Change, change and more change happen at the moment all around us and inside of us. Our society speeds up more than ever before. Where is everybody running? Do you know? 

Our day-to-day life needs more attention than before. Everybody is setting new intentions and goals for the new year. This is good but have we focused on our present daily goal? My question is: " Is one of our goals intended to meet the experience of being human? ".

Everybody needs to do something to gain something instead. Of course, we all need to make a living and live off of it, but have we managed to do something today that gave us real pleasure as a human in this world?

Like an experience of a sensation that makes us feel that we are fully alive or a smell that gives us joy because we smell it, or see something for the joy of seeing it. 

Have we experienced Life today? Have we seen beauty in the small mundane daily experiences? Have we touched on the essence of Living somehow?

How is it that we are so carried away by the insignificant material things that in the following minute after we experienced it, it's gone?

Have we taken a moment to re-centre and ask ourselves how is our breath working? Have we touched our faces today and looked deep down inside and asked ourselves: "How are you doing today?" or have we put our hands on our chest to feel our heartbeat? 

We are bombarded with do this or do that to be happy, to be fulfilled and to change your life. 

We are always waiting for someone to tell us what to do or which road to take. We tell us: "It is better to take professional advice to tell us what to do. He knows better."

Unfortunately, this is our today's society. We have grown apart from ourselves. We lost touch with our inner voice. Unfortunately, we look further and further away from the essence of Life. We are programmed to believe that what we know from the Inside is always questionable. 

How to keep up with yourself when the world is changing? 

I am sure that if you take time to sit with yourself every morning and evening you will find your answers. 

When you take the time to question every action that you do, or every thought using your Inner Wisdom, you will immediately know what truly resonates with you. 

If you feel like the environment you are in, doesn't feel like home to you, it means your nervous system might need your help. 

We need to feel safe for our nervous system to function properly. How can we feel safe in an ever-changing world? 

1. Connect to your natural environment.
2. Pay attention to all the sounds you hear in your surroundings.
3. Stay open to new possibilities of human interconnectedness. We are like trees. We are all interconnected, except unfortunately in reality we are disconnected from each other. We need to connect with those around us to feel safe, to feel that we belong. 
4. Do something that you enjoy doing ( sip a cup of tea slowly, try to define the degree of warmness while you drink it until you finish it, or do something else that you love).
5. Take a pen and paper and write down how you feel today.
6. Write down where and when you see the beauty around you.
7. Take a nature walk and reflect while you are there.
8. Connect with your loved ones by looking them straight in the eyes (talking to them from the other room is to be avoided).
9. Call a friend whom you wished to call, and you did not because of your busy schedule.
10. Be grateful every day for the basic things that you have. ( a bed where you sleep in, your meals, your water).

Make your list of what can bring value to your human life experience. You know what you truly need.

While the world is still in full-speed mode, allow yourself to be just the way you are. I am sure most of you are tired of the millions of things that you push yourself to do every single day, to keep up. Try to remind yourself that a human Life is not a race course. A human Life is about enjoying the course while you are in it. 

As the year comes to a close and another season is knocking at our doors, we can all agree that it's time to invite introspection and reflection in our lives.

I am sure most of you find time to reflect, especially this time of year. You must be reflecting on what you have accomplished this year and what has gone well for you or hasn't. We all do it, especially when we know that the process of something is running its course and coming to a close. 

Have you ever wondered why we all find time to reflect more than other times when something ends?

Because we always tell us that there is still time to do things. We don't feel pressured in general. Human nature loves comfortable things and easy life experiences. We tell ourselves that whatever comes our way, can be done.  I am sure it can be done,  but have we used introspection while we are in the process? Have we questioned our mental and emotional state? Why are we postponing things that need attending as soon as possible? 

Doing a self-reflective action in our psychology regularly can improve our self-awareness. This can promote mental health and increase happiness.  The act of reflection builds higher levels of self-awareness and resilience and lowers the level of stress.  Introspection is the process that helps us better recognise what we are feeling and thinking. 

