"It's Not About the Money!"...

It was raining hard this morning on our way to my husband's job. Early, cold, dark and rainy. We have a rental car while our 'Victoria' is at the Car Hospital being healed and having a little bit of "Plastic Surgery". I know she's going to look beautiful so that makes me happy and my husband is thrilled that for now we get to drive this brand new SUV. He is a big man so a car this size fits him perfectly, I on the other hand like small cars, easier for me to drive, to adjust, cheaper in gas and easier to find parking as I go from one place to another all day long.

On our way to work at 3:30 am I turned on the radio and this song was playing. I turned up the sound and started singing and moving along to the tune, you really can't help but do that, at least not if you're like me who carries music in my heart and listen for the sounds of life everywhere I Am.

I think the only people who don't believe that Happiness can't be bought no matter how much money you have are those who either have so much money they find ways of buying some of that instant gratification you can get with the money you have or they wind up identifying their self worth as money.  Or those who have never had enough money and they believe once they get it then they'll be happy. The question is, "Is that what Happiness is?"

So what if you lose that money and can't keep on buying that happiness, is happiness no longer something you can have if you don't get that money back? Can money always buy you happiness? ask the people in the Limelight, like Prince Charles and Princess Diana RIP, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, just a few of the many examples who not only have the money they have everything else too, the talent, the altruism, the following, the fame,  the respect, you name it they have it so why aren't they being happy?

Or what if you're so poor you win the lottery and you get the stuff you wanted and go to visit the places you dreamt of and once you do all you thought that would make you happy something happens that even your money can't buy. Do you then stop being happy? What if you're in the middle of acquiring all these things and going places and you realize it doesn't feel the way you thought it would when you were dreaming about it your whole life, what then, what do you aspire to next?

Look around you there is beauty everywhere. You may be challenged with anything, an illness maybe, a big loss, of a person, someone you loved, something material or a job. I say stay Happy while you are here, while you still have a body and a mind, keep on giving love to others, we are all going to die eventually, it's About the Here and Now, it's about The Music in your Heart. When you are happy money flows into your reality because you are not looking for it you are just making the most out of your life, it's just a consequence if you will to your state of being.

Listen for the music, but most of all feel it inside and you will see what Happy means... harmony, love, care, peace, joy and most of all no fear! The French call it  "Joie de Vivre!"...

And always remember that "It's Not About the Money!"...

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

You Can Call Me Cashew...

I've been called crazy many times, most of them as jokes, "Oh Mom you're a nut" my daughter said jokingly once to which I remember replying "And proud of it my love" and being that Cashews are my FAVORITE type of nuts I added to that "You Can Call Me Cashew, I'm a Fine Nut!"
In fact ten years ago when I started writing this Blog I labeled the area where I describe a little bit about myself as "Call Me Cashew".

I just think I must be a Nut if I'm one of the few that can see the world as different as I do compared to the majority. Everybody can't be a nut so it must be me I thought.

I hear everyone saying that you need to be kind and loving, giving and caring, generous and encourage others. truthful to yourself and to others but if you tell somebody something they don't want to hear or are willing to consider you're probably out of their lives. If you do something for yourself they don't approve of you're out of their lives, if you are giving you are called weak and if you open yourself to receive you are called selfish, if you encourage others you must need something and if you ask for what you need most of the time you'll get denied.

Working in Education with about 15,000 students I've had the opportunity to get to know A LOT of the details that go on in people's lives. I also decided to be "Mary Poppins" this summer that school was out so that opened doors for me to see what goes behind closed doors. I didn't need to confirm that money has nothing to do with certain behaviors and although I'm very fortunate never to have been exposed to physical abuse first hand, there are a lot of well intended people in the world trying to raise the newer generations that in my perception will not get the results they expect.

It's easier to see other people's challenges when you are not emotionally involved or in need to make decisions, so I listen, I observe and somehow I can see what will happen. I've been lucky enough to see a lot of these children that I met once as infants now as adults and what I saw happening so many years back, happened.

