You are an Explorer/Negotiator

The other day I decided to take a test on one of those dating sites, just to see how I was perceived according to my answers. Since I really like learning as much about myself as I possibly can, so that I can make better use of my strengths, while working on my weaknesses, I made sure that I answered all of their questionnaire truthfully, and these are the results of that questionnaire.

It made me very happy to see that it described me pretty much the way I see myself, so I guess I must be getting close to vibrating at the same frequency as my Source Energy. Here are the results of that test.

"You are an EXPLORER/Negotiator. You are a highly spontaneous person who always likes to try new things. Novel and unpredictable situations don't bother you; instead you find them challenging and exciting. You tend to be focused and resourceful and you are able to juggle a lot of projects at the same time; as a result you are sometimes a whirlwind of activity. You have a firm grip on reality and enjoy living in the present tense. But you have a keen imagination that enables you to lift off from time and space to be remarkably creative. You are humorous.

You are able to laugh at yourself, and you like entertaining others. You have a deep sense of compassion. You can show genuine insight into the needs of others; you are good at listening and talking; and you express a genuine desire to be helpful. Yet you are easy-going. Your tolerance for others and their beliefs, your lack of prejudice, your ability to compromise and your occasional antics make you popular with others and a great companion.E-Explorer - 31%
N-Negotiator - 25%
B-Builder - 22%
D-Director - 20%
How your personality breaks out :
Explorer - 31% of your personality
Known for high energy, high creativity and spontaneity. Seeks novelty, risk and pleasure. Intellectually curious and not easily swayed by opinion.
Builder - 22% of your personality
Usually very popular. Deep attachment to home and family. Calm demeanor and low anxiety. Often consistent, loyal and protective.
Negotiator - 25% of your personality
Excels at seeing the big picture, long-term planning and consensus building. An intuitive thinker who is flexible, verbal and socially skilled. Imaginative, empathetic and nurturing.
Director - 20% of your personality
Daring, original, direct and inventive. A non-conformist. Skilled at abstract thinking and short-term planning. Often assertive and quite competitive. Tough-minded and efficient."



How do you see yourself?

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Because We're Keeping the Dream Alive...

When my kids started attending school I began to pay more attention to the way people act and interact, I guess I was reliving my childhood through my children's eyes, while using the wisdom of my years.

I used to volunteer endless hours at their school and after school activities, and noticed how other parents did it. After all children don’t come with instructions and I certainly didn’t know if I was doing it right or wrong. I wanted to be a “perfect” mom, and not do what my parents did, “the best they knew how”. I decided to set my standards high and wanted to learn as much as I could in order to make as few mistakes as possible.

Some of the mothers were right there with me, every day, as volunteers in the classroom and field trips, as well as the multitude of after school activities. There were so many to chose from that I'd go crazy trying to decide which one was best for my kids, so many classes that no matter how many hours they could add to the day there were never enough to do it all, learn it all and be it all, but there we were, trying hard and doing our best.

There were the working mothers and the playing mothers. Those that would meet for coffee at Starbucks and a game of tennis, shopping, a day at the spa, a few trips around the world, some craft making class and wine tasting on Friday night, while the kids stayed with the nannies; or those who couldn’t afford to give their time to the kids because they needed her salary to buy books and shoes. Some I interacted with for years and some I never even met.

Then all of a sudden my kids grew up, and the friendship we had developed over the years started to blossom, but I realized I had put my life on hold this whole time, and although I loved what I did, I needed to find out who I was now.

I knew then I needed to go back to my own childhood and try to remember some of the things I had experienced or maybe even those I left unfinished. I have 'some' very vivid memories of my childhood, but I could hardly remember most of my formative years, I had moved away in my early 20s, so I decided to go in search of my past and started with my long lost family and childhood friends.