Only by self-analyses, will you understand what you feel and why you think in a certain way. With the use of introspection, we can improve our capacity for empathy. The more we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to understand those around us. When we understand ourselves and others through clearer lenses, we wish to use introspection more often. We instinctively know that it has beneficial results.

How do we engage with introspection? By doing different kinds of activities that increase self-awareness. When we journal our thoughts and how we feel, we engage with introspection.

Meditation is another activity that increases the understanding of our inner self. When we find time to reflect on a particular situation and our feelings concerning it our need for more reflection increases. While we always put ourselves into the "Why" questions, we should use the "What" questions instead.

Instead of: "Why is this happening to me?", we should ask ourselves: "What is the thing that bothers me the most concerning this experience? or  "If I had similar experiences before, what should I learn this time around?"

With introspection comes reflection, and with reflection, comes a better understanding of what is important to me, in my journey.

Aristotle said: "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." Once we know ourselves, we can understand the world around us better. Once we understand others better, we feel a certain familiarity. In consequence, we feel safer and more comfortable with asking ourselves the right questions. 

Reflection opens our minds and our inner beings. We all know deep down that what we see is not always what it seems. We know that reflecting upon what we see increases our self-awareness and makes us more prone to exploration. While we explore new experiences, we invite ourselves to "touch" new kinds of life situations.

This is how we challenge ourselves to enter into a new reflective process. Doing it regularly in all of our life experiences we find ourselves in, will make us more selective with the environment in which we invite ourselves to be. 

While many of us are so used to doing things surrounded by others, we should try to spend time alone with ourselves. While we spend time alone, we begin to hear our thoughts. Sometimes, it seems so difficult to spend time alone with no distractions.

Try to challenge yourself in the reflective process and see how long you can spend time with yourself and your thoughts. If it is less than 5 minutes, you must know that it is okay. We live in a world where there are too many distractions. Take a notebook and write down what you feel and what you can do to understand your feelings better. 

The reflective process can be challenging sometimes, but it is a great tool to let yourself know what is truly important to keep or to let go of in your life journey. 

Try to remind yourself that the only person who can do something about the way you live your life now or in the following years is You. How can you do it best? The best way, I say is by using as often as you can introspection and reflection. Remind yourself that all this can be done with the use of your mind and your inner wisdom.

Today's world has changed. Nothing is as it used to be. If you stay still for a short moment and reflect on how this could have happened so fast, you just probably tell yourself that you do not know how and why. The only thing you know with certitude is that the world you knew before does not exist anymore. Everything is happening in full-speed mode, and years seem to fly.   

With this sudden change, you realize that people seem to "disappear" from the natural environment. You feel you are the only person in it. People are nowhere to be found in the natural world nowadays. They have lost touch with the essence of life, and you can't seem to grasp why.

I am sure that even they do not know why they aren't out and about anymore, eager to explore the natural world and the once-upon-a-time world. 

People are too busy exploring their busy schedules, doing more and more of what they are familiar with, their work. They would love to do something else as well, I am sure, but they can't seem to find spare time to be where they would connect with their inner beings. Their experiences in the natural environment have been replaced with other interests. These new interests seem to take place more and more in the calmness of a simple life. 

I am sure that in ten years, things will change drastically. The younger generations are more interested in social media than being in an environment that nurtures their inner beings. The essence of living is slowly replaced with another kind of nourishment. Even the older generations return quickly to their smartphones after they have finished their activity. 

Nevertheless what a joy is to see at least one senior seated on a bench with his book in his hands, reading and enjoying the sunrays on his well-lived visage. 

This generation might be the last to hold on tight to a book and enjoy life as it unfolds. 

When everything seems to be so lifeless nowadays and when the natural environment has been forgotten, there is still, a small percentage of people that would love to be in the middle of it, but they forgot how. 

For those still willing to rediscover more of the natural environment, we have to remind ourselves that there is hope left in the world and that things can shift somehow. People are hungry and thirsty for the simple natural life that was left behind. How can we be more in contact with this nourishing natural environment?

