There is a Time for Everthing

Patience is indeed a virtue and one that requires having faith and belief. For those of us who have become so accustomed to having everything instantaneously, that extra 'wait' time seems like an eternity. There is the old saying nothing lasts forever however, if you are as impatient as I, life feels like it will take forever to even happen!

About six years ago, I was a senior in high school and had been sending out college applications. I found the perfect school that offered my program and was within my budget. I was elated, I felt like I struck gold. Not only did I find a school in the city I wanted to study in, but it was also affordable and found the exact program that suited my career ambitions. I vividly remember the excitement I felt as I filled out the paper based application. After mailing it out, I waited for months for a response. As I was a foreign student I anticipated a longer than usual wait time for a confirmation. When a few months passed by and I realized that I had not received an email notifying me that my application was received, I became worried. I called the registrar's office several times only to find out that my records could not be located in their database. After 4 months of worry,trepidation and disappointment I eventually gave up. 

Surprisingly,  I received an e-mail from one of the five schools informing me of my acceptance. While that was the least favorite of the schools I had applied to, I still felt a sense of relief as I had become very despondent. I figured that my application was lost and that my chances of ever going to studying in that city were all gone. While I ended up moving to another state I knew nothing about, and was reluctant to study at, the experience taught me the invaluable lesson of patience and how important this virtue is.

I waited for a year before reapplying one last time. The second time around I did not include my 'dream' college as I later realized that the program being offered was not something that I liked after all. I was extremely grateful to have the opportunity of attending the college that I first attended as it helped me to appreciate everything that I have now. I dealt with many trials and tribulations during my first year of college however, I would never be where I am today had it not been for me attending school there. 

This past week I drove past my 'dream' school as I had never visited it before except for the virtual tour on the school's website. The place I once thought would be the college I would spend my undergrad years studying did not appeal to me anymore. It was in an area that appeared to be unsafe at night and was an extremely far commute. As I marveled at its historic architecture, I thought to myself never would I have imagined that I would be happier at the college I am at now. This college that I knew nothing about became my haven. I was able to complete my undergraduate studies and return to further my graduate studies. Some odd six years passed since I sent out that application, but after six years I realized that everything happens for a reason. Mine was that I would have to wait to discover that my true happiness lied elsewhere. This would not have been realized in the time frame I was expecting at all. 

One Step At A Time

Last week I finished reading one of the best books ever written The Four Agreements  by author Miguel Ruiz. The Four Agreements is one of his most acclaimed books which teaches the principles of the Toltec traditions as it relates to personal freedom. It was really an eyeopener  learning how imprisoned we can be  both spiritually and intellectually in our dysfunctional and unhealthy beliefs that society has created for us. In today's society everything has been predestined and we humans must just live according  to this huge book of laws which continue to prevent us from enjoying our own freedom and allowing ourselves to live stress free lives.

The Four Agreements allows one to understand how one's past experiences no longer matter in the long run. We aren't discounting nor are we discrediting any of our life experiences needless to say however, the past is by no means an indicator for the future but a lesson learned for all of us to move forward. The key to self fulfillment  I have learned is  that its all about time. When you think of time in itself, it feels as though it either goes by too fast or too slowly for us. When we are dealing with obstacles that hinder us from achieving our goals, it feels like a lifetime that we are stuck with a feeling of hopelessness. Time feels like a death sentence. In times like this we need to always remember our goal and never lose sight of our focus no matter what. If we fill out lives with positivity and practice self motivation, making these baby steps become a whole lot easier. Constantly remind yourself of what your desired outcome is and visualize it happening. The law of attraction is all about attracting what we want in life therefore if we continue along this path we can be certain that we will get what we want out of life.

