A matter of choices...

Today a friend came to me and told me she was not feeling well, she told me that when she looks around her, she sees people who do so well whatever it is they do and who seem so smart and comfortable, whereas on the other hand, she felt so uncertain that it was making her wish she could be like all these people she sees. Be anyone but herself.

She then explained how helpless that thought makes her feel and so when she is facing her challenges and she feels very alone surrounded by uncertainty. This made me think of my own moments where in front of a challenge I wonder if I can do it or not, fear quickly comes in and whispers "maybe you won’t be able do it", and as that uncomfortable shiver shakes me, before it goes on any longer, the practical part of my mind asks "so, what are you going to do?" and whatever the situation, wherever it is you find yourself in your life, the options to answer that question seem to be always the same:

Option 1: Give up, there's a high chance you wont make it, you don’t know what you are getting yourself into, it might only make things worse, it would require a lot of effort, you don’t have what it takes, etc.

Option 2: Just do it, what's the worse that can happen? you will never know if you don’t try, you may as well go for it and fail trying or accomplish it with flying colors, it may be fun, there's a high chance you'll learn a lot and you will never wonder "what if?".

As I reflected on this ,I came to the realization that I always take the second option, and looking back: 99.9%  it was the best thing to do and that lead me to several great opportunities and instances I would have never had, had I not chose to Not give up.

I decided to share this realization with my friend who was glad to learn she is not the only person in the world who feels that way and we both agreed on the fact that every single moment like this, is a moment that defines us and defines the direction our lives take.

So rather than staying in an uncertainty state when the question comes, the choice is completely yours, and only you will be responsible for that decision and all it brings. If you can handle that awareness, means you are ready to make your own decision and move ahead.

Beware that option number two in most cases means that you will be challenged on the way, there might be plenty of moments when you doubt yourself and the same question comes up and you must once more re-commit to your choice, or of course, change your mind. If you decide to stay firm on your decision and keep on trying, those challenges will be pushed away and will be fewer and fewer as you move along and into new ways of experiencing yourself and your own life.

There are no bad or good choices, there are choices with results and its up to us to use them in our favor or against us. I encourage you to find your strength and trust yourself. As I said to my friend; the only difference between us all lies in the trust and thus the choices we make. Some give up and their lives turn in one direction, some decide to try and their lives take another direction.

As on pretty much everything...the choice remains solely yours.

Much light and love on whichever choice you decide to make.

When the grass is greener on the other side...

Greetings my dear friends, visitors and residents of The Light Planet! I hope you are all well in every possible level.


Recently on a trip to Paris, in the middle of a friends reunion, everyone was asking me how things are going here in Los Angeles, and how life is in general. They all seemed fascinated with the idea of the American Dream and the life in this side of the world. During a brief moment of silence most of them stood looking up as if to some invisible point on the horizon, yearning to be in L.A. and one of them broke the silence with a toast to Los Angeles, to which we all joined.

As this unfolded in front of my eyes, I sensed a bit of irony seeing how all this Parisians who, live and experience on a daily basis one of the most beautiful cities in the world, were yearning to be in Los Angeles. I instantly remembered having experienced the exact same reaction when I told my friends in Los Angeles that I was traveling to Paris; they were all yearning to be in Paris.

Right after this, I suddenly felt conscious of the phrase: “The grass is always greener on the other side”.

I found myself witnessing a perfect example of such phrase.
Those who are here yearn to be there, those who are there yearn to be here. And so we are constantly yearning to be "on the other side", having all that which we don’t have and so we forget to touch base with all that which we do have but start taking for granted.

When we are not able to appreciate what we have, we slowly stop seeing all that which is good in our life, we lose perspective and get into the game of looking for validation elsewhere, to be told that “everything is OK” and we feel the need to feed off of external elements that can help us feel that we are indeed “well positioned” in life.

We fail to remember that everything is well in the universe, in its own balance even when we might find it hard to understand and that if we really need to touch base with the essence of the life we’ve created; a simple inventory of the big and small things we can easily identify becomes the fastest reconnection and the only compass we need to put us back in track.

Let’s maintain and walk barefoot over our own grass, let’s appreciate and enjoy it for it’s the only one we have, let’s turn it into the garden of our dreams and then there wont be any garden "on the other side" that we fancy more than our own.

