Being Proactive......

Thinking back years ago to my childhood, I clearly remember occasionally feeling that life had dealt me a complicated "set of cards". In my memories there lingered a feeling of not having had the luck I perceived other peers of mine had........better homes, better vacations, etc, etc.

Why did I have to do 12 chores a day to get my school money? Why did I have to work during my "vacations" in order to have spending money? Why did I have to work after school to have money to go out and a car? And so on.....

Even though through time all that I remember achieving, in general terms, was continuous progression, I never stopped viewing my life as a victim of my circumstance and sadly only recently did I understand how this gravely affected my happiness as well as the happiness of the people closest to me.

The world around us as well as our lives are meant to share us in all the blessings, but everything we truly need has to come as a product of our effort. We need to learn to handle those things that bother us by restricting our reactive nature and taking control of our lives through the proactive engagement of life. This obviously is more easily said than done!

When difficult things present themselves to us, it is important we do not fall into a reactive nature, which finally only leads us to living our lives as victims of our surroundings, while loosing control of the opportunity to improve and develop our lives into what is our true potential..........this my friends, is where I hope I am today!

I have been working to transform my life from being a "victim" with a reactive nature, to restricting this nature, while proactively taking actions that are leading me to a happier and more prosperous life of true fulfillment for myself and for my family. This is not at all easy, but I can sincerely say that I and more than a few people have noticed this in me, which also motivates me to continue on!

Don´t answer me, but do ask yourself.........where am I today and what am I doing to achieve lasting fulfillment.........?

Friendship.......

This last week I attended my elementry school 25 year class reunion. When I first heard about this plan I can´t say that I was completely "on board", but as time elapsed, I started to change my mind.

This event was what finally motivated me to me start facebooking and twittering, but most importantly, led me to the great opportunity of meet up with long lost friends!

In all truth I was a bit nervous prior to arriving to our class reunion. I didn´t know who I was going to meet and if I was going to be "up to par", but I brought myself to maintain an up beat attitude, all the while reassuring myself that others felt the same!

Finally when the moment came, I could only feel how greatful I was to have been a part of this memorable event. So many forgotten memories came back while enjoying the company of a great group of people with which I lived with for over 7 years! These years were the most innocent and joyful years of my life....maybe that´s why they call them the "wonder years"! All my friends, school faculty, and classmates were an enormous part of who I am today.

When I think about the incredible experience I enjoyed with my elementry school friends, I was reminded of the relevance of our friendships......good or bad, they are a big influence in our lives, so they mold us, mark us and influence us in many a way. Personally, I was very fortunate and, in consequence, can only be so very greatful for what each and every one of them contributed, through my contact with each of them, to what I am today.

I certainly wasn´t the best of role models as a friend, but this remembrance made me confirm how important our friends are in each of our lives. In consequence, it becomes obvious to me how we need to be more giving, plus never forget to value them all for having been a part of our lives. Friends will never be "perfect", but neither are we, so.......let´s start accepting and value them for what they truly are, while never forgetting that, if true, we also need to invest more of ourselves in them as we hope they do with us.

The more we invest, the more we will reap!

See you next week.

Taking Risks....

Today is Sunday, a week after my first blog, and I can´t help mentioning how liberated I felt all during the week. Expressing ones thoughts through the internet to the whole world, even though the amount of people having read it was surely limited, made me feel different in a good way.

Touching on the topic of authenticity helped me continue in this journey of personal acceptance and led me to start taking a few important risks, especially by accepting to be vulnerable, imperfect, and having made mistakes. This is so easy and obvious when you read this, but so very difficult to think of one self and accept that this is "ok" or even more challenging to open and reflect this vulnerability to others.

In life we all find ourselves in certain moments when we need to take risks and these risks should be taken, but they should be taken for the right reasons. Opening up to be truly authentic is one of these risks. Goals achieved without being authentic, through time, will only contribute to building-up more and more frustration, but the risk one takes to be true to ourselves, our convictions and our goals is a big one.

I can´t help thinking how important it is to find ways and moments to express ourselves as well as to pursue our dreams. It is as important to do this for our own selves as well as to facilitate this opportunity to others. I frequently ask myself if I´m living my dream? Are these dreams and goals for the common good or are they purely egotistical? Did these goals come about proactively or as a reaction to my circumstances? How can I begin the journey towards creating my dreams without negatively affecting people who are close to me? Am I capable of achieving these dreams or are they beyond me?

Is there anyone out there that feels the same???

See you next week!

The Importance of Being Authentic....

This is my first experience with blogging and after think long and hard about what to write about I finally came to the decision of talking about the importance of being authentic. Why? Well because this has been a personal challenge for me and I´ve seen how so many people close to me, family, business, and social acquaintances also have trouble being authentic. Why is this so difficult for so many of us? From childhood we are educated and in the process we´re, no doubt accidentally, made to curb our authenticity for many a logical reason but as adults we´re already too "molded" to really be ourselves in the various parts of our lives.

Maybe this is because of the fear of being judged and/or rejected by others, but I think that in the end we only cheat ourselves from true happiness and sincere progress when we and others don´t represent ourselves truthfully. If we think that by faking-it-out we will play the best or the correct part, and achieve what we want, we will only increase our own feeling of inadequacy because we are not being true to others nor to ourselves...........this can only add to our own frustrations!

This doesn´t mean that we shouldn´t try to be our best selves, to be prudent and courteous. I think we should always be able to express what we think and feel, but the way we go about expressing ourselves makes all the difference in the world.........the consciousness or attitude with which we say and do things is what I´m referring to.

At the end of the day, the question is.........are we better off being what we represent through our facades or being our true selves? I personally think we´re all better off by being authentic.