Do you ever feel as if you must be walking around with a “kick me” sign on your back? A BIG sign like, one so big the Universe even sees it and says “ok, no problem!” When this imaginary sign is on your back, nothing in your world goes right. No matter what you do or say, ouch, another kick in the behind.
I spent the holiday week with a “kick me” sign on my back. I have to say that I am pretty sure this past week was the worst week of my life, even worse than the one when my Dad crossed over. There comes a time in everyone’s life when they have to look in the mirror and see a shadow, that one thing you know has been there, lurking right in front of you, but you haven’t had the courage to do anything about it. But now you know it’s time. Who said courage was easy anyway? This past week I found my courage, but it broke my heart.
We all make mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn our lessons. Some mistakes affect only us, but some affect those around us as well. Those are the ones that are the hardest. Hardest for those who realize they made the mistake and hurt others and hard for those in the sidelines who watch and are affected and hurt by that mistake.
When we are faced with doing something that is hard, we lose our breath, can’t focus on anything, have a sudden urge to run away from it all and either want to be totally alone or around a ton of people so we do not have to face what we are certain will come up if we are left alone. The movie, “A League of Their Own,” with Tom Hanks has a classic line I sometimes repeat to myself when life gets tough: “If it were easy, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great!” This line reminds me that it is the hard times in our lives that make us who we are. Those who we look up to and admire because of who they are or the life they have, have that kind of life because they made choices (hard choices) others may not have had the courage to make.
Courage is not acting without fear; it is acting in spite of fear. When you feel lost inside because of something that has happened to you or someone you love, there is one thing and one thing only that is the cure to feeling better: YOU. Life is made up of hard choices and painful events. It is not what happens to us that makes us, it is the choices we make after that “something” happens that build us into who we will become. Tragedies, death, poor choices made by the ones we love dearly, financial hardships, all of these things are enough to break a normal human. But, you are not just human. You are a divine spiritual being having a human experience. That means you are more than the physical body you can touch and the feelings you are currently feeling. You are an essence that never dies, feeds off of joy and loves unconditionally. Never underestimate your true divine nature. We are all small pieces of God on earth playing a role to help move humanity forward. No one said it would be easy. You cannot take away other peoples lessons just to spare them pain. Your path is the only path you can walk. Don’t try to live your life and everyone else’s at the same time, trust me, it will only exhaust you. Live your life the best you can and remember to take one day at a time, breathe, choose those who surround you wisely, feed your mind and body positive, nourishing “food,” and practice trust. Trust that you knew what you were doing when you came here and trust that God has your back.
I’ll pray for you if you pray for me?
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn.
“Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa published by Balboa Press.
“Just in case you ever feel its absence know happiness always returns.”
In my new book, Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live, I talk about the path to finding joy in your life. The Ancient Egyptians believed that when we die and are at the gates of heaven, we are asked two questions:
Have you found joy in your life?
Has your life brought joy to others?
I am a firm advocate in the belief that you cannot give what you do not have. If you are not happy (joyful) how can you possibly bring joy to others? If the gas tank on your car is empty, your car cannot take you anywhere, right? The same is true for you. If you are “empty,” you have nothing to give. So how do you “fill your tank?”
Stephen Covey has a great list of “12 things happy people do differently” that has been circulating on Facebook recently. I thought I would share it with you today as a reminder of some action steps you can take to be in a state of joy. (I embellished these a little with my own thoughts.)
1. Express gratitude – be thankful for what you have in your life instead of always focusing on what you do not have.
2. Cultivate optimism – your perception is your reality. Think optimistically and your world will follow.
3. Avoid comparing yourself to others – when you compare yourself to others, the nature of the human mind is that you will always be sure to come up short. The only person who you should be comparing yourself to is yourself in the past. Are you moving forward?
4. Practice random acts of kindness – help someone anonymously today.
5. Nurture social relationships – the nature of your relationships with others tells you a lot about the relationship you currently have with yourself. Our relationships are the things that matter most to us in the end. Make them worth it.
6. Develop strategies for coping – know what you need to do to stay centered. What are those things you do that make you feel better when your external world is in chaos?
