We can be heroes

I have been interviewed by Vollzeit Glücklich Magazin (VGM), an online magazine for your heart, mind and soul, for the format of ‘Daily heroes’. Picture copyright ‘We can be heroes’: Vollzeit Glücklich Magazin

‘Daily hero’ Nina was born in beautiful Munich and made her passion her profession. As Life Strategist, she follows a holistic approach of body, mind and spirit consisting of yoga, mindset coaching and the power of natural essential oils. She wants to encourage people to live by their true self.

VGM: What does ‘Daily hero’ mean to you, Nina, and do you consider yourself as one?

Nina: A daily hero is definitely a positive person, someone who can dream big, whilst staying grounded and realistic. Moreover, I see women as daily heroes who are grounded, balanced, and stable no matter the challenges of daily life. Oh and in general I think mums are daily heroes.

So if I took my definition of a daily hero, then I’d say yes, I am a daily hero, although ‘hero’ is a big word. I just think it would be important and simply beautiful, if all of us in this world knew who we really are in order to live an authentic life. Because then we are all daily heroes, each one of us individual and unique.

VGM: What does your life as ‘Daily hero’ look like?

Nina: I perceive my daily life as quite colourful and that’s great, because this is what I was wishing and working for. I need change and variety in my life, it provides me with inspiration and motivation. This means that every day looks different indeed, but I am in need of structure, too. So I aim to stick to a routine, like getting up at the same time everyday (of course there are exceptions to the rule), switch on my diffuser with one of my favourite essential oils, meditate for 10-15 minutes and practise yoga for about 20-30 minutes. Then I have breakfast and a shower, always finishing on cold. Only then will I switch on my phone and take care of any administrative things, such as writing emails, arranging calls and appointments, checking my social media notifications etc.

Then I usually take care of different topics in blocks, for example yoga, where I experiment with new sequences, practise asanas and prepare a class or a workshop.

Another block is mindset coaching, where I read up on exciting topics in relevant literature or magazines, listen to podcasts or get inspired by people who are already a step ahead of me.

I also work with natural essential oils. I love the power of essential oils for their physical and emotional benefits. I try out new mixtures and share my knowledge with interested people internationally.

In the evenings I teach yoga and during the day I often meet up with like-minded people for inspiration, exchange, co-working and potential cooperations. Tuesday is my Nina-day where I only do what I love to do spontaneously. This could be dancing bachata, going for a walk or scheduling a date with me at home.

VGM: How do you inspire and touch people?

Nina: I touch people with my openness and generous accessibility. I share a lot with others, and of course this makes me vulnerable, but I know I give others the opportunity, permission and the courage to do the same and to be open-minded. I love that!

I inspire people with my courage and the brave decisions I have made, especially in the past three years, in order to live the life I truly want to live and that I have been wishing for from the bottom of my heart for quite a while.

Furthermore, I see myself as true self ambassador and inspire others to connect with themselves and to find out who they really are. With the goal to then live a successful life full of happiness and joy. Because I believe:

We can only be truly happy if we know who we really are.

VGM: Which message do you want to carry out into the world?

Nina: I would like to encourage everyone reading this interview: Be brave, connect with yourself, live your true self and you will experience lightness, happiness and love!

Copyright: Nina Sadlowsky

VGM: If you could fulfil yourself one wish, what would it be?

Nina: That I could be anywhere I want to be on this beautiful planet, no matter when, where and how.

VGM: Who or what inspires you?

Nina: There are actually quite a few people and their stories that inspire me, for example JT Foxx, Tony Robbins, Gabby Bernstein and Elena Brower, but what inspires me most is travelling. Travelling is such a big gift for me! Travelling gives me the possibility to reflect, I receive so much energy and clarity out of it and I simply feel light and free.

VGM: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Nina: My new partner.

VGM: Any situation that recently touched you and made you emotional?

Nina: Yes, when my father spoke out an apology towards a person very close to me, an act of forgiving. I cried, since I felt so relieved, it took the weight off my shoulders.