1. Firstly, remind yourself that life could not exist without the natural world.
2. Remind yourself that to thrive in the world, you have to connect with the essence of life, which is the natural world.
3. If you do not find a way to be out in nature, make it a priority. Once you are there, you will begin to connect to the essence of it.
4. Take a notebook with you and write down your thoughts after you take your walk.
5. Try to think of what you are grateful for in your life while you are still present in the natural world. 

After you have done all these for a day, try to repeat this routine for at least 21 days and then make an inventory of your new experience.

Challenge yourself and remind yourself that your mental health is as important as any other area of life, or I should say it must be your priority to live a good life. 
If we let the time pass and won't take matters into our hands, we will be less and less connected with the essence of life. 

As William Wordsworth said: "Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.", we should all probably return to the heart of it, to be able to understand that as long as we are far from it, we can barely see clearer. 

When giving it means offering something to someone. Giving is a state of living. Giving is a special gift that is priceless, timeless and sincere. The art of giving is characterised by the sincere intention of the heart that always wishes to give to others rather than itself. That heart that knows that giving to others with an open heart is nurturing to itself.

The Art of Giving is something we need to access daily, if we wish to live abundant lives. What I am referring to is not the financially abundant lives which, of course, has its importance, but rather that abundance that nurtures our liveliness. Having a fulfilled life is having a life that overflows with inner peace, contentment, health and assurance that today as tomorrow can be full of what we need regardless of what comes our way. 

Giving with an open heart is easier for some than for others. Some people give because they think this is "their duty", others give because this is what they have seen in their families from a very young age, and some give just because they feel that this will fill their hearts with irreplaceable joy.

When you prepare a gift for someone, you don't have to make it extra special. Reflect for a while and think of what would make them truly happy. Imagine how they would feel.

The real meaning of the Art of Giving is somehow forgotten in our days. Giving consists not only of giving something physical, it also means giving something from a sincere heart. It could be a hug, or it could be a helping hand when life gets too busy for our close ones.
The most perfect example is of a new mother who makes everything for her children and her household without waiting for anything in return. She makes everything with joy and inner peace. She knows that by doing what she does, her heart tells her daily that she receives the most precious gift of living. She does not count the hours she spends while preparing food for her family. She is not waiting for a paycheck to do all that needs to be done in her home. She does everything with a sincere heart and with the assurance that her family will be well. 

Or a father who invests time in his relationship with his children. They play together and read together for countless hours. When asked, he answers every question to his little ones. He is giving his time because he knows the most precious gift lies in moments with his loved ones. 

Another beautiful example is a good friend who is always there for you when you need it the most, a friend who listens, and a friend who answers his/her phone even in the middle of the night if you call.

The moment you realize that giving is a gift that is offered not only to others but to yourself as well is the moment you touch the essence of giving. 

Human relationships are the hardest to build and keep. Why? Because each one of us has already designed in our minds what it means to have a good human relationship. Surely, every individual has their definition. What we must all keep in mind is the fact that no human relationship can grow without investing more in "You and I" rather than "I, I, I...."

When we manage to do more of You and I, we can also expect that the art of giving will be appropriated in our lives more easily.

Have you noticed that most people do not "dare" to invest in human relationships? Do you know why? Because they are afraid that if they invest too much, they might get hurt and feel rejected or betrayed and left behind. 

The moment we put our trust in our future relationships and believe they will work, or think that the person deserves to be trusted, our journey will get easier. 

At the same time, you must hold to the thought that you need not expect anything in return. You must expect things to evolve gradually. Rushing things will serve no one. 

The moment you access the art of giving without a "reward", your "real reward" will come toward you tenfold or more. 

As trees connect like pathways underneath the soil, we need to connect to those around us to create a really strong circuit of fulfilment and joy. As the Caring Sun shines its light upon us every single day, without waiting for anything in return, we should also give some of our light to others. We all have it inside of us.

Having this circuit of oxygen and light up and running, we can work on it more and develop other circuits. This way, we will stay interconnected with those around us. Having all these circuits working well in our lives, our wish will continue to build more of them. In other words, we will know that giving more, more pathways will develop.

