Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Healing From The Outside In

Our mind and body go hand in hand, when we change how we think we change how we interact with the universe, drawing to ourselves positive and negative energies. This is becoming a more prevalent and sought after philosophy, given the popularity of movies and books such as The Secret, What the Bleep do We Know, Wayne Dyer’s -The Power of Intension etc…

This (not so new) wave of thought teaches us that we have the ability to change our lives from the inside out; getting us closer to the person we want to be. Changing the mind changes the body, which changes our experience with the world. I am a huge devotee to this type of thinking. However, I have found it can be difficult to get there when we aren’t happy with the person we see in the mirror.

We are visual beings, we are constantly assessing ourselves and others based on appearance. We are seen before we are heard. Although I am an advocate for healing from the inside out, I do think there is something to be said for healing from the outside in. When we can see it, we can believe it. This is especially true for those of us who are empirical thinkers.
  • I’ll believe it when I see it!
Our image is the first step towards self betterment. I believe that we must be happy now, in order to gain happiness later. We need to be able to look in the mirror and like what we see. When we connect with a positive image of ourselves we will want to work harder for that person… we can see worth and value within, and be inspired and motivated to know that things can be better.

Clothes really do have healing powers. I would like you to remember a time when you wore something you felt absolutely horrible in - remember that feeling of wanting to hide from the world! Now remember a time when you wore something you felt amazing in - remember that confidence. What a difference, right?

Here is my hieratical diagram of growth through appearance

  • APPEARANCE
    How we feel about our appearance will effect how we feel about ourselves

  • MIND
    How we feel about ourselves will influence our belief in our potential for greatness and affect our body language

  • BODY
    Our body language will emit energy which others will observe and react to

  • YOU
    The energy we project will draw to us what it is we are resonating with

If you are looking to bring about change in your life, begin by constructing your appearance in the image of who you want to be… fake it till you make it! When you dress the part, you will become the part.


Ciao for now

Aurea

Discover Create Become

Monday, March 19, 2007

Are you lucky?

This weekend a friend and I were discussing the success of a mutual friend. In our discussion my friend attributed the onset of this person’s success to luck! “He was lucky to have landed that big account, which has driven the success of his business ever since”.

This got me thinking, would our successful friend refer to himself as lucky? Or, would he say that he worked very hard to land that very important client which then led to further success…

When we deem someone “lucky” in opposition to ourselves aren’t we self victimizing? Insinuating that someone else’s success is attributed to luck and our self perceived inability to gain success as being “unlucky”, we are creating a situation in which we are not in control and thus a casualty to life.

When we see ourselves as a “causality” we abandon our cognizant responsibility. In other words, we fail to take accountability for our life, our choices, our failure to step up and steer our life in the direction we want it to go.

Do I believe in luck? I’m not sure… I think I believe we make our own luck! - I believe we forge our own path, the positives and negatives we attract are a result of what we have put out. I do though, believe that bad things happen (I think there is another saying for this, starts with an “S” and ends with a “T”) as a result of universal equilibrium (a topic for another day).

In researching this topic, it appears that Prof. Richard Wiseman author of The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind, would agree. Dr. Wiseman has spent eight years investigating why some people appear to be consistently lucky or unlucky. He claims it is not intelligence or psychic ability, but the approach one takes towards their life that matters.

Prof. Wiseman has devised four principles of luck:

  • Principle One: Maximize Chance Opportunities: Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, including networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life and by being open to new experiences.
  • Principle Two: Listening to Lucky Hunches: Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. In addition, they take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities by, for example, meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.
  • Principle Three: Expect Good Fortune: Lucky people are certain that the future is going to be full of good fortune. These expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies by helping lucky people persist in the face of failure, and shape their interactions with others in a positive way.
  • Principle Four: Turn Bad Luck to Good: Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and often even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, do not dwell on the ill fortune, and take control of the situation.

http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/wiseman/research/luckfactor.html


Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work -- and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't. – Lucille Ball

Ciao for now

Aurea

Discover Create Become

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Giving Back - A Night With Rethink Breast Cancer

Last night I found myself at a wonderful event hosted by Company of Women. I was there to help out my good friend MJ DeCoteau, Executive Director of Rethink Breast Cancer http://www.rethinkbreastcancer.com/ to help bring awareness to the cause. I was touched and inspired speaking to many survivors and hearing the stories of “breast friends”.

Events like these remind me how important it is to give back, no matter how big or small - “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” –Mother Teresa

MJ gave a wonderful and inspirational speech which touched us all. She spoke about her successes and challenges with Rethink Breast Cancer, here are some of my key takeaways.

  1. The importance of taking time: It is important for us to take time in our busy lives for ourselves, with that time comes perspective and clarity. It is never a waist of time to take time.
  2. The importance of connecting and re-connecting to your passion: what are we without our passion? Passion is our driving force - our fuel for success…without it we cannot hope to succeed or find a sense of contentment. Sometimes we can feel like our passion is fading and maybe no longer relevant…in those times…take time…find a new way to connect to your passion, find a new way, through the new you, to connect. We are constantly evolving and growing, so must our passion and how we look at it.
  3. Learning to serve: it is noble to serve - to look within ourselves and ask “how can I help make this world better?” We all have something unique to share, when we help others we are in fact helping ourselves.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to meet the founder of Company of Women http://www.companyofwomen.ca/ Anne Day. She is a lovely woman, her energy radiated great strength and wisdom. I am looking forward to becoming a member and learning more from her and the other inspirational women of this unique organization.

Ciao for now

Aurea

Discover Create Become