It's a wonderful life!

Almost three months ago I started a new job, and I love it. Not just the job itself, but my collegues and the company are all fantastic. I am well paid and I am now going through the process of spending money on material things I wanted for a while, but don't really need. And I'm loving it. I can already feel that the urge to spend in decreasing. Another month or two and I will be content enough and I will start saving.

I have got a few trips to look forward to next year. First up will be a short trip to Sweden in January with my son, after that a trip to Italy with my Sweetie, and hopefully there will be another trip to Sweden during the summer. Hopefully for a family reunion, but it all depends on wether my cousins that are shattered all over the world can all join at the same time. Time will tell!

I have noticed a drop in my creativity during the summer, probably due to the heat, but I am now feeling an increase again. Hoooray!! I think a part of the drop had to do with my laptop becoming extremely hot adding to the already existing heat. But, it has now cooled down a bit, even though it is still very warm and nice outside, and also I bought myself a tablet whkch makes it a lot easier to write and post new posts frequently. Even though the writing itself it a bit more time consuming the total amount of time is less.

The pic is of the home made pizza I made for the monthly Girly Night this past Saturday. It's a low-carb pizza, with the base made of almond flour and grated cheese, and it is abdolutely delicious!

Love//
Carina

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude" - Maya Angelou

I mentioned the other day that I was hoping to share some good news with you this week. And indeed I do have good news, although not the exact good news I was planning on sharing with you. Anyway, good news are good news.

I have done a lot of work on my attitude for this good news to come my way. A few months ago I would have had split feelings about it, but now I absolutely love it. So, what is it?? I just landed a new job. It is an ordinary job, working at a customer service. But it is a good job, a good company that has a lot of focus on both costumer care and staff care. Exactly how I like it! And I start on Monday already.

So what did I have to work on to get this job? Well, I had a lot of negative feelings about phone work, due to a previous job I've had. But I have felt more and more for some time that it is time for me to move on, from my current job. However, I do not believe in leaving things to move from them, I believe in moving towards something new and better. I still love my current job, and my bosses are some of the best people in the world, and I have had such a great time working with and for them. So how do I move forward to something better than that. All I knew was that I felt stuck, and even though I love my job there is nowhere to go within it. That was a fact that I couldn't change. But leaving there was a thought that scared me, so I had to change my attitude about it.

I sat down and gave it a thorough thought what I wanted that I do not have at my current job. And I thought about what I like with my current job and would love to improve even more with my next job. And I realised that I wanted to send my CV in to this company.

However, like I said I had a lot of negative thoughts and feelings about that kind of job. So I started out by comparing this new job, with the job that gave me all those thoughts and feelings, to see what actually is the same. And not many things are, as it turns out.

So, I used some EFT on the areas that I needed to change my attitude in. Like, working full time. Or, doing daytime job monday to friday. And that a job sitting down will make me fat. After using EFT on these areas, I started to look at things differently. And I realised that I am actually quite bored NOT working full time, and if I work monday to friday I will have the whole weekends off with my Sweetie, instead of only Sundays as it has been for almost all of our relationship. And I realised that it is not the sitting down that makes me "fat", because I spend a lot of my days off (I've hade 4 days off every week for the past two and half years) sitting down and I am slimmer on those days than I am on the days I work (when I stand up the whole day).

So, having started to realise those things I sent my CV in. They weren't currently looking for staff, but the hire every now and then. And on Monday this week I got a call asking if I was interested in coming in for an interview on the Tuesday. And after that interview it took only half an hour until they called and offered me the job.

I will be working Monday to Friday! Welcome free weekends!! I will more than double my wages! Welcome savings account, and spending time! Welcome shopping! I will not even have to work the same hours every single day, but will work in a weekly three shift (early, middle, late one week at a time). I have always wanted to work that way because I get bored when it is the same routine day after day. And I will have to either walk or ride my bike two out of three weeks, since it will be either too early or too late for the bus. This means I get my daily exercise built in in my daily routine.

So, to sum this up! I didn't like my situation, so I change it. But, at first I didn't like my options, but I couldn't change them, so I change my attitude about them. And because I did, I am now heading to a new bright future that will change parts of my life, in a oh so good way. Hello manicures and nice, colour full clothes. Goodbye dish water and black clothes. It will be a change in the quality of my life, not just in what I can get for money but in time with my Sweetie, my social life, daily exercise and so much more. The only thing I will get less of is free time, but I will still have plenty of that.

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude" - Maya Angelou

Love
Carina

What do I do to feel good today?

What can I do to feel good today? What can I do to love myself today? How do I best take care of myself today?

Do you ever ask yourself any of these questions? I just realized the other day that I actually ask myself one of them every day, without even realizing it. I think it's pretty cool that I do. Not too long ago I would never ask myself that, and now I find myself automatically asking myself that question in all different sort of situations.

Are you taking good care of yourself today, and every day?

On my days off, I always ask myself "how can I best take care of myself today?". Some days it is by doing nothing special at all, other days it is to write, some days it is to clean the house and other days it is to spend time out in the sun.

When I finish work I tend to ask myself what would make me feel best; to walk home or to go for a coffee, read and take the bus home. When I come home, if I have taken the bus, I ask myself what would be best for me to do. To rest after having been on my feet for 6-7 hours at work without a break, or to do some sort of exercise. Surprisingly often that answer will be to do some exercise.

When I am asked to do something, no matter what it is, I ask myself "would it be best to do it, or would it be best not to do it?".

But it is about more than using these questions in situations like I described. It is about implementing things and routines into your daily life that make you feel better.

I made a new years resolution, the first one I've had in a lot of years. The resolution was to only do things that makes me feel better, that makes my life better. I started by using some EFT on the subject, and from that came the idea to start taking nice baths a couple of times a week. So I put some candles in my bathroom and I used some shampoo for bubbles and put some olive oil in the tub and then I soaked for as long I felt like it. Now, I have never really been a huge fan of bubble baths before, but I have always envied those who could really enjoy it so I knew I had it in me to enjoy it. And now I love it!

