Sunday 14 December 2014

The power of dreaming

childIntheClouds
When I think of dreams and dreaming I see an acronym:
D – Desire, know what your heart wants.
R – Respect, for what you want and yourself, it is Okay to want better and more out of life as long as you don’t affect anyone.
E – Energy, a dream is lifeless if we don’t put any effort into making it real, dreams like goals need work and doing to make them happen.
A – Acceptance, by this I mean accept the outcome and ourselves, love ourselves for who we are.
M – Motivation, if your dreams don’t make you do something crazy every single day then they do not motivate you enough.
Once I read an article where it stated that the average person stops dreaming at the age of 25. At that moment I thought to myself: “My god, how sad it is to know people stop dreaming when their lives are just beginning.”
Many things happen in these peoples’ lives that force them to stop dreaming. I will, however, talk about the number one “issue”, limiting-beliefs, low self-esteem, map of the world, etc.
How do our limiting-beliefs stop us from dreaming?
What I have noticed in my professional experience and growing up was that very few people take notice of what is going on around them. Let me explain this further, in a “normal” family, let’s say 4, boy and a girl, and two parents. Each person in this family has their own “drama”, and their own beliefs. The father may be experiencing problems at work, working longer hours, not enough money to see them through the end of the month. The mother who may or not be working, may have similar problems at work, worrying about her husband possibly having an affair, her children’s education and the fact she feels she isn’t spending enough time with her family.
On the other hand we have the children, they may be really close in age or have a few years in between them. They both have their own personalities and already have perceptions about the world around them, “what is right and what isn’t right! (according to them anyway!)”. They may be struggling at school, bullying, puberty, etc.
As you can see I have descried almost 100% accurately what we see day in and day out in many families around us. And it is this never ending cycle or worrying and preoccupying about our personal issues that we grow learning to bottle it up, we become just too scare to share with our siblings, parents and friends what is troubling us.
So, the more we hide, conceal and bottle up what is happening in our lives; the more we strengthen and reinforce these negative beliefs, limiting-beliefs; we charge them up and make them even bigger than they were in the first place.
Now, there is a solution, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I would encourage you to take a look at your current situation. Are you happy? Is your current life what you dreamed of as a child?
If the answer is not, look back to your childhood and see whether you can see where it all started; almost as if you were looking for an archive at the library. What happened in your life that made you stop wanting to dream and create the life you deserve?
What belief did you form that day? Was there someone involved in the process? Are you punishing them by self-sabotaging yourself day in and day out?
Do this as often as you can, with your eyes closed. Look into the past, learn from it and use the knowledge you have gained to heal your past and be able to dream again. As I have said before taste the poison but don’t drink it.
You will see that with time you will be more optimistic about your life, you will dream again and you will start seeing live through the eyes of a child again and reconnect with all the wonders the world has to offer.
You will realise the true potential of dreaming when you see the growth in you and a life of possibilities, you will experience shifts in all levels; you will transfer this energy onto those around you, colleagues, friends, family and one by one you will transform peoples’ lives, just because you have taken ownership of your life and control of your dreams.
Realities are built upon dreams. Rome before it was built was dreamed of.
Find what it is you want and desire, respect how you feel about it, act on it, give it your all and make it happen. The world is your oyster. Hey, you can have your cake and eat it too!
Much love,