7. Learn to forgive – open your heart and forgive others and yourself. Forgiveness is admitting that we are all alike in some way, shape and form.
8. Increase flow experiences – in other words, know your strengths. Do those things that “flow” and come easiest to you.
9. Savor life’s joys – stay in the present moment. Life is about the journey, not the end point.
10. Commit to your intentions – know what you want and commit to getting it. Direct your life in the direction YOU want instead of your life and external circumstances directing you.
11. Practice spirituality – recognize that life is bigger than you are and that there is a higher plan. Get in touch with your higher self and the potential that is deep inside. You know your gifts, practice them!
12. Take care of your body – your body houses the soul. It is your temple. Care for it, honor it and respect it.
Your happiness is your responsibility no one else’s.
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” ~Aristotle
Smiling,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
“Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa published by Balboa Press.
What if you found out today that you only had one week left to live? Looking at your life as it is right now, can you honestly say you could die feeling as if you gave it your all?
Many of us live as if we have all of the time in the world. For your sake, I hope that you do. The truth of the matter is that none of us know when our cards will be up yet we act as if time is of no consequence.
I would like you to take a look at your life and ask yourself the following questions. I warn you; they may be hard to answer.
What would you do if you knew you had:
Now, look at your answers. Do they accurately reflect where you are spending the majority of your time now? If not, why not? And don’t tell me that you have responsibilities, no choice, your husband or wife won’t let you, blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard them all. Whose life is it anyways? This statement is not meant to be harsh or non-compassionate, but I ask you, when are you going to stop making excuses and live your life?
One question I ask myself when I want to whip myself back into reality is:
When I am lying on my death bed, will this matter?
The majority of the things you stress about will not even matter in five years. I know your mind is telling you that they will, but they won’t. Life changes in the blink of an eye and we live in a kind Universe. Everything, and I mean everything, happens to maintain balance, whether you agree with it or not.
Our most Divine gift as humans is the ability to create our own reality. We do that with our thoughts. If you focus on excuses, those excuses will become your reality. What you think about you bring about. It is truly that simple. Sound too good to be true?
What if it isn’t?
“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” ~Abraham Lincoln
Living, loving and laughing,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Feature image licensed from Unsplash.
Now on the best selling list at Balboa Press, “Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa.
Click here to purchase your copy!
Faith or Fear?There I was, sitting at my kitchen table in the new house my husband and I had just bought. It was 2003. I had a stack of bills in front of me that always seemed to be higher than the amount that was in our checking account needed to pay them. I had just come through a life-threatening illness and was finally asymptomatic.
I recently had returned to my corporate job after four months of being on short-term disability. I knew it was a mistake but the bills had to get paid. After all, I had a responsibility to my family to take care of them. The problem was, no one was taking care of me, including myself.
I sat there staring at the pile of bills and a question hit me: Which one can I do more without, money or my health? It was then that it hit me. If I continued down the same path that made me sick, I would surely end up sick again. Nothing changes if nothing changes. I had to make a change in order to keep my health. Money means nothing unless you are healthy and feel good to enjoy the benefits having money brings. Who wants to travel when they are sick? Who can enjoy their beautiful house if they are working all of the time and then when they are home, they are in bed because they are so exhausted?
It was then that I made a choice. I chose to leave my corporate job and start my own business where I had the flexibility to choose how to spend my time as well as how much money I deserved to make. I chose faith over fear. There were a lot of unknowns in front of me. Would I be successful? What exactly would I do? Would I make enough money? What if I didn’t? I decided I could not afford to be afraid and took the leap. My life depended on it.
Now, almost 10 years later, I can tell you a few things that I learned about choosing to make my decision on faith instead of in fear.
Finally, every single day take time out to do at least one activity that nurtures you and your soul. Do something that brings you joy even if it is only for 10 minutes. If you find that fear creeps up on you again, realize that the only thing that changes from one moment to the next is the thought you are holding in your mind. Change your thought, do something kind for yourself or someone else and watch with open eyes what the world looks like when you see it through the lens of faith.