I also started to meditate, I found some nice ones to follow, and I started to combine my baths with meditation. It is absolutely lovely and a fantastic and cheap way to take good care of yourself. It will most certainly help you feel a lot better, and will make you relaxed. You can find some nice mediations for free, as well as a lot of useful information about meditating, here.

Next step for me was to start exercising, and as soon as I had decided to it I found a Zumba class that turned out to be both cheap, and on perfect times of the week for me.

A couple of months in to the Zumba classes I woke up one morning with the idea to give myself a 10-week challenge. I felt that I needed to implement exercise into my daily life, make my body crave it and make my head realise how good it made me feel, because I knew that if I didn't I would most likely stop exercising when the classes ended in early June. I made a chart where I every Monday morning wrote what possible types of exercise I had do choose from, inside or out doors, every single day, and  a check box to check it off once I'd done it. Do boost my motivation even further I weighed and measured myself on that very first morning, which happened to be a Monday, and I continued doing it every Monday morning for the next ten days. The results were great. I lost 5-6 pounds and 10 cm around my waist.

After the Zumba ended I took a break for a couple of weeks, but I am now back into exercising again. This is one of the things I do to make myself feel good.

It is so important in this stressful world that we live in, to take the time to do things that makes us feel good from the inside. Exercise will make you feel good on the inside if you do it for the right reasons. For me I stop exercising as soon as I feel like I have to, or need to, or if I do it to lose weight. For it is important to exercise because it makes me feel great on the inside, as is the case with bubble baths, or meditation. It is all about feeling good on the inside. That is where it all starts, and then it works it's way out!

"The real question is not whether life exists after death. The real question is whether you are alive before death." - Osho

And this is what I ask myself; Am I alive today? Am I enjoying this day in my life? What do I do to feel good today? Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions? Maybe you should?

Love
Carina

"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet"

Well, this post isn't really about your mind, more about your energys and mostly about other people's energy's effecting you, but I still think this quote by Mahatma Gandhi kind of says it all.

"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet"

I am an empath. I just learnt that, although I have heard it before, and have worked on some of the issues I've had because if it before. I just never really put them all together, but now I have. And you are probably wondering what an empath is, so let me explain it to you; an empath is someone who is overly empathic and overly sensitive to other people's energys (feelings, pain, health, thoughts, mood and so on). An empath often knows how someone else is feeling even when they are not showing it, or even if they try to lie about it. An empath might often find him- or herself pulled into strong emotions when watching the news, or films.

I remember when the Tsunami happened over in Asia some years ago, I was completely hooked. I was up all nights watching the news and I bought every newspaper I could find about it. I sucked in all the feelings, both the tragic feelings of fear, loss and death, and the positive feelings of joy, love and life. And afterwards I felt empty inside. Empty because those feelings were no longer there. This is a typical empath occurrence.

Empaths can also:

• Feel overwhelmed in crowds, and drained on energy after having been in a crowd.
• After having been amongst others an empath is often fatigue. This is true for having been to the grocery store, on the bus or a café, or maybe at work.
• Have I high need for solitude, often close to nature of some sort (beach, water, sky, woods and so on).
• Have a high need for the truth, because lies literally hurts them since they often just know when someone is lying to them. And being lied to hurts, as we all know.
• Dislike rules, routines and control, but will feel a lot less weighed down in organised and clutter free areas.
• Have a problem with fat around their stomachs, even though they are not overeating and are eating healthily. This is a way for our bodies to protect us from threats (and other people's illnesses, stress and negativity are interpreted as a threat)
• Appear to be disconnected or moody, and does not like to put on a happy face for others if they have taken on too much of other people's negative energy.
• Be free spirits, in to all things holistic and metaphysical, and are often daydreamers.
• Have an addiction, it helps them block out the energies from the outside.
• Be very creative people, and are often in to writing, music, painting and other creative stuff.
• Be great listeners, and are often the person people turns to when they need to talk.

I am most of these things. There are tests you can do, questions to answer, to find out if you are an empath or not. I found this one to be a good one for me. I did it twice, the first time I answered the questions from the view of before I hit the wall and crashed (emotional breakdown) in 2005, and the second time I answered the questions from the view of where I am today. Maximum score is 80. I scored 78 the first time, and 63 the second time. Both well within the limit of being an empath. 

So, how did I manage to get from 78 to 63? What have I changed in my life? What can you do to keep all that energy out? 

Answers do these questions, and more will come in later posts. This is something that explains so much about why things are the way they are sometimes in my life. Like why I was always slim while working in bars, but have excess fat around my stomach working where I do now. Or why I feel so bad on the bus if I don't have someone to talk to or music in my ears. Or why I feel so much better living here i Spain than I ever did in Sweden.

Do you have questions? Are you an empath, or think you know someone who is? Let me know what you think about this post.

Love

Carina

10 Reasons Why You Would Want To Be You. “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” – Dr Seuss

Society, parents, schools, friends and sometimes even you yourself try to fit you into a mold, form or shape of their idea of what a good human being is. This will make most people confused and might be the biggest reason for people being unhappy today. There are, however, plenty of good reasons for you to find yourself and to stay yourself throghout the rest of your life.

 Dare You To Move - Switchfoot

Here are 10 reasons why you would want to be you:

1. If you are your true self, nobody will be able to think of you as, or call you, a fake and be right about it. There will always be someone out there that doesn't like you, that calls you names or tells untrue stories about you, but as long as you are yourself they will never be right. You will always be the winner in those situations.

2. It is so much easier to remember your opinions and standpoints in different situations if they are your own. Lying is not being honest and not being yourself. If you tell a lie you will to remember what you said. If you are you you are truthful and it doesn't matter if you remember it or not, because it was the truth and you know it.

3. You can never ever be someone else better than they are themselves anyway so why put your energy on it. Not being able to be the best of who you are is painful, and if you are somebody else you will never be the best. It will always be painful in the end. At least if you are yourself you have a chance of being the best of who you are.

