Limit the input

Does this headline sound contradicting to you for a blog that is predominantly about personal growth? Definitely read on.

Over the past 4 years, I’ve been diving deeper into myself, also referred to as personal development. I reflected not only on myself, my fears and my limitations, but also on how this showed in my relationships, with friends, family and partners.

On this journey – which is an ongoing process – I have learned a lot about myself. I was able to dissolve certain behavioural patterns that were limiting me due to underlying fears. I tuned deeper into my body to let go of tensions that have been building up and manifesting in my body for way too long. I work with coaches both personally and professionally to become the best version of myself. I completed an NLP training to improve my communication skills, to dive deeper into self-reflection and to change patterns that didn’t serve me any more with the clear objective to build a life that I really want to live.

So far so good. I believe that this ongoing journey of self-reflection and self-development is awesome. I  really wouldn’t change a thing looking back. It all served its purpose; every single change, every heartbreak, every challenge that I encountered in my life so far, were signs of the universe to correct my course; by looking deeper, by understanding and by initiating change.

More sensitivity

What I am also observing whilst being on this journey is that I’ve become way more sensitive with all my senses. I hear more, I see more, I feel more. I’d even say I smell and taste more thanks to my work with dōTERRA essential oils.

To really break this down for you, I hear people talking, the bells of the church, sirens, cars, children, water flowing, my steps on the ground, my diffuser running. I hear podcasts, audios and music. I hear myself talking. I could keep going.

I see more. My vision has expanded. I perceive more people in the tube and also what they do. I see the trees moving in the wind, children playing in the streets, people drinking coffee, I see people looking at other people, I observe couples walking hand in hand, I see the sun, the moon and the sky being in movement.

I feel more. I’ve become way more kinaesthetic, I’ve improved my awareness of the position and movement of the parts of my body. I can feel tension way quicker and I do know how to release it faster. I perceive (more) vibes from other people, their feelings, their energies, their current state of being. Again, I could keep going.

More input – more output?

My point is that this increased awareness also means that I sometimes must limit the input, as otherwise it becomes too overwhelming. At a certain point in a certain phase, more input simply doesn’t mean more output. It is essential at this point to limit the input and to focus on processing and digesting all of it. I am only human, as are you, so I figured it’s okay to limit my input.

How?

By closing my eyes just like on the pic. By spending more time by myself. I have noticed that I need more me-time and less together-time when in a phase of limiting input. This means that I would have lunch breaks on my own instead of going with others. I’m not going out a lot at the moment and unfortunately I haven’t been dancing a lot lately. Yes, it is a process of withdrawing myself, and whilst I’ve had phases where I didn’t even understand why I was doing it, I am now fully embracing my need of being alone. Depending on the current life and business set up, the people surrounding me do not always understand my behaviour and my withdrawal, which in return isn’t always easy for me to accept. Yet, I’m learning and growing through this process and I accept that this is part of my personal journey, too and that I do not have to or want to justify for that. It is what I need.

And it’s okay!

I’ve for sure learned that it is okay for me to withdraw myself, if it all gets too much. I’m understanding that my increased awareness and self-reflection led me to being a more sensitive human being called Nina. Whilst in the past I was 90% outgoing, social and extroverted, I am now in need of downtime and quiet time, too. These two facets allow me a better balance in life, more time to process and digest situations, and very importantly, more self-love. I’m freeing myself as much as possible from the opinion of others when it comes to my health and my wellbeing. No, it’s not always easy, but you gotta do what is right, not what’s easy.

Go with what you need!

When I feel the need to socialise, I will. When I feel the need to be alone, I will. When I feel the need to be active, I will. When I feel the need not to talk about certain topics, I won’t. When I feel the need to set boundaries, I will. When I feel the need to speak up, I will. And no, this is never against someone or something, it just means I follow up on what I need and follow through with it.

You can do this, too. Limit your input when you feel like it and don’t feel bad for it.

Love,

yours Nina

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Yeah & Bam

Whilst starting writing this, I’m smiling to myself because of the headline of today’s blog article. However, it expresses best my current state of mind. Oh yeah & Bam describes my drive and motivation to be the best Life & Business Strategist that I can possibly be for you.

Soak it up like a sponge

In order to achieve this, I’m currently being coached by three superb coaches all over the world. In April 2018, I attended an event of JT Foxx, which took me further and further onto my personal and professional journey. I went from his Mega Speaker event in Munich to his Top 1% coaching at his house in Fort Myers, Florida, from where I just returned last week. Then yesterday I went back to where it all started 6 months ago, I attended another Mega Speaker event in Munich. Every event, every attendee, every word, every advice, I’m soaking up like a sponge. The ongoing journey helps me a lot to keep bursting mental knots. Hence, I will keep going further and I will be in Los Angeles in early November for his Mega Success event with celebrities and people attending from all across the world. I’m beyond excited to be part of this. But this isn’t it. I will also attend his 4 day event Dream Team in Munich at the end of November. When writing this, I’m thinking:

Oh Yeah & Bam.

