What happens when you fully trust and surrender to Divine Spirit? Life is very chill. Basically, there's no questioning and no resistance. You know that everything is happening exactly as it should and that everything will lead to the perfect outcome as long as you remain in faith and in good, happy energy.
Before I felt I had to be busy all the time building my online presence and my business. Now I understand that however little or much I do it's all adding up to the same thing because I'm not doing it alone - The Universe has my back! And the more I rely on that, the more it shows me it can be relied upon, which just makes it all easy and fun! Even when I'm going through what I may perceive temporarily as a challenge, I pause and remember how it all works, and it quickly turns around to show me I'm right and to continue trusting.
There are times when I ask myself: "What took me so long?". But I had lessons to learn and people to encounter (as I still do) in order to continue my spiritual evolution towards the ultimate ME. Happy for all that has happened, for my ability to forgive and move on, for the ones who love me unconditionally, and for my relationship to my Higher Power. God is, without doubt, my source. Not because I read it, but because I live it every second of my life in the flesh. I'm a proud witness to the miracles that unfold daily!
This is for you if you are facing a challenge that seems to big for you to handle. Or if you are feeling down and feel that there's no way out. My advice: look for the positive. What can you learn from this experience? How is it making you stronger? Trust that your best interest is at play and surrender to the Flow of Life.
Here for you.
Sending you healing vibes,
Erika
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Richard Strozzi-Heckler's Led to Gratefulness
I received this in my email inbox today, and had to share. I'm a huge fan of this work, and read The Leadership Dojo: Build Your Foundation as an Exemplary Leader, which I highly recommend!
Led to Gratefulness by Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D.
For the second year in a row an early fall storm soaks us with an inch of rain, followed by a robust sun. The air is thick and damp and the windows in the dojo steam over as the heat of moving bodies transforms the space into a translucent glaze of moisture. Despite the focused heat my waning garden reminds me it is not spring, as does the thickening light and the Vs of geese that arrow south. Mice, voles, and Brewer's sparrows scurry in the underbrush, amending their rhythms to imminent change. As I harvest the last of the tomatoes, lettuce, and squash I'm reminded of what seeds were planted in the spring, both in the receptive earth and in my psyche. If we stop and quiet ourselves there's a transparent abundance in this turning toward winter. Heeding our fragile place in its unfolding we are inevitably led to gratefulness. I perform a deep bow to the fence posts, to the corn, to the stones, to the gophers that ate the melons, to the emptiness of mind, to Life.
Our body is precisely the medium of exchange with this field of awareness we call Life. The body is life, it is the interface with life, it's the ground in which we participate with the air, the falling leaves, the smile of a grandchild, the doe and its fawn darting through the live oaks. In concert with other bodies- waving our limbs, sighing and laughing, shouting to the night sky, walking into a shared unknown - we co-author a story that can be told an infinite number of ways, a pluralism that is mysteriously One. Our sentience is not a body in seclusion; it is birthed by our direct encounters with the terror of the night as well as the delight of a fresh Roma tomato dribbling off our chin; and everything in between. Let's not fall into the trap of thinking that our capacity for conscious reflection is the result of only partnering with our self, rather than with the world at large.
Here's a profoundly simple way of practicing that partnership: Align along your vertical line, extend through the crown of the head up towards the heavens and through the soles of the feet down to the earth. Now draw in a breath and let the vertebrae and rib cage swell while you both settle and straighten. Do this again, each time feel, and imagine, that the breath is connecting the world with your most inner places. Pull the breath from the outermost edge of the cosmos and feed it to your cells and let it expand your soul, and your skin. Notice how it is all tied together: breath, tissue, sensation, community, energy, self, the Mystery. Now say "Thank You" from this Unity.
Take It Easy, But Take It
Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D.
http://www.strozziinstitute.com/
Led to Gratefulness by Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D.
For the second year in a row an early fall storm soaks us with an inch of rain, followed by a robust sun. The air is thick and damp and the windows in the dojo steam over as the heat of moving bodies transforms the space into a translucent glaze of moisture. Despite the focused heat my waning garden reminds me it is not spring, as does the thickening light and the Vs of geese that arrow south. Mice, voles, and Brewer's sparrows scurry in the underbrush, amending their rhythms to imminent change. As I harvest the last of the tomatoes, lettuce, and squash I'm reminded of what seeds were planted in the spring, both in the receptive earth and in my psyche. If we stop and quiet ourselves there's a transparent abundance in this turning toward winter. Heeding our fragile place in its unfolding we are inevitably led to gratefulness. I perform a deep bow to the fence posts, to the corn, to the stones, to the gophers that ate the melons, to the emptiness of mind, to Life.
