Sparky has been a part of my life for eight years, and now I have to find him a safe home. That has been my resistance to put my house for sale. But I have to put it out there that he will be in a loving home. All this restructuring in the middle of the madhouse of this financial meltdown in the world has made me feel like this cartoon that came out in the Miami Herald today: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/jim-morin/image_media/831682.html.

By creating a more simple life, and restructuring everything, I look forward to 2009 with a fresh outlook. I see the statistics that the economy is going to be worse. But with all these meltdowns behind my belt, I know I can now withstand any storm. The key is to stay in trust, focus, faith and surrender to something greater. Sounds simple. It is not easy, but it is the best way. Cheers to a better year for everyone!

Technorati Tags: meltdown, Personal Development, restructuring

So I stopped bugging her to “get going.” In this video I talk about sharing clips from last year with Maria. I also talk about how we value ourselves. I will be posting her clips under the category, “Maria’s process. Hopefully the symbol of the seeds appearing will get her going.;-)

Technorati Tags: dreams, financial meltdown, integration, process

We spent one year conceptualizing, visioning and dreaming. In our fast paced world, “time” is an issue. For this reason, we are taking a short break of a month to further nurture our dreams.

Part of the process of Resurrecting your Hero is to partner together. At the same time, one of the partners may need time to integrate to be able to create purely. I truly believe that the process of creating comes differently depending on how you are wired.

Maria is more right brained than myself. I have to honor her process in creating vs pushing to get something done because in the end, by giving her the space to churn and mold, I am allowing the perfection to come about in its own time, just like the statue of David.

It took years chipping away until lo and behold, the vision of the great artist gave life and the creation was now real. The vision may have been there for years, but he worked silently until it was unveiled. This is what is happening with Maria, if I may be so bold to speak for her. In the meantime, you can check out my video blog at www.destineddreams.com.

Technorati Tags: harmony, hero, perfection, Resurrecting, team

We cannot ignore the fact that our current global economy is definitely a mirror of our world and our society as it is today, and on a more individual level, who we are as individuals and what our compass in life has become.

While what is happening on a global level has affected me to some degree, in that my retirement accounts have gone down. But what has affected me more is the stark truth of confronting my own reality of spending money and not having enough saved .Yes, I am like the many thousands of people out there that has spent more than saved and refinanced my home to pay off credit card debt. I am like many of the thousands who live pay check to paycheck.

 We can all be asking ourselves: “How did we get to this point?” I find it hard to believe that all these banking executives and government leaders could dare to even ask themselves this question. Now, really, it is like me asking myself how I got myself into this situation. It becomes, as my kids would say, “DA!”

For those of you who don’t know what this means in teenage verbology, this means it’s pretty obvious. I could choose to ignore the signs of my behavior and blame someone or something else. What would I gain from this, but only to continue to delude myself.  But isn’t that what we do so easily with ourselves and the dark side of our personalities and ego that we are afraid to confront?  Or better yet  how can we muster up the courage to change our behavior?

What is our direction what has our direction been? What has our compass been pointing to? I myself have had to evaluate what my compass has been directed at and it has not been due north straight ahead. There have been times that I felt my ship at sea but aimlessly drifting although knowing that I was in the ocean and moving some how to some direction but the compass was not programmed and a map clearly charted. This is where we have been as a nation and as a people individually. There was a point in my life not too long ago as early as these past few months that I have hid this from the outside world, from others perhaps in the dire hope that I could delude myself. Well I have finally come to realize that I am not alone. There are many of you in the same ship out there.

I guess what it all boils down to is that when we realize and finally wake up that this ship is not really going anywhere we can get off and take another course. We can get on board another ship whose compass and orientation is charted in the right direction. Do I like where my life is at the present moment? Do you? What can I do to change that? What course of action can I take? These are the hard reality questions that we must be asking ourselves, that I must be asking myself and have needed to face head on heavily this week.

Where do we go from here? It is up to us, it is up to me to decide what I want my reality to be. We are in charge. Too often we have been told and indoctrinated that we are not capable, we must have someone do it for us. If you read material that deals with the quantum physics of thought you will see that this is not something new, the concept that our thoughts and feelings have a great deal to do with our reality has been around for centuries. Are we that dense as a Nation as a species that we do not utilize these principles? Where would we be today if we did? Imagine if for a brief moment what that would mean for all of us as a country, as a planet and as an individual?

