Relaxed Flow

I have stopped going against the grain. If it doesn't feel good, expansive, and amazing, I just wont do it. What I have learnt is that this is not the energy that leads to the life I desire. See, we must be clear of the feeling we are after. The type of life that we envision must be in alignment with everything we are currently doing.

Here's an example: I recently signed a contract. Withing a short period of time that contract started to feel very limiting and my energy was drained. The project turned out to be so much more work than I had originally anticipated. But I stuck to it (stubbornly) because I believed (erroneously) that I had to fulfill my commitment. Fortunately, I got some sense talked into me. Sent a simple email stating that I wished to be release from the agreement, sat back, and expected the best. Sure enough, I received a reply that was easy and in agreement with my request.

Sometimes it is wise to keep pushing, but we must always check with our body/senses to see if what we are bringing forward is what's right. I believe that the Universe will always supply accordingly and all we have to do is show up, do whatever we can, the best way we can, and expect miracles along the way.

It has taken me entirely too long to understand the ease of this whole process, but now I'm happy to have found my answers and just as happy to share it and help those who are ready to bring their best lives forth.

The world is yours! What type of life do you dream of? What type of world are you ready to build?

Many Blessings,
Erika

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Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being. To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com

The Heart of Spirituality

This is an excerpt from Benjamin Riggs's Embracing Personal Disappointment as the Path to Awakening.
I absolutely loved it. Hope you do too.

The Heart of Spirituality.

When we truly relate to our personal dissatisfaction we realize that our life is a pattern of learned behaviors revolving around a center that is inauthentic and uninspired. We thought that life was about becoming our own person; rather than learning to embody the creative nature of our individuality. As a result, our every action was transformed into an attempt to become what we were not. This left us feeling empty and inadequate. Furthermore, when we look deeply, through the practice of meditation, we realize that we created the false self that our barren life has been obsessively revolving around. We see that we are the creators of the world we inhabit. We have divided ourselves against ourselves and made ourselves into slaves, chained to the task of filling the void that we created when we tried to become what we thought our friends, family, or society wanted us to be.

It is difficult to accept that we are both the prisoner and the guard. First of all, because, if we are responsible for all of our dissatisfaction, then we must also accept the sterile nature of one of our favorite past-times, blame. The futility of life, as we have been living it, is not the fault of our upbringing; we cannot blame it on society or the insufficiency of religion. Truly relating to our personal suffering means that out of all the assholes we have met, we are, perhaps, the biggest; out of all the bullies we have faced, no one, other than the one we created, so ruthlessly suppressed that silent voice of authenticity that always asked us to be true to our Self. Second, it puts us in a very compromising position. We are forced to learn to love ourselves, even the part of us we hate for having created this terrifying situation. On the spiritual path it is often said that we must be compassionate and loving toward our enemies. But when we realize that we are our greatest enemy will we be able to grant ourselves the same loving space that we would grant a dear friend?

The Buddhist path requires bravery and courage. We are put in a vulnerable situation immediately, but if we should choose to sit with our darker side, we will see, in a flash of insight, our basic goodness—the heart of enlightenment—break through that karmic cloud of darkness. It is only by digging deep into the silence of our inner-being that we are capable of recovering the unlimited capacities of our own enlightened potential. And it is within this untapped inner-resource that we will find the answer to the question, “Who am I?”.

Original Post
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/11/embracing-personal-disappointment-as-the-path-to-awakening/

Love & Light,
+Erika

Bring Value

Add Value to Your World! Go and make something worthwhile happen, and yes, smiling counts. You can't expect to create change while bringing greed, drama, selfishness, excuses, and pity to the party. These are the things that we must be mindful of, so that we may avoid them as much as possible.

Make your world better, then share with others. Be more loving, happier, simpler, more truthful, gentle, compassionate, and caring. Take yourself out of the picture for a while and think of how may you serve and help a planet that is in desperate need of kindness in every way.

"Let us cultivate love and compassion, both of which give life true meaning. This is the religion I preach. It is simple. Its temple is the heart. Its teaching is love and compassion. Its moral values are loving and respecting others, whoever they may be. Whether one is a lay person or a monastic, we have no other option if we wish to survive in this world." - Dalai Lama


Now is When. Shine on.

Love & Many Blessings,
+Erika

Living Our Divine Essence

Living Our Divine Essence by Erika Matos

An inspiring friend, Xina Sy, invited me to contribute to her  Big, Bold, Beautiful Blog(http://thebigboldbeautifulblog.blogspot.com) and I gladly obliged.

Here's the link: Living Our Divine Essence by Erika Matos

With Love. Enjoy!

"When we live from within, nothing from without can shake or stir us. When we are grounded in truth, we can trust our foundation to be the sturdiest and most reliable. When the inner void is filled, the material band-aids are no longer needed to determine worth or value." + Erika

Shine On!

"Our spiritual nature is light which radiates from us and naturally transforms and heals. This spiritual light also creates unlimited possibilities of what can happen versus the limitations our minds put on things.

The sun shines light that is absorbed by all of life. The sun does not decide that since things are going "badly" in the world it won't shine today. The sun shines each day.

