Ponder This…

What do you love?  Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?

When we can recognize what it is that makes our hearts sing, there is no telling our capacity to impact change in this world. Doing what you love is not only an open expression of the love you have for yourself, but of the love you wish to share with the world. When we actively ignore those things that bring us alive, we deny ourselves, and the world from experiencing our purpose. Love yourself.  This is not an act of selfishness. This is an act of self acceptance. It is the acceptance of your authenticity and greatness and this is something we all carry.  No one person is more or less deserving of loving each and every moment of their lives.  When we demonstrate love through our actions and decisions we connect to our truth. We step into our power and manifest for ourselves the lives we always knew we could have.  Love it up, and create change. In the immortal words of The Beatles, all you need is love.

Ambition in the City

Happiness Challenge Day 4

 

September 11th, Day 4 of the Happiness Challenge

1. Music makes me happy. It always amazes me how a particular song can impact me in such a powerful way. No matter where I am, certain songs have a way of transporting me back in time. Whether they help me to remember a loved one or empower me to keep fighting the good fight, music has a very special place in my heart. I still remember all the songs I used to listen to during those long drives with my mom on our mommy, daughter days. The song that was playing when I first got my heart-broken and the songs that remind me of those people who are longer by my side. Music comforts me in times of struggle and bring me closer to my power when I feel as though my situation appears hopeless. No matter the style of music, I can always I can always count on its ability to move me. I admire the individuals who create such works of art and I appreciate them for bringing such beauty to this world.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.” Plato

2. Embracing my emotions makes me happy. As a cancer I am by nature an emotional person. Rarely can I ever hold back  or hide the way I feel. Often sympathetic to other feelings, I struggle at times with the idea that I must take on others emotions as my own. While I recognize this within myself it is not an easy task to master. Everyday I welcome the emotions that stir from within me. I embrace and acknowledge them in the moment and do my very best to share my feelings whenever appropriate. Ignoring or pushing these feelings down has never served me. Historically it has only led me to brood over the things that make me unhappy. This only serves as a barrier to forward movement. Today I consistently practice embracing my truth. Whether pleasant or unpleasant our emotions are meant to be heard. They guide us to authenticity and to greater learning.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart” Helen Keller

3. Practicing self-love make me happy. As a life coach I encounter quite a number of people whom struggle to love themselves. “I am not enough” is often a common theme I hear coming from individuals. Practicing self-love takes a lot of effort in a society that is constantly comparing you to others. Stepping out as a unique individual takes courage. I find that tag lines and mantra’s often aid me in my practice towards self-love. It is easy to fall into the habit of being overly critical of oneself, but it takes practice and patience to acknowledge the good we all have within us. Everyday I choose an area or quality in myself that needs attention and love. I focus my energy on building that area up and giving it the love and support it needs to overcome any of my negative thought patterns. I will repeat these positive words to myself from the start of my day. It sets the tone for the way I show up to the world and in addition, how I show up for myself. Learning to love oneself is not selfish in any way. It is healthy and absolutely necessary. We should be our greatest supporters and we should love who we are no matter what. 

“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” Aberjhani 

 “I am powerful in my love for myself. The truth of my being is I love myself exactly as I am. I honor my empowered heart.” Amy Leigh Mercree

 

Ambition in the City

 

Patience to be Present

Patience hasn’t always come naturally to me. As a child I always felt as though I was in a race. Always looking for immediate results and always in a rush to reach adulthood. When it came to reaching milestones in life I never found myself feeling satisfied. As one milestone was attained another was already in the works. As I write about this I feel exhausted just thinking of how my days used to be spent. How can a person dedicate so much time chasing after a finish line that’s never really there?  There would always be something else I NEEDED to attain and another thing to reach towards. 

As an adult I look back at my younger years and see how much of my time was spent planning, and how very little was spent in the moment. All those days and nights plotting and obsessing over my future. Endless hours devising check lists but never stopping to celebrate my victories. I was always on to the next thing.

It’s saddens me that so many of us live life in such a way. We hop from task to task, from responsibility to responsibility. Always focusing our energy on the things we have managed to convince ourselves is that bigger prize or achievement that’s just on the horizon. How much time have we lost? Who have we left behind or ignored in the process? What have we sacrificed to get us where we are today?

As a life coach and mom to be I look at life so very differently these days. I have learned to slow things down in an effort to enjoy the small pleasures in life. To take time to embrace the journey and not just the end result. I revel in the process of transformation and growth as it’s happening in the moment. Just as this little life grows inside me so too am I growing and evolving day by day. I celebrate and acknowledge things as if my life were being played for me in slow motion. I must be mindful and have the patience to be fully present. Life is what is happening now not what we hope will happen days, months or even years from now.

Enjoy the people around you that share in this life you lead. Acknowledge and appreciate them for the love and support they offer to you on a daily basis. Stop and celebrate a good days progress. You might have not gotten everything on your check list completed but it was a beautiful day and you were present for every moment of it.

Slow down to allow emotions, sensations and most importantly, your heart to guide you. Listen to your intuition and allow your acts to be ruled by intention. Never forget that what you are doing in this very moment is important and invaluable. You are evolving and learning every day so slow down to absorb the gifts being provided to you. Capture life lessons as they come. Life is meant to be enjoyed not to be rushed.

 

Cristina

Ambition in the City

 

Ponder This…

What will you STOP rejecting and what will you START embracing? 

Illustration Credit: suzannerivard.com

 

 

 

 

Do Stuff!!