mind and soul
jv com

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Seeking Guidance

Believe you can do it
As we age we become very set in our ways, some people call it stubborn, others call it knowing what we want. Regardless of the name we give it, we aren’t doing ourselves any favours.
This stubbornness which we adopt quite simply as a mechanism of self-defence; which, by the way is quite normal, we want to protect ourselves from harm, strangers and even the unknown.
But by doing this, or being this way we miss out on real opportunities, growth being the number 1.
Why would this affect us? By being set in your ways, you are admitting you have a fixed mindset, it is either black or white (no shades of grey), all or nothing (there is no room from something), your way or no way.
Earlier in life, after having undergone my teenage years (which by the way were as dramatic as any other teenager), I learned and understood the importance of having a mentor, a person I could go to when I needed guidance or needed advice.
Having had a mentor much older than me, one of my college tutors; opened my eyes to a life of growth, options, possibilities and abundance.
This great mentor, whose name I have to mention Judith Atencio, expanded my horizons and reprogrammed my mindset.
I learned the importance of having an open mind, listening and being present, educating myself and reading; tools which I didn’t need at the time but helped me immensely in the years that follow.
The sole reason I share this with you is because as I life coach I believe we have to experience things in life, to then become the role model, speak from experience rather than through theory. Besides being a life coach, I am an experiential coach; I speak from my failures and successes, so I can share with others what has worked and hasn’t worked for me, not to influence people’s decision but to give them a different perspective.
When we come to a crossroads in life and realise we need to take a different route in life, try a new approach, I find the most important thing is to take ourselves out of the equation, practising mindfulness and being humble.
It is at this point we are able to admit we need help, and we can start looking for it; is it a person we need to help us? A book? A video? Etc.
What follows after that most important first step is a journey of learning and self-discovery, overcoming fears, conquering negative beliefs; exploring possibilities and expanding our mindset.
Once our mindset starts to grow, we are in the right direction to take control of our lives and whatever we put our minds to, we will achieve; it will be almost as if we can do magic, and this magic doesn’t come from ether, it comes from us, within us and from believe in ourselves.
Note. If this blog has helped in any way, do not hesitate to contact me and share with me your successes. I look forwards to hearing from you.
JV1

Self-Belief

When we are born we have access to the unlimited knowledge of the universe, we know our purpose in this lifetime and we come with a plan of action, a step-by-step guide.
Suddenly, everything changes, we forget, we disconnect and we lose our focus. Do we, however, know what happens?
From really early in life we are shaped and affected by everything that surrounds us, noises, environment, animals, and people!!! It is this last factor that has a huge impact in our lives. At that moment of our growth we are creating our “map of the world”, we are learning what is and isn’t good, what is and isn’t important to us, etc.
At that age, as we have heard time and time again, we are like sponges and we are absorbing all that is around us, good and bad. We learn to speak, read, walk, play, we recreate what we see in our proximity.
But, at the same time when we are in that learning stage, subconsciously we are stacking our limiting beliefs up, which don’t show till later on as behaviours, habits and negative talk.
Before we carry on, I would like to say…
You are awesome
According to some studies these limiting beliefs we get or learn from family, neighbours, friends, teachers, media, etc.; which is unfair to say you would say, as these people love us and we put our trust in them.
To better understand this is worth noting the subconscious mind, which sole purpose is to protect us… does not understand negatives, FACT!!!
So when are little, and our siblings say to us: do not play with my toys, the first thing we will do is play with their toys, which will then end up in them being mean to us, and they may say things like you are useless, you are an idiot, you always screw up, you ruin everything…
We then grow up, and find ourselves in situations where people say to us similar things… you always screw up, you are useless, etc.
What is happening here?
Earlier in our lives when we were learning about life and creating our own map of the world and found ourselves being called names, told we were not good enough etc., our subconscious mind is programmed with that idea that we are not good enough and that’s when our belief systems our formed.
Then, what can we do to change that?
Firstly we need to acknowledge there is an area of concern, that something needs to be improved or changed.
Once we have figured out what this are of concern is, we identify how it impacts in our lives, work, family, socially, etc.; how we can improve it and determine if there is any positive intention in this “habit/behaviour”.
We then look at how we best learn and what type of therapy would work for us. You may need to see a therapist or quite simply be able to change these behaviours by yourself.
Essentially what are aiming to do is to reprogramme our subconscious mind, the way we see ourselves (value ourselves to be more accurate) and our map of the world.
[You will hear me talk about our “map of the world” quite a lot, as mentioned in one the previous blogs, this is our perspective and how we see things around us.]
This reimprinting or programming of new beliefs, doesn't happen overnight, we have to work at it consistently and show true and 100% commitment to ourselves and our future.
If you aren’t making any progress, review your belief system and values; your dreams, wants and goals in life, ask yourself questions that will explore options and possibilities and not hinder your progress.
Our self-belief or self-esteem, which is the way we see ourselves, isn’t set on stone; it can be reshaped, altered and reprogrammed.
Do not forget we are the true Alchemists in our story, we can change anything as long as we make a decision to do so, have a plan of action in place and most importantly commit to it with a no matter what attitude until we free ourselves from our unwanted beliefs and create our lives by design.
There is only one person in control of your life and that is you. The choice is yours…
Much love,
Jorge
Note. If this blog has helped in any way, do not hesitate to contact me and share with me your successes. I look forwards to hearing from you.
jorge final