Ahh… the great mirror, yes, no matter how we try to change and distort things the mirror does not lie. We must look at the truth. It is staring us right back in the face.

Technorati Tags: behavior, courage, debt, delude, economy, ego, self development, world

I couldn’t help but think of the issue of energy and a lack of energy which is something that I have dealt with for many years. Being overweight the last few years and having a lethargic metabolism and not being one to exercise on a regular basis, My main complaint for many years has been “I don’t have enough energy.” Feeling tired and run down all the time from running a household and working and having a private practice and at times taking care of everybody but myself.

I have been recently following the presidential debates and following the candidates on their issues more so than I have in past election years. Of coarse we are in critical times where everything seems to be collapsing around us so who gets voted into office and what will happen to this country, to me to my family and the future generations does seem to be more serious now more than ever.

I began to think about our energy and individually my issue with energy and what I needed to do to change this for myself as I am tired of being tired. I realized that this issue that we are all concerned about at this moment in the election of our dependence on foreign oil somehow reflects on a microcosmic level what is happening to me.

The dependency on Arab nations for oil puts us in a position to be at the mercy of the price determined by these nations and now by a tyrant in South America that hates the United States. As I sat and thought about this metaphor I realized and came to a very harsh face to face confrontation this week of my dependency on my negative thinking and how this has depleted my energy resources. Wow! We are dependent on foreign energy sources and on some level receive negative thoughts from these countries. Something seems wrong with this picture. So much talk about drilling in our backyard and looking for alternative resources. What would happen if we all collectively started looking at our own backyards of our thoughts?

No we are not an independent nation when it comes to this issue of oil. But am I an independent individual when it comes to my thoughts. Where am I getting my energy fuel from? I am starting to realize that this question is no different than the questions in many Americans minds, where can we get alternative forms of fuel in order to end this dependency.

This question turned into what do I need to change? Where am I getting  my energy fuel from? What do I need to do to end this dependency on limited thinking? It really all boils down to what happened this evening ; when I am actively doing something to follow my dreams my passion , I was able to access energy that I did not know I had or where it would come from.

For so long I have dealt with fatigue and lack of energy and of coarse carrying around a few extra pounds does not help. But all of this is to hide the fact that I was not doing anything to follow my true path in life. But as the old saying goes the “Proof is in the pudding.” It was undeniable that when I chose to engage in a different thought other than ” I am too tired to write” I was able to access alternative forms of energy. Maybe this is a strategy that the politicians in Washington need to apply. Sure did work for me.

Technorati Tags: energy, Personal Development, struggle with weight

While I was emailing my sister, I got this insight of writing “dear Life letters”.  It is not my real thoughts. I am inventing a fictional character that regrets not doing much in life, someone who was negative and had a bad attitude in life.

In that dream, after I died, this world, this body, had no more attachment. I wasn’t pulled to go back. Something else was pulling me somewhere else and I was not afraid. I didn’t know where but it felt peaceful. It was just interesting that the body which once had life could collapse and just be a blob and lay there on the bed lifeless. I guess that is how many people are anyway, like walking zombies confused and walking aimlessly in life, complaining and not doing anything constructive with their lives. That’s sad.

Of course when you are really confronted with real death, you will fight for “dear life”. People should start writing letters to “dear life”, like this:

“Dear Life, sorry I have been such a drip with my self loathing attitude that I am no good and I can’t do this and I can’t do that. Sorry I couldn’t really see how beautiful this earth, this creation really is. Sorry I took it for granted. And all the people that surround me and attempted to give me hope but with my bad attitude, I didn’t believe them.

I’m sorry I didn’t take advantage of understanding how much I really can contribute in some way and that I do have something of value. I was so just darn afraid of being taken advantage again. You know, who can you trust in this world anyway.  I even bought into so many bad thoughts that I couldn’t concentrate on what good I could do. So dear life, be kind to me where you take me in what some people call the “afterlife”.