Where are you now?

Hello my dear friends, we find each other here once more, in this safe space, which we have created together.

The world outside keeps on spinning, the sun and the moon still visit us daily, impressing us with their splendor and light. But, where are we today?

I think, and feel that it is important to ask this question today. Where are we?, where are YOU?, living a life you have chosen and created for yourself, or living a life where everybody around you is more responsible for your own life than you?

Are you in a life where you are in control and decide your own course, or in a life where you are just a follower of the majority, even if that means going against your wishes and principles?

It is necessary to know where you are now, for only in the Now you can decide, only in the Now you can experience, only in the Now you can live.
The most comfortable and satisfied you are with the place or state you find yourself in now, the most gratifying your life becomes and your future turns into an adventure in which you decide the fate and the plot.

If you are not satisfied with the place where you find yourself, with your current situation, think: what’s missing?, what can you do about it?, how can you do it?, and most importantly: when do you want to start doing it?. If you are able to reason about these questions, and their respective answers, then you are ready to lead a radical change in your life and begin to experience the joy of living a life where you have full control.

Now that you know where you are today, ¿where will you be tomorrow?

In the Face of Change

Hello my dear friends, it has been a while since our last meeting here and I hope you all have had a good time, living the lives you have chosen to live and which you create every morning, every hour, every minute, and even every second.

Change oh Change. It’s everywhere, we can deny it, we can’t ignore it, we can’t pretend its not there. It’s in the news, it’s at work, it’s amongst your friends and family, it’s at home and more than anything, within you and your life.

Everything is changing at a rapid pace whether we see it, like it, appreciate it or not.Now, change is constant, stable and necessary, most people consider it positive too but, do we really know how to handle it? I thought we could talk about this on this occasion.

We know that change is the only thing that is certain apart from death, we know it and still we fear it tremendously. In the face of change we go through what I call this little “amnesia” phase, where we completely forget who we truly are, what we have accomplished, how loved and supported by our loved ones we are, and we suddenly become this helpless, fearful, clumsy and lonely, tiny little person, who feels totally lost.

Uncertainty and anxiety take over and we no longer know how to handle things. We start looking for information, guidance and direction almost everywhere, we think of every possible person who can help shine a light in our doubts and concerns, people with whom you haven’t spoken to for years, even some stranger would do.

We look everywhere, everywhere but within ourselves. For is only you who truly knows all the variables, all the fears, all the desires, all the pros, all the contras, all the tools, all the doubts…who could possibly judge better? There is nothing wrong in looking for opinions, especially from the people who care about you the most, but you must know my friend, they won’t solve it for you and ultimately; they simply can’t.

So what do we do? We go back to what we already know: TRUST.
You know it, I know it; you must trust yourself. If you truly are the creator of your own life, if its you who has made every choice in your life, then you are the one responsible for creating this chance, this opportunity, for what is change if not an extra way on your road, one that offers a new road, with new possibilities and new findings. You can always choose not to follow this road and continue on the same path, it’s all about choices and what to do is totally up to you. If change knocks on your door, it’s probably the right time for you to consider a change, but in the end you and only you decide whether you are really ready to take it or not.

We can decide to waste time and energy worrying about it, or we can invest it on checking the possibilities. We can escape from it doing whatever we want to do, hoping it will go away, or we can face it and truly look inside ourselves searching for directions, searching for something that rings true, looking for the reasons that brought this change in front of our door.

Measure your options; look at your possibilities; get opinions if you will, but above all: make sure you ask and truly listen to the one person whose opinion really matter: YOU.
For no one else can live your life, for no one else can make your choices, for no one else can replace you.

Good luck with handling the changes that knock on your door.

Big hugs to all of you.

Anxiety and Crisis...

Dear friends, welcome once more!

I know this is not new, we see it on the TV, we hear it on the Radio, we read it on the papers: “This is a hard time”, “We are in recession”, “We are going through a Crisis”, there are different ways to write it, but the message relayed is the same, it is everywhere, doesn’t matter how hard we try to ignore it.