VGM: What do you do, if you don’t know how to progress in life?

Nina: I breathe in and out deeply, I meditate. I cry. I dance. And I trust that all will figure itself out, once I let go. Because the universe has my back.

VGM: Any wisdoms you would like to share with our readers? 

Nina: Oh yes, there’s actually quite a lot that helped me with my personal growth.

But most importantly: before you start walking, take your time to be still, to simply be. And then you can walk off getting the life you truly want and wish for.

Be brave and take risks in life.

Develop a positive attitude to life, so if you have negative thoughts or feelings, redirect your focus on the good and beautiful things in your life and trust me, there’s loads.

See every painful experience that you make in life as a sign to look into this in more detail and as a valuable possibility to learn and grow.

Last but not least, the matter of my heart is my biggest wisdom:

Be yourself. Speak your truth. Be kind, ’cause life is too short not to sparkle with joy.

Want to know more about how I can help you living a happy life? Then connect with me here or on the following platforms:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninaspinknotes/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ninaspinknotes/

Yours, Nina

 

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Oh Cambodia!

I’m so grateful!

• … for travelling.
• … to have visited Cambodia.
• … to have stayed in a yoga & meditation temple.
• … that I found yoga & meditation for my life.
• … that I meet beautiful people wherever I go.

Meeting new people is such a wonderful experience. When I travelled through Cambodia, I enjoyed this experience every single day. I stayed in a yoga & meditation retreat in Kep for 2 weeks. Check out Vagabond Temple, if you are looking for spiritual inspiration & growth, great yoga classes, guidance in meditation and meeting like-minded people from all over the world.

I also booked an Ayurveda detoxification package with sessions spread over 5 days, so you should be a guest for a minimum of 5 days. The package included 4 wonderful Ayurvedic massages plus a session with the founder of the retreat Kobi. My healer Maayan and me started with feet reflexology and seriously this woman has magical hands. I noticed fairly quickly how tight certain parts in my feet were, ouch!, but it all made sense, since these points related to my lower back and hamstrings and yes, they were tight. This session was incredible. Whilst I thought that Maayan was still massaging my feet, she suddenly stood next to me informing me that the massage was finished. What?! This showed me how deeply relaxed I was. For the afternoon she recommended to just be and relax and to take the afternoon yoga practice slow.

More being, less doing.

This is something so valuable I learned during my time at the retreat center. Not only Maayan mentioned this to me specifically to rest more, but also Pazit held an incredible Dharma talk about the topic “More being, less doing“. Why? Because most of us are so caught up with daily To Do lists, tasks & self-imposed responsibilities, social media and overall distraction, that we forget to simply be. Without looking at our smart phone. Without doing anything. Just being.

Just sit and be still.

Another aha-moment for me was when I visited Maayan the 2nd time for a full body Ayurvedic massage. She hugged me tightly and from her heart and asked me how I was doing. I replied: “Actually good.” She asked: “Actually?” Me: “Hm, no I’m really good.” This situation showed me that I was relativising my mood, although I felt awesome, freaking great, amazing. And so we started reflecting on this conversation and our impulse to relativise things. I instantly noticed for myself that I get the impression it’s more accepted in society to hold back, to be not that great, to moan. But if you say you are doing really great, then you are kind of weird. Different. Maybe arrogant. So, maybe that’s why we make ourselves worse, because we might also get more attention if we say “I’m okay.” Followed by the next question “Why, what’s going on?” as opposed to no question, when you say you are doing great. Well, at least that is my observation, as the entire blog is, just as a reminder.

We continued with a full body massage and again/still, my hip area was tight. I fully relaxed and even saw bright white and yellow lights. Maayan explained that the tightness probably comes from my will to push forward. Because I’m doing too much and being too little. She assured me that I’m still young and that I still have enough time to get to where I want to be. That it’s important to accept that life throws us back at times or makes us go left and right, but that we can continue our path anyways. Accept what is. Accept the throwbacks, meander and changes in life.

You will continue your path.