By practising daily the art of giving, our hearts will be gifted with liveliness and abundance. We will also feel that we are a part of something wonderful, and we will feel safe. This is what we all are looking for. To feel that we can be of use to someone. By being of use to others, we immediately feel that we are a part of something bigger and worth belonging to. 

I once met a young man who told me that the season he can barely go through from the four seasons we have is the season of Autumn. He described Autumn as the "sad season". Although Autumn announces the arrival of winter, the "harsh season", I believe its role is unique and quite special. 

This season, which transitions us into the season of rest and quiescence, provides us with picturesque landscapes and feeds our souls with the most beautiful shades of yellow, gold and rusty reds. If you ever had the opportunity to witness Autumn in a mountainous area, I am sure you know what I am talking about. This season offers us the gift of slowing down and allows us more than any other season the importance of embracing our downfalls. As we all know, our downfalls are inevitably followed by growth.

Not only does this season transmute us into the opposite of what we experience during Summer, but the rain that comes with it might be difficult for some quite difficult to embrace. 

The Wisdom of Autumn tells us more than we notice sometimes.

It tells us that all seasons of our lives are as beautiful and sufficient as they are. We can never find these specific autumnal colours in all the other seasons. These beautiful colours tell us that we matured, and this maturation could not have taken place without the other seasons.

It also tells us subtly that we should embrace the passing of time, just because without time's passing we can't reach the age of full maturity. 

The generous Autumn gives us the possibility to reflect more than any other season of our life journey.

It tells us that we should focus on prioritizing things that have the most value to ourselves. It tells us that even if we age, we are still beautiful inside and outside. It tells us that even if we lose some of our leaves, we need to share what we have learned throughout the years and nurture our close ones. It tells us that the life cycle is natural, and we are where we need to be so that the life cycle continues to exist. It tells us that wisdom is in all of us because, without the previous cycles, we could have not been able to mature and be where we are today. It tells us that even if rain is very present, sunshine is present as well. It tells us to prepare for winter and use the wisdom we gathered throughout our lives. 

When we know that darker hours are ahead of us, we should still keep the good energy that we recharged with during summer just as the trees do, and keep it in motion on the inside until we pass through winter. 

Life is beautiful if we choose to see the beauty around us.

Take the time to be in nature this season as much as possible and take the time to pick at least one fallen leaf and observe it. Take it with you at home and look closely at its details. Imagine its journey and feel its wisdom. Connect with your inner wisdom and try to fully experience your emotions. Take a nature journal and write down your thoughts. 

Reflect upon them throughout this season, and at the end of it, try to make an inventory of your autumn experiences. Your journey along it might be incredible. 

What you will feel will surely be different from what you have experienced years ago. 

Do you know why? Because every Autumn, we are more mature than the previous one, and with every passing Autumn, we feel that everything that didn't make sense before becomes clearer. 

Tune in with this season and observe its words of wisdom. When crispy mornings will arrive, you will feel refreshed. With those being more and more present, you will know that you have learned another thing that you need to know to move to the next season. 

Human beings are complex individuals with needs and wishes that constantly need to evolve. We often feel that we need support to feel accomplished, listened to, cared for, loved and recognised. 

When dealing with life experiences, recognition is one of the most important elements we need to consider.  
To thrive and survive, we need to cultivate recognition, but the recognition I am referring to here is INNER RECOGNITION rather than exterior recognition.

The moment we begin to know ourselves, the process of inner recognition begins along with it, but we need to be aware and ready to act on it. How can we work on this key element?  How can we keep moving with ease in life? 
This matter probably is one of the hardest parts of our journey. 

We always search for credit and words of encouragement from others. We often forget that the same credit and encouragement need to be accessed from within. 

Most of the people around us are focused on their journey. They all have their difficult moments and struggles. When someone is in difficulty, he/she can hardly look around and care for others. They are so focused on getting themselves out of their difficulties that they can hardly offer help and attention to those around them. 

If we wish to evolve, we should not attempt to have expectations from exterior factors or people. Of course, we need to access tools and healthy routines by immersing ourselves in activities that connect to our inner self, like being in nature, journaling and reading books that bring positivity to our lives. 

