Half Elf

The Astra Film Festival, screening documentaries from all over the world, is the one event I am waiting for, the whole year. This year, due to the pandemic, they have also an online event where you can watch at your leisure whatever chatches your attention. The festival ends this Sunday so you still have time.

And since I want to push myself to write more, I have decided that I will not watch another movie until I have finished writing about the previous one. And believe me, I really want to take advantage of what is left from the festival. It is the same with the books I read, I cannot start reading a new one until I have written a review.

The first movie I saw was my lovers’ choice and it is called „Half Elf” directed by Jón Bjarki Magnússon, from Iceland, released in 2020. In the movie, we can witness the last few months from a lighthouse keepers’ life, before his 100^th birthday, a story about life and our own mortality, about old age and finding meaning in life.

What I discovered is that Iceland has a really rich culture of songs, depicting life and all it has to offer. They sing when they have a family gathering, or meeting with friends, and I guess that these songs are passed on from generation to generation. They actually sound like viking folklore songs.

I was curious enough that I searched one such song that I really loved, I did not find that one exactly but I am leaving you with a similar one, so that you get a feeling of what I am talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwfI6nvCShI

And I think these songs contributed to the protagonists’ long life but also for his mental health. Remembering all those lyrics, memorising words is a good way to ensure you will still enjoy your mental capacity even at an old age.

I think singing gives us a state of wellbeing! At the beginning of the year, for the two months I was in quarantine, I moved with my parents and I had the fields to myself, with no other person in sight. And I would take my speaker with me and have a walk with my favourite music. And sometime, when there was a song that I really loved, I would sing along, from the bottom of my heart, as loud as I wished, since there was nobody to hear me.

And I had such an intense feeling of freedom, of self expression, of pure joy. It was definitely because of the nature, the green grass, the clouds, but also because there are few times when I found the context to let myself sing, with no barrier.

And I think that when we sing, we are in a relaxed state, and it contributes to our well being. And if you take the opportunity to sing with your family or your friends, like they do in the movie, it is such a good way to connect.

On one of the hiking trips, I was with my friends in the car, and each of us would choose a song, it was a marvellous time we spent, instead of being bored. And we enjoyed singing together too! I watched a documentary about music and how humans perceive it and connect with it. I think we all have music inside of us, it is a source of great pleasure for me.

The second aspect which caught my attention was the fact that Trausti, the main character, would often visit a place offering coffins, so that he would pick the best one.

For me, this activity is a way to accept the ending of our life and a way to process our own mortality. Like talking about death has the same effect. I think people try to push this topic so much, because of being afraid of it.

But I think that true freedom comes when we view death as a natural stage of life, and we are changing our fear into complete acceptance. Not ignoring death, but being mindful of it, releases us and makes us live more fully. There is nothing sure in life, except the fact that we will all die, sooner or later.

What still scares me though is actually old age. The pain of walking, the trembling hands, losing the hearing and not being able to see that much, especially to read. All the pains, the pills.

But I think I have this image because in Romania, we are only now putting the effort into leading a healthy lifestyle. So my take out of this is that I will be mindful about my choices and how I take care of my body so that I continue to enjoy good health even at an old age, if I am blessed with more days.

Lastly, I think Trausti, or Elf, as he tried to change his name before dying, actually lived so much because he had a strong purpose. He kept on saying that he wanted to reach 100 years, and he did.

Finding the will to live, having strong reasons to continue living are the key to a long life. I used to say that I want to die young so that I do not go through all the negative aspects of old age. Now, I want to live 100 years old, because I love life, and I want to enjoy from all it has to offer, as much as I can.

Mental health

I have recently written an article about mental health, and mainly how to be there for the people in your life which are suffering, how to offer your support. If you did not get to read it, I suggest you start with that one and continue reading this article.

As important as helping is, I also find that you need to take care of your well being, emotionally and mentally, while doing anything. I would like to share my experience regarding this. These are the aspects I find important when you find yourself trying to help somebody.

 

Helping for the wrong reasons

 First of all, I think it is important to explore why do you want to help. As hard to believe it, it may be that you are trying to help for all the wrong reasons in the first place. What do I mean by this? It can happen in various forms.

If you are like me, you might find it hard to refuse to help somebody who is suffering, even though this might mean getting to suffer as well. I have given this a lot of thought and there are multiple reasons for why I find it hard to refuse to help, when this is detrimental to my own well being. Then I explored even more and found the reasons below and developed a bit on them.

