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

 

 

Reveal your true self

Inspired and based on Patanjalis’ Yogasutra by Ralph Skuban

Reveal your true self by ‘vairagya’

I chose this topic as part of my yoga exams presentation. Whilst dealing with the Yogasutra in more detail, I realised just how much of a code of practice this book is for life. At least for me. This blog post is inspired by the book and Ralph Skuban, however, it only reflects my way of approaching the topic and is written in my own words.

The word ‘vairagya’/letting go is one of the most important words and statements in Patanjalis’ Yogasutra. Whilst it appears more than once, I focus on chapter 1, verses 12-16.

However, my starting point lies in chapter 2, verses 3-4, where it’s said that we humans suffer, because we don’t know, who or what we really are. Also referred to as ‘spiritual blindness’ or ‘avidya’.

If we are now conscious and mindful enough, we will probably seek getting out of this suffering and spiritual blindness with the objective to reach inner freedom. For me, this means being, who we really are.

Start walking as to reveal your true self. 

In the Yogasutra, this is a higher level of ‘vairagya’, it is ‘paravairagya’, a complete detachment of everything.

Where to start

I would recommend to start at the beginning, just like Patanjalis does in chapter 1, verses 1-11. He states to dedicate yourself to yoga, to self-realisation. Yoga is basically a way to heal, it means healing to the grounds of our being, through a process of cleansing.

One way to cleanse is by calming down and quieting our thoughts and mental patterns, which are continuously changing and evolving, making it even more difficult to quiet them. The stillness of our thoughts is referred to as ‘chitta vrittis nirodhah’. And once they become still, we will be at rest, feel peaceful and find inner peace.

How to find inner peace

In chapter 1, verses 12-16, there are some insights on how we can quiet our mind, and the most important finding for me is that we need to understand that we are NOT our thoughts, that we are NOT our emotions and that we are NOT our memories. We mustn’t identify with our thoughts, if we want to quiet our mind and reveal our true self.

Also, it’s beneficial to establish a ‘practice/abyhasa’ like a regular meditation and yoga practice, and most importantly we need to cultivate an inner attitude of letting go.

Vairagya

By practicing ‘abyhasa’ and ‘vairagya’, we will be led into stillness and hence closer and closer to our true self. With the help of letting go (‘vairagya’), we can find our inner light, our true essence again and we will start shining our (moon)light again, that has been hidden and covered with dust for a long enough time. We can begin to walk the way to our true self.

I love the image of a crystal here. We all are a crystal, but over time, our crystal, our true self, may begin to dust based on wrong identifications or at least identifications that we didn’t really question and hence accepted. The good news is we can start blowing off the dust, today, right here, right now. We are free to dissolve beliefs and limitations, that don’t serve as any longer, and we can create and absorb beliefs that well serve us. By dissolving our old beliefs, we approach our true essence of being, slowly, but surely.

We understand that our happiness does not depend on external factors, but only on what’s within us. We will break out of the prison that we built ourselves, we will break up accepted dogmas, we will free ourselves from living the life that others want us to live and will develop back into our true essence.

Yes, this is somehow rebellion, we rebel to get our lives back and to live the life we really want to live. However, that’s good rebellion, if you ask me.

Let go

To summarise, Patanjalis biggest calling is to practice letting go.

• Accept what you cannot change.
• Forgive as if it never happened.
• Do not judge everything.
• Let go of what is hurting you.

Imagine a full glass of water. Only by letting go and emptying your water glass, you can create space for new, beautiful things that make you lighter, freer and happier.

For me the most beautiful effect of ‘vairagya’ is that I will be able to love and serve even more, as I develop more empathy for others, more strength to support others and I gain clarity for my life.

A matter close to my heart

This is a topic close to my heart due to my personal experience. Through yoga and my travels to Latin America, I became more mindful and conscious about me and my life, hence I started to reflect and question the existing.

Knots were bursting and I started going my way to reveal my true self. I began blowing off the dust of my crystal and gradually saw parts of my true self again, my inner light that I had somehow forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind.

I’m still in the process of dedusting my crystal, but knowing that I’ve already broken open a few chains and limitations, makes me feel so happy and free that I would always walk this way again.

Yours, Nina

The fear of losing oneself

I realized that there is one topic that keeps popping up in my head which relates to the combination between personal development and distraction, especially relationships with men (well in my case). This article is – as always – written from my perspective; hence I’m relating to guys only. However, this article can be applied to men and women alike, I’m sure.

When you are so deep in your personal development journey as I am at the moment and as I have been for the past 6 months, when you realize just how wonderful this journey is, when you really enjoy it to the fullest (even if damn hard at times), when knots are bursting, when your life is shifting, when you feel like your whole world is rocking (mainly to the positive), then you obviously want to keep this momentum going and growing. Right?

What do you think it is we need to keep the momentum going and growing? Yes, we need discipline and consistency, but most importantly we need the will and hunger to keep going. In January 2018, I experienced this will and hunger stronger than ever before, I write weekly action plans to stay focused and disciplined, I have a daily yoga, meditation and gratitude practice, I listen to podcasts and I watch relevant videos on YouTube. I realized that my will is growing stronger, as my Why is growing stronger with every step I take on this beautiful journey.