Life always comes with ups and downs. The important part is how You can focus on healing yourself and your wounds so you can leave behind what keeps you stuck. The healing process needs to be a personal decision. 

Believing that the past has everything to do with your present life is the element that might keep you where you are today. You must know and recognise that the past can never be changed. What you can change instead is living the present with acceptance and embracing the past. Furthermore, keeping the focus on re-modelling your present life with good intentions and a new healthy purpose will help you greatly in the long run. 

When we keep repeating in our minds the hurt and difficulties we have been living, we wish to protect ourselves from entering a similar situation. We wish to avoid reliving the pain. While doing that, we also continue to search for the recognition of those around us. 

If we keep ourselves in the past, we will stay behind. The healing process will inevitably be affected, and your evolution will be on standby. 

Only through pain, can we birth a new life. 

Allow yourself to be human and accept the healing process can take time. The pain always invites itself when we need to become aware of something important. When we are physically hurt and feel the pain in our body, we are "forced" to move through it and restore our health. Something similar happens with our mental pain. We need to take care of it by letting it go and giving it time to process what we experienced. This way, we will understand things in different nuances. 

We are always more appreciative of our lives after we move along through a difficult experience or after losing someone we cared for and loved so much. Only then do we become aware of the precious gift we have, our life journey.  When we live that particular moment, we become aware we don't need the recognition of anyone around us. We only need our own.

Life is always best if we search for inner strength, inner acceptance, self-forgiveness, self-appreciation, and inner recognition. 
When we assume that everything that happens to us is only due to external factors, we need to search for more answers. 
Awareness comes along when inner recognition is embraced. Once we become more aware of its importance, we will surely have a lot to be thankful for. The next chapters of our lives will become brighter, and we will see clearer our life's path. Do not take life too seriously when people don't recognise your value. Take life into your own hands, own to it and try to manage it to the best of your inner recognition. Then, you will discover that you are the author of your life. 

I always say that life is better if we live it with joy, excitement, positiveness, respect and inner peace. When these elements are missing, some things must happen to transform your life. It means that a change needs to happen so the transformation of your life can begin. 

The transition from one state to another must be done gradually, so you can experience the best part of it and integrate what you have learned during your experience.

With Autumn being here, we can look at our beautiful nature and how it changes. This is how the transformation must happen. When we look at the leaves during this beautiful season, we can observe that they gradually change their colour. From green to yellow, to shades of ochre, to dark red and brown, these leaves experience their journey effortlessly. Then, they fall and become one with the earth. They transform life into stillness and rest while feeding the Earth for the following cycles of life. 

How amazing is this transition! How amazing, this one element of nature tells its story of life! Enjoying the ride and falling to become one with the Earth is the most humble story of existence. 

The leaf accepted to fall. Its falling was done graciously, like a last act of a theatre piece. Changing is transformation. Changing is rebirthing a new life. Changing is hope for a new dawn, changing is hope for a new bright life. Changing is hope for a new journey. 
Changing what you once were familiar with is not always easy. Transforming your life as a human being needs courage and inner strength. 

Human beings have the gift of fighting against almost everything. We accept change with difficulty, and we are afraid most of the time of what might happen in our future. We often forget that our future might be brighter than we think it will be. We are driven by our inability to look deeply into our beings and trust our guts. We are afraid of falling. We are afraid of getting our hands with dirt, we are afraid of trying new things. 

Let's learn this season the lesson from the leaf journey. Let's embrace change and transform ourselves. Transition is the life experience that brings us to another place that we need to be. Once you decide, whether personally, professionally or simply changing your life as you know it, everything will fall into place. The pieces of the puzzle will be revealed to you. Then, you can finally say to yourself: "I finally finished the puzzle that I always wanted to finish! It was not an easy task, but I finally did it! " Once you finished your puzzle, look at the whole picture and admire the beautiful scenery in front of your eyes. 

It was done by you, by your efforts, by your actions, by your attitude, by your inner strength and your inner focus. Regardless of the whole effort that you put into it, you decided that the time was right for you to move to build your journey how you think it should be. 