4. Nobody else can be you better than you can, so why not be you. Just as you can never be somebody else better than they are themselves, someone else can never be you better than you are. This means that if you are somebody else, you as you are meant to be, will never be.

5. You can never live your dream life if you are not you. You have a dream life somewhere waiting for you, but you will never live it unless you start being you. No matter what your dream life is. If you are not you, you will not live your dream life. You might live someone else's, but your life will never be lived.

6. When you achieve something, reach a goal it is so much nicer to do it as yourself than as somebody else. If you achieve something when you are not you it is not you achieving it. When you reach a goal when you are not you it is not you reaching the goal. The reaching and achieving might be nice, but it will never as great as it is when you achieving something or reach your goals as yourself.

7. It is impossible to know what your dreams and goals are if you are not you. What are your dreams specifically? Are they truly your dreams and goals or are they a product of everybody, or at least somebody, else's dreams and goals? You will never know what your real dreams and goals are in life if you are not you living your life. Why would you want to achieve a goal that isn't yours?

8. Being somebody else in your body will eventually be a complete mismatch and your body will start to revolt. Your body is your temple. You can not change your body and your looks into someone else's, unless you have a lot of plastic surgery done, If you are someone else, your body will still be yours and some time down the road your body will start to disagree with the fact that you are not being you living your life fulfiling your dreams. How your body will show you that will differ from person to person, but if you listen to it it will tell you. You are not supposed to be in pain, if you are something is wrong with the inner being inside you.

9. You only have one life, that you know of, and why would you want to live that life as someone you are not. Even if you believe in reinkarnation it is highly unlikely that you will remember it from life to life. You need to do with this life the best that you can, and you need to do it as yourself. Why would you want to waste your one life on being something or someone your not, living up to other peoples expectations and fulfilling other people's dreams when you can live up to your own expectations and fulfill your own dreams.

10. You will never ever be truly and deeply happy as someone you are not. Everybody wants to be happy, it is the essence of life itself, but how can you ever be truly happy if you are not you? If you live your life listening to everybody but yourself you might end up having a somewhat good and comfortable life, but on the day you die what you will regret mostly will be all the times you didn't follow your own wishes, feelings and dreams. Follow your own heart is being yourself, Being yourself is being happy.

Do you agree with me? Or do you disagree? What are your thoughts and feelings about this subject? Are you being you, living your dream life, fulfilling your own dreams? Have you got any other reason that I didn't list here? Please, leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

To read more about Dr Seuss follow this and this. 
Lyrics to "Dare You To Move"- by Switchfoot

Love
Carina 

10 Things You Should Do Every Day ("If you want to be happy, be." - Leo Tolstoy)

Most of us wake up in the morning, follow the same little routine without thinking about what we are doing, we go to work and then home, we cook because we have to, we eat because we need to and eventually we go to bed without having done, thought or felt anything special. The next day is the same, the next week is the same, the next month is the same, even the next year is the same. And so life goes on without leaving any marks on you, and you go on without leaving any marks on life.

If you want to be happy you have to think happy! Today!

Here is a list of 10 things you can, and should do every day to change your feelings about your life without changing your life (much):

Be happy and grateful for all the good things you've got in your life. We all have a lot of things to be happy and grateful for. That we are alive, that we have a bed to sleep in, our partner, kids, family, friends and pets, that we have food on our table every day, that we can read and hear, that we have a house to live in, that we have a table in our house, that we woke up in the morning, that we have a heart to love with.. Nothing is too big or too small to recognise and be grateful for. 

Plan your day, fill it with happy thoughts and happy feelings. When you go to sleep at night make sure you plan the next day, not so much in actions as in feelings. Tell yourself that tomorrow will be a good day no matter what comes your way. Nothing will disturb your peace of mind. You will smile and be grateful and happy for everything all day long. When you wake up in the morning remember those thoughts and the feeling you had when you thought them. 

Smile and laugh as much as you possibly can. Even if there is nothing obvious to smile or laugh about do it anyway. Sing a happy little song, take some silly dance steps, think of something funny, try to make up a joke to tell your friends at work. Think of all the things you are grateful and happy for. Remember the first love you felt for your partner, or child. Find something to think about that will make you smile everytime you think about it, or do something that will make you smile everytime you do it, if you find yourself being a bit down.

Tell someone you love them. When you tell someone you love them it will make you feel good. It's as simple as that.

Make someone feel good about themselves. Say something nice to someone who's not expecting it. Tell a stranger they look very nice, Smile at someone you meet on the street. Tell your boss you enjoy working with him or her. Tell a friend about a good quality you think they have. Tell your partner or your child that you are proud of them. It will make their day, lift them up and that will make your day and lift you up.

Enjoy everything you eat and drink. Food and beverages are so much more than just something we need. It is tasty, and nice, and it helps your body and you to feel good. Make sure to learn what foods and drinks you feel good eating and drinking. Everybody is different and feel good from eating and drinking different things. Avoid what makes you feel physically and mentally bad, stay with the good stuff. And enjoy!

Do something creative; write,draw, cook or move your furniture around. What makes you drift away for a while, what connects you to your inner self? Most people have some kind of a creative pet peeve within them. Whether it is writing, drawing, painting, jig saw puzzling, cooking, working out doesn't matter, just do it! Half an hour every day is enough to calm yourself down and get in touch with yourself.

Relax and enjoy it. This is very important! Most people do not realise how important relaxing is for you. When you relax you load your batteries, not only the bodily batteries but also your brain and emotions. Take your time to just sit there without doing anything whatsoever for at least 10 minutes a day, and learn how to enjoy it. Again, you can think of all the good things in your life, or the feeling of being completely relaxed.

Love yourself. The root to everything is to love yourself. Find the good things about you, do you like your eyes think of them. Do you like how you always try to improve as a human being, focus on that. Do you like your hair today, love it. Are you a caring person, embrace and notice that. Make a mental list of all the things you like about you, and remember to remember them every day.