 

1. Your beliefs

One of the reasons is being raised a Christian, and helping the ones which are suffering was what Jesus did. I was reading a lot of books in my early teens about martyrs or saints, giving up on everything, including their life in order to save other.

While this speaks to me so much, since I am an idealist, as I matured, I came to understand the concept of illuminated egoism, and to understand that in order to take care of others, I need to take care of myself. I need to give myself the time, the space to recharge and be able to support.

And I also have this strange concept in my mind that Jesus can be disguised in everybody and if I refuse to help, then I won’t help Jesus. Now, if I get to think about it, one is not more important than the other.

A lot of Romanian bedtime stories include old women who are asking for help and they are in fact fairies giving the heroes superpower or weapons. I mentioned this because there are a lot of convictions which shape our incapacity to refuse to help, dig deep and you will find numerous.

 

2. When you needed help

It so happens that I passed through my own share of suffering, depression and not being able to pull myself together. And in the process, there were several persons which gave up on me, when I was expecting them to help me.

Understand that it is no one’s responsibility to help us, they can choose to, but ultimately we are the sole responsible of our lives.

And ultimately, needing help and not getting it, made me help myself, made me push myself to get up, because I had no other choice. And this empowered me to understand that in the end I am the only person who can really help me.

So, if you choose to help, do it in a manner that enables that person to help themselves, and do it knowing that this won’t fix the grudge of not being helped, it does not work this way, just let that go!

 

 

3. Heal your humiliation wound

Lise Bourbeau wrote the book „Heal your wounds and find your true self”, in which she describes the 5 wounds we all suffer in a bigger or smaller proportion. And as long as we do not learn to heal these wounds, we end up creating masks with different beliefs and behaviours which are detrimental to our own growth and well being.

In the chapter about humiliation she describes how the persons suffering from this wound take on more and more responsibilities, and help other when this is affecting them, just so that they receive acceptance and are valued by the ones around them.

If you are a person who is always on second place, always helping others when you need to give yourself the time, the energy for your own well being, you might find solutions in reading this book, and finding a way to heal this wound.

 

4. The saviour complex

This is a concept I heard of but not really knowing exactly what it implies, but I dug a little bit into it, because I think we need the right motivation for wanting to help somebody. It seems that a person having the saviour’s complex might invest a lot of time and energy into saving somebody else, even without being asked, for the following reasons:

• They have a past trauma or painful events from the past which they did not manage to solve and are trying to help everybody else because they feel they cannot heal themselves;
• They feel empty or worthless unless someone else needs them;
• They have a sense of superiority and omnipotence, believing they can help and „fix” everybody.

If some of these speak to you in a way, dig more information on it and start listening instead of going right into action, listen to the other person’s need and not offer the solution you know is best for them. And of course, always help only if you are asked to.

If you identified the reasons why are helping somebody else, and it comes from a healthy, genuine, unaltered wish to contribute to someone else’s well being, without being related to anything else in you, then you need to pay attention to the following aspects:

Being overly empathic

If you are a very empathic person, you might get to be overwhelmed by the emotional roller coaster the one you are trying to support is going through. If you have not already found ways to manage your emotions and distance yourself emotionally, you may find yourself sucked into all this tornado of negative emotions.

Often times, I would find myself drained of energy, feeling depleted, with a huge headache and generally so sad after talking with a friend, that it affected my productivity and my capacity to completely engage in what I had going on my own plate.

And this happens also because you connect with your own emotions, with your own past suffering, with your own negative experiences and they all resurface when you are trying to be there for somebody else. We all have suffered, maybe not in the same way, but emotions are universal.

What can you do? First of all, like the person you are trying to help, you need to do a lot of emotional work and make peace with your past and your past suffering. If you are a clean slate, then you will be more capable to deal with whatever the ones around you are dealing, because it will not reopen old wounds, since you cured them already.

Second of all, create in your mind a separation between you and the other person and completely integrate the idea that their pain is not your pain, their incapacity to move on and act upon it is not your own. If you cannot do that, it means that you still need to work on your own pain which is mirrored in your friend or close one.

 

Learn to say no

 If a friend keeps on calling you in the middle of the night when you need to wake up early in the morning for important issues, or asks for your support when you are already engaged in an important activity for you, learn to say no and come back when helping is also good for you.

Otherwise, you will help but also grow resentment because helping when you were not available to do so came with negative consequences for you.

