Quick Reminder on Hope

Photo thanks to Manny Hernandez.

Hope is not quite happiness. It’s the contemplation of happiness but in a way so humble and true that you actually feel it’s there when it’s not.

You feel...  Excitement because you hope. Marvel because you hope. Serenity because you hope.

You hope and hope and hope and the miraculous thing about your hope is that in the end, it doesn’t really matter whether you've found yourself a land of joy but whether you've realized that  the feel of it itself is strong enough to move mountains. 

Love and marvel,

E. 

WORDS SO WISE: Arthur Schopenhauer

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ”

Work fun*

Small things can really make my day!

...Like unexpected gifts of candy and cute mini heart-sprinkles on my keyboard!

I hope you're having a lovely week :)

xxx

E.

PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY: Don't portray the "bitchy fashionista" model.

 

Most women of “high society” think that by being drama queens, complaining about their men while drinking cocktails and bragging about being “bitches” is attractive. They think that by smiling, being polite and having absolutely nothing to gossip about is pathetic. 

I can visualize the typical night out. High heels, hot pink lipstick, sparkly dress. Beautiful, educated women attacking with their words the so-called “women of failure.” In other words, women who are lacking the social status or other things such as the latest Louis Vuitton bag or the wealthy, handsome husband. 

Well let me just say that the “bitchy fashionista” model is as old as Queen Elizabeth. It only came into existence because the movies and the media decided it should. As someone who got through that phase, I can assure you that being a bitch (or pretending to be one) is not something to be proud of. It’s a disorder that makes you think it’s totally okay to be rude and aggressive as long as you get what you want. You think that you have to speak up your mind and gain some “respect”. But the only thing you’re getting is a contact list full of frenemies.

If you think that having a smile on your face and acting normal is not sexy, then let me just say that the happiest girls are the sexiest ones! And you cannot really feel happy unless you realize that you are not better than anyone else. Classifying yourself as an egocentric person and feeling good about it is crazy. It’s not classy. It’s not real and it simply feeds your insecurity. There’s a huge difference between being confident and being a bitch. There’s a huge difference between loving yourself and acting as if you’re the only person living on this earth.

…Maybe women nowadays are afraid to show who they really are. Maybe they’re afraid to show that, as well as pretty and successful they’re also sensitive and thoughtful and HUMAN. I’m not going to explore the reasons why in this post but I would like to ask you this: If you are going to pretend to be someone else …then who’s going to be YOU?

Love and marvel,

E.

Quick Reminder on Giving

So today I was reading Mastin's latest post, "Here's How to Get EVERYTHING Your Hearts Desires", and I couldn’t help but share this with you:

“What if there was no such thing as competition or a need to crush other people. What if we are all unique and perfect expressions of Love? What if you were sent to GIVE all you’ve got to yourself and then to others, and in that giving – you allow the Uni-verse to give to you in bigger and better ways that your mind cannot imagine?

This isn’t just some airy fairy shit that I’m talking about. I went from couch surfing and broke to being on Oprah’s Lifeclass, making more money in a recession that I ever did before and so much more – all from GIVING! Giving is the new paycheck! This is real shit. I don’t say this for my health or to blow smoke… I’m breaking down how to get out of that funk. Add value and value will be added unto you. Not once, not twice, but all the time.

See to raise others my friends and you will be raised.”

You’re a star Mastin. Thanks for reminding me.

Love and marvel,

E.

Valentine's day*

You could say that Valentine's day is yet another commercialized holiday...

 OR

 you could simply enjoy  that OMG-my-heart-beats-so-fast feeling that you get when your flowers show up sometime during the day.

Thank you baby! 

E. 

WORDS SO WISE: Coco Chanel

 

“I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.” 

PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY: The world is "good news" if your heart is.

Whenever I watch the news I know that there is something wrong with the reality I am forced to accept. I know that there is something wrong with the way the majority of people see the world. There is lack of positivity everywhere and a sense of fear, incapability and discouragement that I cannot justify.

Has this ever happened to you? You wake up feeling worn out and tired and you still remember all the bad news you got to hear by the media the day before:  the deaths, the accidents, the financial crisis, the president involved in the scandal with prostitutes, the poor abandoned child born with no eyes, the woman who got raped in her own house.  You want to think positive, you want to thrive in your life but you keep thinking that the world itself is not a pleasant place to live. People are not trustworthy, the global economy does not promote abundance and the government is doing its best to let you down. That TV reporter was rude, that TV presenter was exaggerating and that news title seemed way too mean and prejudiced.

Well let me just say that: “We see in the world what we carry in our hearts” (thank you Johann Wolfgang Goethe!). The media, the government, the stock-market, the serial-killer, all reflect the current state of our hearts. It's not just THEIR FAULT you're sad.  You're sad because you choose to be a bystander in all this.

Most of the times, we blame the media for our depression and state of misery but we keep watching the news and buying the "evil" morning papers. We hate the feeling of resentment but we refuse to fight back. In other words, we want to change the world but we procrastinate on attempting to do it. We want happiness but we complain instead of being grateful. We want people to treat us right but we treat them badly. We want more friends but we never approach strangers. We want adventure but we never take risks. We want a stress-free environment but we never organize our lives. We want more money but: “Hey the stock-market is up and down at the moment, it’s not my fault it’s not happening.” More importantly, we want to be ethical but we keep molesting our souls.