If it is called “after life” does that mean you are there too? Maybe then finally I will have a better life. Sorry I couldn’t make it better here. Oh well next time around, I promise to make it better. Just don’t give me that amnesia serum or that nasty bad hypnosis serum of all those distorted thoughts. I should of gotten out of that bad hypnosis earlier to see that you, Life, wasn’t so bad after all. Oh well, see you in the next one.”

Your truly,

Random Unnecessary Voice(Fictional Character)

Technorati Tags: death, hypnosis, life

Well this is what is happening and the harsh reality is evident every day as we open the newspaper and read the headlines and watch the news on television. As much as this creates a sense of anxiety and angst in me I can’t help but correlate this to my remodeling projects. How will we have something better if we do not tear the old down and replace it with the new? We are beginning to read the financial analysis of our current state of affairs and all the information points to this same fact. If we are to resurrect out of the ruble of this disaster then we must do away with the old in order to have something better.

As this is all happening on the larger scale of our world, each and every one of us is a world unto ourselves. I once heard the phrase, “You do not exist in the universe the universe exists in you.” Think about this for a moment. If we really understood what this means we would realize that the key to changing what is happening around us really begins with ourselves.

This has never been more evident to me on an individual level as it has been these past few weeks. Call it coincidence or call it the astrological influences or plain old it was time to tear things down in my head. Yes, I had started a remodeling project on myself, one that started many years ago on my path to self discovery and spiritual enlightenment. Except that this project has been long in the making and as with all remodeling projects it came with its usual dose of frustration and delays in the time line. Hindered by procrastination and denial, continued endulgement of limiting beliefs, fears that no longer served me, lack of self confidence etc. etc. Sound familiar? Yes very much like the remodeling project. At times questioning whether I REALLY could change. Was it really worth it, was I ever going to accomplish becoming the person that I envisioned myself to be, that I want to be. Well as in the remodeling project somehow you manage to get through it with the final result being that beautiful new room or kitchen and even though you swear you will never do one again when it is finally complete you finally stand back and admire the end result. Then you realize it was worth it after all. Yes we are having to do the same with our financial systems and on a more individual level we do not realize the power that we hold to actually influence what is happening on a macrocosmic level. We must begin with the universe within ourselves and evaluate how am I handling money, what is my relationship with money , what are my thoughts about money , do I feel that there is enough or am I constantly thinking ,” I do not have enough.” How am I handling my energy resources? What kind of relationships am I in, am I in relationships that nurture me and feed me or suck the energy out of me? What am I doing to create more energy for myself, am I exercising and eating right to fuel my body with healthy energy. Where am I being wasteful, am I not appreciating the things in my life or constantly bemoaning my circumstances or am I utilizing every opportunity that presents itself to me as a challenge to grow and become better. How am I valuing myself? Do I see myself as a valuable individual with something to offer? Do these questions not also reflect the issues we are dealing with globally? Think about it. I mean really think about it and the implications of this.

Do I want this world to change? We must begin to ask ourselves these hard questions and tear down the old and it needs to begin with each and every one of us. It has been a painful process at times for me; I can’t say that there is any easy way to change things about yourself there is no magic wand. There is only the will and the determination.

This financial crisis is painful, at times a remodeling project is painful but eventually with that will and determination we can emerge as new individuals, as a new nation.

Technorati Tags: Personal Development

In 2002 I had a severe car accident which made me stop in my tracks and literally couldn’t walk for 1 year. It was a huge wake up call, which eventually led to reflecting a lot and spending time alone purposefully without a relationship with a man for the past 4 years.

The process to create a new foundation and to recreate my life was not an easy one. It took a lot of trust. It took a lot of faith. It took a lot of letting go, along with some aggravation,uncertainties and anxieties that popped up. But I persisted because the insights that I was getting in my heart were coming in much too strong.

I had finally let go of certain aspects of my personality of how I operated before, the constant busyness, distractions and my need to want to find a soul mate who would “fulfill” me. Finally I was taking the time to say, “Okay where am I? What am I really about in my core? What do I have to offer that’s different? The more that I did this, I developed this intimacy with God, which was really like an intimacy with myself.

It was like having a relationship, a true ongoing relationship with a higher power that was indescribable. Because of the time I was taking to develop this intimacy, I found a deeper connection within myself and at the same time with God. I guess it was always there, except I never really paid too much attention.