Do at least one thing that will bring you closer to a dream. Every person alive has dreams, things they would love to do, have or be. Find out what your dreams are (and yes it is probably that thing you are telling yourself that it's not because you can't fulfill it anyway) and do at least one thing every day to bring you closer to that dream. Do you want to be fit, find out what foods are good for you and what kind of work out you enjoy and then eat that food (while enjoying it) and do that work out. Is your dream to travel, start making plans, saving money, looking at flights and hotells. Is it to write a book, start writing, anything. Whatever your dream is you can achieve it, but you have to take steps in that direction. It will not happen all on it's own. First thing is to allow yourself to recognise your dreams.

If you do these things every day I promise you it will make you feel better, you will start to enjoy your life more and your dreams will begin to come true! Enjoy and good luck!

Read about Leo Tolstoy! 

Love
Carina

"Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious." - Bill Meyer

If I ask myself a positive question my brain will automatically look for a positive answer.

All through every day of our lives we have thoughts. A lot of them we are not aware of and those thoughts are a lot more important to who you are and what your life is like than you would expect.

More than often these thoughts tend to be negative, telling us that we are not good enough to make it as a writer, or we are too fucked up to find a man that will love us. Those thoughts aren't very pleasant and friendly and you would probably never say any of those things to anybody else.

The traditional way of trying to change your way of thinking is to do affirmations, to try to convince yourself that “I can and will make it as a writer” or “I will find a man that loves me for who I am”. An affirmation is supposed to be repeated over and over again until you believe it to be true. The problem is that most people have a little voice in their heads telling them that “No you won’t”, or “No you’re not”.

In 1997 the writer Noah St John realised that affirmations didn't work for him, because that little voice in his head kept telling him it wasn't true, arguing whith whatever it was he was saying to himself. He was thinking about how the mind works, that if you ask a question it immediately tries to find the answer to that question. No matter what the question is. He realised that if you ask yourself a negative question, like most of us do all days long, your brain will come up with negative answers. Likewise, if you ask yourself a positive question, like most people don't do, your brain will come up with positive answers. Afformations were born then and there.

An afformation is a question you ask yourself to make you feel better about yourself! Instead of trying to convince yourself with affirmation you use what you already know within you. Instead of repeating “I can and will make it as a writer” you ask yourself “why am I making it as a writer?” and your brain will start to look for the answers and the reasons to why you are making it as a writer. If you ask yourself “why do I find a man that loves me for who I am” your brain is searching for the answers. Now, the answers in themselves are not the important aspect here but the positive state of our minds is, because your brain is only looking for positive answers and automatically you start to think positive thoughts about yourself.

When I have a day when I think I look like crap I ask myself “why am I so satisfied and pleased with the way I look?” and right away I see myself in a different light. Instead of noticing the fat on my stomach I see my dark blue eyes, instead of seeing how pale I look I realise that I am having a pretty good hair day today.

I sometimes fall into insecurity about myself and start to ask myself negative questions like; “how can he love me?” and when I do I turn it around with asking myself “why am I so loveable?” and instead of being served a bunch of “he doesn’t really love you” I answer myself with “because I am so caring”, “because I am worth it” and other positive statements like that.

This technique has made a great difference for me and in my life. Instead of beating myself up all the time I am now lifting myself up. I would never let anybody else talk to me the way I used to talk to myself, so why should I let myself do it? With this technique I can choose not to, only by asking the right questions?

What are you telling yourself? Are being good to yourself or evil? Would you let anybody else talk to you the way you yourself do?

Sit down and right a bunch of questions that can only be answer by positivity.
Why am I so rich? (The answer might not be about being rich in money, but you will definitely get plenty of answers to why you are rich.)
Why am I loosing weight so easily? Why am I a money magnet? Why does everybody look up to me? Why am I successful? Is time to your attitude towards yourself and your life?

It is not about finding the right answers, it is all about finding the right questions!

Love

Carina

"Our only security is our ability to change." - John C. Lilly

It's a fact that changes are a part of life. Find harmony in that fact and life will be easier.

I love changes! I think changes are what make my world go round. It's true that sometimes, at first glance, a change might not always feel like a good thing but in most cases there is usually something good coming out of it. This is another one of my attitudes towards life.

Without changes life, or I, have no chance of moving forward. And if I don't change I will have no chance of keeping up with the world that goes on around me.

When something we can't control changes, we need to be able to adjust. If the company we work for goes bankrupt we need to be able to alter to that situation and find a solution that suits us. When you are unhappy about something in your life you need to change that something into something you like and enjoy instead, or you will continue being unhappy for the rest of your life.

Some changes are worth fighting for, and if a change is really for the worse you should do your best to change it to the better again. But you should learn how to pick your battles. An example that is close to hand for a lot of people are the changes that facebook does every once in a while. There has not been a change that people haven't complained about. Now, it might not always be for the better, but is it really worth getting upset about? Just go with the flow of it and see where it leads, there might be an idea behind the changes that isn't showing at first sight. And if not, it's not going to ruin your life.

Changes worth fighting for are the ones that are close to your heart, like relationships and dream jobs. If your relationship is starting to change to the worse, than you need to fight for it to change direction again. This will, however, usually lead to another change but this time to the better. This is where my philosophy comes into action; all changes will in the end lead to something good. You just need to have the right attitude and fight the bad ones, in the right way and to embrace the good ones, in the right way. And always, always do the best you can of the situation, no matter what the situation is.

I love changes! Changes are what make the world go round! If I hadn't changed I would still be a new born baby. Think about that!

The reality is that changes are a part of life, and that is a fact. If you embrace that fact and find harmony in it, life will be a lot easier.

To find out more about John Lilly, look here.

Love
Carina

"When you don’t know what to do, get still. The answer will come." – Oprah Winfrey

I don't live to work, I work to have a good life.