Get out there and do stuff that matters! Go big, be bold and above all stop waiting for opportunities to present themselves. Create the life you want today! – Happy Matters LLC

For more information on living fully email me at creyeros@gmail.com

Now offering a complimentary coaching session to those that are CURIOUS about taking the next steps towards the life they have always envisioned. Sessions are offered in person or via Skype. Let’s get connected today! 

Competition Versus Creativeness

“Competition attempts to be like. Creativeness attempts to be unlike.” -U. S Anderson I don’t know about you, but I choose to be unlike anyone out there. We were each put on this earth with a unique purpose. In the entire world there is no one like you. Stop trying to be what you think others want you to be. Let’s stop being ridiculous, and embrace the fact that we are each essential in our own way. You have been living in the trap of competition for long enough. Why fight to have the same as everyone else when you can strive to obtain something different? Let go of the idea that the value system of the group is the same as your own. What do you value? What do have you to contribute that is good, and true, and unique?

Just as a painter puts paint to canvas with only his/her imagination and creativity guiding his vision, so too should we lead our individual lives. Paint the life you envision suiting your wants, and needs, not the life you see suiting others. It is only when we see value in our individual existence that we can look at life with creativity and wonder. We will take risks and explore every desire, every question, and every ambition that rises from within our minds. We will trust our intuition and resourcefulness, and know that every move we make manifested because we saw fit to make it so.

 

Ambition In The City

Say YES Today

How many times have you shied away from saying YES to you? 

 

Say YES today! I challenge you all to say YES to 5 things that will bring you joy today. When we say YES we acknowledge ourselves in a way that no one else can. We honor our truth and we step fully into our power. Stop putting your needs and desires on the back burner. When we say yes to ourselves we honor our needs and values. Let go of the notion that saying yes is self-serving.  How we treat ourselves sets the tone for how others treat us. Love yourself enough to say YES! Stop dreaming about a better life. Act upon it today.

Ambition In The City

The Cracked Pot: A Story of Purpose

A friend of mine recently shared this story with me and the moment I heard it, I knew I wanted to share it with you all. Whether this is your first time reading this story, or if you have come across it before, the story of The Cracked Pot is a great reminder of  individual uniqueness and purpose. We each come to this world with different flaws and sometimes it’s hard for us to see the good that  exists beyond those flaws.  We are all cracked pots.  This story helps to remind us that we need to take the time to appreciate each other for the beautiful, unique creatures that we are; to acknowledge the good that exists within all of us and to celebrate each others purpose because we all have one. Wishing you all a pleasant day. Hopefully this story will resonate with a few of you.

A waterbearer in India had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole, which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it. While the other pot was perfect, and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the mistress’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to her master’s house.

The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream: “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”

Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your mistress’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in her compassion she said, “As we return to the mistress’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some.

But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?

Photo Credit: katykulak.tumblr.com |

“That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.

“For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my mistress’s table. Without you being just the way you are, she would not have this beauty to grace her house.”

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots.

But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. We’ve just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.

There’s a lot of good out there.

By Sacinandana Swami

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it” -Gautama Buddha

Ambition In The City

Keep Moving Forward

Image Credit: Dougal Waters via Getty Images

 

It’s not always easy to leave things in the past but we can never truly heal until we open our eyes to all that is still ahead of us. What are you looking forward to? 

Ambition In The City

Ponder This…

How often are you pausing to recharge and reboot your mind? 

It’s been said, that everybody needs time to rejuvenate, refresh, recharge and begin again.

Every so often we life coaches like to coach one another. This practice not only helps us to keep our skills sharp but it also helps us to remember we are human just like everyone else and not exempt from regular day to day struggles. This morning I had a wonderful coaching session with my friend and fellow colleague Sarah. In this coaching session I came to the realization with her that I am long overdue for a recharge and reboot. The low battery life alert had been flashing in my mind for days now, but I kept ignoring it. As I shared with her the internal struggle I had been wrestling with, it hit me that I was putting too much energy on things that are secondary to my authentic purpose and passion. As we discussed the physical and mental toll sacrificing my interests and talents was taking on me, I started to feel a weight lift off my shoulders. I began to take ownership of the choices I had been making over the course of these past few days and I acknowledged that my desire to please others had overpowered my desire to be happy and at peace with myself. This resulted in me realizing that I had been running on autopilot. I had been floating along for the past few days crossing item after item off of my to-do list, never feeling all that satisfied with the days progress. I found myself feeling exhausted and frustrated at the end of every day. “I would rather be…” kept popping up in my mind as I floated from one task to the other. I was using up all of my energy to tackle things that had little if anything to do with growing my coaching practice, blogging or working on my art. Upon exploration and with the help of some visualization exercises I realized that my mind was being pulled in several different directions and that it was running on fumes at this point.

After my session, I committed to giving my mind the time it needed to rest and regroup. I paused and let my mind settle. What is important? What can wait? What is no longer serving me? What would you like to do in this moment? As I meditated around these questions today I felt my mind coming back to full power. I felt invigorated and inspired to put more of my energy and focus on the things that mattered to me most. Those things that bring me alive.  My original outlook of the day shifted and as this Wednesday, March 5th draws to a close I feel accomplished and content. I was able to coach a few clients, write this blog post, and will be finishing up a painting before this night is through. That’s a beautiful thing.

Remember to be patient with yourself. The energy that our mind supplies should be nurtured and cared for. This is our essence. When we neglect the messages our mind and body relay to us, we deny our authentic self from being heard. Listen to the messages being transmitted and take the time every so often to recharge and reboot your life.

Ambition In The City