Word of advice

Last weekend I met few of my friends from the event management course that I took around three years ago. One of us is leaving for Korea, so the occasion was a farewell party for her. We were 4 of us and there seemed to be two generations at that table as two of us were above forty and other two in their twenties. During our party one of them asked me if there's anything that I would do differently with my life. And I said: "No. The only thing that I'd do differently is to live my life to the fullest and live it now. Yes, you need to plan and schedule, but yet the only thing that you have is NOW because you have no idea what is going to happen to you tomorrow".
When I had my ski accident this January my life was completely on pause and if there's something that I've learnt from this is to enjoy the life and take chances and opportunities that come to you. Before I'd analyze a lot and hesitate in my decisions, question everything, but now I don't do this any more. Whatever shows up in my life, I go for it!
Another lesson I've learnt is to stop feeling guilty and pleasing others instead of yourself. If you're not happy with yourself everybody around you will suffer because of it, including yourself. So, you have to have the courage to be genuine and to be true to yourself, even if it hurts and disturbs other people.

Solitude...

The pivotal moment of Labor Day

Summer is over and everyone is coming back from vacation. It's a new transition going from parties, playing in the water, boating, spending time at the cottage, etc, basically having the time of your life. Some of us will have had the first kiss. Others would share time with family and beloved ones. And we are moving from all that back to business and/or school, work life, stresses and schedules.
For myself, I remember walking down the corridor of my hotel in Puerto Rico. It was around 5pm when everyone was already checked out and there were only very few business people checking in. It felt like a ghost town at the time when it would get very quiet right before the storm.
It's almost like you are doubting yourself that life would come back here and fill the place with fast pace life and noise of reality.

You don't need to be perfect to be attractive

Today when I was at the gym, something interesting happened. It was the end of my workout and I was biking in the area where bicycle and treadmill equipment overlooks the weight lifting area, so I could see everyone working out there almost as if I was watching TV. And as I was watching them I've noticed to my surprise that all those weightlifting muscular men were gathered in the same area. I started wondering why and all of a sudden I saw this really attractive woman exercising there. That really made sense - these guys were trying to get closer to her and that's why there were all there!
All of a sudden this young handicap man walks in the gym. He is around 20 years old or, perhaps, even younger. His legs are not proportional to the rest of his body and also crooked. He walks with great difficulty. And although he has that handicap, he works out diligently pushing himself as I witnessed him working out there many times before. You can tell that he is very dedicated to his weightlifting training.
Next thing, I noticed these big guys looking in his direction; unconsciously, I did the same thing and what we saw was: as soon as this young man came in, this gorgeous woman left all her equipment behind to go and greet him, after which she invited him to exercise together flirting with him like a coquette. At the same time it was very apparent that she was physically attracted to him!
And immediately inside myself I felt this feeling of victory - here is this woman that could choose any man that she wanted, but she choose one that was physically handicap… isn't that great!?! All our lives we think of ourselves as not perfect - we are too fat, too slim, to this, too that..., but there's no such thing as perfection and that's the life lesson this experience gave me: you do not need to be perfect for people to love you, they love you because of who you are and it is ok to have weaknesses and flaws.

Trapped in yourself...

Sometimes I get really frustrated when I get stuck up on something, whether it’s an idea or a way of doing things. I noticed a lot of people do too, and it’s so unfortunate that in this situation we are not aware of our own state of mind. We just don’t want to accept and acknowledge anything that goes against what we believe. It’s just too difficult to admit that we can be wrong! Sometimes people can go so far with this, that it can even ruin relationship…
The other day a friend of mine asked me for my help to resolve an easy computer problem. So I went to their house, which was ten minutes drive from my place. By the time I got there the person was already frustrated and discouraged and while I was trying to solve the problem she just wouldn’t stop interrupting me and telling me how to do things. When I tried to do something to help her, she would say ``No, I have already tried this thousand times and it did not work!!``
I just find it fascinating that when we have a problem our brain gets stuck and we cannot get any further. It is like there is a wall that goes up and we cannot move on. We are literally spending our energy going in circles and accomplishing nothing. We become slaves of our thoughts and we don’t let any other suggestions/advises in. Why do we feel this way? Is it being insecure about being wrong or is it just the desire to oppose anything and everything we are told to do?

Uncomfortable situation at the gym

It’s a month now since I am allowed to go to the gym and exercise. Though I am still very limited in my range of motions as I am struggling with my left leg and also my right shoulder due to my ski accident in January. One day after the work out I went to the change room. Suddenly, I found myself in front of my locker; it was awkward because my locker was right beside this motionless naked woman. She was right in front of my locker and she literally obstructed my way to the locker. I waited for a good 10 minutes, but she was not moving and at one moment I realized she was crying… I did not know what to do, so I asked her: «Do you want to talk? Can I help you with something? » She said: «I do not want to bother you». I told her: “You are not bothering me, I am here for you”. But she just left for the shower area without speaking to me and then I took my personal gear and left. I did not know what to do.. I thought that sometimes the best thing to do is not doing anything … allow the person to be with the pain even if it makes you feel uncomfortable and powerless. Sometime life is difficult and we need to consent to let it be, this too will pass.

And what would you do?