Do you ever do nothing? Or are you the kind of person that has to have something to do all the time? Do you not do enough?

I believe that the right combination of keeping busy and being still is necessary to be able to enjoy all parts of life. If all you do is work hard, spend time exercising, doing your hobbies, cleaning the house, feeding the family, driving the kids you have no time to really enjoy any of it. If you on the other hand don't do anything at all, just lay around the house all day, every day then you don't appreciate that either. I think that you need both to enjoy any of it, to enjoy life.

Life is supposed to be enjoyed, and all the different parts of life are supposed to be enjoyed too. You have to appreciate the details to appreciate the completeness of it. And you have to appreciate the completeness of it to appreciate the details of it. It's all about abundance, everything goes hand in hand.

To appreciate being busy you have to have moments, times when you are doing absolutely nothing. When you can sit back and just dream. You need time to sit back and long to do something, time for yourself, time to drift away in fantasies, a book, a film or inside yourself. Time to listen to music or to your own heart beat or breaths. Time to relax and just be lazy. Being lazy is good sometimes!

On the other end of the scale is being very busy, and that is just as important. If you are never really busy you will have a hard time appreciate being in stillness. You need days, maybe weeks or sometimes a couple of months of being busy to really enjoy being still and do absolutely nothing at all. You can work hard 6 days a week, as long as you don't do anything, don't have a lot of have-to's on the 7th.

You need to keep busy to learn, but you need the stillness to grow. To be able to make use of what you learn. You need to love every moment of being busy, because you know that you would want so badly to be busy if you didn't have anything to do at all. You also need to love every moment of doing nothing because you know you would give everything for a few hours of peace and quite if you had too much to do.

How much of everything someone needs is all individual, everybody is different. But a person can not grow as a human being without both being busy and being still. Make sure you have both parts in your life, it will make your life richer and it will make you a stronger and happier person.

I ususally say; "I don't live to work, I work to have a good life and if I don't enjoy my work I won't enjoy my life" Make sure you enjoy every single part of your life!

To read more Oprah quotes I’ve written about just look here, to learn more about Oprah read here or here.

Love
Carina

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." – George Bernard Shaw

Your life is your creation.

There are so many ways to look upon life, and every person has their own view or views. I have more than one view and this quote states one of them. Those of you that have been following Quality Inside And Out knows that I am all about personal responsibility of your own life. It is all up to you how your life was, is or will be. You create it and you create yourself. There is no blame, only lack of knowledge.

So, who do you want to be? What kind of person do you admire? What would you like to do? What type of partner do you want to spend your life with? Do you want to spend your life with someone? What is happiness to you? Do you think you are lost in life? How much money do you want to have? What would you do if you had a lot of money?

These are all good question that are worth asking yourself. I can only help you answer one of them. Do you think you are lost in life? If you think so, you are wrong. Life isn't place where it is possible to get lost, because you control it. You control where you are and who you are. So stop looking for yourself and start creating yourself.

Personally I believe that as soon as you acknowledge the fact that you are in charge of yourself, who you are and where you are in life, you will start to change automatically and by default. You can't help not to. I believe that we all have an inner urge to be the best that we can be. Sure, there are some people that will fight that feeling because they are unsecure and scared of what might come out of it. Don't be. I don't believe it is possible for people to change into something worse then they are if they are striving to be better. The trip might not be straight ahead full speed the whole time, but at times it will be. Sometimes the road will be very bumpy and sometimes the road you're on will be closed so you will have take a detour. That is not a bad thing. That is when you will learn the most about how to create yourself into who you want to be.

I've been on this trip as long as I can remember, and I will keep being on it for the rest of my life. I change, the world around me change, my needs and wants change, my inspirations change, well, everything change. I love changes, because changes allows me to see and/or do something new, it will create new visions and new goals. Or it will give me a new way to get to my goal. What I do with it is all up to me, I will create the end result of it.

I am creating me, and I know I will love the end result. I know so because I love every step on the way, whatever it is that I want in life I am getting it because I only want what I love, so I will love the end result whatever it will be. Will you be pleased with the end result of you?? Or will you love it?

To learn more about George Bernard Shaw follow this link, or read here or here.

Love Carina

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older. - Larry McMurtry

Don't wait until you're dead to follow your dreams. Time is ticking.

About six months ago I admitted to myself that my life long dream is to write. Somewhere inside of me I've always known that, but I have been suppressing it my whole life. From the moment I learned how to read I spent most of my time reading. I didn't, like most kids and teenagers, spend most of their free time hanging out with friends, but I spent it closed up in my room reading. Whenever someone asked me what my passion in life is the thought of writing flashed through my head, but every time I pushed it away as quickly as it showed up and then I'd answer the question with; “I don't know, I don't think I have one.”

Anyway, about six months ago I was doing a lot of "soul searching" and I was finally able to admit to myself that I wanted to write. My wonderful boyfriend suggested that I would look up online courses and a friend that is into writing suggested one that she's doing. I looked at it and I really liked it. However, it isn't a free course even though it is not that expensive either, especially not for what you'll get for the money. Although, at that time I didn't have any spare money to spend on something like that and I put it on the future. One day, when I make more money. First I have to…. And so on. Well… Nothing is ever going to happen thinking like that.

About a week ago I made the decision of enrolling for the writer's course at the end of this month and it feels so right, and so good. They have a couple of different instalment options, so I decided to do one of those since I don't have the money to make a full payment at once. The instalment will cost me about 40 euro a month for 10 months? And that's all. So, that is what I am going to do for the next four years. (As well as working) It is a four year course and I will have a personal tutor, it will teach me about agents, and copyrights, about several different sorts of writing; non-fiction, fiction, articles, interviewing, writing for TV and radio and a lot more. It will definitely be worth the money.

The funny thing is that the day after I made the decision to not wait any longer, I stumbled over another job. It's a full time job, for about 2 months, that I can do on top of my normal work. It will give me the money to pay the full enrolment fee at once and it will also allow me to spend time writing during the winter. I've been waiting for something like this to show up so I can enrol, but not until I decided to do it anyway did this opportunity come along. Cool huh??!!