If the person you are trying to support asks you to do something you are not comfortable with or you do not want to do, you can say no. This does not mean that you do not want to help, but you should be fine with the help you are offering.

If you do not feel comfortable offering money, don’t. If you don’t feel you can offer a shoulder to cry on, or hugs, because you are not a physical person, then don’t. Whatever it may be, before accepting, because you feel pressured to say yes, consider what you are willing to do and what you are not willing to do, and be fine with it.

 

Know when to stop

Sometimes the best solution for you well being is to distance yourself and accept the fact that you do not want to get involved anymore, or you need your own pace and time. And this is totally fine. This was a hard thing to accept for me, because of the sense of guilt I felt knowing that I am not offering my help.

If the help you are offering is hurting you in any way, then you need to take a step back, take a break, reevaluate everything and see what can be done. If the best solution for you is to back down, do just that.

Some people don’t want to change, don’t want to get better, even if they are asking for your help. Some people got so used to the pain and the drama, that it is the only thing they know. Happiness comes with uncertainty and fear and they will do everything to avoid it, even if it means to keep on suffering.

Understand where you draw the line and understand that if a person is bringing you down with them, then it is time to let go, and be fine with it.

Hurt souls in perfect bodies

If the body could show the wounds we have in our souls, we would be mutilated and disfigured. And further more, if our bodies would never have the ability to regenerate, we would be a hard image to watch.

But we live in a world where these wounds are invisible, yet we carry them with us along the way. I would call this the modern Dorian Gray mystery: we are so hurt deep down inside, yet our face is neat and smooth.

And we don’t heal, we carry our wounds with us, we take them with us each night when we go to sleep, we take them with us in the shower, we never pack for a holiday and forget to leave them at home, we run in the park with them, we take them at work, at church, and most of all, when we are alone, we know we are carrying them on our backs. But we don’t let go.

Some people’s wounds are just bruises now, some people carry scars all over their souls and some are still open flesh. Some choose to cling to their pain, and have it inside, and indulge in it, being the victim, some fight and struggle like a drowning person desperately reaching for the surface for air, but never make it up, and some are walking calmly now, but the marks never go away.

We never stop being hurt since the day we are born, but I for one, never stop loving life.

I refuse to cling to pain, I refuse to keep those wounds open, just because I don’t have enough forgiveness and love to close them.

But where do we recycle all the pain, where does it go? I don’t want the medicine that time offers, to wait long enough until the memory of the pain is not vividly recalled anymore, and I move on. Moving on does not mean for me cleaning my body, it’s just ignoring that it is dirty still.

I want a smooth, floating, white, radiating, sweet cure, to take care of my wounds, so that I take all the hurt out of my body, out of my mind, out of my soul, and be like a newly born. And I don’t think this is impossible.

And there would be no scars, because I would not leave that hurting to do a permanent damage. I would just let it float inside my body, acknowledge it, embrace it, forgive and love, and breathe in peace.

Can we do that? Can I do that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAOdlgFJDAI

The sun and I

The month of August is the month where I am going to see the sunrise every morning. The spot that I chose to do it is somewhere at the outskirts of the city, where there is a field laying in front of me and I can see the mountains all around.

Since it is mid summer, the sun rises at about 06:10 and in order to get there, I wake up at 05:15, get dressed, run for 2.5 km and then I just have to wait. This challenge is a part of the 30 Challenges to Enlightenment I am currently following, the previous month I had to refrain from alcohol, nicotine or caffeine or any other unprescribed drugs, and I added sugar and dairy to the list.

The reason why I am writing this article is to share with you my love for catching the sunrise. Even if it is that early in the morning, I gain so much more in return of my effort. Here are some of the reasons that might make you give it a try as well:

• I wake up with a purpose in mind, and this helps me start the day with a determined mindset, because I have already taken the decision that no matter what happens, this month I will see the sunrise every… single… day!