I really don't mind being a Nut, I know I do things that others wouldn't consider but if I'm going to take the time to do any of them it will always be to stay balanced and in harmony with this life I'm living with Love and good intentions.

So feel free to "Call Me Cashew!"

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Staying in My Comfortable Shoes...

Our conversation early this morning had to do with our relationship with others and how they each impact in our level of harmony and ultimately happiness. We both have different views on it yet we're both looking for the same end result.

I used to be the worst offender when it came to human relationships, I was always kind, that I got from my precious mother and my two grandfathers whom I only knew for a few short years but who left me with the best legacy in human kindness. But I also had the influence of other people in my life who were not as positive nor did they have a strong level of human emotion, non that they would show to the outside world. I learned things from them too as a child, how to be selfish and judgmental, for a long time I thought nothing of it as if it was a normal trait of humans to all be critical of each other.

I'm a different human being now than those two contrasting traits I grew up with, I learned not to judge but it wasn't intentional. I learned it because I was judged and when that happened I didn't like it AT ALL, so I had to see how it felt until I could look at another and no matter what not judge them unless I am willing to wear their shoes and to tell you the truth mine are very comfortable and it's not that easy for me to find comfortable shoes.

So back to our morning talk, my husband tells me he just wants me to be happy so what he does so I can "Be Happy" is to point out all the wrong things he believes other people do to me so I don't give them my attention, as if I'm supposed to be blind and not see what others do. "I just want you to be happy" he says, "But I AM Happy don't you see? I will never ever be able to control the behavior of others towards me, I can only control my behavior and my emotions. If I accept any person in my life it will only be if I am able to love them unconditionally, otherwise people come and go from your life you chose who you keep around."

I want to have the best possible relationship with those I love and care about and the only way that can be is by being unconditional about it, I derive my joy out of my giving or my ability to help others see the good in themselves. I feel happiness when I see them happy!

I think I'm staying on my path and in my shoes, they are quite comfortable...


Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Make it Happen on Purpose...

I just read an article written by a man who is 46 years old. I don't recall the exact details but what he wrote was a desperate cry out to anyone who might be wasting time postponing their lives, their dreams, their chance at love, their goals just to be financially sound and then start living.

He was very explicit as to how it turned out for him. Basically what happened is that he dedicated more time to his career and his work than he did to his son and his wife, so about 10 years ago the wife decided that she felt lonely and took on a lover, so she was having the life of a wife, a mother and a lover. It took him ten years to realize he had lost his wife and now that he realized it he said why did I waste all that time trying to build up a future so we could enjoy life as a family and now that I have the financial security I have no family to enjoy it with.

Even though I could see desperation for his loss and how sorry he was that he didn't realize it sooner, I don't really know how much sooner, maybe 15 years ago? I can also see it from the other side of the river.

In my experience and looking at it as something practical. First as a woman myself and having had that same experience, I was the wife of the Doctor, the caretaker, teacher, volunteer, housewife,  cook, housekeeper, gardener, pet caretaker, driver, lover and friend. I set the woman in me aside, I had no time for that, I didn't resent that my spouse was out building our economic future while I was building our family and even though I do consider having done a great job on my side, I still found myself alone at 50 and wondering why!?

To me finding myself at the total opposite end of where I thought I would wind up with the effort I decided to put into raising a family sent me on a whirlwind of emotions, that prompted me to make decisions that I never ever thought I could or would. It was as if giving myself permission to do everything wrong this time, because doing it right as I thought I was, certainly had not brought me the results I expected.

Well of course after a while of making all the wrong decisions I realized that wasn't the path either. That if I wanted to enjoy being alive rather than just existing that I had to do things in a totally different way and I set out to find which way that made sense to me and brought me the most peace and harmony. At this stage you realize that you just have to find that peace and harmony and everything else falls into place.

