Golden Girl Smile

Gabby’s thought on the day that would change her life forever was:  “It’s going to be a great day.”  At just 16 years of age, she has the mindset that sets the tone for her vast accomplishments.  “My mom used to tell me when I was little, ‘When it rains, it’s God’s manifestation, a big day’s waiting to happen.’ “

Centered in her spiritual beliefs, her smile tells it all.  Her joy comes from within.  She works hard, focuses on what she wants and is enjoying the ride.

When I was a young girl, I LOVED gymnastics and for a few years, I trained in those most difficult skills of the balance beam and the uneven bars.  I went on to use the skills I learned during key moments in my life.  Life has many uneven moments to deal with, but the key is to keep coming back into a state of balance.  Still to this day, it’s my favorite Olympic sport.

The truth about competing at an Olympic level is not so much about the skill but more about the mental tenacity that must be sustained, regardless of the falls or setbacks.

What are some moments in your life where you pressed through even when everything seemed to be going against you?  What was YOUR golden moment?

In honor of our great Olympian, lets raise our thoughts of success and excitement for life and break through to our own moment in history.

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina  

ps.  Looking for some fun inspiration?  Join us Friday, August 17th, 2012 for our next Grace Within Book Club get together.  Our next book is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  The wisdom of this book is ALL about LIVING YOUR DREAMS!!!

Loving the Waves of Life

Summer is here!  What a joy to get out and enjoy the beach!  I was lucky enough to have grown up in South Florida, with the beautiful beaches right in my backyard.  With its magic and serenity, for me, the beach has always been my favorite place in the world.

Listening to the crashing waves along the shore, there are times when that sound is soothing.  Other times, the sound can be quite frightening, like when a hurricane is approaching.  Sounds a bit like life?  One day, all is going well and the next, there is chaos.  How we handle the ride is the key.

One step to a smoother ride is taking time to quiet the mind and just breathe.  For some, this would be meditation, for others a prayer time of reflection.  I enjoy my quiet time with a mantra meditation.  I repeat several words in a phrase, slowly and rhythmically, to turn my focus inward and release the constant chatter of my thoughts. Is it easy? NO!  But with practice, it gets more comfortable and deeply insightful.  In our stillness, our true self shines through.

I recently connected with an old friend who is an avid surfer.  His passion for surfing has taken him all over the world, riding some of the biggest and most challenging waves.  Even through life’s darkest moments, riding the waves always saw him through.

How do you handle the waves of life?  Do they knock you over once in a while or do you stay on top and ride the wave?  Share your stories with us.  You never know who can benefit from your way of handling life’s ups and downs.

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina  

Can you LOVE a stranger?

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”  Dalai Lama

How many times do we pass someone by without saying hello or much less even making eye contact?  Are we in such a hurry or on the cell phone?  With the latest technology, we are more absorbed in our “world” and less conscious of those around us.

Recently I started to play a game with my son.  In a mall, I said to him, “Let’s see how many people we can send love to with our thoughts.”  He loved the challenge and I loved the idea of blessing total strangers.  We played the game and in the end, we both finished with a smile.  You may ask, do they even know or feel “thoughts of love“.  I would ask, “Have you ever felt love from a friend or family member even though they were not near you?”  That random phone call just when you were thinking of them, is it a coincidence or is it synching up?

No one can say for sure what the other person feels, but I know that I feel SO good sending thoughts of love, joy, peace and a general sense of well being to someone I may never see again.  It’s those random acts of kindness that no one knows about except you and your sweet soul.

How do you express your love for others?  How do you feel when you do?

For the next week, share your random acts of kindness with us.  We’d love to hear from you!

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina

A Mother’s Love

“There are two important gifts we can give our children. One of these is roots, the other wings.”  Unknown

I remember giving encouragement to a close family friend before she gave birth to her daughter.  As a new mother, she had so many questions for me.  I was six months ahead of her.  That, in baby time, is like light years ahead.  In all of my sharing of giving birth and taking care of my newborn, I could not even put into words what it REALLY meant to become a mother.

Becoming a mother is an experience that can never be taught or explained.  You must live it, moment by moment and with all of your heart.  The LOVE that a mother feels is like a dancing firefly in the night.  You can see it, but rarely can you put your hand on it.  It is a PURE feeling and the only ones who can truly understand are other moms.

For most mothers, the day your child is born, a part of you is transformed- that part of you that was all about, ME, ME, ME.  Now, this gift that you brought into the world, has needs that come before yours.  Even though you enjoy giving freely what your child needs, how can we make sure we create a balance between us and our children?