Clear Direction

Clear Direction

Although we have access to the most incredible technology nowadays, and have tools we never even dreamed of; many people in our era find themselves stuck in a rut, frozen and unable to progress in life.
If you are in such situation you are most likely asking yourself WHY?
I put it simply, would you embark on a journey (it could be a holiday destination, recommended place, etc.), into the unknown without a map?
map
Your answer like the answer of many is an emphatic NO! I wouldn’t go to an unknown place without a map, that’s for sure!
So, to head in the “right” direction and follow our purpose in life we have to have a clear idea of what it is we want and what it would take to achieve it. In other words, we have to have goals in place.
Goal setting is the map and compass we need to create a step-by-step, easy to follow plan to help achieve our aims and desires in life.
A goal has to be SMART, it isn’t called SMART because it is an intelligent approach to completing tasks (which it 100% is!); it is an acronym for S, Specific. M, Measurable. A, Achievable. R, Realistic. And T, Time-framed.
Here is an example of Specific in goal setting, I want to earn £2550 a month. The amount of money mentioned is very exact.
The measurable element in goal setting basically means, how do you know you will have achieved it? Following the given example, I will know I have achieved my goal when I see the exact amount of money or more in my bank account. Achievable, can it be done? Has anyone ever earned £2550/per month, or do you know anyone who does? Realistic, are your skills up to date and worth that much money or do you need to improve or learn new ones? And Time-framed, when do you want to achieve this goal by?
Having SMART goals in place is just the beginning. Once we have our map (goals set), we work backwards; we start reading the map and see where we are and what needs to be done to move forward, and even to know when are lost or have had a setback in our journey.
A Gantt chart does just that, we chunk our goals up or down and we see a real and true break down of our goal and see our progress, at this moment we are able to determine whether our goal is too ambitious or unrealistic.
Example of a Gantt chart
gantt chart
Goals, just like affirmations are best set in the present and positively. It is good practice to visualise ourselves already achieving our goals, seeing it, hearing it, feeling it, smelling it and tasting it as if it were real. It is also important that it is written down, a written goal is twice as powerful as a non-written goal.
You know yourself better than anyone. Ask yourself the following questions: What do I want to do with my life? Is there anything stopping from achieving my dreams? If time wasn’t an issue what would I be doing right now? Or… and this is my favourite question: What did you dream of becoming when you were a child?
By questioning yourself, in a positive and constructive manner; you are making your brain think what is and what isn’t important to you.
We can look at it this way, if you want to become a teacher; realising that that is what you want, is like deciding to go on holidays. You then look at your skills, experience, etc., this would be like deciding where you want to go, budget, dates and so on. And finally once you get there having a clear idea of where to go, how to get there, etc., this is nothing more than goal setting, having a clear, accurate and effective way of carrying your tasks out and achieving your desires, wants and dreams in life.
Once you crack how to set goals, you can achieve anything in life. Goal setting or clear direction as I like to refer to it, can be extrapolated and applied to every area of our lives, moving houses, planning a family, buying a new car, starting your own business. You learn to take control of your life and go through the peaks and troughs like present us effortlessly, inspiring people to follow your example, do the same.
By having a clear idea of the general direction you are heading in life, you learn to see options and possibilities, and map your life out for success.
Much love,

Note. If this blog has helped in any way, do not hesitate to contact me and share with me your successes. I look forwards to hearing from you.
jv banner

Monday 1 December 2014

Know your limits

Know your limits!!!

