Something about graditude

As 2014 begins, I'm trying to work on my resolutions, like everybody else, I guess. One of mine was to be more grateful, and complain less about things I don't like. Yesterday I gabbed my old gratitude notebook and started writing again. I remember an exercise I used to do; writing 13 things I'm grateful for that day, and try to do it daily.  It hasn't been easy, especially if you go to bed late and don't feel like doing anything at all, but I've realized it doesn't take that much time, and it feel great. The idea of the exercise is to set your mind and your heart in a good place and it makes you feel lucky and wonderful. The first time I did, it was like a challenge: 13 things to be grateful for in 13 days. I started and finished, and everyday I tried not to repeat. That made me go deeper and deeper and eventually I ended up thanking for all the things I hated too. I realized how important it is to make peace with everything going around you and to feel grateful for all the things that happen in your life. It may not be exactly what you want, but sometimes in order to change your life you have to accept where you are now and start from there. 

Be grateful, and thank you for reading!

The Prosperity Bowl

Happy New Year!!!! I hope 2014 is the best year!!!

A few months ago, I attended a Feng Shui conference. I loved the way the speaker was able to pass on the information and I've actually enjoyed putting to practice some of the advice she gave. For example, she advised how healthy it is to keep all your affairs in order, your wallet, your purse, your room... Everything organized. That part has been particularly hard for me, as I am naturally messy, but whenever everything is in place I feel good energy and in the mood to do stuff. 

One of the things she advised on to attract prosperity and money to our lives, was to set up a prosperity bowl on the wealthy side of your room. Yes, there is a wealthy corner in every room, the southeastern corner of your room, as the wall where the main door is, it's the northern side. 

On the wealthy corner, you should place a bowl containing objects that symbolize prosperity.

Here's a picture of my bowl (keep reading to get more details on the contents):

First of all, as you may have guessed, you shook put money on it. I used bills of several currencies, the ones I had at hand, and I keep feeding it every time I have the chance. I also put some coins in there, and some other objects that contain gold and valuables. Also, the speaker mentioned that colors that activate wealth and prosperity are red and gold, which is why is important to include them in your bowl. For that reason, I chose a red bowl and I included as many golden objects as possible. 

In the conference, we also discussed the meaning of some animals, including the elephant, a symbol of prosperity and good luck, therefore, I thought it was a good idea to include a small elephant. I choose a red one, as red is also a colour that stimulates energy flow and prosperity.

Another object that she recommended was including something personal, like your animal sign in the Chinese zodiac. I found the golden one you see in the picture. 

My animal sign in the Chinese zodiac: The dog

 After the talk, I searched the web for more suggestions on what else to include in my bowl. I found on several sites the Feng Shui prosperity tree. It was described as a tree with lots of Chinese coins and the lady in the shop told me that it had special significance to do it yourself and that it could be a real, small tree, or it could also be come thing like the one in the picture below. It's made mostly of jade stones, and I added the coins, all tied in trios with a red thread. 

The Feng Shui prosperity tree: Chinese coins and stones.

On the internet I also found a great idea for golden objects. You can get normal rocks and paint them with spray paint and add them to your bowl. 

Last but not least, I learned that all of this works only by the energy you put in it, and that the objects should have a meaning to you. That applies to all other objects that you keep in your house. For example if you keep things that bring you bad memories, that could bring you down, and therefore your energies. If you have something in your room that you hate, that can also get you down and bring bad energy. It sounds so silly when I read it but I think it's true, particularly in objects that were given to me by not-so-very-nice people, or people who lied to me and betrayed my trust. When I look at these objects I remember, sometimes for a minute, sometimes for a split second, but I remember the bad times. The same applies for the opposite. When you see something that reminds you of a dear friend or a nice afternoon with friends, it brings your spirits up and leaves you in a good place. 

I hope this was helpful and interesting!!!

Announcement

In the next few weeks I'll be moving all my recipes to a new blog, https://deliciousrecipescooking.wordpress.com. I'll let you know!

I'm back!!!

After a long hiatus, I've finally come back to writing. Nothing flashy has happened after my last post. I've had short work projects and worked extensively on getting my work published, and somehow, I haven't had the time to write. I recently realized how this is for and how maybe I haven't taken care of myself properly. 