The old saying  "time heals" speaks to each one of us at some point in our lives. This saying is all about baby steps as well as with each day that progresses we are unconsciously  moving forward with our lives. We are evolving and changing every day. We are growing and developing in all aspects of our lives. The universe will allow our success to happen when it is due. Given human nature we are all control freaks. We want exact dates and timelines. We learn after years of creating our own misery that we must let life unfold as it is meant to be. As long as we are living we are making progress, for every day is a step closer to our future- the ones we have so desperately been planning and the ones we are so afraid to embrace. The one thing that keeps us going is time, be it friend or foe we must move with its rhythm and flow and let everything else go!

Leaps of faith

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the the one that is waiting for us"-Joseph Campbell

If there are any words that could describe what taking a leap of faith is all about  these would say it best. Most of our life is certainly planned and structured. We must get to work for a fixed schedule, graduate within a certain time, have kids before we're a certain age and the list goes on. We get so accustomed to planning every aspect of our lives that when the time comes to actually enjoy something sporadic and out of the blue we become scared to embrace it. Uncertainty can surely be a very scary thing as it forces  us to take risks. For many whose lives are like a jigsaw puzzle, with each piece fitting perfectly this can seem like a nightmare. Wait but this isn't supposed to happen. Of course not right, because we know exactly how things are going to work out and we can predict the future. Life is about taking leaps, many of which will be ones that we may be afraid to take for fear of failure.

 My own leap of faith that I've taken over the  past two years has gotten me to  a completely different place that I never imagined. Very much a planner and organizer of sorts I thought I had my life mapped out just waiting for me to take the journey. I was terribly wrong. Everything I planned happened to turn out the exact opposite and I was forced to take some leaps of faith into the unknown. These leaps of faith have taught me that it isn't so bad to venture into the unknown  and uncertain world but rather these challenges are what really allows you to see what life has in store for you. You may be so completely bent on one thing that you fail to see the marvelous possibilities that exist around you.

Planning isn't bad  in fact it's helpful to have a plan as it allows you to set goals that you want to achieve. What one must remember when planning is that the outcome may be different from your initial expectations. To embrace change is to accept that there is something to be learned from every experience that is unexpected.  Keep in mind that  you can plan out entire life and in a second it can be changed forever. There is no warranty on life, we don't get a refund when things go bad. Instead we must learn to exchange it for something better, something that will help us to create new opportunities and thrive in all our endeavors. Don't be afraid to be brave bold and steadfast in whatever you do. Perseverance never goes unnoticed!

Today is Your Day Reclaim It

You don't have to wake up feeling miserably ill to realize that everyday is a  chance to make 'our' day. Sure thing I woke up with an upset stomach and lamented if only it weren't raining and I felt well today day could have been my day indeed.

Moments like these make you realize  how unfortunate it is that many times when we have 'wonderful' days we just  let them pass us by without really utilizing them towards making our lives more fulfilling. The truth is, no day is ever going to be perfect. The weather may mess things up, your partner may upset you, the trains may be all messed up and the list goes on and on. The great thing I love about New Yorkers are the fact that they are completely unfazed by the weather and everything else around them.

A perfect example would be a typical snow storm. Mere hours into the storm my facebook feed alerts me with  updates from at least five friends that are either at a baby shower, engagement, birthday party or just hanging out at the bar while I lay snuggling under my blanket in my fleece PJs! Now if you compared my dull outlook to theirs, which of us are reclaiming the day? You can definitely bet your bottom dollar that it's not me.

 These everyday examples make you realize that you aren't really  taking advantage of every day that you have. We have the gift of time and more importantly the gift of life. Our destiny is unwritten, we are ink that fill the immaculate blank pages with memories that make help us create our own destiny. I'm certain that I'm not the only one sharing these sentiments, but if I were to be filling the pages with memories I'd want them to be incredible. There is no stopping either one of us from creating our own'bestseller' memoirs. The earth is spinning, the clock is ticking. Are you going to let life pass you by?