Right now when I read the rants of this poor 46 year old man with nothing but financial stability I think to myself, I tell you what, you give me the financial stability you have and I will show you how to enjoy your life. You are only 46 years old you still have such a long and wonderful road ahead of you. Maybe it'll be with other people to give your love to and who will love everything about you without the need to go behind your back to love another.

I don't know, I wish I was 46 and had the financial stability that you have, just go out and find happiness again in all that you have and all that you are. It's a wonderful life adventure you just have to go... Make it Happen on Purpose...

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Let It Go... Let It Go...

"So what does that look like?" my daughter asked me years ago. How do you just let go of something that's hurting you, I try but the thoughts and the feelings keep on coming back. I remember taking a moment to think about that, what exactly does it mean when someone suggests that if you don't like the feelings or emotions that you get when you hold on to something that doesn't harmonize with you that you should just Let It Go....

I remember feelings of anger, jealousy, anxiety, depression and any number of emotions that are not pleasant nor do they render any benefits. When that happens to me my Intuition is telling me that it makes no sense to feel in dis-harmony with something you either can't control, something that already happened or anything you can't change or do anything about, and yet my heart feels a different way,  I didn't know how to control, balance or justify those emotions most of the time, so the day my daughter asked me "What does Letting Go mean and what does it look like?" a few years back I would've had no idea how to answer that. I was ridden with emotions that not only kept me down and were not in harmony with life, they became so strong that I had to take a physical and emotional distance from all those things that were throwing me totally off balance.

At the time I remember feeling serenity for the first time in a long time. It was as if I broke my last emotional fear of anything and everything.

When I found myself alone like that, whether it was self imposed or not, harmony started being my normal as opposed to something that I had to go in search of all the time. So when that harmony would go off balance it gave me a glimpse, a chance to understand why it happened and if I didn't like feeling that way I would just distance myself from that.

In time I started challenging myself to feel the emotions again without putting that distance between me and what was causing it and confronting what before would make me uncomfortable.

Then that became the new normal, the understanding of judgement to others, knowing yourself, seeing your shadow, knowing how to stay in the light, becoming more tolerant, not taking things personal and most of all how not to label every emotion as positive or negative.

When you manage to put all that recipe together it might fail you now and then, but for the most part the cake comes out smelling, tasting and feeling good, and if once in a while it doesn't, well you tasted raw dough, nothing wrong with that ;) next time you just remember the formula, the recipe, bake it a little longer perhaps and most of all if you don't like it, just Let It Go...

Hugs xoxo

@nit@

Re-inventing my life every day...

I was asked to translate my last post so for those of you who requested it here it is with a few minor changes...

Every morning when I wake up after doing various things that have become a lovely routine like sharing some ‘mates’ and ‘tostadas con manteca’ which is the way he refers to buttered toast with a great friend of mine and walk my little Dieguito, I begin to review and feel an enormous sense of gratitude for what I accomplished, created, lived, experienced, learned, taught, helped, asked for help, won, lost, gave and received the day before, making sure that way that all my efforts to live a full day weren’t in vain, and then I proceed to re-invent my day again. 

Taking responsibility for my own happiness and not wanting to stagnate is not a simple task, since it requires motivation, discipline, mental, emotional and physical work constantly, while trying to maintain at all costs a balanced life.

We are beginning a “New Era” so much has been said about this for so many years, speculations about what will happen, but in reality none of us knows what awaits us until it actually happens, I made so many plans and speculations of what I would be doing on this day and reality was very different. I decided to go at the last moment to a relatively remote area surrounded by nature where there is a Geyser that spits out  intensely hot water with a huge amount of minerals  that have relaxing and curative properties.

What will happen to me next year, or in a decade? How could I possibly know that if I don’t know what I will be doing in the next ten minutes.

