Sounds True is a platform for spiritual development where online courses and seminars are held. Today I listened to an interesting talk by a lady called Marie Manuchehri  who is an energy healer and one of the speakers in a program called “The Energy Healing Summit”.

In her talk she highlighted the fact that a big part of our thoughts are negative and unproductive and gave techniques on influencing and “rewiring” this negativity, and creating new neuropathways that would allow us to tap into more energy and positivity.   These techniques are quite simple and easy to practice and in my view inspiring to share with others. So here they are:

• Break the habit of asking negative loaded questions (what if my job interview goes super bad?) by intentionally asking yourself positive loaded questions (what if I get this dream job? What if my body is healing every day?). By doing this you elevate your mind and stimulate your curiosity to explore scenarios that are fascinating for you and hence improve your energy levels.
• Intentionally engage in an internal dialogue that is generous and nurturing– drop the perfectionism and self-critique. Believing that we are truly worthy to be happy  will play a big role in actually achieving this happiness. You can start practicing by thinking about others  for whom you have warm feelings and once you are in the energy of love try to engage into a loving dialogue with yourself.
• Stay calm; especially when you go through turbulent situations. Staying calm will allow you to connect to your intuition and personal response system and to recognize the “real” emotions amongst all the misleading ones (real emotions are always calm). Practicing meditation is key to staying calm and connecting to your authentic emotional body.
• End the day with positive thoughts.
• Cultivate appreciation and gratitude

Practicing these will stimulate an internal transformation that enables us to live in a lighter and more positive way and its something worth giving a try. 

You can find more insights on positivity here.

It is so easy to forget what we have until we lose it. The best example is our health.  We hardly spend time to realize and appreciate the fact that we are healthy unless something happens to our bodies. Only when we are unwell we start contemplating how great it is to be able to do anything you feel like without any restriction or pain.

Let’s start the week with the practice of reminding ourselves that our healthy bodies and minds are our biggest gifts and to also take care of ourselves by taking a nice walk outside, cooking healthy food, taking a relaxing bath or anything that works for us. Let’s appreciate and take care of our gifts 😉

You can find yesterday`s inspiration here.

One of the things that energize me the most is spending time with my friends. Talking to them, hearing how are they doing, giving them advice, getting their advice or simply hanging out brings immense positivity, improves my mood and gives me a great boost J

This post is a means to say a big THANK YOU to my dear ones for staying in my life. And an important reminder to all of us to first of all- cherish our friends  and to also think what energizes us and to go for it. Our lives are getting increasingly busy and there is less and less time to do things that we really want.

And these can be many things- sometimes it is spending time with our friends, sometimes- doing your hobby, and some other times- reading a book that you like. There is no recipe for what is “right”, only you have the answer. So find out what it is and go for it – I truly believe that this is what makes our life unique and worth living!

One of my yogi buddies brought her four year old daughter to our for a whole one and a half hour – she was following her mom’s movements and trying to do the same, or coloring her book.

But the most interesting part was the 10 min relaxation that we did at the end when we all lied in Shavasana (corpse pose) with our eyes closed. I can imagine that this can be an extremely boring thing to do for a four year old. But the mother whispered something in her year and the little girl lied down and closed her eyes with a blissful smile.

After the class I asked the mom what was that she told her daughter. “I told her to close her eyes and dream about her life when she grows up. I also told her that if she visualizes it well enough, it is going to come true. She is always super excited to do it.”

This made me think of the last time when I dreamt of something. Well, it was quite a while ago during a holiday. For me dreaming works best when I am on the beach, but somehow not so great when I’m in my working mode. There are so many “important” and “ useful” things to be done. Who has time to dream?

But this is so not true and everyone needs to be reminded of this, including me.  If you think about it, the majority of the things that happen to us are first born in our heads during times when we are relaxed- for example, under the shower 😉 For instance- the idea for the blog came to me one morning while waking up.

It is important to take the time and space to relax, dream an renew ourselves. Who knows, the next great thing in your life might be just be waiting to be visualized. Dream on!

A very interesting story that I read in “My Grandfather’s blessings” was the author’s experience with a gifted cancer surgeon suffering from depression. One of her ways to improve his condition was asking him to reflect on the events that happened during the day and to write down the answers to the following questions:

What surprised me today?

What moved me today?

What inspired me today?

The idea behind it was to relive the day from a new perspective and to find meaning and joy.

Initially his answers were “Nothing, nothing and nothing”. But gradually he started noticing more things around him that could answer these questions. At first he would only notice these things a few hours after they actually happened. But gradually the lag became smaller and smaller, and he started to build  a capacity for spotting the blessings around him. He soon realized that most of the things that moved and inspired him were related to his patients and their strength, and determination to live.