I had just glimpses before. I was finding that it was an intimacy with myself and finding that true love within myself. It was not a narcissist love. It was finally knowing myself and discovering what my strengths were. I sometimes put myself down internally when it came to my emotions. I am a very emotional woman and thought that having so many emotions weakened me.

I got accustomed during those four years to the streams of consciousness that kept coming to me and the constant bombardment of in flow of grace. It was like my soul was breathing a sigh of relief. Finally for the first time in my life, I took the time to reflect on where my life was heading. I was actually visioning for the first time. Before it was so haphazard and at the constant affect of people that brought me down. I finally was questioning, Who am I? What is my place hear in this world? What am I supposed to do?

Obviously I had not done such a great job in the relationship arena. Yeah, I was successful in creating my sustenance in work. I also traveled and provided a pretty good life considering there were challenges of being divorced and raising a son as the only breadwinner. Somehow though, I always came out ahead financially. So here I was at 42 years old and completely miserable in the worst relationship ever. Then boom, I’m in this car accident.

Now that I was taking the time to reflect, I decided that I wanted to do it different. I wanted to make my life in a totally different way. I was totally shaken up, ripped apart. Everything was almost taken away from me financially because I didn’t have any income in that year.

I didn’t work because I couldn’t walk for a year. By sheer determination, I pushed myself to start walking fast, to start working again, things that I was good at. But the foundation was still a little shaky. Then in 2006, I ended up with severe pain on my ankle. I had traumatic arthritis due to the accident and hardly had any cartilage left. So again, pain was creeping up on me again.

Even though I thought I was getting back on track, I was still a little wobbly. In those four years, from 2003 to 2007, it was a time to reassess myself and figure out a way to do things differently, totally different like a whole new blueprint. But I didn’t have a manual.

This required a lot of soul-searching and quiet time. Otherwise, I could have started off on my million to to lists which I am good at. Or I could get distracted and forget about those insights I was getting in those quiet times without any other distractions, except taking care of my son and working my normal routine as a real estate broker.

As I developed this relationship with God and myself, I found out my greatest strengths were what I thought were my weaknesses. I learned to really feel and trust my feelings, where before I thought, “oh, I’m so emotional, or I just feel things too much, I’m too sensitive.” No, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good to be a sensitive human being; there’s compassion, there’s intuition, there is clarity in making, for example, a business decision.

Is this the right time to do business with this person? How many times have I kicked myself and not trusted my got for running around with prospects that drained me and waste my precious time, where instead I could’ve sat back and enjoyed that time with my son. As time went by, these sensitivities became very acute. I was almost uncomfortable with them because it seemed like a gift, but the rawness and the intense sensitivity of it caused me to feel, besides crazy, not “normal”.

I always wanted to be normal. I grew up in a normal environment. My house wasn’t that crazy. I grew up in a normal school. I grew up amongst normal sisters and parents. I had a lot of normal upbringing. I had normal good friends. Everything was pretty much just that - normal. I didn’t want to be out of the box. It got to the point where I couldn’t stop because that relationship that developed was so fulfilling.

I’m so happy I did. My life is so different now. Now with this financial crisis hitting us globally, I can go within and trust that I am going to be OK and safe.

Technorati Tags: faith, God, Spiritual Growth

I have been in the process of writing a book with my sister, but this kind of morphed out of me and it totally took me by surprise. So it will be published soon. I just have to transcribe all these letters which I wrote at all hours of the days including being woken up at 2, 3 or 4 AM. It somehow took over me.

Here is one of my last letters after the last day I saw him.

I’m glad we were able to meet and talk in a dignified and loving manner. So many breakups occur with anger and hate, as I saw one of my my best friends do. She happened to be having closure yesterday as well, but her closure was broken and angry and very bitter. I’m not bitter with what we shared. Again, it was only three months. My friend shared eight years.