This inspiring conversation took me straight to my pink notebook wondering where the urge to do comes from. Am I afraid of dying before having fully lived the life that I always wanted to live? Do I do, because I want to live my dream life as quickly as possible, for as long as possible? Am I scared of regretting not to have done enough?

If you are following my blog since the start then you will know that I had my breakthrough in a Reiki session in Mexico, whilst travelling through Latin America for almost 6 months. And so it happened that Maayan and me included a Reiki session into my package. I would love to share with you my main learnings from this session.

• Follow up on what you see in your dreams.
• Follow your path.
• Take care of yourself. Self-love first.
• Do not absorb negative energies.
• Go for it.

Go for it!

The last part of the Ayurveda package was with Kobi. After a few minutes of talking, we found ourselves in a very exciting talk about astrology and my sign (=Gemini). Kobi is an absolute expert in this field, so if you are into it and you visit Cambodia, schedule an appointment with him now. Again, details of this conversation would go beyond the scope of this blog post, but let me share with you my learnings which I’m sure will be so valuable for you, too, as these are independent from your astrological sign.

• Letting someone read my astrological sign made me understand myself more, it gave me more empathy for me, my behaviours and my decisions.
• Do not compromise on yourself. You are who you are.
• Set your boundaries. Write down your red lines in the different areas of life.
• Appreciate validation from others, but do not seek it.
• Believe in yourself.

Believe in yourself.

Oh Cambodia! Thank you so much for having me and enriching my life so strongly and positively that I feel freer and more confident than ever before. Thank you to all of you wonderful people who accompanied me on this journey.

Love, love, love.

Yours, Nina

 

 

Freedom – Am I free?

Freedom. Happiness. Love.

These 3 words are my key goals, my why, for being on this journey of personal growth. This article is dedicated to the all important word freedom. But what does freedom actually mean? What does it mean for me? Am I free?

I have stumbled upon these questions more than once now. Probably because I’m on this spiritual journey. Probably because I’m questioning existing beliefs, behaviours and limitations. Probably because I’m curious by nature.

I have always been. 

Yes, I’ve always been curious, but looking back now, I feel like there was one kind of curiosity that was accepted in life, and another curiosity that wasn’t. Because it was too questioning. Too rebellious. Too scary. Which means that over time, I’ve reduced the amount of questions asked, I didn’t challenge the existing as much anymore, I basically lost my natural curiosity about life. I lost who I have always been.

However, it would be unfair to say that it is fully our society’s fault, because at the end of the day I accepted the existing, I accepted certain beliefs, I accepted specific behaviours as well as limitations. Most likely though, the acceptance wasn’t a 100% conscious process, but I trusted that the existing was right, good and I guess normal. Because why would you question something that seems to work? The answer is you wouldn’t, until you do, which is when you realised that things don’t actually work. Well, for me at least.

I’ve been at this point several times now, but my breakthrough to dig deeper and to really question the existing happened whilst travelling through Latin America, especially when I was in Mexico. Ever since, I’ve embarked on a journey, on my inner journey.

Destination: Myself. 

I understood over the last years that my inner journey with the destination ‘Myself’ has long been overdue and is absolutely essential to the pursuit of freedom.

Whilst we are of course influenced by society, our parents and upbringing as well as by politics etc., it is still our choice – especially when we grow older – which influences we actually accept or reject within our value system.

We are free to choose.

This means we can choose every moment who we are and who we truly want to be. But we will only experience true freedom, once our mind is truly free, allowing us to be, truly and authentically.

True self against Troublemaker

However, our true self often faces our difficult self. I like to call it ‘Troublemaker’. We are scared, our thoughts limiting and our self is less wild. Love is increasingly replaced by fear. We’ve lost ourselves.

But don’t we remember what our true essence is? What our purpose of existence is?

True essence

Our true essence is to enjoy life, to play like a child on the playground, to explore, to be happy and to love.