We must make a choice to shine our light and allow that light to radiate no matter what is going on in the outer world. We can't go back and forth deciding one day to feed the light and then one day to feed fear and anger. This going back and forth detracts from the focus and concentration of spiritual energies needed right now to create true change."

- Sandra Ingerman

Liberation

I learnt so much this past 4th of July weekend. About love, life and the pursuit of happiness. About releasing my self-imposed roles. About relaxing and allowing myself to ride the incredible wave of life. About the unexpected lessons, and happy new connections. I experienced pure magic.

For a while, I allowed myself to surrender, and then wondered how come I didn't do this more often! Life happened beautifully without me trying to control what was going on around me. Better than I could've expected. The food, the company, the exchange of genuineness, all fed my soul, which was apparently hungrier than I imagined.

So this weekend I went with the flow, got into a state of flow, and loved every second of it! Maybe this holiday was meant to liberate me from myself. To feel my way through this journey just a tad bit more, and to put the mind at ease. The fireworks ignited within my soul, and I fell in love with life all over again...

Hoping that your holiday was filled with joy!

Many Blessings,
Erika

Crossing the Finish Line

Today is the last day of The E3Woman 26-Day Blog Challenge. It has pushed me to be more creative, and seek more information, while honoring my commitment to complete the 26 entries.  Needless to say, I am overwhelmed with a joyous sense of accomplishment. I didn't know if I had that many entries in me within a month, but it turns out that where there's a will there's a way. I find inspiration daily. The trick was to translate those feelings into the text that became the blog entries for the month of June 2011.

Maybe the information shared wasn't new, but it represented the lessons that I was experiencing each day, which I believe were worth expressing. Because of this journey I feel more defined,  understand more of what I offer the world, and know that it works for me.

During this process I also connected with amazing women who are delights in the flesh. At first they made me feel intimidated, because their posts were so sharp, targeted, and everything felt connected and relevant. Then I understood that they were just sharing their lights and knowledge the best way they knew how. It liberated me to just be myself on blog, just like I would be anywhere else.

I invite you to read the blogs posted on the Blog Challenge Page. There's a treasure of information awaiting you.

Thanks for the opportunity, Kadena Tate. It has been a real pleasure.

Full of Joy and Excitement,
+Erika

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Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being. To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com

How to Get People to Change

Every day parents, teachers, religious leaders, and countless others struggle to instill learning and new ideas that will make a difference in other people's lives. The words are spoken in hopes that something will resonate within the hearts and souls of the listener(s) and encourage a commitment to a set of higher principles.

Think about your life for a second. Have you ever been inspired by words of encouragement, a story you read in the paper, or even by watching a stranger do something righteous? Very likely, you have. In turn, you probably adopted similar behaviours and became an inspiration to others, even though you may not be aware of it.
Yes, there's pain-motivated change and the inevitable life-cycle changes, but none make us feel better than change through new information, positive incentives, and enthusiasm!

So how do we get people to change? Lead by example. Want more love? Give more love. Too much cruelty? Be ever so kind. Not enough happiness around you? Be the happiest person you know!
You must embody everything that you believe will heal the planet. The transformation begins within you.

Here's to random acts of benevolent love,
+Erika

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Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being. To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com

The Universe is Endlessly Bountiful

"Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the Universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request and everything your heart desires must come to you." - Shakti Gawain

When I began studying Universal Laws, which include the Law of Attraction, it was difficult for me to see how it could work. I began to practicing, and being the good doubting Thomas that I was, I didn't understand why I didn't see any results. It wasn't until I let go of the skepticism, that things began manifesting beautifully, often better than what I had originally in mind.

My erroneous belief was that I had to see in order to believe. What I know now is that we cannot see, until we believe. Once we are able to see, faith grows passionately. I just have to remain aligned with my purpose: to heal, empower, enlighten and serve. The more I engage in it, the easier I am bringing forth my reality. I am dedicated to assisting my clients do just that. My desire is to help you, and as many people as I can, reconnect with the Highest Self.

Shakti Gawain always reminds me of the power of intention. She's an amazing personal growth teacher. Focus your attention anywhere and the energy invariably flows in that direction. You must have a clear idea and specific goals. Do you know exactly what kind of life you are building? Are you powering your desires with belief? If so, get ready to move mountains!


A tip on Manifesting: Replace the word "want" with the word "desire". It removes the lack mindset associated with "wanting" and adds positive emotion to move you in the right direction.


Expect Miracles!
+Erika

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Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being. To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com

 

My A-ha! Moment Today

I have spent my morning gathering documents for a project that I thought was finished. What happened, you ask? More support was needed. The task was tedious to begin with. I could have grunted the whole way through my hundreds of copies of the reporting assignment. It is, after all, my least favorite part of my job. However, I decided to stay light about the whole situation.

As I removed staples, copied and re-stapled, I took on an attitude of diligent dutifulness and gratefulness, and felt immediately at ease. Instead of allowing the complainer to take center stage, I allowed the smile to embrace my whole being. At that time, I was gently reminded that we all have a reason for being here, and that we all had things to do. 