The Terrible R's

It's not always easy to follow the path that we have set out in life without having encountered some winding roads along the way.
Journeys are never really like straight lines but more like curved ones resembling mountains. I like to think of goals as looking like those 'pieces of art' that you do in elementary art class. The one where your teacher says so today we are going to take our line 'for a walk'. Does anybody's line ever stay the same? It's all muddled, criss crossed and pretty much looks like a chaotic string.

Surprisingly we can say the same about our lives and our plans. We have an idea or goal of what we want to do, we attempt to follow this but then somewhere along the road things end up being not quite what we expected. When we are faced with challenges such as these it's definitely time to stop and face our terrible R's. Refocus, Rethink and Redo.

Refocusing can seem like a daunting task to many and more so to those of us who aren't aware of our life situations taking control of us instead of us taking control of it. Refocusing helps us to practice mindfulness by allowing ourselves to take the time to think about whether or not we have be following the path that we so anxiously set out to follow. When we take the time to acknowledge our achievements and failures we gain a better sense of how we can change aspects of ourselves and possibly our circumstances to work around our ultimate goal at the end.

Much of refocusing is really doing a lot of rethinking. Both are seen as a 'couple' dependent on the other. Rethinking allows us to discover if our goals are really met and also gives us the opportunity to decide whether or not we really want to focus on this goal or maybe shift to something more attainable. Nothing is cast in stone and we can always make changes based on our wants and needs. When we rethink, we allow our self time for introspection and self-discovery as many times we make rash decisions without really spending a considerable amount of time thinking about the repercussions.

While some may disagree with being able to redo things in their lives based on circumstances and situations, one thing is useful about the concept of redoing. It gives us a second chance at perfecting something. It may be a bit far fetched if you've graduated with a degree in nursing and you decide that culinary arts is really your passion. You may not exactly want to redo an entire program in hospitality and management just so that you can be a chef however, in the long run the act of 'redoing' may actually be beneficial in the long run as it will not only provide new opportunities for growth but also provide you with a broader perspective as well as the chance to learn new things.

No one says that starting from scratch isn't hard. In fact kudos to those who have done things all over again. These huge leaps have not only been gratifying but have been experiences that have made life more fulfilling. Often times the ones with the harshest struggles are the ones that end up the most content in life. That's because they weren't afraid to mess up and have to redo anything. Redoing actually gives us the chance to fall in 'love' with whatever we are doing again as we treat it as a first experience and with every first experience we give it our best.

When forming goals always factor incorporating the terrible R's at some point. It will definitely help to stare you on the right track and ensure that you are on the road to achieving success.


Below is the wonderful story of Former Miss USA Universe 1998 Shawnae Jebbia who chose to 'redo' and aspect of her life despite later having a hearing impairment. She was a television host and a successful fitness trainer and has now decided to pursue graduate studies in nursing. This inspiring video shows us real perseverance despite having hiccups along our path to success!

Practicing Mindfulness

How many of us can fill an entire page detailing our everyday activities? We're not just jotting down some random notes that look like a shipping list, we're really detailing and describing each event to the fullest. This almost seems impossible to do. Who knows what they did today? The day went by so quickly that we didn't even realize.

When you find yourself questioning your ability to do a simple task such as this you need to stop and ask yourself a question. Am I really living and experiencing life or am I just existing? For the majority of us existing seems to be more of what we do in our daily lives because we are just too caught up in the mayhem of our hectic lifestyles to actually practice mindfulness.

Strange enough we use the term mindfulness without a full understanding of the term and what it means to be 'mindful'. Being mindful is very simple, it is simply being in the moment and experiencing it at that given time. Being mindful can be being stuck in traffic and allowing yourself to take note of how you feel being stuck in your car waiting to move. You observe your emotions. You are agitated, uneasy, upset, angry. Your heart rate is slightly elevated. You look for ways to vent this frustration. You observe the other cars that are alongside you and the other drivers as well as passengers waiting to move. Allowing yourself to observe as well as experience these notions is in essence what mindfulness is. You aren't thinking of what to get for dinner or if your favorite pasta sauce is still on sale at the supermarket but you are in tuned with how you feel at the present moment.