Trust me, it is a beauty! 😉
Love you,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Now on the Best Seller list at Balboa Press, “Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life.”
“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” ~Unknown
We make a lot of choices throughout our lives, from what to eat for breakfast to who to vote for in an election. In this last week, we as a country had to make an important choice, who to choose for our next President. Some were relieved by the outcome and others were not so pleased. The reason we make any choice is that we want to see a specific outcome occur or because we desire a change. Our choices make up who we are and what we stand for and every choice we make affects everyone…not just us. Every choice we make is universally the “right” choice, whether we make that choice individually or as a collective whole.
I don’t know about you, but I believe in a kind Universe (and God). Everything that happens has a higher order to it, whether we agree with what we are seeing or not. Our perception creates our own internal reality. We can both experience the same situation and both perceive it differently. That is the gift of human will. You can always see the world how you choose (and it doesn’t matter who is sitting in the Oval Office).
If we want to see change, we have to remember that we are the ones that can create change…”we the people.” Our destiny is not, and never was, up to only one man. Your individual destiny is up to you…and our collective destiny is up to US. All of our individual thoughts, when brought together, determine our destiny.
What has been occupying your thoughts lately? Are you playing the “blame game?” When one finger of yours is pointed at someone else, three are pointed back at you. What is your role in our destiny? Not sure? Check your thoughts.
“No version of any event can persist without a corresponding consciousness requiring it.” (In other words, what you resist persists.)
“The narrow minded man thinks and says: ‘This man is one of us; this one is not, he is a stranger.’ To the man of noble soul the whole of mankind is but one family.” ~The Dhammapada
God bless America and the individuals who make her up,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Currently on the bestseller list at Balboa Press, “Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa!
“Do you get that your environment comes in response to your thoughts? So often people play it backwards and their thoughts come in response to their environment. That’s why we are quite often wanting to control everything in our world. The basis of life is freedom; you are so free that you can choose to direct your thought anywhere! And your freedom will truly come when you learn to exercise the power of your own focus.” ~Rev. Angela Peregoff
Nothing else needs to be said, now go choose your thoughts wisely!
A recovering control freak,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Announcing! Now on the top ten bestseller list at Balboa Press, “Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa
When there is light in the soul
there is beauty in the person.
When there is beauty in the person
there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home
there is honor in the nation.
When there is honor in the nation
there is peace in the world.
~ Elements and Energy, Rosanne Rusnock
Feng Shui has 3 main principles and each principle has a connection, like everything, to life itself.
Principle #1: Everything is alive with chi
Everything has energy. Even the chair you are sitting in right now. How do the things in your home make you feel? Everything around you has memories associated with it. Look around and only keep the things that make you feel good, uplifted and joyful. Discard or give away everything that does not.
Principle #2: Everything is connected by chi
If you have read my blog in the past you have heard me say before that everything is connected on this earth; everything and everybody. Everything we do affects everyone around us. Look around at your life. Are the people in your life pulling you up or pulling you down? How about you? Do your actions make people feel good or do you leave negative marks and hurt feelings wherever you go? Cleaning house sometimes includes people in your life, regardless of who they are and what role they play for you.
Principle #3: Everything is constantly changing
Whatever you see and think about you attract into your life. What you think about you bring about. Your attention is everything! Look around your living space and see what it is telling you. How does it feel? What changes need to be made? If you want to attract into your life a mate, put things around your house in pairs (2 candles together, statues and pictures of couples, etc.). We think in pictures, not words. You need to see it the way you want it in order for your subconscious mind to attract it into your life for you.
If you feel the need to de-clutter or clean, do it! If you feel down, depressed or fatigued look around in the space in which you live and see if it matches how you feel. I have noticed that how I feel about my outside space (my environment) is a reflection of how I feel about my inside space (my mental and emotional state). If your desk is a cluttered mess, I will bet money on the fact that you feel like a cluttered mess. You have to start somewhere, so start with your space.
“The things surrounding you in your home serve as subliminal reminders of who you are. They will continue to direct you towards old patterns of behavior. Subconscious beliefs are generally so deep-seated that one is not aware of them.“
~ Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul
Get out the broom!