The 21st of December was a very important date for all humanity and I was alone, secluded at a hot mineral water pool resort, ate mexican food, shared some time with strangers who became friends, watched a movie on my computer, wrote and read a bit and then the 22nd came along and I was re-inventing my day all over again.

May your days be filled with hope, love, balance and harmony.

Happy New Year 2013 everyone! I'm rooting for y'all! 

Hugs with  x p

@nit@

Happy Birthday to You....

A Measurement is Born…By @nit@
First and most important of all allow me to say Happy Birthday to my new measurement. I’ve been thinking about this for a quite a while, and I finally figured out why my new measurement could change the way people view their lives. So this is a celebration, I think any birth is worth celebrating!

I’m sure most of us realize there is a measurement for EVERYTHING… the only thing I can’t figure out why we don’t have any measurement for, or at least none that I have come across in my 56 years on this Earth, is a measurement for 'ABUNDANCE'….. I don’t believe there is such a thing, so I want to give Birth to a 'MEASUREMENT FOR ABUNDANCE' sort of like a standard where we can base ourselves when we want to see how we are supposed to be feeling, and whether we think our lives are happy, harmonious and content for the most part. I don’t mean to say that we shouldn’t have challenges, how would we know otherwise what it feels like to win, to feel euphoric, content, happy, excited, etc. if not by having experienced the total opposite.

I ask you how much Abundance are we supposed to have? Is there such a thing as too much Abundance? I don’t know, you tell me. All I see is that there is such an ENORMOUS gap between total poverty/helplessness, and some people who seem to have everything they are told they should have to deem themselves successful in life; the relationships, the money, the health, their physical appearance, their successful careers, and they wind up trying or succeeding at messing up their lives and even some at committing suicide. And yes of course there are many shades of gray in between. What I believe is that if we don’t create a lower expectation of what abundance should be, there will come a time where we will never be able to reach total harmony. The standards seem to keep on getting higher and higher.

I’ve been reading a lot about “The Law of Attraction” and I think I can finally understand why my life has been the way it has. It is exciting to know that with the right thoughts, feelings, accompanied by actions, I can accomplish anything I want out of life, and from experience I realize now that I was always in control of my destiny, but I only started realizing this about two years ago, so imagine all the mistakes I made my whole life, even as early as 2 yrs ago I was still doing most of it wrong. Now you can understand how this made me shift the responsibility of the outcome of my future entirely to me, and I take my responsibilities very seriously. So the hard part was just starting, forget about the way I was doing things and learn new tricks. No more blaming the environment, the job, the family, the friends, luck, etc. Can you imagine the wake up call I experienced?

I have gone from the worst of tragedies to the heights of success and back a few times, and when I think of those moments that stand out in my mind, where I keep my fondest memories, my best ones happen to come from the simplest of times.

We can have a surplus of Abundance, and that could be much better than just the standard, but we have to be very careful that we don’t have an overflow of abundance, where we amass something to the degree that it goes to waste. Just think about it for a moment, we have say Royalty. In how many rooms in their palaces do they live? I bet you they have rooms they don’t see too often if at all. How many cars, jewels, clothes or "stuff" that we pile up do we really need? Is bigger always better? Or maybe it’s just bigger. As a child I know I liked the simplest of things, and even though I’ve developed a more sophisticated taste and more desires, I find that it is still simplicity that brings me the most warmth, joy, serenity and inner peace.

If you are born in a third world country out of poverty, chances are that your standards are set very low for you from the start, because as we all know, for some people it really does seem like an uphill battle that they will never win, so they settle for very little, and anything extra that comes their way, they appreciate it probably more than those who have everything they can possibly need from the start.

Then there are those who are born of wealth, and without too much of an effort they have over abundance and it either overflows and drowns them, or it goes to waste when others could be making great use of it, or they simply can never get enough of it, and in my opinion, in non of these cases can you experience true harmony, there is turmoil going on inside. Too much, too little, or none at all.

