Encouraging Stories

© Organisation: Katarina Marevic Schmieder, Mutgestalter 1.0 / © Photo: Marija Krolo / kroloma

It all started with a message from my friend Kata asking “Are you free on the 22nd February or 7th March?” I replied “Yeah, the 22nd would be good. Why?” No reply.

Only in the evening, she texted again “OK, I did it. I’ve organised an event and just put it through Eventbrite. You will be one of the speakers at the event. It’s about encouraging storytelling.”

Wow. One of my goals was just about to become real.

I replied “Wow, that’s amazing. I feel honoured that you want me to tell my story at the event. Thank you for providing the platform. I’m in, but definitely with great respect.”

So, on the 22nd February I would be speaking about my story, my travels through Latin America and my inner journey. I was very excited. Cause joining an event as a speaker has been on my wish, goal and project list for a while. This is what I find so beautiful about life; just by letting go and trusting yourself and life, opportunities will be arising for you, giving you exactly what you want.

Life is working in your favour.

I’m not someone who spends ages preparing, I’m the more flexible, spontaneous type, as to me it feels more authentic, but of course I thought about the most important ‘stops’ in my life to make my story smooth and to pass on my main message.

We were 5 speakers in total and I was up 2nd. I won’t go into detail of every single story, but I will share with you what all stories had in common for me.

Every single story, every single experience is so beautiful and valuable, even if it doesn’t feel like it when you are just overrun by a situation.

It was lovely speaking about my personal journey again, as it enabled me to re-live certain aspects, to reflect on them again and to share my insights with our very nice guests. The atmosphere was casual, open and loving, just like in a living room. I felt absolutely comfortable in this safe environment, and yet we all had to leave our comfort zone just a tiny bit. Speaking in front of people doesn’t make me nervous, I always had to do marketing presentations in front of bigger audiences, but with it being such a personal presentation of our lives, emotions and experiences, definitely made it an event, where even I had to breathe deeper before I started speaking. I was vulnerable.

I felt very good whilst sharing my story, apparently too good, haha, since I spoke way longer than I had originally planned. See, this is why I don’t prepare as much, as it’s almost a waste of time for me. I’m better with just going with the flow.

Go with the flow

This brings me to my next insight. I noticed that all of our journeys were fully heart led, because deep down we knew what we had to do. Yes, there were doubts, yes there were fears, yes there were days where we wanted to give up, but deep down in our heart, we always knew the answer, to wherever our stories led us. We all knew that we must follow our heart. That we must trust ourselves and life. That we must believe that our first feeling, our intuition, is always right, and that it holds the key to our very own answer.

Courage is often the result of our heart and gut feel.

So, I encourage you to do the following:

Go out there, follow your heart and be brave!

What do you have to lose? Nothing!

What do you win? Getting closer and closer to the real you!

Yours, Nina

PS. The next events are already scheduled for the 22nd March and 19th April. Google Mutgestalter 2.0 and 3.0, if you want to be a part of this. 

 

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When wishing for the pause button

As the year 2017 came to an end, I reflected and reviewed my big and small wins and well as what I failed at, what I could have done better. No worries, I’m not going to write this all down here, but I think it is important for every single one of us to complete that bit of work. Not to beat ourselves up, but on the contrary. Because I noticed that I actually achieved a lot, there were loads of small wins, that I didn’t give myself enough credit during the year. Btw, I’m not only talking about projects, but also shifts in my mindset, changes in my behaviour and actions taken. Of course I also recognised my failures, but the good thing is, you can only learn from them, you can make things better next time. Just be conscious of yourself, your behaviours and actions. Be mindful of those behaviours and actions you’d like to change and then just think “Oh, I was just about to do it again” and then act differently. Break that habit!

Be mindful and break that habit.

After I reviewed my big and small wins, I also pictured my 2018. I wrote down my vision for 2018 at the end of last year. My vision relating to various aspects in my life, like my job/work situation, health & fitness, love, relationship and my ideal set up to live. I thought to myself “Well done, Nina” until I had a call with my coach on 2nd of January to dig deeper into my vision and my associated goals. Despite my daily gratitude, yoga and meditation practice, there were still a few challenges and limiting beliefs that needed to be melted in order to reach my true vision – speaking from my heart. And we did. After the session, I went back to my vision and it sounded too rational in a way, so I re-wrote it completely. I moved from my head to my heart. And I was brave enough to listen.

Move from your head to your heart. And listen. It will reveal the truth.

My coach also asked me what I wish for my spiritual growth in 2018. And here we go. I have a little story to tell to answer that question.

I’m writing the 31st of December 2017. I wake up with a content feeling. The sun is out and it’s already 12 degrees outside, yes really. I jump out of bed (and that day I literally did!), I quickly changed into my running gear and 20 minutes later I was out of the door, direction Isar river in Munich. The second I stepped outside, I was just feeling so happy, so calm, yet excited about life, so grateful, so whohoooo, a feeling difficult to describe. My almost ecstatic feeling even intensified when I started running and moving my body, feeling the sun on my skin and in my face. I couldn’t do anything about it (and I didn’t want to), but I was running around grinning like a Cheshire cat. Even now whilst writing this, I have to laugh.

And whilst I was fully enjoying the run, the sun, the movement, and simply my own company, there was this second of thinking “I want to hold this feeling.” This thought instantly moved me from being in the here and now to longing for something. I tried to hold on to something beautiful and let’s be honest, if there was the possibility sometimes in life to hit the Pause button, we might all happily use that button.

When wishing for the pause button…

Interestingly I find that the topics that I’m engaging with, suddenly appear everywhere in different shapes and forms. One appearance was in a yoga class. The teacher opened the class with exactly that thought.

We try to hold onto things we like and we try to get rid of feelings we dislike. But how about letting go of all likes and dislikes? How about loving what we love in the moment we love it? How about enjoying what is in the moment the enjoyment is present? How about accepting what we dislike in the moment we dislike it? How about accepting suffering (dukha) as part of our lives to be able to fully enjoy the pleasures (sukha)?

…makes you fall out of the here and now.

So, to bridge back to the question, what do I wish for my spiritual growth in 2018?

I want to let go of all likes and dislikes to be in the here and now, at all times.

Yours, Nina