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Announcing the release of “Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Christine Sopa published by Balboa Press.
“It is time to stop talking and start walking; stop crying and start sweating. Working together with a common faith we cannot fail.” ~Jimmy Carter, U.S. Presidential Speech 1979
In the movie What the Bleep Do We Know, Dr. Hagelin describes a rather unconventional social experiment conducted in Washington D.C. Over a two month period of time, 4,000 individuals came together to meditate daily with the intention of lowering the crime rate. Normally during the summer in Washington D.C. the crime rate sharply increases due to the warmer weather. From June 7th through July 30th 1993, the time-frame of the meditation experiment, crime in Washington D.C. was reduced by 23.6%. The likelihood that this was merely a “coincidence” was calculated at two parts per billion, also noting that Dr. Hagelin’s experiment was repeated 48 times with similar results in prisons, inner-city schools, war-torn areas like Nicaragua, Iran, Israel and Lebanon.
Recently, the United States has encountered a natural “tragedy,” referred to as Hurricane Sandy. She left her mark on New York, New Jersey and several other locations for quite some time to come. Whenever any challenging or tragic event occurs, there are always two by-products; gratitude and an opening of the heart. These types of events leave you feeling very thankful for what you have, the people in your lives and sometimes plain thankful for being alive. This gratitude leads to an opening of the heart and our altruism kicks into full gear. We immediately want to help in some way, our “hearts go out” to the people who were affected by the tragedy.
Studies have shown that altruism is hard-wired in our brains. When hooked up to brain scanning machines, people who were asked to think about giving money to someone had the same exact parts of their brain light up as when they thought about selfish pleasures such as eating and sex. (It brings a whole new meaning to the term “this is better than sex!”)
What came up for you during Hurricane Sandy? Were you grateful? Did you wonder in what way you could help? Did you feel empowered or like a victim who has no control over what happens? Everything happens for a reason, even natural events. They are meant to wake us up; to force us to think and do things in a different way when no other way has worked. They are there to teach us something about ourselves and how we relate to each other. What does it really mean to you to be “alive?” Is it all about you or is it about us?
When I hike the Inca Trail in Peru, the shamans teach you to always give back to the Earth that which you took. If you pick up a rock, give back to the Earth something in your possession – a piece of hair or a sacred article of your own. Everything is about balance. When Mother Earth creates a hurricane, she is balancing her energy. What happens is as much about us as it is about her.
Instead of reflecting upon why this happened, turn the mirror inward. Where does your life need balancing? What is some personal “tragedy” in your life trying to teach you? Is there anything in your life that needs to be “washed away” so something new can have room to enter?
Think about it, not everything is how it seems.
“The best medicine of all is the simplest medicine. Let us all learn self-love, self-forgiveness, compassion and understanding. Then we will be able to give those gifts to others. By healing the person, we can heal Mother Earth.“
~Elizabeth Kubler Ross
Praying we all finally step into who we are,
Chris
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Announcing the publication of “Choosing the Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa published by Balboa Press.
As I Began To Love Myself“Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn’t have the time to sit around and talk about you. What’s important to me is not others’ opinions of me, but what’s important to me is my opinion of myself.” ~C. Joy Bell
Self Love Poem (Author Unknown)
As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.
Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody
As I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time
was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this
person was me. Today I call it “RESPECT”.
As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life,
and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.
Today I call it “MATURITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance,
I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens
at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm.
Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.
As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time,
and I stopped designing huge projects for the future.
Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do
and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in
my own rhythm. Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.
As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for
my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew
me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude
a healthy egoism. Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.
As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since
I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.
As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry
about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING
is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.
As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me
and it can make me sick. But as I connected it to my heart, my
mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this
connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.
We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems
with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing
new worlds are born. Today I know THAT IS “LIFE”!
Take the time to do one thing for yourself today.
Love yourself and do it for YOU,
Chris
(Thank you Elaine!)
Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Click here to purchase your copy of “Choosing The Life You Were Born to Live: How Changing Your Thoughts Will Change Your Life” by Chris Sopa