I definitely feel that I am going in the right direction with this and it is making me so happy! I'm really looking forward to the day I enrol and I get the first books and instructions. Why wait, all that happens is that I get older! And when you decide to follow your dreams, no matter what, something will come along to help you on your way! Your dreams are there for a reason, you are supposed to follow them, that is what I finally realised.

What are your dreams? Are you pursuing them? If not, then why not? What can you do to take a step towards your dream? Why are you waiting and what are you waiting for? Try do answer these questions, they might tell you a lot about yourself and how you look upon life.

Love
Carina


You can read about Larry McMurtry here and here.

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins." – Bob Moawad

The day you start taking responsibility for your own life is the day your life begins.

I take complete responsibility of my life, and everything in it. From the things I have, or don't have, to the people that are in it, or that are not, all the way down to the different situations that occur, or don't occur. I don't believe in coincidences and I don't believe in faith. I make my life; I get what I want and what I believe I should have and nothing less.

Being born and brought up in Sweden, I've always been surrounded by safety nets and I was forced in a young age to start using them. After a while I knew how to take advantage of them, which in some ways led me to not having to take total responsibility of myself and my life. If I f***ed up I would always land on something, if not soft, than semi-soft. That led me to a special kind of laziness. I mean, why work for what I really wanted when I could just, more or less, sit back and have a comfortable enough life without any real effort. It never made me feel good, or worthy of a good life.

And then I moved abroad, and all of a sudden things were different. All of a sudden I needed to be responsible for everything in my life. Now, you would think that it would be difficult and hard, but on the contrary; I loved it! For the first time in my adult life I was in control of how my life was and would be and it was a freeing feeling. If something went wrong it was all my fault, or my responsibility to make it right. If something went right it was all my doing!
I did something right! And I can honestly say that it was a new beginning. Sweden is great because they have all those safety nets, but too many people never learn that they themselves are responsible for their lives and nobody else. I think it's sad and I think it is one of the reasons why Swedish people are so unhappy, because a lot of them are. People need to be in charge of their own lives to be happy.

Today I am a very happy person, who likes to be in control of my life. I've chosen every single part of it, for myself because I wanted it. The feeling is liberating. I wish every person in the world will get to feel it some day, because once they've felt it they want to remain in it.

So I've got a question for you; are you responsible for your own life? Are you taking responsibilty for your own happiness and for your dreams? If not, try to answer this question; why? And what can you do to change it?

Love Carina

The Optimist Creed (part 10,11 and 12)

If you're true to who you are, the world is always on your side!

* Promise yourself to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
Do you spend a lot of time and energy worrying about things that might happen? Do you get angry a lot, or easily? Do you fear certain situations in life? Are you troubled about something? If you are worried, angry, fearful or troubled (one or all of them) you are not doing yourself a favour. The person that is most affected by any of those feelings or states of mind are you. And for what purpose, worry never leads anywhere, anger creates more anger, feeling fear holds you back and if you're troubled you spend your time thinking negative thoughts instead of focusing on the positive things in your life. Be too large for fear, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble and I promise you, you will be a much happier person.

* Promise yourself to think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.
I am my biggest fan! Not in a bragging kind of way, but the fact is that nobody can ever make a better job being me, than me, so why shouldn't I be proud and impressed and think that I am awesome. Now, I'm only proclaiming this here so you will get the point in this, I don't usually go around telling people that I'm the best. One reason is that, hopefully, to them it's not true. To them they themselves should be the best. I know I can do whatever I want to do, if I have my heart set on it. I know that I am fantastic in most ways, and I don't have to tell people that, because I act it so they already know it. If I act in the best way I possibly can, nobody will think badly of me, but most important of all. I won't think badly of myself. So I think well about myself and act accordingly. That is all that is to it. That is how I proclaim my greatness to the world.

* Promise yourself to live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

Do you ever feel like the whole world is against you? I did, but I've come to realise that that is not the case. The only thing, or person, that can be against you is you. Or, nothing can be against you unless you are against you. Do you ever feel like something is unfair? Well, it's not. As long as you are true to the best that is in you, the whole world will be on your side. Sure, you will still experience loss and sorrow because that is a part of life, that is for us to learn and remind ourselves of the life we're in. I learned that when my dad died, because the one wish he had was that me and the rest of his loved ones would live the lives of our dreams, that we would be happy and love each other and ourselves. He didn't wish for himself to be well and stay alive. He wanted us to follow our dreams and be true to ourselves. The world is never against you, unless you allow it to be, it is your choice. If you can't change the situation, change how you think about it. Be true to yourself, and believe that the world is there for you, if you want it.

I try to read "the Optimist Creed" (here is the creed and everything I've written about it)  by Christian D. Larson more or less every day, to remind myself of who I am and who I want to be. I think that if you try to live your life following these "rules", you're life will be amazing. I want my life to be amazing. My life actually is amazing already, because I live it by these "rules". My doctor used to say; "You should be in the driver's seat of your life, nobody else can get you where you want to go". Take control, be in charge, love yourself and your world and the world and your life will love you back.

The Optimist Creed (part 1,2 and 3)

Make your life better with "the Optimist Creed" by Christian D. Larson.

The other day I posted Christian D. Larson's "the Optimist Creed" (follow the link to read all of it). Today (and a few more days) I would like to discuss the different promises a bit further.

*Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

This is one of my main goals in life! To be so strong in myself, so strong in my peace of mind that nothing can disturb it. This is something very important. I should know myself, what I want, what I feel, what I do and so on, that no matter what happens or what anybody thinks or says I'm not disturbed. Are you that strong? I'm not that strong yet, but I am definitely moving closer to it all the time. The better I know myself, the more control I have of who I am and the more secure I am about what I do, the closer I get to it.