I strongly believe that humankind can be good news too but we have to start with ourselves in order to notice it. If the news are bringing you down, then turn the TV off. As simple as that. The current state of affairs in this world is not all tears and destruction. It's also love, and faith and gratitude and  peace. If you only focus on the way the media or the government present the world then you deprive yourself of the right to have an opinion.

Were you born merely to suffer and be a contemplator of disaster?  Where exactly is it relevant in your life that certain people or groups to people choose to look at life the negative way? Whenever you feel anger about things other people chose to do, don’t forget – right at that moment – to take a minute and think whether you being a person you are proud of. Media reports are there to be read but if all you're going to do is simply feel sad and do nothing about it, what's the point? Similarly, laws and regulations are there to be followed but if the ones who have a duty to follow them are ready to break them, they become void. More legislation, more bad news, more useless information but NO ACTION simply adds to melancholy and sadness. 

Free yourself of the government's opinion. Free yourself of the media's view. Clear your heart, take good action, love your self and dare to wish for a world full of happiness. 

Steve Jobs was a very wise man:

“When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth.”

Love and marvel,

E.

Cherry trees

 There’s something about cherry trees that makes me think it’s not okay to hate your life…

Life sucks only if YOU do!

Don't you think?

xxx

E.

PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY: There is positivity in every negative thing!

For many years I struggled with this idea that negative feelings are "normal" and "good for me" and "productive". I would spend hours and days and months thinking that I was simply living my life the way it was supposed to be. I would wake-up, feel anything but unique and beautiful and powerful and happy and I would start my day by complaining about my miserable life to other people who shared my view that "life is always hard and boring."   

No, I didn't come close to death, nor did I experience a bad car crash who exposed me to life's true meaning. But one day I woke-up and suddenly noticed that I was feeling good! There was no precise reason. I hadn't won the lottery, nobody had sent me flowers, the weather wasn't particularly nice. I couldn't think of ONE REASON why I was happy but I was!  It was a weird feeling and I almost felt like a fish out of water. As I was sipping my coffee (which by the way felt like it was incredibly delicious although it was the same coffee I would have each day for years) I couldn’t help but wonder: How could I ring my friend and be all bubbly and joyful? How could I say "good morning" to a stranger sitting next to me in the bus when all my life I thought that that was cynical? I started comparing the feelings and thoughts I had in the past with all the feelings and thoughts I had at that specific day. I felt powerful not weak...I felt 100% sure that what I was experiencing was REAL.

And then it hit me: Your Powerful Self can only have positive feelings! More specifically, negativity does not exist anywhere else but in your own mind – in your own perception of things! Something can be objectively bad or in other words – I like to put it that way – something you did not expected. For example a car crash, tomato juice all over your white shirt, a disease, or something commonly referred to as an “Act of God” (an earthquake, a tornado, a tsunami). But who says you should be worried? Who says that your whole self should be redefined because of that?

There is positivity in everything you classify as negative. How do you feel there is such positivity if all you can see is mere destruction? The answer might seem confusing at first but if you really take the time to think about it you will realize it is more than reasonable to base your understanding on the following statement: You know you can find positivity in something that appears initially negative because deep down you know that positivity is all truth there is and ever will be! You were born with inner peace, serenity, freedom and contentment. You were never meant to be frightened, depressed or mean. As simple as that. 

You can run away from positivity but your resentment will remind you each and every second of your life that something is wrong. That is because the Weak Self never finds peace. The way to understand this fact is to start thinking of negativity as simply the lack of positivity; something is negative only because you react with fear. In other words you get trapped in a life of sorrow because you truly believe that thought of fear and you feel it is so real you deserve a suffering experience.

Linked to this idea of “false negativity” is another common misconception; the one that people and things must be categorized in order to make sense. Something is either something you like or something you dislike. It is either positive because you like it or negative because you do not like it. He is nice, therefore you attach on him the “positive” label. She is bad-tempered, therefore she is scared with the “negative” label for life.

It does not work like that! Sorry to break the “negative” news to you but you can actually do, like or even passionately admire all things superficial or “objectively bad” and still be the most wise, happy and balanced person. You can enjoy watching Lady Gaga perform almost naked and still be as elegant and classy as Audrey Hepburn, You can observe with interest a murderer’s ability to stay calm while entering into a non-guilty plea at his trial and you can admire a prostitute’s confidence while greeting a client. There are no rules in loving the “positive”. Why put people in certain categories? Why put a “YES” or “NO” on their forehead?  Why take a clear-cut decision on what a person is like? Imagine how easier it would make your life if you were to start thinking that nothing is as bad as it seems. Nothing can panic you, nothing can break you down, nothing can hurt you unless you call it bad. The result? "Dazzling" my shiny diamond!

Similarly, why make a formal decision about what life is all about? It’s perfectly fine to admit that life is not a “black or white” journey. Sometimes it will be almost blinding white, sometimes it will be grey and sometimes it will be as dark as it can be. It is not until you realize that what keeps you unhappy is your own false perception of life –  that things and people must be put into certain categories -  that your very own existence will start to flourish. Your choice to imprison yourself into liking and accepting certain things, people and situations can only harm you and – not surprisingly –  all the others around you.  Break your walls of “I can’t” and “I tried but I have failed” and choose happiness instead of sorrow TODAY. Nothing is impossible and nothing is as hard as you think!

Love and marvel,

E.