This newly developed capacity not only helped him to overcome his depression, but also to connect better to his patients and listen not only to their medical complaints, but also to their hearts.

This beautiful story made me think about the discoveries that we are capable of making at any time by seeing the world with new eyes. It is true that sometimes it is best to get out of the situation  if thigs don`t work out for us. But there are many other times when we need to seek meaning with a new outlook and most importantly- with our heart, in order to rediscover and cherish what we have.

Today when I asked myself these questions the answers that came to mind were:

• I was (very positively) surprised to find out that my next “Soul Sisters” meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
• I watched again the Piper animation which I find very moving and inspiring.
• I was also very inspired by the story above, which I decided to also share with you!

So go for it- think about the three questions and share your answers and reflections!

The heartwarming short animation Piper that won an Oscar in 2017 is my inspiration for today and an important reminder on what getting out of our comfort zone can mean to our development.

After today’s post it will be one full month of posting every day. The idea to commit to this exercise came very naturally and I was super enthusiastic with the concept of spontaneity which I wanted and still want to stick to no matter what.

Of course, the implementation wasn’t so smooth as the conception of the idea behind it. Sometimes I was very inspired and ideas were flowing. But some other times it simply wasn`’t my day, or I was just tired or had little energy and inspiration. That’s where discipline kicked in.. And it worked. Gradually I started noticing more things that inspired me every day.

I am usually not taking compliments very gracefully. I would normally reply with “oh, really” or “yeah, right”, or return the compliment to the person who gave it. But today my inspiration is myself.  I feel proud for following my passion and putting the energy to do what I feel I should be doing- staying true and inspired and inspiring others to do the same. And I am super happy I can share this journey with you 🙂 So let’s keep on rolling!

Let’s start our journey this week with a quote by Jonatan Haidt, the author of  “The Happiness Hypothesis”.

On the picture-  the clouds surrounding the setting sun meet the waters of the Peryar river in Kerala, India.

I had a very interesting and inspirational chat with my teacher from Brahma Kumaris. She was talking about good qualities to develop in ourselves. One of these qualities is the ability make a change without judging or criticizing, but by giving a good example and acting as a role model. I found that to be very insightful and also powerful from two perspectives.

• First of all, it is very unlikely that you`ll make somebody change by criticizing them. In such situations the recipient of the criticism will naturally get defensive which is likely to cause them to close towards you rather than make the change that you were aiming for in the first place.
• And second- I really believe that if we want to make any positive change in our environment the first place to start implementing is in ourselves. Inspiring others by “walking the talk” is always stronger that simply preaching. It`s like a dance school- the best way to learn how to dance is not to read a book about dancing, but to observe the others and then dance yourself.

Soon after this discussion I attended a gathering with a group of charismatic ladies. The idea behind it was to have an assembly of like-minded ladies who can learn from each other, but also inspire and empower each other and create a nurturing environment, a “sisterhood” that would promote personal growth and also overall positive change which in my view we so badly need nowadays.

This meeting made a big impression on me in many ways. What was truly inspiring was to be in a female group with people whom you`ve never met before and to experience kindness, support and openness. A group of strong and well-established women that gathered to support each other and to nurture feminine qualities. There were some of them who travelled from different cities for this gathering and basically invested half of their Saturday to do this. For me this was truly incredible.

Some of the ladies performed a dance that they prepared especially for us and another one told us a story from her childhood. A powerful story, showing that when you are mistreated by your family a good way to improve the relationship is to think about all the positive things that you learned/got from the person and to thank them about it rather than criticize all the time.

That was so impactful for me! It made me think about the importance of developing good qualities. And realizing that criticizing is not a solution. The real solution lies in focusing on the positive aspects of people who criticize you and being the change you want to see in others.

It was also through personal example that the lady storyteller conveyed this important lesson to all of us.

Being a role model is not about showing the world how much we`ve accomplished and how perfect we are. It is about opening our hearts and sharing our own learnings in our own authentic way with a good will. This is one of the most powerful tools that we actually have and which we should use as often as possible!

Today I bought something on the extravagantly expensive side after a long hiatus – and it felt amazing! I am usually staying away from overspending/overconsuming and having a tendency to save for doomsday but after today`s experience I think that indulging myself was super beneficial for three reasons:

• It felt like a little Christmas, where I was both on the giving and the receiving side .
• It reminded me that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and even spoiling myself and boosted my confidence.
• It was a manifestation of abundance, which according to the law of attraction can attract more even abundance

And most importantly – today was an important reminder that I am super lucky to have been born in an environment where I could grow up in a safe a way, have a great education and earn enough to even indulge myself every now and then.

On this note – I think it is also important to help the ones that haven`t been lucky to have access to education and the opportunities to live the life that they want. My personal resolution will be to start looking for a good cause to support. All recommendations would be most welcome!