As our children are growing, we must remember that they are but a borrowed treasure.  We mold them and then send them off to figure their own way in this world.  With grace and integrity, let us be reminded that every day, they are watching us as the light on their path.  Moms of the world, SHINE your light brightly!!

Share with us your best mommy story….even the silly ones!!

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina

ps.  I would love to have you join us at our next book club meeting:  Friday, May 18th at 6:30pm at Your Big Picture Cafe.  We will share our thoughts about the book:  The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.

Priceless Gifts to Ourselves

“If we really love ourselves, everything in our life works!”  Louise L. Hay

During this month of May, we are often reminded of our childhood, and how we used to make sweet gifts for our moms on Mother’s Day.  Weren’t those pasta necklaces the best?  Our mothers knew that it wasn’t the price of the gift that had value.  It was the LOVE with which we made the gift that made the value of the gift as “priceless“.

Now, we’re all grown up, and when was the last time we gave OURSELVES a “priceless” gift.  While money can buy a LOT of nice things, sometimes the most expensive item cannot replace the excitement of a major accomplishment or of creating an experience we treasure immensely.  For me, going to Italy was a lifelong dream.  I would buy books about Italy.  I listened to CDs to learn Italian because I knew, that one day I would go to Italy.  I would close my eyes and just dream about my favorite places in Italy like Rome, Venice, and the wine country in Tuscany.

Then one day, I decided to make this dream a reality.  I started planning all of the details of my trip to Italy- where would I go, what would I see, how would I get there?  After all of the details where laid out, my dream finally became a reality.  Even though this dream gift to myself did take some time and money to create, the “priceless” gift to myself is a memory that will last a lifetime.

What “priceless” gift have you given yourself lately?  Is there a deep desire or dream that still needs to come alive in your life?  Share your thoughts and dreams with us and as a community, we will all send love to your vision, helping your dream to become a reality!!

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina

Balance- The Key to Life

“To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life.”  Elizabeth Gilbert

In India, the elephant is worshiped as the symbol of wisdom and the strength of the mind.  But how do we attain that wisdom with all of the chatter and sometimes even chaos of our daily life?

Just recently, my life was completely out of balance.  Going through any kind of life changing event can sometimes cause your foundation to be rocked a bit.  I experienced both emotional and physical pain as well.  I ended up seeing a cardiologist for a stress test.  What he confirmed was that there was nothing physically wrong with me but, indeed stress had had a serious effect on my body and mind.  He also suggested that I try yoga to relax and destress.  What I did not expect was that the healing power of yoga would transform my life.

The physical part of yoga is much like life- sometimes you have to stretch yourself beyond what feels comfortable.  Sometimes you just have to hold yourself where you are and breathe.  However, the true meaning of yoga is subtle and true at the core.  Once the obstacles of our body and our mind are removed, our true self shines through.

Are you up for the challenge of taming your mind?  Our body follows our mind and our mind is followed by our thoughts.  Are you intentionally choosing your thoughts?  Or like a traffic cop hiding out, do they just sneak up on you?

This week, I started my process of intentionally meditating and doing deep breathwork.  It wasn’t always easy, but the end result of feeling better than before, is worth the effort.  What about you?  What are you willing to let go of?  What are you starting that may even be a slight change, but over time will change the course of your life?

Now, I am training to be a yoga instructor and I am looking forward to sharing my passion for yoga with my clients and friends.

Peace, Love, and Joy,

Carolina

Defying Gravity

“Sometimes the act of letting go is far more powerful than hanging on.  If we find the courage to leave the familiar and leap into the unknown, we may find our wings and learn how to fly.” ~Kimberlee Anderson

This week has been ALL about letting go.  In the spirit of “spring cleaning“, I tackled a difficult task – decluttering a room and getting rid of a LOT of junk.  For months, maybe even more than a year, I used a whole room in my house as a “dumping room”.  Old toys, magazines, papers, in other words, anything that did not have a specific home, went to that room!  The task of clearing it all out seemed absolutely impossible.  Where do I begin?

A dear friend of mine came one day and said, “THAT’s IT!!  We are cleaning out this room!”  And what seemed like an endless mountain ended up being a 4 hour job.  Imagine that…all of this time hanging on to OLD stuff.  What for?  What was it giving me?

It truth, we usually hang on to stuff because of some type of comfort it gives us.  In my case, there were MANY memories in these “things”.  You see, the transition I am going through in my life is that of going through a divorce.  It is by far the most difficult experience of my life and yet, the most liberating at the same time.