Are you already feeling the anxiety taking over, every time more frequently? It would surprise you to know the big amount of people feeling extremely anxious, feeling confused and lost, and this message, the one that follows us everywhere, only helps feed this uncertainty creating within us a kind of anxiety we had never experienced before.


I watch people and listen to them wondering for how long they will remain in their jobs, whether they will be able to pursue the career they dream of, whether they will be able to afford the school they want their kids to study at, and others wonder whether the life they lead now is still the life they WANT to lead, or if they should make changes…there is a big deal of confusion and uncertainty, and even though most people think they are alone on this, the truth is that more and more of people share this feeling.

As I ponder this I wonder; where is the self-esteem, the trust, the faith?, since when our lives’ destiny depends on the headlines and the ups and downs of the banks?, aren’t we all unique beings, with our own special qualities and talents, who stand in our own feet and everyday decide how we are going to live our lives? I have come to the conclusion that the trust in ourselves is the answer. Self trust is the only solution to beat this anxiety.

When you trust yourself, there is no room for doubts, you know you are doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time, you know that you are a unique being and that you are here, living this experience, because of your own decision, and that you and only you are responsible for your life, for every decision, for every thought, for every word and for every step you take, and therefore; you and only you are able to decide what you want to experience, and more importantly: HOW you want to experience it.

How do you choose to experience this phase of your life? The times we are living in are different, chaotic for some, exciting for others, how do YOU choose to live this?, do you choose to be part of the side where everyone has agreed that this is a big crisis, difficult and tough, and so they are willing to suffer?, or do you choose to be part of the other side (the less crowded one), who believe these times are just the beginning of the change the world needs to re-start and create new and better ways, new and better systems, and new opportunities?

We can open the door to anxiety and allow it to be our guest, to control and limit us, or we can trust ourselves, trust that we are exactly where we need to be, trust that we are not leading ourselves astray and we can choose to turn every single day into a new personal adventure so we can rediscover the things that, up until today, we have been taking for granted. At the same time, we can look around, look at the people we care about and see how many of them are living with anxiety as their guest, surely they are more than what we now think. And we must not forget that the best way to help them, is by being standards, by setting the example in our own lives, showing them with acts that it is indeed possible to live in these times with a smile upon our faces. Love yourself, take good care of yourself, be patient and tolerant with YOU, and trust yourself, for nobody else will do this for you, and just by being at peace with oneself can one be a standard, an example and a beacon of light for those around.

I leave you with this small reflexion and I send each an every one of you a BIG hug!

May the light always shine upon you to illuminate your path!

A Memory Exercise

Hello my dear friends, residents of The Light Planet. I hope that you are all well and full of joy, enjoying your lives.

Today, while talking to a dear friend of mine -also an occasional resident of this planet-, I became aware of the huge amount of energy and time that we all spend criticizing ourselves, preaching and punishing ourselves because we feel we are not “good enough” and that we are not accomplishing or obtaining all that we wish for ourselves. But, How much time and energy do we spend congratulating ourselves, giving us a gift, or a nice pat on the back saying “well done”?

Why are we so good at criticizing ourselves, but when we do something right we merely accept it and soon we forget it?

I really believe that we should all do a memory exercise here, by looking back at your life 10 or 5 years ago, look at what your dreams were then, look at the things you wanted to accomplish or obtain, look at your hopes… I bet that you actually accomplished or obtained most, if not all, of the things you wanted then, which are now part of your present life. So, How many times do you remember this and you congratulate yourself for it?

Of course, I understand, perhaps all of that which you once wanted, is no longer what you currently want, but then; why punish or push yourself for not having NOW that which you NOW want?, why not simply trust that you are currently working to SOON obtain that which you want NOW?. If this little Memory Exercise proofs that you have actually obtained or accomplish some or most of that which you wanted at some point, what makes you think that you shall not continue accomplishing and obtaining anything you may want for yourself?, why should it be different now?, why don’t you just trust yourself?

Give yourself time, and please do give yourself a bit more credit my friend!

When facts prove effectiveness, you must trust that the results will continue being effective.

TRUST YOURSELF!

With this, I would like to invite you all to do this little Memory Exercise, to congratulate yourselves more, to be more caring, more loving, more patient and more compassionate with YOU.