What I’m trying to get at is that this journey and the beautiful outcomes fulfill me so much, that I sometimes fear being thrown off this journey. By distractions, whatever they may be. However, majorly I noticed a fear of distraction by men. I am a happy single at the moment, yet I do wish for a beautifully fulfilling relationship amongst equals. At the same time, isn’t that exactly the challenge? To find the other half that wants to support you at all times, that wants to see you grow, who is himself grounded, positive, and is aspiring a healthy, free and abundant lifestyle? A person who you can be 100% authentic with, a person who is motivating you, a person who you can look up to, yet at the same time feels inspired by your energy and positivity and not threatened. Are you still with me? Can you resonate with my feelings? My impression is that guys are indeed scared sometimes, of themselves, of a woman that knows what she wants, of really living the life they want to live. I want to emphasize though that this is my impression only and that I don’t want to generalize this statement, there are always exceptions to the rule.

Then there is me, self-confident, convinced that I’ve chosen the right way, simply because I feel it, my flow and happiness, with the universe making things happen for me. Yet, there are moments, where it’s like I’m ‘forgetting’ my values, my boundaries, my wishes for the next relationship, my big vision for my life. But why? Does it depend on my mood, on the day, on the weather, on the guy? I don’t know really, but in case you bond with what I’m talking about, then let me tell you one thing. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Accept that you may have weak moments just like I had in the last few months, accept that you may have a ‘down’ phase, but know that the next day will be the start of an ‘up’ phase again.

The other thing I would like to share with you is that I strongly believe that the right partner, my soul mate will come into my life, when it is right, when I am ready, when he is ready. We attract what we express, so just be in your flow, in your higher self, and your other half will step into your life.

As for me, I’m sure I will be able to stand my grounds, stick to my values and life vision and set my boundaries, meaning that I don’t need to fear distraction by a relationship. Because in the right relationship, you don’t need to fear such things. So, don’t be afraid of your spiritual growth, keep shining your light, keep going and live the life you really want to live!

And maybe we sometimes need to lose ourselves in love to find real love? Just a thought.

Yours, Nina

Bursting knots

I already sensed last year that I’m on a good way to reveal my true self. To get really close to myself, to the person I really want to be, living the life I really want to live.

Now, this of course didn’t come overnight or by coincidence. No. I’ve dedicated a lot of my time to my personal growth. I’ve started working with a spiritually inspired life coach a year ago, I invested more time in Instagram to connect with like-minded people, to learn from them and to pass on my experiences, too. I started this blog. I went to a workshop from one of the top motivation trainers in Germany, Christian Bischoff. I listened to various podcasts about personal development. I read various books. I practiced yoga to strengthen my body and to quieten my mind. I started meditating on a regular basis. I started journalling in my pink notebook more actively again. I implemented a daily gratitude practice. I went to networking events. I arranged meetings with interesting and fascinating people outside of these networking events.

In summary, my personal growth, self-love and creating my vision has been key to me and still is.

Just because I’m writing the above in past tense, does not mean that any of these activities are completed though. No, the contrary is true and I tell you why.

On my way to where I’m now – a much happier, lighter, more positive, more saying yes to life Nina – I’ve been facing quite a few obstacles. Emotional breakdowns, tears, fights (with myself and others), ‘lost’ relationships, frustration, procrastination, sadness, fears, to only name a few. It is not the easiest of all ways to really dig deeper into personal development and spiritual growth. It’s not easy to reflect yourself so intensively, to question existing relationships, to question existing behaviours, to ask yourself what it is you really want, what it is you really need and especially what it is you really want from life and I mean from the bottom of your heart.

What do you really want from life from the bottom of your heart?

The process described above requires you to look at your life first, to be ready to change, to tidy up, to break habits in order to set yourself free, for the life that you want!

I can’t mark the day when my development exactly started, but for me, it’s probably the day when I had my breakthrough in Mexico. And this breakthrough was a feeling. That I want to change something in my life. That I want way more from life than what I had up until then. That I have so much more potential to live the life of my dreams. It was simply a feeling that my story is only just starting. If you are at a similar point in your life, and you are wondering about the feelings you are feeling, I can only tell you to feel them, to let them be there, not to judge them and to just go with the flow.

Flow for me means to follow my heart, to increasingly switch off my head, my mind, my thoughts, which usually want to keep us in our comfort zone, away from risks, away from any potential trouble. Our heart on the contrary leads us the way outside of our comfort zone. But this means risks, unknown circumstances, something new.

Stepping outside of our comfort zone, however, is where the growth is.

You need to be brave enough to step out of your comfort zone and you will only do that, when the pain around the current situation is too big to just hang in there. From my experience, especially in the last 2 years, I can only recommend you to keep going, to believe in what you stand for and to just run with it.

It will be all worth it, trust me! Here’s why I’m so convinced about this. Because now, all the seeds that I have been sowing in the last years, are starting to come into fruition. All the time and effort I’ve invested into my personal development and my projects, are now starting to pay off. Knots are bursting. This year 2018 is my year. I just know it and I already felt it coming on 31st December 2017, when I felt so content and happy that I wanted to hug the entire world.

Knots are bursting.

When my knots started bursting from the inside out, like limiting beliefs, restrictions I’ve imposed on myself and a lack of self-confidence in certain areas of my life, eventually things started happening for me. Things shifted. Opportunities arose out of ‘nowhere’, but these opportunities did not come from nowhere. They came from me, my efforts, and my sowing. They were the universe’s way to say Thank You for my consistent sowing.

Keep sowing consistently.

Of course, I had fall outs too, where I lacked motivation, where I was tired, where I couldn’t get out of bed, where I forgot why I’m actually doing this, when I thought why on earth am I on this way, why is this so hard, why do I do this. And yet again: I would always do it again.

Why? To set free. To live my dream life on the highest energy level imaginable, spreading love and positivity into this world.

Here’s to love.

Yours, Nina