Know
Recently I was asked by a friend to carry out some tasks for him, to which I agreed without any hesitation, I felt honoured and excited at the same time, for I was about to embark into something new and out of my comfort zone and it made me feel great about it.
Like most people with a growth mindset (people who embrace change and see everything as an opportunity), I looked at this challenge in a very positive way. knowing consciously it was not me at all.
A few weeks past and I started questioning myself. Am I scared I may fail? Is this too much for me? Am I approaching this the right way?
I am not going to lie I was petrified, I did some tapping on myself, played in the “matrix“, did some timeline work, coached myself, did some energywork and healing on myself, trying to get to the root of this doubtful voice I was listening to (aka subconscious mind).
And then it hit me… I came to understand that I agreed to do something which was not me at all, I simply agreed because it excited me and I felt I had to do it, without taking into account whether my heart was in it. I took on a task that was way out of my abilities and skills.
The reason I am sharing this with you is because at times we do or agree to things because we feel obliged or we are put under the spot. When we truly know what our call or purpose in life is, we are able to recognise and in a very realistic manner admit what is out of our scope.
I would like you to understand that it is OK to at times admit we are taking too much on, or our eyes are bigger than our belly; that we don’t have the skills required or we aren’t the ideal person for the post. It takes a lot of courage to say, this is not me. Trust me in the long run you will thank yourself!
Ultimately what happens is we feed our fears and limiting beliefs by committing to something bigger than our capabilities, then fail and fall into a greater hole and hear the nagging voices saying: I knew it! Or surprise, surprise, another failure! You will never amount to anything! You have done it again, etc.
By admitting we don’t have the skills or don’t meet the criteria for a role or task, we are saying to ourselves, I know what I can and cannot do, this is not me and I will not fall into the trap of starting something I will not finish, and hurt myself along the way.
How many times we hear people complaining or showing signs of frustration because they are unhappy, this unhappiness in my experience stems from either lack of skill or practice, or simply because these people are undertaking tasks or jobs that are way out of their capabilities.
When we gain an understanding of our likes and dislikes in life we are capable of saying out loud, this is me or this is not me; however, if we are clueless as to what our strengths and weaknesses are we will go in life punishing and judging ourselves, creating beliefs that we aren’t good enough, that we will never amount to anything.
So, I encourage you, take a good look at your life, your job and even your relationships. Are you stuck in a rut? Do you ever wish you were elsewhere? Or on the contrary. Do you feel a sense of belonging? Do you feel there is nothing else in the world you would rather do?
Be honest, see your life and current situation through the eyes of an outsider, what would they see and say about you and what they see?
Much love,
Jorge
JV new

Please let me know what you discover about your current situation. 

It's all about our perspective

It’s all about our perspective


Following  a conversation I had with a taxi driver today and a recent coaching session with a client I have been reflecting and remembering the importance of perspective and how it can rule our lives.
Believe you can do it
According to the Oxford Dictionary we can define Perspective as: a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view.
In simple terms I like to also call perspective: Our bias. Or in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic-Programming) terms: our map of the world.
In everyday life, at work, watching TV, at the supermarket etc., we come across people we believe to be nice or not. Other times we feel we have known someone forever when in reality we just met them. But why?
As we grow, our subconscious mind, records and keep an inventory of all things that have happened to us, as well as what we have done. Consciously we are unaware of what is happening at this level. From a very early age, our innate intelligence, or as other arguably would say our survival instinct kicks in and we form our personality; attitudes and behaviors that determine how we respond to everything around us.
But what if I was to tell you that it is all a mirage, a non existent belief we developed to get by; survive in a nut shell.
When we meet someone who triggers something in us, we feel anger, anxiety or sadness towards them, that feeling isn’t there, we put it there, we access a previous memory similar to what we are seeing/feeling/hearing and we translate it as anger. anxiety, etc.
So, how can we change this?
Easily, first of all, and it is perhaps the most difficult thing to do and that is to admit we need to change something about us or in us. Secondly, it is making a decision and commitment to change.
From there you find tools and exercises that resonate with you, and essentially what you want to do is to replace the habit you have, created or adopted (I also call these habits, beliefs), and introduce a counteracting habit. For example, if you have the perception or belief people in front of you at the checkouts are too slow; a good way to change it would be by trying to understand why you think they are too slow? Is it that you just buy essentials? And they are doing big shoppings? Do they have children? Are they elderly people?
Once you analyse the situation in depth, find ways to counterbalance these elements. If you find you are buying less things than the people in front of you, try going to a different checkout, shopping at different times or simply buying more things and less regularly.
The more you exercise your beliefs by analysing them, trying to understand them (their positive intention) and work with them rather than against them, you will find how beneficial it is, and you will realise you are in control of every situation, rather than situations control you.
Love,
Jorge