Maybe that wasn't at all what I had in mind for my day, but what a great reminder of the difference the right mindset can make even in the most mundane case. It feels great to embrace the moment and look for the positive possibilities.

Feeling fortunate for the small things today, and making it a point to extend this simple consciousness to all areas of my life daily. My "A-Ha" moment!

Life is so good! Don't you agree? :)

+Erika

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Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being. To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com

Will I Ever Be Enough?

Are you trying to accomplish a lot because you feel you are not good enough as you currently are?

Sometimes we feel that if we reach this goal, or do this other thing, then life will be finally a dream come true. We keep thinking of the conditions we want in order to be finally happy "in the future". It's a trap! Boy, and do we fall for it often...

What we need to remember is: 

1.  Acceptance:  To learn to love life exactly as it is in this current moment. To realize that tomorrow never comes and all we have is right now. To understand that the more positive you are, loving everything that you already are and have, the more you create the correct magnetic vibration to attract even more of what you want. Do not confuse this with complacency. You still have every right to living a life full of purpose and expanding to your highest possible potential.

2.  Gratitude:  How often do we take this for granted?! The simple act of humbling ourselves and saying "Thanks for ________ " rather than complaining about the silly things that bother us. Don't know what to be thankful for? Start with "for being awake and alive right now" then take a quick inventory of those things that are supporting you daily, that might not be getting the credit they deserve. Even going as far as being grateful for a difficult person or situation in your life, for they are paving the way for you and teaching you lessons as you walk

through it.

"When we are busy focusing on what we don't have, we don't pay attention to what we do have. Wanting is different from having. Wanting is in the future. It is based on an idea of what might make you happy in five minutes, tomorrow, next week. But having is here, now. Most of us don't let ourselves have what's in front of us, so we're always wanting more. When you don't let yourself have what you already have, you are always hungry, always searching, always restless." – Geneen Roth

Go out today with an attitude of acceptance and gratitude and watch the mental clutter start to dissipate and the joy in your heart fill your spirit.

I am grateful for you! You are enough.

+Erika

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Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being. To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com

Start with Why

I'm a huge Simon Sinek fan. Because of WHY. (what?) Exactly.

For those of you who don't know who he is, he wrote Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. In it he challenges us to understand the real reasons why we are pursuing any goal, business or otherwise. This was transformational for me. He just wants to inspire people to do the things that inspire them.

It's a leading movement and it's a movement for leaders. His focus is on the power of Why - the purpose, cause or belief that drives every one of us. According to Sinek, if everyone knew their Why, and only did the things that inspired them, the world would be a truly amazing place.

Do you know your "WHY"? Keep reading.

I want to share an introduction to his work, and recommend that you follow his advice in order to maintain focus, determination and successfully endure to see your efforts to fruition. The following is from the book's website:

"There are leaders and there are those who lead.

Leaders hold a position of power or influence.

Those who lead inspire us.

Whether individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to.

We follow those who lead, not for them but for ourselves.

 

Clarity of Why is just a starting point.

Once you know Why, How will you bring your Why to life?

Hows are the strategies, guiding principles or actions that inform the path you will take in pursuit of your WHY. They are the road map or the code of conduct to start to move a Why into something useful and tangible. They are, quite literally, the actions you take or the environment in which you work best.

"Vision without execution is hallucination."

Just as Thomas Edison reminds us in the quote above, a Why is useless until you can make it tangible. Our Why, to inspire people to do the things that inspire them, would just be a nice idea until we had some things to help you do that. The good news is, we do."

The Why is the foundation. Is what will keep you pushing forward against what sometimes seem like insurmountable obstacles. Know your purpose. Inspire others. The rest will follow.

Here's to your Why.

+Erika

Erika Matos is a transformational agent, a certified health and nutrition educator, intuitive healer, and life coach helping people shift in the right direction by critically rethinking everything assumed to be true about what it means to be a happy, healthy, prosperous being.

To learn more about her work visit http://www.realitymanifest.com/

Oprah's Farewell

Yes. Everyone is talking about her. With good reason. The woman is absolutely amazing. Oprah. With one name. That's all she needs.

For me it was about her showing me a map, of how to tap into what she tapped into, of how to learn what she learnt (the important lessons in life), of how to make a difference, of how to be the best me, of how to let my light shine. Even how to expand my consciousness into what it is now, and it keeps growing. What an incredible gift to give to someone she has never met through a medium that touches millions everyday. That was what made her magical in my eyes. Because of her, and many others, I know that anything is possible. That the human spirit prevails.

Raw. Real. Honest. Transparent. Heart full. Loving. Giving. Comforting. That's how I perceive her. And she's not perfect. Her story is full of traumatic events and challenges, and yet she rose to the top. That's why I love her so.

Listen to These Words:
Oprah's Farewell Message


I'm plugged in. I want to continue spreading the messages. To be of service. To lend a voice to the evolution of mankind so that there are more Oprah's in the world. People unafraid of their dreams, of the light within, of hope, and to carry that to unseen corners of the world.
 
I'm not sure how life will be without "O", but I know it'll never be the same...
 
With a heart full of gratitude - Thanks, Oprah.

+E



www.realitymanifest.com