I am craving that life again, a life of freedom, of happiness and love. I got an amazing taster of life and my true essence whilst travelling through Latin America and I simply cannot go back. I want to get to the bottom of my true self again. I want to let go of all limiting beliefs, I want to express my feelings, I don’t want to live my life on other people’s terms, so that I’m being liked and accepted, I first and foremost want to like myself.

Because I’ve understood: If I like myself, I can dissolve everything that does not serve me any longer. I can blow off the dust of my very own diamond that is my true and authentic self.

And then I can go and get my freedom back, visualising everything I’ve always dreamt of.

PS: Do you see the yellow reflection on the picture? On the left side, right where the heart is? No more words needed…

Go and follow your heart.

Yours, Nina

 

 

 

 

When in doubt, travel

I’ve always been in love with traveling, but this developed into a whole new dimension when I travelled through Latin America for almost 6 months last year. Now, I perceive traveling as a gift.

But first things first. I lived in London for almost 5 years and had a job that I loved, as a marketing & communications manager for luxury hotel amenities. It was all good until our company was sold and they started changing responsibilities, hierarchies and ways of working. A few months later I decided that I wouldn’t be happy in this new set up and that after 3 years in the same job, it was about time to leave. Plus I always had in the back of my head that the next time I quit my job, I would travel through Latin America, a dream and vision that I’ve had for many years.

My boyfriend at the time decided to quit his job too and so we started planning our 4 months trip together. Wow, I was so excited to burn the bridges behind me, well not all of them, but definitely a few, like giving up a well-paid job, leaving my nice apartment in London and of course leaving my friends for the time being. But the excitement about being free like a bird and exploring the world was definitely bigger than the fear of leaving something behind. Dare to be brave!

So, in early June, we left London and flew to Cuba, our first stop. Unfortunately, after approximately 3 weeks my boyfriend at the time and me already got into a fight and although I don’t remember what it was all about, I do remember, that I felt like I cannot fully express my opinion, my thoughts and feelings. We continued the journey and got into more discussions, majorly due to different perceptions and interpretations of situations and probably also due to a lack of communication. We spent amazing times together, but when in Peru, we seemed to have reached the peak of frustration, so after a horrible fight, we broke up between Peru and Bolivia.

I was in shock. I simply didn’t realize what had happened and how we got from planning a trip together to breaking up on that trip. I also thought “Why me?” and “Why again?” and felt really sorry for myself. On the other hand, I felt strong and self-confident and kept thinking that this guy simply didn’t deserve me. When he suggested to me to cancel the trip and fly back to the UK or Germany, all alarm bells switched on. This suggestion felt so wrong. It was MY idea, it was MY trip and I didn’t want to give up on MY dream and vision, because of a broken relationship. No, I was stronger than that and so I accepted the break up and switched into pragmatic problem-solving mode.

First question that arose was where to go next and when. With regards to where, I decided to more or less stick to the original travel route and hence flew from La Paz to Uyuni to visit the awesome salt flats Salar de Uyuni. Regarding when, well the sooner the better and so a couple of days later, I was en route again, this time alone.

So this is when my solo travel trip through Latin America started. When in doubt, travel!

Yes I was confused, yes I was sad, yes I was shocked, yes I felt sorry for myself, yes I was angry, yes I was in doubt. But somewhere between all this uncertainty, fear, and sadness, I felt extremely confident, strong, brave and positive. Because deep down in my heart I trusted and knew that this had happened for a reason, for something better & bigger.

And life showed me indeed that the best was yet to come, if I only embraced this change.

What we can learn from this experience:

• That it’s important to never give up on our dreams.
• “When in doubt, travel” is true, since it gives us time to clear our head, to find back to our heart and to feel at peace with the world.
• That it is important to talk, talk, talk. Expressing our opinion, thoughts and feelings is critical to happiness, as we can only be happy when we are true to ourselves and stick to our values.
• Self-love is key.

Thank you for being here and reading my story. I really hope that my posts help you to find light in any sad situation that you might be facing. Stay tuned, as I will continue to share my journey to myself with you.

Yours, Nina