Greens Balance


Greens Balance
Greens Balance
What can I say about this product? One word: AMAZING!
As a Holistic Therapist I have never come across a product that holds so many benefits for the body as a whole. Alongside “traditional” medicine, I also believe in the body’s own capability to “heal” itself, by bringing itself into alignment, through different methods of “alternative” medicine, yet not forgetting the most important source of wellbeing which is nutrition.
In Greens Balance we find, not one or two but five Colours, which we find in our veggies and fruits, for Healthier Living. We know that many fruits and vegetables come in variety of beautiful colours. But do you we what the benefits of these colours are to your health?
Here are just a few of the many benefits and beneficial phytonutrients brought to us by nature’s colourful foods:
Greens
Various greens contain chlorophyll, antioxidants and phytonutrients. Vegetables like kale and broccoli contain the powerful phytonutrient sulforaphane, furthermore, Alfalfa, barley grass and wheatgrass can contain enzymes as well as vitamins A, K and E.
YellowsYellows are a source of carotenoids like alpha and beta-carotene and zeaxanthin.
Yellows fruits and vegetables are a source of vitamins A, C and antioxidant bioflavonoids. Carotenoids can help support eye and skin health.
RedReds, like tomatoes, supply the antioxidant lycopene and carotenoid which supports eye health. Red fruits are sources of antioxidants, flavonoids and polyphenols; i.e. pomegranate contain antioxidants ellagic acid and punicalagin.
BluesBlue fruits and berries are pigmented with the antioxidant anthocyanidin. Fruits like grapes contain the powerful antioxidant resveratrol and vitamin C. These fruits can also contain antioxidants like quercetin and flavonoids.
Browns 
Flax seeds, chia seeds and quinoa all contain the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid. These grains are also sources of various vitamins and minerals; and they are also sources of macronutrients like protein.
If we then look at these colours holistically we find that they correspond to 4 of the major 7 chakras of the chakra system, which is believed to control the energy fields of our body.
The green colour is linked to the Heart centre, and this is associated with our feelings and emotions. Imbalances in this chakra manifest as anger, depression, fear, anxiety, etc. A well balanced Heart centre is full of positivity, joy and love, which we all need in our lives to face the challenges of our daily lives.
The yellow colour corresponds to our Solar Plexus chakra which is linked to creativity and willpower. When this chakra is misaligned we find ourselves “stuck in a rut”, we lack drive and vision to complete our goals; a well-balanced/aligned Solar Plexus is seen in those who seem unstoppable and able to achieve everything they set their mind to.
Reds and browns are linked to the Root or Base chakra, and helps us remain grounded, present in the moment and focused on the tasks at hand, as well as associated to our sexual energies.
We could call Greens Balance our “Liquid Green Aphrodisiac”. A misaligned Root chakra can manifest as someone who is always “in the clouds” or quite the opposite, someone who is either “black or white”.
And lastly, the blues. Blues relate to the 3rd Eye chakra, which helps us with our intuition, spirituality and inner wisdom. When our 3rd Eye chakra is out alignment, we don’t see the magical or spiritual side to life, we have blinkers that only sees what it is there and doesn’t allow our imagination to see beyond our eyes.
When I first drank Greens Balance, I felt energised and unstoppable, which I didn’t associate with the drink at first. On the following days, I continued to feel the same way, and I could not understand the reason why I felt so “full of beans”, due to my work load and busy lifestyle; the only thing I had changed was, I started drinking this “Green Nectar”. I read the label on Greens Balance, and I was positively surprised to see how incredible amazing this product was, where I was getting 1 serving of vegetables and fruits of my 5 a day (or 7 a day as we have been encouraged to do earlier in the year, 2014), and additional to that I was energising 4 of my main chakras.
Greens Balance is sweet in taste, although it may not look it. However, some people have reported it is flavourless and others that tastes similar to Spirulina or Chlorella, which are present in the mix.
I prefer to drink Greens Balance on its own, mixed with 250ml of water; however you can have it any way your imagination allows you to; mixed with milk, mixed with protein shakes, sprinkled over salads, in sauces, etc. One other fact I find appealing is the fact that you aren’t limited to just one serving a day, you can have as many as you wish, as each servings equates to one serving to our veggies and fruit our 5-7/day.
Other benefits include:
  • Low sugar, low sodium, allergen free
  • Includes alkaline forming fruits and vegetables
  • Contains prebiotic fibre inulin
Greens balance is suitable for anyone, from children who don’t “like” veggies to “on-the-go” professionals who don’t have the time and eat a well-balanced diet.
It retails at £40.00, however, there are discounts available, just ask the person who sent you this link. It only works out £1.33 per serving before discounts, which is about the same if not less than the “organic” vegetable serving equivalent.
I highly recommend you try this product because not only is it nutrition for our bodies it is also nutritious for our souls!
Love,
Jorge