 I’m glad I was able to see that and you acknowledged that your heart was not really engaged. I would have continued giving you my heart, and you would have been afraid of giving of your heart. You said to give you a chance, but how long would I have waited? A year?Five Years? Ten years? I cant wait that long. I don’t know. I don’t believe that with true love, you need to hold back. With true love, nothing holds you back.
So I’m glad that I was able to have the opportunity to feel love, so that I can
have the hope of falling in love again, and really falling. At least this crash
was not so bad. It was a short, intense time. I’m glad we were able
to let go with love, instead of bitterness and anger. I had to recognize that I am a certain way, and even if we tried to work it out, I was trusting in my own gut, that I needed to move on. And it’s not that I’m moving on because there’s someone else. I’m moving on because I need to follow my own passion now, and my dreams, instead of waiting for my love to be reciprocated.And I’m grateful that we were able, in a short time, to heal a part of our own broken-ness.

And,as I hugged you at the end, I hugged you with love, and I promised you I’dalways send you love, because I wish for you that you’d find the courage one day, to have your heart ignited and to just plunge into just experience that true ecstasy of love. I felt this for a brief short time with you. You asked me one day to just love you and let go of my hesitation, and I did. And I plunged in, and I fell pretty hard in a very short time. But I was able to heal this so that I wouldn’t carry a burden of pain of my heart.

I’m almost finished with my physical therapy. I’m walking strong. I still have a little bit of pain, but I’m walking strong and I hope that you are walking strong too and all your aches and pains will go away. When you immerse yourself in that flame of love,it can burn, any pain, any hurt, any disappointment and only bring you joy, love, ecstasy, peace, bliss, and I hope to find that soon as well, my own way, and I’ll be ready, I’ll be ready. Maybe a little tiny bit guarded, but I’ll be ready. I am ready.

Technorati Tags: personal growth, relationship, self development, self growth

 What do they do now? They go out and now have to find a job feeling totally insecure as to what is the next step to take where once they felt that they worked in the most secure conglomerate.  This causes a major shake up to the nation, to the world, to the foundations not only of the financial of the economics of the world, but it also causes a total shake up and break down of each individual involved who make up the whole of these conglomerates. 

We are in a momentous time of change where we have to rebuild and pick up the pieces, all of the shattered pieces.  I’ve been there in my own micro-cosmic way, and I am still walking a little wobbly, not sure where my next real estate deals are going to come.  But I am definitely progressing in my vision of creating a stability and security for me after this year of this housing meltdown, and as a realtor being directly affected in
Miami, one of the worst cities in the country.  Not only a housing meltdown, but the number one in the country for mortgage fraud. 

 I read in the paper today that there is a company that wants to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in creating millions of square feet in the next few years because they have a vision for what Miami can be.  These daring visionaries have the wherewithal to look ahead into creating a better city.  How do these companies have the wherewithal to sustain that vision?

How do we as individuals have the strength and courage to create a vision for our own lives to make our lives better instead of spiraling down in depression, anxiety, fear, panic, loss.  All these  real events are coming into view so massively and rapidly.

How do we come out of that from the ashes and rebuild ourselves? 
What does it take besides strength and courage and vision?  It takes an
unshakable trust in, I believe, in a higher power and an involvement in a
collaborative effort with others to not feel alone; to feel that there are many
resources amidst the panic to create a new future for ourselves initially on a microcosmic level, and hopefully on a macrocosmic level.

  It takes courage. It takes strength, and it takes something like a tunnel vision to hold on tight and not let go, to take perseverance like a pit bull in our new vision amidst the shambles and the rubble of the shakedown. 

How do we value ourselves?  What values do we have?  What talents do we have?  What do we have to give?  What have we not given of ourselves because we’ve been hiding in our own insecurities of not really standing up to the plate and discovering what our true gifts are? 
How do we value what our true gifts are if we haven’t really utilized them?  How can we replace all this evaluation with values?  What can we do of value to give back somehow. That’s what I want to do now. 

 When I was going through my own breakdown, I couldn’t  even think of going out into the community?  I couldn’t walk, but I was rebuilding, and little by little, step by step, and not walking so wobbly. There’s a greater sense of purpose, of going beyond my own little microcosmic situation into a more collaborative community outreach because I wish to stay in the profession I’ve been in for 23 years in real estate, and I see now that it is a community problem and some of us need to step up to the plate.

Technorati Tags: achieving goals, dreams, dreams and goals, vison