I spent many hours doing this, but I had the internet, and never doubted something good would come of this new 'Science Fiction World.' I started by placing a call into my highschool and asked for the principal at the time, to see if he had any information, and found out curiously enough that he was one of my old classmates cousin, so he got me her e-mail address and she gave me someone else's, and in a fairly short period of time, 4 or 5 months, which is nothing compared to the 35 yrs. I had not been in contact with most of them; I had collected about 80+ e-mail addresses. Then I looked for a venue where we could all meet again one more time and catch up with our lives.

I did remember that we were never really a close generation, nor a large one, unlike my kids who just graduated from a generation of almost 1,000, we must have been about 90 give or take. But I did know one thing, that no matter how close we all were, we did have wonderful experiences together for many years, and at one point in our lives, in some of the most impacting formative years, we were spending a big portion of our days witnessing and being a part of each others lives.

And just like the mothers from my kids’ school, there were those who wanted to get involved in making this happen, some that had major careers and trips and busy lives, some who lived very far away, those with not much interest in delving into their past, and some who had challenges and just couldn’t participate.

5 years ago I stood in front of about 70 of my childhood friends. They could have brought Ricky Martin to that party and we would have still continued to talk to each other for hours without paying attention to our surroundings. We had history together and we all seemed anxious to share on the history of the lives we had lived for the past 35 yrs.

We are a very special generation, a lot of stories have come out of our lives, some challenging, some successful, some failures, and we’ve even experienced the loss of a few of our dear friends.

Not long ago I stood again in front of many of them, we put our arms around each other just like we did when we were kids and we will continue to do each time we see each other, with the appreciation of a friendship that lasts a lifetime. A special part of our history. Only this time I know who I am…

There are Mexicans, and there are Mexi-Can'ts

There are Mexicans…and there are Mexi Can'ts…

by @nit@
There are many things I am proud of, and one of them is having been raised Mexican, more so because I also happen to be Jewish growing up in a country that is mostly Catholic, nobody ever showed me any prejudice and I was lucky to be part of that passionate culture. I am also a very proud American, because as a Mexican/Jew I was welcomed with open arms when I came here to start my adult life, and I don’t deny that I experienced some culture shock at first, but I managed to adapt very quickly, I speak the language well, and can tell jokes ;) don’t they say that if you can tell a joke in a second language you must know the language well?

We tried to help the Latino community here in San Diego for the past 15 yrs. by creating Medical Clinics that catered primarily to that community, because we were grateful and knew we had something to offer, more than anything the knowledge of our idiosyncrasies or differences in culture if you will, since that’s where we had grown up.

We met many wonderful people along the way that really were trying to make a difference and bring back the pride in our country, but we also met many people who don’t help with that. People who will do anything to get as much as they can get out of someone else without any pride. A sense of entitlement if you will.

Take for example the ladies I have hired over the years to help me out with the house chores. If they were back at home first of all they would have a difficult time finding a job, because there are way too many people, especially in Mexico City where I grew up, and there are not enough jobs to be had. But lets say they did, their salary wouldn’t begin to come close to what it is here. I copied this from a Mexican government site:Minimum Daily Wage:
There are three 'zones'; The average daily wage in Mexico is currently MX$48.70 a day, although the IMSS's (Social Security) register, with 13.5 million members, showed that the average pay in January 2006 was MX$197 per day.
Converted to dollars that means between $5-20 dlls per day (minimum of 8 hrs.)
Lets compare it to their jobs here. An office manager in a large corporation that has been working there for a while makes about $20 dlls/hr. She or he have a formal education, they’ve worked themselves up the ladder, and they do whatever it is required to get the job done, whether it is to call the plumber to unplug the office toilet, or make sure there are supplies, as well as create important reports. No matter what it takes they get the job done. And we shouldn’t forget they have to pay taxes on that money.