Two weeks ago I turned 31, and it felt like I was turning 100. I didn't tell anyone, I didn't do anything and I deleted from all my profiles, so that nobody who wouldn't know it before could see it. And it worked. All members of my family called or visited, including my grandmother, who turned 87 the day before. Surprisingly neither my closest friends or my crush remember it, and in a pleasant note, some friends who I haven't seen in ages, kind of remembered, the next day. I found it odd that my best friends wouldn't say anything, but I guess they trust Facebook a little too much and forgot to check their calenders. Anyway, I didn't want anything flashy and I definitely didn't want to turn 31. As in many of my other birthdays, my expectations for a particular age were too high and I'm not even close to where I'd like to be right now. The day came and left. I received a lot of presents from my parents, and I didn't have such a bad time after all. Now looking back, maybe I've always made a huge deal about my birthday, maybe because as a kid it was the only day of the year that my mom would bring breakfast to bed and everything seemed to be about me. 

I've been reading quite a few nice books (more on that later) and I've come to the conclusion that I expect too much of others. I've expected them to give me love, patience, compassion and now I realize I should give that to myself first. 

As I recover from my birthday and look forward to the present, the now (yes I've read it, "The Power of Now", totally recommend it), I've decided to start writing again and make my projects come true.

Say hello to Dr. Maria C.

Finally, it happened. As I waited for the presentation to begin, it took me a while to see that it was for real. It took me a while after I had started talking that I understood it was for real. Everyone who was in the room tells me that I kept my cool and that it was great. On the inside I kept thinking I had forgotten one thing after another that I wanted to say, but even members of the committee commended me for a great presentation. Questions were not what I thought they would be. I was prepared for some thing they asked, and some of the questions I thought they would ask never came. Some of the questions were boring and redundant, while some of them were really out there, and made me realize a lot of things i hadn't consider before.

Now I feel relieved. Like some 10 kilos lighter and also very anxious of what's coming next. Like I always thought, now it's the time to figure out what I want, and if out of everything out there, I can find my dream job in a dreamy city...

1 day left

I tried to write everyday, but I simply couldn't. There was just too much to get done before the big day. We had a small crisis, since one of the members of the committee in charge of my evaluation was supposed to arrive on tuesday and had a medical issue to attend and he couldn't come. For a few hours it seemed like the defense would be postponed. Indefinitely. At first, I felt shocked and very disappointed. I started to think what I would do with all the extra time on my hands. But then, I realized I was just flat out sick of it. Of the whole presentation, the planning, thinking again and again how to say what I wanted to say.  And then something else happened. The opponent, as many people call him, decided to join us through a videoconference. As the week when by, somehow I felt realized and more in control of what I'm gonna say and how I handle myself.

On monday I was very moody, and I cried like a million tears I needed to get out off. It was intense, but at the end I felt relieved and so blessed and happy to be able to finish this stage of my life. As on today, I was more calmed, and quiet and tried desperately to catch every mistake and go through everything once again, just to make sure. I know I missed something, just because it's hard to get everything right, right? Anyway, a few mistakes haven't been out of sight and I've managed to fix them on time.

Anyway, I'm having dinner before 7 p.m.like an old lady and I expect to be in bed at 8 p.m. I don't really know how I feel, I just.... I want to get it over with and I hope the opponents are not ruthless. OK, I'll rehearse one more time, and I hope I get everything right. I hope I don't break into tears of excitement (mostly 'cause I would be very embarrassed). I hope to do a pretty decent job. I hope I'm a rock star tomorrow morning and my audience is wowed by me. Including me.

I'll keep working on my EFT exercises and meditation exercises today and tomorrow before leaving!!!

For now, I'm off! 

8 days left

I'm getting closer and closer... I can almost smell it. My outfit is ready and as I try on different shoes and think about make up and some other excuses not to read and think about the subject itself, I realize I always do the same. I always find excuses and somehow find time to procastinate. I read somewhere that the best way to stop doing it is by tackling small task and dividing big tasks into smaller ones....

Anyway, I should go to bed. Rehearsal tomorrow, although not the big one. Final rehearsal on tuesday.
it's so close!