Happiness by choice

This is one of the most exciting journeys in my life and it all kicked off at the beginning of 2015 after my 10 year relationship broke. Instead of burying my head into the sand (after some time of grief of course), I began reflecting on my life, on my job, on my relationships, on my needs and my wants. Instead of following a path that I was seemingly taking for other reasons but mine, I decided to change my life and to actively design it. I was so excited about creating the best version of myself, in all areas of my life., because I figured that success in all of these areas will eventually get me to where I want to be. Living a life that I am destined to live. Living a life in full happiness. I love naming it ‘Happiness by choice’. I choose. I decide. I have the power to design a life for me that makes me happy to live, because let’s be honest, this is what we are all striving for. Happiness. You define the term for yourself of course, but happiness is what we are all longing for, isn’t it?

It’s a process

It is so important to know though that this is a process. And the process of designing my life for results started with my intrinsic desire to change, to develop, to grow and to really become the best version of myself, meaning I needed to understand who I was. What I am getting at is, if you are at a point in your life, where you crave change, then take your time. It is a process. This might not be a satisfying thing to hear, but patience, the will to keep going, to do whatever it takes, to keep learning, to keep growing is a continuous milestone. Once I surrounded myself with like-minded people, things also started to get easier, opportunities have been arising ever since, my mind is getting stronger every day and things are happening for me!

Obstacles are your teacher

Have there been obstacles along the way? Hell yes. Many. Be it financially, be it with certain friends and also with family, where I didn’t quite feel the support I would have loved. Then there were mental obstacles on my side, where I did not really allow myself to go fully in, probably because I was afraid. Once I understood that every obstacle, every comment, every negativity, every trigger is my teacher to go even deeper and further, this is when the biggest insights came to me, when I was able to heal relationships, when I could let go of unnecessary bullshit. This was when I was finally able to start the process of rising to the best version of myself.

The best version of yourself

My best version means being grounded, aligned and awake, knowing who I am, what I stand for, what my values are, what my vision is and to live every day in happiness. The pic I chose stands exactly for that:

Oh yeah & Bam.

Yours Nina

 

 

Give yourself permission

These 3 words mean a lot to me. They have touched me right in my heart. They left me speechless and wiser.

These 3 words stem from my Reiki healer whilst spending my last weeks of my Latin America journey in Mexico. What I am writing here is obviously very personal, however, I feel the urge to share my experiences & feelings with you, as I’m sure, many of you will resonate with them. And I’d be more than happy to know that I’ve given you at least one Aha-moment.

When I arrived in Tulum for my yoga retreat back in October 2016, one of the yoga teachers recommended a massage therapist with spiritual background. Only this description fully hooked me and I booked a session right away. In my 1st session, I honestly expected a full body massage with a bit of therapeutic and spiritual inspiration, however it turned out completely different and better than anything I would have expected.

Without talking to the Reiki healer about my current life situation, my emotional pain and my lack of orientation, he immediately sensed my pains and restrictions, just by moving his hands over my body without touching me. Only by feeling my energetic blockades in my body. He stopped in my chest and heart area a few times as well as on my hips. I’ve been experiencing severe hip tightness before my trip and I was hoping that this guy could help me.

And whilst we all hope that physical pain comes exactly from that same area, we all know, that we must dig a bit deeper in order to understand the real origin of physical pain. In my case, my hip tightness was caused by emotional pain. Heart pain. Pain that I had not released yet, but instead had put it into my hips over months. The Reiki healer explained that we often tend to store all emotional pain, especially heartache, in our hips. And when he said that I could feel his words right in my heart. I had goose bumps everywhere. I felt really hot and sweaty, as the energy started to flow again after a long period of time. And of course, it made sense after a broken 10-year relationship and another break up in Latin America that my energy didn’t flow freely anymore. I think it’s fair to say that this is quite a lot to digest. Don’t get me wrong now, I don’t ask for your sympathy.

This post is more about allowing ourselves to feel the pain we are feeling, whenever we do feel pain. We mustn’t hide it in order to be strong. No. We are allowed to be weak as well. It is okay to feel sad, emotional, hurt and lost. I realised in this moment that I had kept myself together for so long, as I felt like I had to perform and that with the feelings of pain I couldn’t do so. So, I basically became pain resistent to be able to manage my life, which had to continue. I had to manage my work and finances, I had to manage a move, I had to keep myself busy at least for a certain period of time. In a way there wasn’t enough time to take care of myself. Or in other words, I didn’t allow myself to take care of myself.

As the session with the Reiki healer continued that day, there was another big emotional moment for me. He said that I could feel that I am different and that I have a strong connection to something superior than me, but that I wasn’t allowing myself to be different, because of fear. Fear for rejection, fear for the reaction of others. Fear to stand out, fear to outgrow other people in my life. Fear to be the best version of myself.

He urged me to come back from my head into my heart and to give myself permission to trust my intuition and feelings again. A door I had left closed for some time.

Give yourself permission to be the best version of yourself.

This moment felt like game-over and reset at the same time. I felt caught and relieved.

That day (24/10/2016) was my breakthrough. I knew this was only the beginning of something wonderful. What started as a journey through Latin America turned into a journey to myself. And I’m so grateful it did.

Yours, Nina