For so long, I was just “hanging on“.  And over and over, my dear friend would tell me:  “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”  One day, after many months of processing and planning how I would deal with this major life decision, I leapt into the unknown and decided it was time for me to fly solo.

Letting go is as much, if not more of a process as falling in love.  It takes time; it takes healing; and mostly, it takes LOTS and LOTS of self-love.  But in the end, there is no real price for peace and tranquility.

What are you holding on to?  Is it time to move out your old stuff in order to make room for the new?  You don’t know how HIGH you can fly, until you let go!!!

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina 

Spring Cleaning our Mind

In March, spring officially begins.  With all of the expectations for the new year, now is where the rubber meets the road.  Where is 2012 taking us?  Down our intentional path of growth and progress, OR are we still allowing the waves of life to carry us in any direction with the strongest pull?

In order to create our intentional path, we have to focus clearly on WHAT we want.  But that isn’t always so clear, right?  Do we need to do some spring cleaning of our MIND?

One thing I’ve learned along my transformational journey is that whatever I focus on, like worry, fear, sadness or even feelings of hopelessness, only leads to more experiences with those kind of feelings attached to them.  How did I get off that road?  First, by cleaning out my internal chatter.

I took small steps such as: listening to upbeat songs-  Beautiful Day by U2;  reading books which bring a smile to my face-  Eat, Pray, Love and saying simple, yet powerful affirmations:  “I choose to have a good day.”  “I am comfortable with this NEW me!”  “I am STRONG, COURAGEOUS and FEARLESS!”

While I enjoy a beautiful morning walk, I start thinking about my day.  I start to tell myself:  “I feel good today!  I am enjoying exercising and feeling energized!”  Little by little, my mood elevates and I start to feel better.

How do you charge up your day?  Share with us what works for you, it may REALLY help someone else along their journey.

Two thumbs up to sweeping out the dirt and bringing in the JOY!

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina

Soul Connections

As this LEAP year February comes to a close, did we enJOY the extra love that was marketed to us or were we reminded of an ideal that seems just out of reach?

Hollywood movies, steamy novels and even HIGH Tech matchmaking contribute to a distorted sense of what a TRUE love relationship can look like.  A real Soul Connection can be one of the most sublime feelings we can experience.  It’s what makes time stop, worries fade and the future seem boundless…….

Even with all of the breakups and marriages gone wrong, human nature still seeks to find love, no matter the odds.

To all of the HAPPY and fulfilled couples enjoying their Soul Connection, I applaud you for being the beacon of light our soul longs to share with others.  As a couple, you help to show the world that LOVE is true, deep and real.

For the rest of us still in search for our ONE True Soul, what light are we sending out?  Is it darkened by fear of loneliness or sadness?  Or, what if we created our own LOVE story, our happily ever NOW.  It could sound something like, “Today, I am GRATEFUL to the Universe for a wonderful mate who loves, supports and lives to bring ME happiness!”  Could we paint our own picture of LOVE?

What does your picture look like?  What does LOVE feel like for you?  Does it make you feel butterflies?

Share with me how you see your Soul Connection.  As lights connect, they only shine BRIGHTER!!!

You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.  – Dr. Seuss

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina

ps.  I would LOVE for you to join me on Friday, March 16th @ 6.30pm for my NEW Book Club.  The first book we are delving into is Who Moved My Cheese.

Where LOVE Starts

In this month of LOVE, we are bombarded by images of what love should look like.

From teen love, to happily married couples, and even golden aged couples enjoying their retirement, why does that not feel like reality?

Because many times we feel that LOVE is hard, it’s painful and sometimes, not worth the effort.

What if we started with us?  What if instead of worrying how others will LOVE US, we give LOVE to ourselves FIRST!!

Simple things like: reading our favorite book, seeing that funny movie that made us “pee in our pants”- Pretty Woman..or just dancing in the moonlight to our happy song, just for the fun of it.

For me, I LOVE to sing!!  I wouldn’t even consider it a hobby, it’s more like the air I breathe.  I do it as MUCH as possible- in the car, at home, as I’m working, mostly because of the JOY I feel.  Singing is my way of saying, “I LOVE me, I really do!!”

How do you LOVE yourself?  Do you spend time at the beach?  Do you go for a bike ride? Do you get creative and paint?

Share with me how you LOVE yourself.  Maybe others will pick up on it and ….share the LOVE!!

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world – Lucille Ball

Peace, Love and Joy,

Carolina