Transformation must be unfamiliar and strange to you, but it is something necessary. Only by doing it, you can become the best version of yourself. 
 
Your singular journey is about yourself and not about those around you. They certainly play their part in your journey, but it always comes to you to make that change and begin your transformation. You are the decision-maker in all the affairs of your life. You are responsible for everything that involves you. If you are not ready, take your time. Only when the time is right, you will completely understand the importance of transformation.

When you feel like transformation is impossible, imagine yourself reaching the point when you want to transform your life effortlessly, just like a leaf during Autumn. Change and transformation can only happen when you are ready. As an artist is ready to replace his/her canvas to start a new painting, you are the artist who can be ready to paint a new canvas for your life. 

With the coming arrival of Autumn, nature has a magnificent way to tell us that we should slow down. Except that not all of us know how to do it. We are running around most of the time. By the time we reach midday, we are exhausted. Why are we doing this? Was the human being created to achieve more and do everything at a high speed? 

I think not, but I presume we can achieve whatever we set our minds on, even when we decide that the time has come to slow down. That will only happen if we listen carefully to our inner clock, just as nature does.

Were you ever tempted to do things the old way, like people who lived a century ago? Were you ever tempted to be awakened by natural daylight and not by a clock, or have you ever replaced your phone alarm with an old-fashioned clock? Or have dinner with only candles and no electrical light at all?
If you never tried it, you must do it at least once. This new experience might eventually embark you on a journey that you never wish to end, or maybe not. It all depends on how you prefer to live your life now.

Slowing down takes courage. It takes away all that you are familiar with and gives another sense to your life. If you are willing to do so, you will see how it feels to live by the natural rhythm of things and not by the rushing energy that surrounds us all the time.

Autumn is the season that whispers to your years: "It is time to slow down, even if you don't wish to. It is time to reap what you have sown and prepare for winter."

The days are shorter, and the night becomes longer, so you can at least slow down in the evenings. It is time to get cosy on your comfortable sofa, slowly drink a cup of warm tea, and read a great book.

How can we slow down when the electric light is at our disposal and allows us to work late? How can we manage to say no to everything that has been left undone for the day?

That decision belongs only to you. The art of slowing down takes practice. You need to take one thing at a time and repeat it until becomes a part of you. Allow yourself time to learn and mark every night in your journal if you practised that one thing that made you slow down.

One great way to practice this art is to remove items from your usual routine, like checking your e-mails before breakfast or checking messages from your mobile phone. Replace these items with a book or with writing down your thoughts that come to mind when you wake up. While you have your breakfast, continue focusing on your environment and don't get distracted by your devices. Try to put them away in a drawer. Once you don't see them, you will be less tempted.

We were taught to believe that we need them, but in reality, we don't need them as much as we think we do. I am not telling you to renounce your daily routine and stop using your items. I am just inviting you to become aware of how much time they take away from you. That precious time that cannot ever return to you.

If we hurry to do things fast, we can't focus well on doing them properly. Another wonderful way to slow down is going out in nature to observe the transition from one season to another. This season, we can observe closely the changing of the colours of the leaves from the trees. We can also take evening walks and observe the changing location of the sun when it sets. Activate your senses and smell the air changing. It feels crispier as time passes. Try to notice the sensations you feel in your body while you walk in nature, and try to compare them to how you felt those sensations a month, or two months ago.

Try to talk with your friends about slowing down, and if they try it, how this affects their daily routine.

The Art of Slowing down is not for everyone. If you need to access it more, listen to what your inner wisdom tells you to do, and when you forget how you should do it, invite yourself to nature and observe it.

Whether is spring, a bud never speeds up its process to bloom earlier, whether is summer, a leaf never changes its green colour if the time has not come yet, whether is autumn, the leaves never fall from the tree except for when their time has come, whether is winter the trees will stay bare as long as they need.

Every season has its special way of telling us: "Do not rush! Everything needs to happen when the time is right."

