

Remember a time when you went to your favorite art gallery and you saw a painting and you could not understand the message from the artist. Then you noticed that you were too close to the painting trying to interpret pieces of the painting, so you decided to move farther and look at it from a different perspective. Then, like magic, you were able to understand the message of the artist on that piece of art. You saw the big picture…

The same thing happens to us in our lives. Sometimes we are so focused on the details that we get overwhelmed with those details. This takes us to a point where we cannot find any solutions to our questions or find a path to follow.  Too many pieces, too many questions…. No answers…

Many times when we are only looking at the details, we land in the territory of fear, because we do not have clarity on our thoughts; doubts of our potential takes the place that should be filled with wisdom. That is the moment when we have to stop, center and take a step back. By looking at the big picture of the situation we are trying to solve we are capable of finding more solutions align with our purpose and our vision.

Give it a try:
The next time you have a situation in your life where too many things need to be solved… STOP, center your awareness, maybe set some time for meditation (even 10 minutes will help) and then from that point you will be able to make better decisions. Get a different view from another angle and you will see how you will be able to see from a different perspective.

Do not miss the message by just concentrating on the details. See the BIG PICTURE!!!



By:  Evelyn Torres for AwarenessWisdom
http://about.me/evelyntorres

Think in "Shades of Gray"

Everybody set goals in their lives. We want a better job, we want a new home, we want to improve our health, we want to improve our finances; different people, different goals. But, what happened after we set our goal and it is not accomplished in the time frame that we set in our mind? Usually, we get frustrated and then we don’t continue trying to fulfill that goal.

We think in black and white (success or failure), and that is what is holding us back in reaching our goals. When we are able to rethink our goal and notice where we fail in order to get there, then we can adjust our path to the goal (shades of gray). By admitting our errors and making adjustments on the process to get what we want without looking at this adjustment as a failure, but an opportunity to learn and improve, we will be able to say that we are applying in our lives “Shades of Gray”. Recalculate your strategic process until you reach your goal. Remember, our time is not always the time of the Universe, so don’t be discouraged, and change the way you look at success and failure, by applying the colors between black and white to your life.

Try it this week, and you will be amazed on the changes you will see in your vision and the accomplishment of your goal ------ Think in “Shades of Gray”

By:  Evelyn Torres for AwarenessWisdom

http://about.me/evelyntorres