Our body is precisely the medium of exchange with this field of awareness we call Life. The body is life, it is the interface with life, it's the ground in which we participate with the air, the falling leaves, the smile of a grandchild, the doe and its fawn darting through the live oaks. In concert with other bodies- waving our limbs, sighing and laughing, shouting to the night sky, walking into a shared unknown - we co-author a story that can be told an infinite number of ways, a pluralism that is mysteriously One. Our sentience is not a body in seclusion; it is birthed by our direct encounters with the terror of the night as well as the delight of a fresh Roma tomato dribbling off our chin; and everything in between. Let's not fall into the trap of thinking that our capacity for conscious reflection is the result of only partnering with our self, rather than with the world at large.
Here's a profoundly simple way of practicing that partnership: Align along your vertical line, extend through the crown of the head up towards the heavens and through the soles of the feet down to the earth. Now draw in a breath and let the vertebrae and rib cage swell while you both settle and straighten. Do this again, each time feel, and imagine, that the breath is connecting the world with your most inner places. Pull the breath from the outermost edge of the cosmos and feed it to your cells and let it expand your soul, and your skin. Notice how it is all tied together: breath, tissue, sensation, community, energy, self, the Mystery. Now say "Thank You" from this Unity.
Take It Easy, But Take It
Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Ph.D.
http://www.strozziinstitute.com/
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Natural Health
I have been noticing lately how my focus is mostly on the physical body. Don't get me wrong, my fascination with the spirit, mental, and emotional side of our selves is very strong. However, I am finding that the body is the one part that gets very neglected. Either lack of information, or lack of motivation, leaves us in a state of imbalance and at the hands of doctors who do little but prescribe mindlessly.
From now on, I'll begin to focus more on this area as a educator and coach. I'm really looking forward helping people transform and improve their well being.
Love yourselves. Love the body that you are in.
You have no idea how blessed you are! (And if you do, stay in gratitude!)
Many Blessings,
+Erika
The more I learn, the more that I realize that the body is one of the easiest things to correct and "make healthy". My approach is one of natural, holistic, organic eating, herbal therapy, vitamin & mineral supplementation, mindful exercise, and energy healing. The thing is: the body can affect our spirit, our mind, and our emotions. It is our vessel throughout life!
Since I began my Pilates instructor training, I have been more consistent with my workouts, and have noticed an incredible positive difference in my mood. That combined with more nutrition education, convinced me that the body is an incredible powerhouse! What a beautiful physical gift to have. It's design is perfect.
Although we are not given a manual on how to effectively take care of it, to be happy, healthy, and free of disease is possible.
Love yourselves. Love the body that you are in.
You have no idea how blessed you are! (And if you do, stay in gratitude!)
Many Blessings,
+Erika
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
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.
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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
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
Thursday, June 30, 2011
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.
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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
________________________________________________________
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
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
________________________________________________________
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
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Are You Focusing on the Clock?
Clock time is a social construction. While we oblige by it, we must also find time to disconnect from it. I want to share in this post some very useful insight from Eckhart Tolle:
The elimination of time from your consciousness is the elimination of ego. It is the only true spiritual practice. Here are three exercises to help you move in this direction:
Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in everyday life. Become friendly toward the present moment. Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed.
Be present as the watcher of your mind—of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react.
Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, don't interpret. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don't judge them. Listen to the silence beneath the sounds. Touch something—anything—and feel and acknowledge its Being. Allow the "isness" of all things. Move deeply into the Now.
– Eckhart Tolle
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It is true that time will pass, and that there will be many things around us to remind us of just that. In your daily hustle, make sure that you slow down from time to time to enjoy the flowers along the path. Rushing all the time depletes us of essential life force, making us inefficient and clumsy. Take a few moments to connect with your breath: five consecutive breaths will oxygenate your body and begin to release tension.
Life is passing us by. Are you enjoying every moment as much as possible?
I Am, as are you...
+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
The elimination of time from your consciousness is the elimination of ego. It is the only true spiritual practice. Here are three exercises to help you move in this direction:
Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in everyday life. Become friendly toward the present moment. Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed.
Be present as the watcher of your mind—of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react.
Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, don't interpret. Be aware of the silent presence of each thing. Be aware of the space that allows everything to be. Listen to the sounds; don't judge them. Listen to the silence beneath the sounds. Touch something—anything—and feel and acknowledge its Being. Allow the "isness" of all things. Move deeply into the Now.
– Eckhart Tolle
It is true that time will pass, and that there will be many things around us to remind us of just that. In your daily hustle, make sure that you slow down from time to time to enjoy the flowers along the path. Rushing all the time depletes us of essential life force, making us inefficient and clumsy. Take a few moments to connect with your breath: five consecutive breaths will oxygenate your body and begin to release tension.
Life is passing us by. Are you enjoying every moment as much as possible?
I Am, as are you...
+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
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
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.
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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
________________________________________________________
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
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Will I Ever Be Enough?
Are you trying to accomplish a lot because you feel you are not good enough as you currently are?
What we need to remember is:
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
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
"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
_____________________________________________________
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
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