*Promise yourself to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

What do you talk about when you meet people? When somebody asks you how you are, out of courtesy, what do you answer? A lot of people I know and met over the years started going on about the misery in their lives, how bad their stomach is, or that they got a head ache, their bad economy, the hassel they're having with their kids or how tired they are. I used to be like that too, but eventually I started to realise that people started to avoid asking me questions that would bring any of those subjects up. Now, when people ask I only talk about the good stuff in life, and actually I can't even think of any bad stuff in my life anymore. Why should I? Thinking and talking about bad stuff only makes you and the one you're talking to feel bad. Where's the fun in that? Tell people about your good life, lie or don't say anything at all. Everybody will gain from that, most of all you!

*Promise yourself to make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them

Your friends are valuable, I've said it before, and you need to make sure that they know that. If you make a friend (or anybody else for that matter) feel that there is something worthwhile in them, they will treasure your friendship and they will make you feel the same way. And I sure like feeling that there is something other people find worthwhile in me. And I sure like making other people feel happy and important, it's one of the most amazing feelings you can ever feel. Call a friend today and tell her/him what she/he means to you. Let them know.

That's it for now, I will, of course, continue with the next few within the next few days. Until then, read and think about it. Use the Creed in your daily life. I read it almost every morning to get myself on the right track, even though I already am most days.

Stay well and grow well! Xx
Carina

The Optimist Creed by Christian D. Larson, 1912

Christian D. Larson

Promise Yourself ...

*To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

*To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

*To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

*To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

*To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

*To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

*To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

*To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

*To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

*To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

*To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

*To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

 I will "discuss" the Optimist Creed in the the next few days, so I want you all to read it carefully and think long and hard about it. This is how I try to live my life! Have a great Friday everyone!

Love / Carina 

"I'm hungry for a juicy life. I lean out my window at night and I can taste it out there, just waiting for me." - Brigid Lowry

If you can taste your future life in the air, you need to go get it.

I have heard so many people say something like this. I used to say it. I used to feel that there was something more out there, something waiting for me, calling me. I never knew what it was though, but I could taste it in the air, especially if I was sitting on the balcony a nice spring night. I don't feel that anymore, because I know that whatever is out there I'm heading its way. And also, I did change my life; I followed my heart to find myself and my life.

But let's get one thing clear, your life will not find its way to you without you moving towards it. It may meet you on the way but it's not going to do all the travelling. You need to put your thought on to it, your focus; you need to find out what you want, which road you want to go. You might change your mind half way there and take the next exit off that road, but that exit will lead you on to another road and even closer to your goal. If you are somewhat clear that you want to find whatever it is that is out there. It took me years of wondering and thinking for me to find out what I really want out of life. I always knew I wanted to be happy and that I wanted a really nice guy in my life, but I never knew what it was that would make me happy and I never made it clear to myself what a nice guy is. I've got both happiness and the perfect guy now, because I made it clear in my head and my heart what it was I wanted.

Every time I've thought about what my passion is, what I want to do that makes me burn, the thought of writing has flashed by. Just a quick flash, because I've always pushed it back, telling myself that I wouldn't be any good at it and I would never be able to make any money doing it.. About 6 months ago I finally admitted to myself that writing is what makes heart bounce, that is what I want to do and as long as it makes me feel good I don't have to make money from it. Even though that is what I want in the end.. I am still trying to figure out what type of writing I want to do, I'm still trying to convince myself that I am good enough at it. In my heart I know that I am, I just have to convince head. And still, writing is what I do here, so I'm on my way. On my track of life. I am already doing it, right?!

The point I want to make is that if you have that feeling, that you want a juicy life, that you can taste it out there, you really need to go for it because it's not going to come to you on its own. Take the chance, the worst thing that can happen is that you want to go back to where you are now. Although I don't think you will, I think you will find something better.

"I think the thing to do is to enjoy the ride while you're on it." - Johnny Depp

Make sure you enjoy the joyride while you're on it!

As I've mentioned before there a lot of great things going on, happening or about to happen in my life right now, and the other day I found myself a bit lost in all of them. Imagine you are on a joy ride that spins faster and faster, and even though you think, after it's all over, how much fun it was and how much you enjoyed it; all you could think of during the actual ride was how much it was spinning and how fast the world around you passed by. This is what happened to me the other day. I'm in this amazing part of my life, on this really enjoyable ride, and all I could think of was practical stuff and how many things that fell into place and how fast it all happened/happens and what to do next, and other things like that. What I should have been doing was to enjoy it all.

This is the reason why I didn't post anything new for a few days, I had to stop myself from spinning without control and I had to retake the control and make sure I actually enjoy it all when I'm in the middle of it. Not just after it all happened. If I don't enjoy it when it happens then it will be a waste of time, and I don’t like wasting time. Even when I don't really do anything at all, even when I spend a whole day watching television in bed, I don't feel like I'm wasting ithe time or the day, as long as I enjoy it. Life is supposed to be enjoyable and I believe, like Johnny Depp said in the quote, that you need to enjoy the ride while you're on it.

I am never bored because of that, even when I don't do anything or have anything to do I try to enjoy the moment. Who knows when I'll have the chance to not do anything the next time? When I am really busy and have a lot of things to do at the same time, I still try to enjoy myself because tomorrow I might not have anything to do. However, I do prefer the middle way. Being lazy is much more fun when you can't be lazy all the time. Being busy is only enjoyable when you can be be lazy sometimes.

I try to do things I know I enjoy doing, but it's hard to get away with that all the time (and I would probably be bored it I did), but when I have to do something I don't really like I still do my best to enjoy it. I used to hate doing the dishes and one time, many, many years ago I said that to my grandmother when she was doing the dishes after dinner. She told me that she liked doing the dishes because it gave her time to think about life. That stuck in my head and now I really enjoy doing the dishes and I often think of my grandmother. She taught me a lot about life, without me realising it at the time. I wish I had known back then how to enjoy the ride while I was on it.

