With the option of Success how come, sometimes, we choose failure?

I woke up this morning and as always even before opening my eyes, just run my plans and thoughts for the day.

I have had so far a very good year and few more closings to happen within the next month. However there is nothing on the pipeline for August and the following months, so my thoughts this morning was "I have to reach out and get my buyers buying". Well long history short , after doing the work that goes into prospecting, here I am, it is almost 9 pm and I got 3 buyers ready to start looking at houses this weekend, planning to buy by August the latest, wow! what a sense of accomplishment!...

I believe that if we have well-defined dreams and goals, then we focus on putting in the work towards them, THEY WILL HAPPEN....

"We must look for ways to be an active force in our own lives. We must take charge of our own destinies, design a life of substance and truly begin to live our dreams." Les Brown

06/03/2010

Surrendering to Resistance

How often have we tried to control and confine life, living according to old rules, ideas, and expectations? I've wasted so much time and energy on proving I was right, on resisting change, and trying to hold onto the past long after it was time to let it go. It took me a long time to become conscious that another way was possible - a more flexible and easy way to approach life. I have learned that there is a great power in living in the flow.

Sometimes we try to force things to happen. Yet our anxiety and urgency block the very flow we desire. The ego loves to control, confine, define. But freedom of the spirit moves according to a deeper wisdom.

'The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.'

Flowing with life is not merely a passive allowing. Just as a farmer prepares the soil, plants the seeds, waters and cultivates the land, and does his daily work, so we do what we can do to create the optimum conditions for what we desire. It is the life force within the seed and the seed's partnership with the elements that create the magic of growth and fruition. The farmer does not have to stand in the field, grunting and groaning, trying to make the seeds grow. He plants the seeds and trust its nature to fulfill its destiny. We too, can plant and cultivate our seeds of faith and watch them grow according to a greater wisdom than we can yet imagine.

The more we resist, the harder life is. If we are willing to be flexible and open, we'll discover a gentle strength greater than we could have imagined in our earlier power struggles. Surrender to resistance. Go with the flow. And let it lead us into a more fulfilling adventures.

'Those who don't feel this life pulling them like a river, those who don't drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take in a sunset like supper, those who don't want to change, let them sleep.' Rumi

 

05/23/2010 

Walk the Talk.

Motivational author and speaker Zig Ziglar once said,

"Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be."

Think about words like commitment, honesty, accountability, respect, courage, ethics, and integrity. These are important words when it comes to your success, but these words are meaningless if you don't live by them. After all, if you constantly say one thing and do another, you will lose people's trust. And without the trust of your family, partners, friends, clients, or colleagues, success is impossible. The late Christopher Reeve once said,

"I think we all have a little voice inside that will guide us.... If we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do."

Behaving according to our beliefs can be a challenge. But when it comes to earning trust, keeping trust, and therefore maximizing your success, walking your talk is critical.

05/08/2010

Good Morning World....I'm alive!

Welcome every morning with a smile. Take 5 minutes to enjoy your surroundings, take a deep and fresh breath, let the smell of the world run through your veins and enjoy the feel of wonder that comes with the knowledge of how miraculous is to be alive...

If you can,  stop for a couple of minutes or even seconds, close your eyes, open your arms wide and breathe slowly, picture the air getting trough your nostrils and going into your lungs, bringing the vital energy to your body, refreshing every little space of your body, now.... hold it....then slowly let it go through your mouth, until all is empty...taking out all the impurities, bitterness, sadness and leaving a clean slate for a new and great life to start.

Look on the new day as yet another special opportunity ... "Every day is a good day to examine our prime-time priorities.

Positive thoughts make you feel not only happier, but help you to live longer. What we have is a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day, we must look for ways to be an active force in our own lives, we must take charge of our own destinies, design a life of substance and truly begin to live our dreams.

This is the only life we have and we must live it the best we possibly can. Make a difference on yours and someones life today.

Have a Great Day! 09/2010

Finding Balance

 “Balance is the point where the spiritual, physical and emotional aspects of our personalities meet and concur” –Deirdre Lovell

It's funny to realize, every day, how life works. Do you know when you get a car, that you believe to be totally unique, just to realize, after you buy it,that every other person in town has the same model.Or you think about someone you haven't heard or talked to for a while, that person, just out of the blue, send you a note or make a call? Well this happens to me, a lot.

Last week it was one of those weeks, sometimes feeling something out of a 'twilight zone' episode. In almost every conversation I have had, either be with friends, family, colleagues or just complete strangers with whom I stroke a casual conversation while waiting for an appointment or at the market line...in almost every one of them we end up striking one common point, balance. We start with a light and easy chat about the week, work, weather, flowers, the coming summer - which makes most of the New Englanders excited - and then, it shifts into family and how to balance the personal, family, social and professional life in order to be able to do all the things that are important without losing touch with the things that are only ours, without losing ourselves.

How can we still be an individual with ideas, dreams and realizations at the same time as being a 'professional', 'employer', 'employee', 'mothers', 'daughters', 'husbands and wifes', 'partners', 'fathers' and 'sons'. How to be everything else that we are suppose to be and still be the person, that unique and original individual, we all wanted to become? How to create and live a well balanced and satisfying life in the meantime? How to hold the scale in the middle, without shifting too much to one side or the other?