• Every day I succeed in doing so, it adds to build my commitment and my discipline, because every time we achieve what we set out to do, we build that sense of commitment even stronger and when we respect our promises to ourselves we grow even stronger in our resolve;

• I start the day in nature, I observe the flight of the birds and their freedom in the sky, I take a look of the stability of the mountains and their powerful presence, I watch as the grass and the plants move with the wind and most of all I gaze at the sky, at the clouds and wait for the miracle the sun paints every morning. Spending time in nature helps us be in a relaxed, healthy emotional state;

• Seeing the sunrise every day brings me to a state of gratefulness, that I am still alive, that I can see, that I can smell, that I can still run, breathe and enjoy the freshness of the morning. That I can give myself the time to be relaxed and just be there, not needing to run and reach some place. A gratefulness practice will increase the positive hormones release and strengthen our immunity system in return;

• Our world revolves around the sun, it gives us the premise for life and growth, and we too need vitamin D for our own health, so I am taking the chance to give thanks to the sun as well for all that it has to offer us;

• Every morning is different, the sky and the weather is completely different every morning and it takes me out of a daily routine, makes me see the unicity in each and every single day and makes me view it like a blank page which awaits to be written upon, what words I choose to put on it depends only on myself;

• No matter what has happened the previous day, the sunrise resets everything and I wake up with a renewed force and confidence that I can make out whatever I set my intention to, it does not matter what happened yesterday when I have today to make the best out of it;

• The colours of the sky at sunrise are incredible, the golden, orange, pink hues that intermingle to create the most beautiful painting I can see every single day, it is a form of colour therapy and contemplation which I enjoy and be mindful about;

• Every morning, after I head out back home, I salute the sSun and tell it, see you tomorrow! It is like we set out a meeting, and I know that no matter what happens, the sun will show up. And that sense of stability and that confidence that no matter what, I am not alone, I will always have the sun, can bring light in the darkest times;

• Lastly, I enjoy seeing the sunrise every morning because I start out the day really early and it creates space for my mourning routine, which helps me take care of my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual intelligence. I take a healthy breakfast, I run and exercise, I contemplate and meditate, I set out my priorities and intention for the day and I put myself in a grateful state. It is the best beginning I could ever offer myself.

What do you think? Are you willing to give it a try? See how it goes? What are you reasons for enjoying the sunrise?

5AM: Tribul oamenilor nerezonabili

Acest sfârșit de săptămână am avut teambuilding și întâlnirea de planificare pentru următorul sezon de 5AM Club. Dacă nu ai auzit până acum de club, este o platformă de dezvoltare personală deschisă între orele 05:00 – 07:00 pentru cei care își doresc să își îmbunătățească performanța, să împlementeze obiceiuri productive și să ducă o viață împlinită.

Clubul este în vacanță, o să avem redeschiderea pe 1 septembrie, până atunci aș vrea să împărtășesc câteva din răspunsurile pe care le-am pregătit și împărtășit cu colegii mei de echipă, la întâlnirea noastră 🙂

De ce sunt moderatoare pe 5AM Club?

Atunci când intru în club, îmi încep rutina de dimineață, cu hidratare, inspirația zilnică, scrierea obiectivelor anuale, priritățile zilnice, practica de recunoștință, mic dejun și sport. În acest mod îmi hrănesc cele 4 inteligențe: fizică, mentală, emoțională și spirituală.

În funcție de perioadă, ordinea obiceiurilor variază, dar această rutină mă ajută să îmi încep ziua cu cea mai bună stare posibilă. Iar faptul că am o comunitate de oameni cu aceleași interese mă responsabilizează și motivează să mențin aceste obiceiuri productive.

În foarte multe dimineți m-am simțit cu adevărat împlinită pentru că în sistemul meu de valori se regăsește și dezvoltarea și evoluția, valoare pe care o împărtășesc cu mulți membri pe de 5AM Club, oameni care își doresc s învee ceva nou în fiecare zi, oameni care își doresc să fie mai buni pe zi ce trece.

Faptul că pot contribui la dezvoltarea celor din jurul meu mă face să simt că aduc o contribuție pozitivă și valoroasă în societate. Creștem împreună prin vizionarea resursei inspiraționale pe diferite tematici de pe TED.com, pe baza căreia discutăm și facem schimb de impresii și rezultate din practică în fiecare zi. Valoarea adăugată este schimbul de informație, idei, oportunități și feedback care ne ajută să ințelegem și să integrăm diferite informații mai bine.

Cel mai mult din povestea lui Harap Alb, îmi place jăraticul pe care i-l dă calului, care îl ajută să crească într-un an cât alții în zece, iar acest lucru simt atunci când accesez oportunitățile oferite de această platformă, cresc exponențial, la o viteză incredibilă, mă uit în urmă de la începutul anului la cât de mult am reușit să învăț, să mî dezvolt, să avansez în ceea ce mi-am propus și asta pentru că am avut alături de mine o cuminitate care să mă sprijine să fac aceste lucruri.