Slowing down benefits us in numerous ways. The stress fades slowly, we become more focused, we are happier, and we spread this happiness all around us. The anxiety starts to gradually disappear. We are starting to feel that we are living the good life.

I heard a beautiful phrase once that I will never forget: "Everything on my way has its perfect timing, and I will never be late." I would like to add more to that phrase: "What I need to experience on my journey is neither early nor late. All comes to me when the time is right. Although things come to me when the time is right I need to listen to my innate wisdom and do my part."

Slowing down makes us aware of what we have and never what is lacking.

Make sure to check your schedule every day and see if everything you need to accomplish during that day, can be done with the reassurance of slowing down.

What are emotions?

Emotions are reactions that human beings experience in response to events or situations. Emotions (such as joy or sadness) are conscious mental reactions subjectively experienced as a strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioural changes in the body. 

The mental reaction we are experiencing might be to our advantage or disadvantage. It all depends on how we look at the emotion. Regardless of the emotion you are experiencing ( joy, excitement, worry, doubt, etc.), try to remember that the way you pass through it might be the key to experiencing a balanced life.
 
Knowing how to manage our emotions in our everyday lives can be a great way of discovering ourselves through the lenses of consciousness. 

1. Emotions help you discover things about yourself.
2. Emotions help you understand your life journey better.
3. Emotions help you grow.
4. Emotions help you move forward.
5. Understanding emotions and managing them well helps you live a good life.

That is why it is always best to hold the thought that emotions come and go. If they are recognized, understood and accepted, the transition to another experience can be smoother. Every time you manage it properly, you'll become more resilient.

When you were born your parents welcomed you and tried their best to help you navigate through all your experiences while growing up. Even though your parents wished to help you manage your emotions, sometimes they felt overwhelmed and found themselves in a difficult situation. 

Living through your emotions helped you grow and understand better the world around you. You felt sadness, joy, hurt, excitement and all those different kinds of emotions. Although you feel similar emotions to those experienced when you were little, you experience them differently as an adult. Why is that? Because your brain matures and your prefrontal cortex is developed.

When the emotion is experienced fully, and we come out of it, we notice that it is a state that makes us act in a manner that we can't accept when the emotion consumes us. When the emotions run their course, we say to ourselves: "Why did I act the way I did? Why couldn't I hold myself? I acted like a child rather than an adult." 

When this happens, we can say to ourselves: "It is okay to feel what I feel and accept all my emotions. They belong to me, and I must learn how to handle them well, but they do not define me. This way, I will move forward easier next time when they happen."

Once we "grow" and manage to contain our emotions, we still have to acknowledge them and recognize them as valid. The person responsible for "acting the way we do" is our inner child. When we experience a difficult situation, we must become aware that our inner child is present, and should be listened to.

We are sometimes very hard on ourselves, and we judge ourselves quite harshly, especially when emotions arise. We must learn to make the distinction between our emotions and us as a being. The emotion defines probably the experience itself but not us as a whole. 

Let's take an example, playing tennis.  If the player identifies with the emotion that crosses the body at that moment he/she can have difficulty while in the emotion, and can't focus on how to play the best game. If the player can manage his/her emotion, live through it, and say to himself/herself: "I can manage this fear of losing the game, or I can manage the anxiousness. I will give my best in the game and live it to its core." In that case, we might have a winner. If not, the player might be in a difficult situation. 

The same happens when we try to find a job and are worried about how the job interview might play out. If the interviewer sees this in the potential employee, he/she might say: "I don't think this person is fit for this job." The interviewer can conclude: "I see this person as being uncertain, or anxious.", except that he/she evaluated the emotion and not the person. 

Our emotions help us reach heights and lows that we cannot reach otherwise. I think without them, we cannot evolve. We cannot feel what means to be human. Emotions are part of human history. This is the beauty of being human. Our life experiences teach us that even if we feel all these types of emotions, we can manage them and work along them. 

Of course, we cannot do it overnight. We must work on ourselves daily and tell ourselves: "It is okay. This emotion shall pass. The important part is how I can work through it and learn from it." 