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily." - Gerald Good

Make Gratitude your Attitude!

To be thankful for all that you've got and all that you are about to get, is not as easy as you might think. But it’s not as hard as you might think either. It's a matter of opening up your eyes and your heart to your life and focus on all the good things. Gratitude is a very important key if you want to be happy.

When I wake up in the morning I feel love and happiness for waking up next to the most wonderful man, and our cat. I feel grateful for it. As I look out the window and sea the Mediterranean Sea and the horizon above the roof tops, I feel thankful. I feel grateful for my diet that allows me to have cream in my coffee. Being thankful, feeling gratitude is falling in love. I fall in love with all the people, situations and things I feel grateful for. It's great to fall in love with my man over and over again, sometimes several times a day. It makes me happy that I am thankful for everything.

I know what I expect in the future, I know what I want for me in life and I am grateful for that. I know I will get it all, as long as I"m thankful for what is to come. If you think that I sound like a religious fanatic now, you are wrong. I am not religious, although I might be a bit of a fanatic. But here"s the thing. Since I started to be thankful for things in my life (big and small) my life has turned around. I used to be a lot more depressed; I used to think that life treated me bad and unfair. That everybody else was better off than I was. I used to think that I would never find what I wanted in life and that I would never be as happy as I wanted to be.

Do you think that your house is too small, or your clothes are too old? Or maybe your hair is too straight, or your teeth are too yellow? Be grateful that you have a house, and that you have clothes. Be thankful that you still have your own hair and your own teeth. There are possibilities to be grateful for everything, every little detail, in your life. All the things you feel bad about, there is something about them to feel thankful for.

I can't remember what put me on to try thankfulness, but whatever it was I am thankful for it. Today I am happier than I ever thought possible. My dream about living by the blue sea under the warm sun came true. My dream about writing has come true with this blog. My dream of being happy came true. My dream about finding the perfect man for me came true. I believe it all started with gratitude for what I already had, back then. I still have a lot of dreams to fulfill and a lot of dreams to expand. They will all come true too, I know that, and I am thankful for it. All my dreams will come true!! How cool is that?!

What are you thankful for in your life? List all the things in your life that you love, no matter how small and silly it seems. Those things are what you should be grateful for, that is what you should focus on. Be grateful, it will change your life around to the better!

"The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car… a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little." - Ben Sweetland

Life is a self fulfilling prophecy where you get what you expect.

Most people think that they can't have it all. That they have to choose between all they want in life. I don't believe that to be the truth. I think that you get what you think you expect, or what you think you deserve. If you expect little you will get little, but that also means that if you expect a lot you will get a lot. As Oprah said; "You get in life what you have the courage to ask for".It's a self fulfilling prophecy. All the good things in my life, I expected to get before I got them. But I also expected all the bad things I've been through. Of course, I didn't see it at the time, it's not until now that I can look back and say; "wow, I expected (not always consciously) that to happen, and it did". Scary? Or up lifting? I think it is the latter, because it  puts me in control of what happens, right? And I like being in control of my life.

Say you are looking for a new car, and in a perfect world you want it to be a red convertible, with white leather seats and a white top, and you want it a good price for you. Now, people might tell you that you can't have all that for the price you are willing to pay and you start to question what you are asking for. Maybe you don't really need it to be a red car, or maybe it doesn't have to be a convertible, or have white leather seats. And maybe it can have a black top. All of a sudden the car that you want is now a blue sedan with black fabric seats, because that is all you can get for the price you want to pay. That is the expectations you have. But what would happen if you didn't listen to what other people, or your own expectations, say? Could there be a chance that you might be able to get the car of your true dreams for the price you are willing to pay? I think it is highly possible, and even highly likely.

It's the same with everything in life, I think. If you expect to meet the best man in the world, you will. But if you expect to meet yet another cheating bastard you will. If you expect your day to go badly it sure will, but if you expect your day to be good it will be good. I've always gotten what I expected, good and bad, big and small. I am still learning to expect the big stuff, but at least I have learned to expect the good stuff. It is a long process, and some people catch up easy and some people need longer time to get it. I’ve needed a longer time, but that's all in my expectations. And at least I got it now, which I also expected. Next step for me is to start dreaming big, to start expecting big. Where are you? Do you expect the big and the best stuff for yourself or do you settle for the small and not so good stuff, because that's all you can get? Do you think that it has to one or the other, or do you believe you can have it all?

I’m getting it all, I’m sure of that! I hope you are too! (And by the way, there is more than enough out there for every one.)

"Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas." - Henry Ford

It is time to get enthusiastic about your life!

At the moment the enthusiasm I have for, and in, my life, is fantastic. Sometimes even overwhelming. And, of course, I love it! It's an amazing feeling, to find yourself smiling all the time, at all the small things. Yesterday at work I found myself laughing at myself several times, My cheeks are getting sore from smiling so much. This is great! Everybody in the world should be feeling like this about their lives!

So what is it that makes my life so exciting? Honestly, it is my attitude about it, I think. I mean, to other people my life is just an ordinary life. To me it is the best life I have! (It's also the only life I have, so why not make the most of it.) I do, however have the most amazing people in my life, and that helps. I am an amazing person, for sure! And at the moment I got so many exciting things going on, I got a job I love, the best boyfriend in the world, a cat that makes me laugh, an amazing place to live and soon a new, even more amazing place to move to (we haven't found it yet, but we will), my wonderful son will come for a visit soon, I got my amazing friends, food that makes me feel better than I've ever felt before, the sun and the sea just outside the door, a fantastic family and all the rest of the it. All equally important!

Enthusiasm is love! It is life! It is happiness! If you don't feel enthusiastic about the things in your life, maybe you don’t have the right things in it. Get enthusiastic! Do something that makes your eyes sparkle, your energy rise and that make you shine to the stars. Henry Ford did it, and look where it got us! Oprah did it, and look where it got her! Everybody that ever made a difference in the world did it! They all got enthusiastic! I am! You can be to!