Being mindful is staying and focusing on the 'here and now' in your life. It helps you to deal with the issues affecting you at hand. Mindfulness can also mean just enjoying the moment for what is. One of the ways people have taught mindfulness is n a practical sense, eating. Mindful eating allows one to savor the food that they are consuming without losing focus on everything that food has to offer. Mindfully eating an apple one's focus is on the apple and everything the apple has to offer you.

Observe the color of the apple, the pigments. Observe the texture of the apple, it's smooth surface. Observe the smell of the apple, fresh and subtle. Observe the taste of the apple as your teeth grip the apple and you dive into your first bite. Is it succulent, juicy, mouth watering and sweet? Or is it dry and sour? Allowing yourself to be mindful keeps your mind and body in tune with your emotions as well as your behaviors to different stimuli.

While it is easier said than done, being mindful really does not take up any of our time however, we are programmed to think that allowing ourselves to be caught up in the moment is actually wasting time as we can be doing so much more.
What is more important than becoming more self-aware? Can we even put a time limit to becoming more aware of how we feel and what's happening in our lives?

It is indeed much easier said than done to find time to get our tasks done than it is to get the most important task of all done, figuring out ourselves and working on us. There are the sayings the best things in life are free and it's the little things in life that make us happy. We should therefore stop trying to complicate our lives and take note of these popular sayings so that we avoid creating and perpetuating problems in our life that we have the power to eliminate.

Stop and Smell the Daisies: Looking up

Stop and Smell the Daisies: Looking up: "It's been three years since we fell under with the 'modern' great depression. Some of us lost our jobs, our homes, couldn't find employmen..."

The Sweeter side of Sour

Walt Disney should have really been idolized as a martyr. He didn’t only create an theatrical empire - he defined the term ‘hedonism’. Disney’s philosophy, talent and unrivalled creativity led him to establish a haven for adults and children. His philosophy was to enjoy life in every way possible. For in every movie he made there was  always a happy ending.

A spoonful of sugar is a classic song with lyrics that help remind us to make everything in life sweeter. There is the over clichéd saying when life gives you lemons made lemonade, well I think I’ve come up with an even better idea. While adding the sugar to make it sweeter takes off the bitter taste, the bitter taste is still in the mixture with just the taste being altered. Take those lemons that life throws you and make nectar. Nectar is pure and sweet. There isn’t a trace of anything bitter. By the same token take your bitterness, pessimism, negativity and all the things that are unsweet and get rid of them.

Create  something fresh and new-your own sweetness. Form your nectar. Starting afresh by looking at looking at things from a positive perspective is a good way to start. Regardless of how negative something is you can always look at the positive outcome that emerges from it. Take some advice from Walt’s  A spoonful of sugar

In ev`ry job that must be done, there is an element of fun.
You find the fun and snap the job`s a game.
And ev`ry task you undertake becomes a pice of cake.
A lark! A spree! It`s verry clear to see.

That a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.
Medicine go dow-wown, medicine go down.
Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down
in the most delightful way. - (excerpt from A spoonful of sugar)

Adding that "sweetness" to your life opens up endless posibilites for the future. No one really expects someone who is facing many obstacles to be cheeful and optimistic. In fact people look forward to pitying you and comforting you. We're never expected to look for the light at the end of the tunnel although we're told that it's there at the end. Rather that searching for hope from other people, we must  cultivate hope in ourselves. Hope is light, it is positivity and it is the nectar that we need to sweeten our lives.

Remember that life is what we make of it. We are going to be thrown around like a frisby to different corners, strange places and unexpected situations will arise which we have not a clue how to deal with.

Transforming these upsets into grand innovations enables us to gain strength as well as explore other inner powers that we possess. So next time someone tells you to stay sweet you better take that literally!