This is a 'HARMONIOUS' Universe, and as spiritual beings we are all connected through mind and soul, and if we set standards and we can stick as close to them as possible; although some will ALWAYS have more than others, because not everyone either understands the concept or is willing to make changes, the closer we get to the baseline, the more Harmonious this Universe will be for everyone.

This is an Abundance Universe, we can all have anything we want, but it shouldn't be what we have that determines how happy we are, or how much we enjoy our lives.

To those of us who are lucky enough to know what we want, we should always be able to make every single one of our wishes come true, and there should always be someone out there happy to help us along our quest to reach our dreams, as we should be happy to help others reach theirs.

We don’t all start out the same, some have better and easier beginnings, but if we teach and help each other, get a little bit closer to the baseline, maybe we can have more strength to bring on a lot more Harmony into this World…

I’ve gone from Pleasantville all the way to The Matrix, I have learned how to pack my backpack, although I do have a few pebbles inside my shoe. I better take them off and stick my hand inside to get all those little annoying pebbles out of my nice shoes…

Ahhh, that’s much better, now let me just wash my hands so we can hold hands and keep on walking, this promises to be a GREAT TRIP…

All aboard whose going aboard…..

I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR TRIP!

@nit@

Religion and Politics...Oy vey!!!...

The main reason I don’t vote is because I don’t know enough about Politics, I’ve never really been interested in it, in my humble opinion it doesn’t seem to work very well. If I were the ''President of The World'' you can be sure I’d do things a lot different. And I believe that unless I take the time to learn and decide to educate myself more on the subject, it would be irresponsible of me to cast a vote.

Same thing happens to me with religion. Now that we have all the access to information that came about with the new 'Computer Era', there is so much that you would have to read to become well informed to make an educated decision on what seems to make the most sense, that the best I have found that works for me is at least exposing myself to as much knowledge about the different religions as I can, simply to be able to pick and chose the teachings that I like about each one of them, and build a religion of my own.

My experience with organized religion has been interesting. I was born a Jew with two great-grandfathers who were Rabbis and in a mostly catholic country, was raised by my very Jewish family and a nanny that was like a second mother to me, a tiny Mexican/Indian woman who was as Catholic as they come. So I went to Temple and I went to Church too. I love the traditions of my people and have always celebrated all the holidays and always will, but I never considered myself a religious person, rather a spiritual one. I find good things in most religions, and some I don’t believe in, so I don’t adopt them in my lifestyle.

I dated a guy who was a hardcore Scientologist, so I decided to expose myself to a bit of that as well. It too has some good teachings but only on the practical day to day life, some that don’t apply to the way I see life, although I failed to find the religious aspect of it, and some things were very strange, more like weird to say the least, I adopted what I liked like how to learn better when you are trying to study any subject or communicate with people, and left the rest for those who believe in it.

Now I’m exposed to the 'Laws of the Universe', and that makes the most sense to me of anyything else, because it explains my whole life. Before I was confused as to why some things had happen to me, and now I understand why. I recently started to learn Kabbalah and this 'Science' as the Kabbalists refer to it is totally new to me so I'll have to wait and see.

If you ask me, I think the “Laws of the Universe” should become a religion, that way you get more people interested in doing the right thing as a group, helping each other by re-enforcing and strengthening their beliefs. And I would definitely vote for that!

To your continuous harmony

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Happy Holidays and a Magical New Year!

Dear family, friends and strangers:

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as not remembering how many candles we have to light tonight, or trying to find a parking space at the mall, running around at the last moment trying to get those last minute gifts, figuring out what to wear on New Years Eve, or maybe even deciding that we don't really feel like going out altogether and falling asleep right in front of the TV while waiting for midnight to come.

Whatever it is that you and your family are doing to celebrate this Holiday Season and the beginning of a New Year just remember to make it fun, and may all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!

With Love and  BEST WISHES!

@nit@ xoxo