Programele pe care le-am accesat prin intermediul 5AM Club, și anume Wildfit, m-a ajutat să înțeleg care este nutriția potrivită pentru mine pentru un stil de viață sănătos, mi-a dat strategii relevante și pertinente pentru a include cât mai mult din acele alimente care sunt benefice pentru mine și să le înlătur pe cele nocive. Mai mult decât, am descoperit cum pot gestiona foamea și mâncatul emoțional. A fost o experiență valoroasă pentru mine, care merită conversații întregi pe temă.

Iar programul de testare gratuit a apei alcaline, ionizate Kangen m-a ajutat să beau apa de cea mai bună calitate, prin PH său ridicat, prin potențialul de oxidoreducere și de combatere a efectelor negative ale radicalilor liberi și prin filtrarea de toate impuritățile pe care le găsim la apa de la robinet, printre care și foarte mult clor.

Împreună cu schimbările pozitive la nivel de nutriție, am complementat cu cunoștințe și practică zilnică în ceea ce privește hidratarea optimă. Iar acestea sunt doar două exemple, foarte pe scurt, despre programele pe care le-am accesat, de anul trecut și de la care încep să culeg roadele la nivel de vitalitate și energie, stomac ușor, claritate și o stare de bine. Iar efectele o să continue mai departe, zi de zi, pentru că reușesc să îi dau corpului meu ambrozie și nectar 🙂

Sunt în comunitatea 5AM încă din 2012 de când mi-am început cariera, și am început să lucrez cu Dan Luca la 5AM Productivity Coaching. Să încep să lucrez pentru o firmă de coaching la primul job a însemnat să mă dezvolt extraordinar de mult prin toate cunoștințele pe care le-am accesat la nivel de productivitate, să reușesc să dezvolt conținut și experiențe de învățare pe acestă temă și să am cel mai bun mentor posibil. Și aș fi făcut toate aceste lucruri fără să fiu plătită.

Faptul că mi-am început cariera cu această oportunitate m-a pus în poziția în care să am un standard ridicat de profesionalism, cunoștințe și așteptări legate de performanța mea și a celor cu care colaborez. Mai mult decât atât, am încățat cum să lucrez eficient, singură și cu alte persoane, cum să comunic spre a stabili relații productive și cum să ofer și să primesc feedback  constructiv.

A fost dream job și continuă să fie pentru mine acest lucru din moment ce această colaborare continuă și astăzi, de aproape 8 ani de zile. Sunt recunoscătoare pentru toți oamenii valoroși care au intrat în viața mea din acel moment, tot ce am reușit să dezvolt la nivel de carieră și omul care am devenit astăzi.

5AM Club mai reprezintă pentru mine o platformă în care pot împărtășii diferite acțiuni, inițiative din zona societății civile, să sprijin și să încurajez acei oameni care aleg să se implice, să facă o schimbare pozitivă în comunitatea și societatea lor.

Asociațiile care sunt aproape de sufletul meu și pentru care voi fi ambasador în orice moment și context sunt Asociația Pentru Liberate și Egalitate de Gen care sprijină victimele violenței domestice și abuzurilor sexuale și militează pentru egalitatea de gen, Asociația Cu Verdele-n Sus care luptă împotriva tăierilor ilegale și  are în îngrijire păduri plantat copăcel cu copăcel de câțiva ani buni deja, Platforma pentru consum colaborativ și economie circulară pe care am înființat-o și Asociația Liberated care luptă împotriva traficului uman.

5AM mai reprezintă pentru mine o fabrică de îndeplinit visuri, pentru că aici ai ocazia să împărtășești cu oameni valoroși ceea ce îți dorești să realizezi în viață și găsești resursele de care ai nevoie pentru a porni pe această cale. Unul dintre visurile mele este să scriu, iar 5AM Club m-am ajutat să pun cărămidă, după cărămidă, atunci când mi-am luat un angajament față de membri să încep să scriu.

Acum postez câte un articol în fiecare zi pe blogul meu și dezvolt procese de journaling de reflecție și deavoltare personală, iar acest lucru este pentru mine o realizare fenomenală. De asemenea, toate celelalte proiecte pe care le-am deavoltat ca freelancer au putut să crească tocmai pentru că am găsit un incubator, o comunitate care să mă pună în poziția de a găsi resursele și de a dezvolta abilitățile de care am nevoie pentru a le realiza.