One great way to manage your emotions is by writing about them. This method or lifestyle I should say, will allow you to see the situation in which you found yourself clearly and understand it better. Once you understand it better, you will be more confident about yourself when similar experiences come into your life. 

Another great way to manage your emotions is to try to be aware of it when it happens and breathe. Once you breathe, you will be more focused on all the sensations in your body. This exercise will allow you, to be more aware of yourself, and you will recognize better what is happening to you. Once you become aware, your state might change quite rapidly. 

While you do your exercises managing your emotions and don't work well all of the time, tell yourself that you are doing your best, and remember: Your emotions from today might change tomorrow, and that is fine! The way you manage them is the road to equilibrium. All experiences come with emotions, all emotions are human. Remember that being human is wonderful! 

Every person on this planet came into this world with a "mission". A mission that we search for most of our lives.

From the moment we take our first breath until we arrive in adulthood, we try to find our mission. What we often forget is our uniqueness. From a very young age, we observe the language and the actions of all the other people around us, and we absorb everything around us like a sponge. We sometimes identify with their actions and the traits of their character. Sadly over time, we focus less and less on ourselves. We tend to believe that we need to follow a specific path which might be the opposite of what we wish for in life.

We choose to follow that path because we let ourselves be influenced by our environment and the people around us. We often do it without even realizing it.

How do we know that following the path that we chose is the right one for us? Why do we tend to look around and never look inside? Why are we not listening to that inner voice that is supposed to guide us and tell us what to do?

The imprint of our childhood history tells quite a lot about ourselves but rarely defines our uniqueness. When you are convinced that everything you know about yourself is from those around you, and you believe it to be true, it means that you still need to search for your real identity.

From a very young age, we are told that we are the same as one of our parents, or we are the same as one of our brothers or sister. Unfortunately, we accept it as being true. Then, we have a reference. We are telling ourselves: "This is how I should do it, or this is how I should say it because this is how my mother does it, or my brother does it. We are kind of similar."

What you often forget is that you have a unique personality and that from those 8 billion people living on this planet, NO ONE is identical to you.

No other person on this planet thinks the way you think, even if you find some similarities with your close ones. No other person is doing things the same way you do.

Even when an artist creates art, if someone tries to reproduce it, it will never look identical, just because his/her imprint is unique. If someone photocopies something of someone, it will immediately be seen as a reproduction, and it certainly will not be seen as belonging to the initial creator. Each individual is unique and should learn how to value himself/herself.

How can he/she do that? This is the most challenging part because first of all, we have to unlearn what we learned about ourselves throughout our lives and start to look at our Unique Being. Even our digital prints are unique, and we often forget about that.

1. The first thing that you need to do is stop devaluing yourself and start looking at yourself with kindness and compassion. Just because you meet people in your life that might devaluate you even with the slightest remarque does not mean that you should continue doing it to yourself unconsciously.

2. When something does not happen the way you wish to, try to understand and accept the situation you find yourself in. It needs to happen this way because this is how you need to grow. Try to accept that growing takes time. It is okay if you need to take your time without thinking about what others might think about you doing things following your pace.

3. Try not to be judgmental about yourself and love your experiences rather than rejecting them. If you think they are not positive or do not help you move forward, try to question them and ask yourself why they came into your life.

4. Stay confident that if things are not positive at this moment in time, everything can change instantly.

5. Look in the mirror every morning and observe every feature of your face. Tell yourself how beautiful and unique you are.

6. Never let other people tell you who you are. You know your worth and how much you have worked on yourself to be who you are and where you are today.

7. Select throughout your life those types of relationships that accept your uniqueness, and love you for who you are.

8. Spend time focusing on how many unique things you have done so far.

9. Reassure yourself that your life story is the right one for your uniqueness.

10. LOVE the way you are and ACCEPT yourself and your history.

You came here for one reason only. Regardless of the mission you need to follow on your life path, know that you matter and are valuable to yourself and those who SEE you for who you are.

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson says: “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your gift you can offer with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation, but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.”

I say that you need to be YOU because you know deep down in your heart who You are. You are UNIQUE. You are Valued. You matter.