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Hope to see you there. Love, Norea

Autumn is coming

Nature is preparing for the finale. One last burst of colour before she takes a well deserved rest. 

Give yourself a break

Are you living your life in the fast lane? To busy to smell the roses?  Give yourself a break. How about just 15 minutes a day, to begin with… Switch of your cell, laptop, i-pod, kids, anything that might distract you. Treat yourself to some peace and quiet. Forget about all the things that need to be done. Just be, daydream a little, stare outside, count your heartbeat, follow your breath. Practice doing nothing. This might feel somewhat uncomfortable at the beginning, as you are addicted to the rush, but give it a try. Set yourself the goal to sit still 15 minutes a day for the next 21 days. That’s the time it takes to instil a new habit. Try it and see how your perspective on life changes, getting clearer every day. You’ll love it!

Question everything

What if the way you see the world is exactly what it is: the way YOU see the world? What if the real world is hidden from you by your preconceptions?

Your perceptions are coloured by your experiences. From very early on in your life, you are learned how to see yourself and the world. To put it simply: if you have learned you’re a good girl, your brain will probably find proof that you are indeed a good girl. If on the other hand, you have always been told you’re no good, your brain will just as easily find proof for that hypothesis.  On top of that, you have also unconsciously adopted (some) beliefs of your parents and the community you grew up in. Your perceptions are manipulated by your brain. You are biased. You are not half as objective as you think you are. Do you know which beliefs are clouding your vision?  There is only one way to find out: question everything.

Do you have the courage to be skeptical of your own beliefs? To go beyond your programming? To let go of what you belief to be true? It is not for the fainthearted, because your life will be radically changed. There are no more certainties, except for your world will never look the same again. But it is freeing in a way I can’t describe. It opens up a whole new world, waiting to unfold. Just by questioning your beliefs, your life will be transformed in ways you won’t believe…

Success must ensue

‘Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run – in the long run, I say! – success will follow you precisely because you forgot to think about it.’

Viktor E. Frankl

Preface to the 1984 edition of Man’s search for meaning

Your intention creates your reality

Yesterday, while watching a conversation between Oprah and Gary Zukav, I finally grasped the true power of intention. I’ll try to recapture the essence of what they said.

Spirituality is about  fixing yourself.  Part of your spiritual growth is to understand that all your experiences are self-created. You have to accept that you are responsible for those parts of your life that are not working. You create your experiences by your intentions. How can your intentions create your experiences? An intention is the underlying motivation, conscious or unconscious, of every choice you make. Why do you want what you want? It is the first act of creation. Intentions can be based in fear or in love. This determines the outcome of what you create. Fear creates painful experiences (the ultimate fear is not being good enough), while love creates constructively. In order to grow, you have to heal those parts of your life that don’t work by becoming aware of  the intentions that created those painful experiences. Being aware of your emotions allows you to identify the parts of your personality that need to be fixed. You need to focus on the emotions you are experiencing when your buttons are pushed and work through them.

You need to be aware that every choice, however small and seemingly unimportant, has an underlying intention/motivation which determines the consequences. Your intention creates your reality. To create constructively, your intentions must be based in love. Therefore, you need to clairify your intentions before you make a choice. For you to create constructively, your intentions need to be based in love.  To live a life of meaning and purpose, you need to know the intention for your life, so you can align your choices accordingly. Ask yourself why you are on this earth, what is your dream for your life and what is your gift you want to give to the world?

Wealth comes from within

 Slowly, I’m learning that preconceptions are usually misconceptions. For instance, in my mind, living a meaningful life and creating wealth have always been incompatible notions. Today, I’ve decided I’m letting go of that old and self-limiting belief. I understand that wealth is not about money. Wealth comes from within. It is determined by a mentality of abundance rather than by money in the bank. It is about living to the fullest of my potential. It also means reconciling the two notions, accepting that living my best life could generate monetary wealth.