I guess we all have a list of things we want to achieve in life....Finding Balance is the second goal in my life goal list, and I have learned that it is a lifelong process, it's a daily chore and require practice, lots of practice. It's not something you learn today, apply and let it go, counting on 'it' to have a life in its own. It's something that requires daily attention and dedication. You know, almost like educating your children...how many times did you repeat or hear your parents say 'What do you say...?' when you want to your children to learn how to say 'thank you'...balancing life is something like that...it's a everyday, every hour, every minute activity and has more to do with time management than you would like to believe.

Creating order in our daily routines works, and works well. A path is not a path with one stepping stone in the beginning and one in the end. It requires one stone after the other, going somewhere to be an actual path. Order, will allow you to make time for what's important to you. For me, making lists~ which I usually put together at night, after checking the ones I had for the day that is ending ~ works well. It does feel good to see my daily list all checked out and motivates me to keep on doing what I am doing.

My first 2 hours of the day are usually reserved to myself, no cell phone, no computer...it's a time I take to myself, to read, write, meditate, take photos, walk on the beach, enjoy my cup of coffee, do yoga or anything that I have pleasure on doing. This is what is important to me, at this time in my life.

Focus on whatever is that is important to you, work with a good schedule and add them into your to-do list. Seriously, if it's your family, shut off all the external influences and distractions (unless you are a surgeon or an attorney with a client on the death row scheduled to be executed today), really, stay with them and enjoy the time you have together. It's the quality of the moments spent together that create unforgettable memories, not the quantity.

Make those minutes, hours or days worth. It's important to stick to it. I usually say to myself: 'If this was an appointment with a client, I would not miss for the world.' If I am ready to overcome any obstacle to honor an appointment with a client who, sometimes I have yet to meet, why I would not be able to make to the 'appointment' with myself, my family, friends or to what is really important to me? Don't take me wrong, yes my clients are important, they are my livelihood but, if I don't care for myself, I will not have much to offer to then either.

Start right now - make lists, enter on your tablet, iphone, make post its...whatever works for you. Start with tackling just a couple of things on the list so you don’t get overwhelmed at first. Start with baby steps...make a little list and add one thing you want at a time. You don't have to read a whole book in one day...reading one chapter or a page a day is a great way to do. The habit makes the monk isn't that as the saying goes?

A new month starts tomorow, it's a great opportunity to start something new. So start today and enjoy!

Noemi Cardoso 04/30/2012

Changes...

New and exciting changes are just ahead of me and when I close my eyes I can see it clear as the sun that shines in this gorgeous Fall day in New England.

Life have turned out to be such a great thing...memories of the dark days of my childhood are so far from me today that it seems to belong to someone else. I have grown, have fallen, have collected the tiny pieces of my heart time and time again, started from zero more times than I care to mention, got it right sometimes, screw up many times, made so many mistakes that it makes hard to count then sometimes...but have also learned so many precious lessons along the way...

I think the ones I loved and lost; the ones that are no longer around; the ones that are still with me in spite of myself; the ones I've helped along the way; the ones who held me together as I felt apart; the ones that I loved but rather stay away. When I close my eyes so many faces runs through my mind and I wonder what has happen to some;others I wish them the best but don't want them in my life even tough at some point they were the air I breathed; rejoice for the success and happiness of many; others have been forgiven even though they have never said 'sorry'.

I have learned, through the generosity of the least expected person in my life, that forgiveness leads us to the path to redemption, for that she will always be in my prayers. Forgiveness of others and ourselves opens the doors to healing and healing guides us to acceptance, peace and self balance.

The joy that comes from the inside is such that, sometimes, when I think of the journey I've traveled so far, tears of gratitude strings down my face, there is no sorrow nor sadness, instead a fuzzy happy feeling (like a glass of bubbly) feels my soul and heart, all the memories of times I thought I was all alone in the dark, and the realization that there was always His arms holding me even when I couldn't see it then.

They say that age brings you wisdom, peace, acceptance and balance, I believe it does ~ if you are willing to look inside yourself ~ to deal with the pluses and minuses that comes along with living a fulfilling life, understanding that risks and mistakes are part of the journey and like anything else, sometimes we win and many other times we lose, but there is always something fruitful to come out of it.

I am happier, peaceful and in balance with myself today at 50 more than I have ever been. It is a feeling free of someone or something else, it is this infinite source inside, that pours through me, loving and appreciating every little blessing that comes my way. No, life is far from being perfect (whatever that might be), but if it ended right here and right now I would leave with a smile in my face and a light spirit knowing that I lived a good and fulfilling life.

That is the thought in my mind every night before I fall into the arms of unconsciousness ~"If I don't wake up tomorrow, was this life worth living??? And as I slide into my dreams the answer echoes in my brain YES IT HAS!'

Last night I dreamt that I was dancing alone in my kitchen and singing 'I can see clearly now...'

 

So I leave the great Jimmy Cliff in one of my favorite songs, enjoy your day my friend, it is such an special day that will only happen once in your lifetime. Make it a memorable one!

 

Noemi Cardoso 09/11/2012