Why Worry

When was the last time you didn't worry about something in your life ? I'm pretty sure your answer to that question is never. There is always something to worry about. If some one asked you the purpose of worry in your life what would you say? The answer is plain. None. Worry has no purpose in your life. It gets you nowhere. You can't progress from worrying over a situation nor can you do anything to change it. What you can do is stay calm about it and let life take its course. Now I will admit I'm not one of those people to do that. I've been a  worrier many times in my life and I have suffered many times over.

Only today I received an extremely important document in the mail that had been sent through Fed Ex 3 weeks earlier. The document however, had an error on it. Given the nature of the documents I decided to use a courier service rather than regular mail to ensure   it was securely sent. Little did I know that my hassle free dealing with Fed Ex would now cause me a worry some  two weeks. I had to have the document resent only this time I was not willing to incur charges from a courier service and opted for regular mail.

So what did I do for two weeks? Well worry of course! Every day I checked my mailbox to see whether I had any mail and of course every day would be another disappointment. After the second week I began to speak to myself. What use is it in worrying over something I have no control over? Are sleepless nights really worth it? I will eventually receive it in the mail. If I am patient enough I will receive it. My worry had created panic. All I could think of was receiving that letter. When would I? That was all I kept asking myself.  Surprisingly today I was not agitated at all. I was calm and guess what I saw? My letter waiting for me in the mail.

Two weeks and 30 heart attacks later,  I am worry free. I do have lots more to 'worry' about. Am I going to do that? Absolutely not. There is no need to create unnecessary unhappiness and stress in your life. If you want to live a great life then you must change your attitude and outlook. Will you worry or will you leave it let it be? We're too busy worrying to even see the seasons change before us. Stop worrying and start living.
Naturally I'm ending this with the anthem of all anthems! The happy song :)

Creativity is The Spice of Life

You've heard of diversity as being the spice of life. Here is my spin to it. Like diversity, creativity involves different elements. Some elements are known to us others are unknown. Unknown in the sense that it has never been contrived. It's completely new, radical and innovative. Albert Einstein one said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." This makes absolute sense. While one may have the knowledge and expertise in a particular area what use is their intelligence if they haven't got innovative ideas to enhance their concepts. They then become monotonous and dull.

Author John C.Maxwell highlights in his book How Successful People Think, the importance of creative thinking. He mentions that one of the benefits from creative thinking is the value it adds to everything. He says"Creativity is being able to see what everybody else has seen and think what nobody else has thought so that you can do what nobody else has done."

Just think about how a simple concept as Facebook, intended for college students to network has now changed we look at the word 'social networking'. It almost makes the term look as though  it could have been coined by networks such as  Facebook or Twitter. The innovation of a college student with a concept that wasn't the first to be thought of but was the first to be executed in such as, format led him to being one of the youngest most successful entrepreneurs today.

Who knew if some twenty odd years ago someone was thinking of a similar concept. Today someone has actually gone ahead and made than concept a reality. This certainly doesn't mean that Mark Zuckerberg is a prodigy of any sort. He is one individual whose creativity gave him the foresight to develop such a network that could be used to connect people across the globe.

There is a myth that people are 'born' creative. Creativity isn't always something inherent in individuals. It can also be developed. We are all blessed with the ability to imagine. As adults we seldom utilize our creativity like we used to as children where we created our  own make believe world. Remember when you would 'pretend' to be your favorite star or 'imagine' you were in a particular place. You never thought of yourself as being silly. Being creative was fun, exciting and enchanting. The same applies for your creative ideas that you share in your adulthood. Make them as thrilling as you did when you were a child. Show the same amount of zeal and wonder in getting them off the ground.

It's been said that the most successful  people never planned to be they just kept doing what they were good at and the rest just happened. Keep doing whatever you are great at. Let your creativity take control. After all there is no telling where your idea may end up!
This video takes creativity to another level. Who knew using an 'x-ray' effect to morph different images could add a deeper meaning to the video as it relates to rebirth.