Now back to the cleaning ladies I’ve hired. They don’t want an hourly wage because it wouldn’t be enough for them, so instead they tell you they will clean your apartment for $60. The first time it takes her about 4 hrs. That's $15/hr. more than an Executive Assistant makes and she had to go to college for that. She's trying to leave a good impression or so she thinks. I even let them pick their schedule, whatever works better for them. The second time she spends less time, 3 hrs. She claims she had to go to her other job, so that cost me $20/hr. for her without the results I wanted or the time I wanted her to spend working for me. So then I decide I want to ask for what I want and give her one more chance to show me she deserves my hard earned money, I tell her to do a specific tasks and she says that it’s not part of what she does, like I don’t do windows!

I don’t believe in anyone who claims that they can’t find a job. There are so many jobs that are being filled by people who don’t put any effort into it, who are constantly begrudging and feeling shortchanged, as if someone was out to get them. And I’m constantly seeing people look for good help, the problem is that there are more people who don’t do windows, than those who are willing to melt the glass and shape it till it’s just right, and then make sure it stays clean!

May you always have clean windows!

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Life on Broadway

I’m 22 years old and I’m about to start playing my first “Adult” role, in a way I’ve been preparing for this role my whole life, so when the Rabbi said “I now pronounce you husband and wife” I know I’m ready for the part.

We live in a small studio apartment where we can barely store the few things that we have, we save the change because sometimes we don’t have enough money to take the bus to work, but we make every day an adventure, because we know that the role we are playing is just preparing us for bigger and better ones.

We have places to go, people to meet along the way and a lot to learn, and we try to stay true and focused and in total alignment with our dreams.

The years go by and as we begin to feel comfortable with the roles we’ve been playing, we audition for more challenging parts and hope that we can play them just as well and enjoy them just as much, and all of a sudden we find ourselves winning awards, buying our dream home, taking the trips, buying the clothes for each one of the parts we are playing, raising the kids, running the businesses, and we forget about the small studio apartment and the bowl of change, it feels good to have more, it begins to take precedent over the dream, so since it feels so good, what about having more, I’m sure it will feel better, and we begin to forget where we came from, how far we’ve come, and most of all, we forget to be grateful for what we have, instead we are never content because we always want more, and one day I turn 52 and it was all gone. Don’t ask me where it all went, all I knew is that it was no longer mine, none of it, well maybe a few photo albums and knick knacks that tell the story of my life.

Now I’m 55, back in a lovely 3 story townhouse, I call it my fancy Hotel Suite, not ready to unpack here and get all comfortable because it’s just a brief moment of my life. I have a new career that I like. My children just completed High School; my daughter will be going to a great University and my son and I will soon pack and continue our journey.

What happens to us when we find ourselves in situations like this is that we simply forget how to play the roles. We already played them at least once, if not many more times, and not because I’m 55 does it mean I can’t play the role anymore, we can play ANY role we want, and we must, if we want to see ourselves playing every role we want before we die and fulfilling every dream. So here is the formula that works for me.For the fulfillment of all your dreams all you have to do is remember that
“The Main Thing is to keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing!”~Anita~
Do you know what “The Main Thing” is for you? I do! Directions:

If you think of life as a 'Broadway Play', you can clearly see how perfectly it is all orchestrated.

We spend our lives either auditioning for a part, or rehearsing a part, or playing the part. And hopefully as we get older, we pick the parts that we would like to play so that night after night, and day after day, when we are up on that stage, we can not only enjoy the role that we are playing, but so that the people who are watching us, enjoy it so much, that we can get standing ovations and derive harmony from this in all aspects of our lives.

So while you get offered the role you want to play, this is what you have to do:

Act the part
Act as if you are already there
Act proud
Act wealthy
Act happy
Act funny
Act energetic
Act generous
Act honest
Act spiritual
But most of all act grateful

And then by Miracle, the part will come, and you’ll already be an expert at how to enjoy this game of life, because of how well you rehearsed and acted even before you were offered to “Play the Part.”

So like they say “Fake it till you Make It!” and don’t ever look back, you might be missing something that’s right in front of you.

What part should I audition for now?....
@nit@