Închei cu ultimul motiv, și anume posibilitatea de a influența și de a avea un impact asupra productivității, calității vieților antreprenorilor, managerilor, liber profesioniști, profesori, și a celor implicați în societate civilă. Iar faptul că aceși oameni conduc, colaborează sau educă la rândul lor alte persoane mă ajut să multiplic și să catalizez impactul pe care îl pot avea.

Sunt atât de multe de spus, dar mă rezum la aceste motive. Dacă ai reușit să citești până aici, îți multumesc tare mult pentru atenția ta și îmi doresc să ne cunoaștem. Dacă nu ești deja pe 5AM club, poți cere o invitație la 5amclub.ro și ne vedem pe 1 septembrie, iar dacă ai vrea să îți reactivezi contul, trimite un email la dan@5amclub.ro 🙂

Heal

Due to some problems I have with my lungs and a long history with asthma, in the context of coronavirus, I started to do a treatment with aerosol machine. I have been postponing it a lot.

Firstly, I was not decided whether this will be a one time use of the machine, and then I will just have it the house and secondly, when I did buy it shortly after, I was overwhelmed by the thought that I need to operate it myself, and then my doctor was on holiday and then after reading the instructions for 3 times it just seemed daunting to me that I honestly postponed it for almost two months now, today was my first day of the treatment.

I received basic instructions from my doctor the first time I went there, and I really thought to myself that I am holding trainings and basically managing a lot of situations where I don’t know how to do things, but I guess when it comes to medicine, treatments, and hospitals, I give away my power and consider I am absolutely clueless.

On one hand, It was really useful to have the 2 extra visits and 2 phone calls, because I still learned new things and there are still things to clarify but the good news is that I am on the good track.

The treatment implies that I would breathe particles of the soluble medicine that is vaporised through a tube in my mouth. And I need to do this for 7-10 minute. And while waiting, and sitting straight, I decided that I am going to watch a documentary which is called „Heal” so that I can also understand more how I can support my body to heal faster.

I have known of this documentary for a while now, one of my best friends recommended it when she moved to Austria with her baby boy to get him treated of leukemia. I knew it was good for me to see it, but like anything else in life, I think there comes a moment when we are prepared for a type of information, realisation or confrontation.

While my 3 rounds of aerosol, and in between drops during the day, I managed to see it all. The reason why I am writing this article is that I would like to give you enough reasons to see this documentary, without waiting so much as I did.

No matter if you are going through an illness right now, or you know somebody else or you simply have nothing, I really do think this is an important message we should all hear.

First if all, I was really impressed by the different specialists which were interviewed during the documentary, like Deepak Chopra, Joe Vitale, Gregg Braden, Michael B Beckwith, Jeffrey Thompson, Joan Borysenko and Marianne Williamson and others.

I have not heard of all of them but the fact that some of them which are leading figures in a specific field, and they were all together in the same place stating the same thing brings a lot of weight to the following message:

Our body has the capacity to heal whatever we might be suffering from! The way to support it to do so is to eliminate stress in our lives or the flight or fight mode in which the body cannot heal and basically reap the benefits of positive thinking and faith, and manage to free ourselves from the negativity in our thoughts, our minds.

I am not trying to explain in as much detail because the documentary takes you into a beautiful journey to actually explore this. But what I would like to do is to write down 10 of the learning points I got from watching it:

1. Modern or western medicine only takes into account the symptoms and rarely works with the root cause so that we can address illnesses definitively. And for this we need a holistic approach: take care of what and how we think, what we eat, the air we breathe, the quality of our water, time spend in nature, having faith and building harmonious relationships and have a strong purpose in life
2. Most of the affections we have are related to stress or have an emotional root, the more we learn to manage with the stress in our lives, the more we take care of our emotional hygiene, the more we view emotions as messenger, neither good nor bad just carrying the lessons we need, we will be able to heal anything might come our way.
3. Interesting to realise, have you ever considered the fact that when testing medicine, how there is sometimes a percentage of people 30%-40%-60%- or sometimes even 70% percent, in order to validate the testing, they receive a placebo pill, injection or treatment but still manage to get well only by the thought that they received what they needed in order to heal?
4. If you eat healthy, exercise, sleep well, lead a balanced life but your thoughts are toxic, then you bring all that toxicity into your body and unfortunately this ultimately will lead to disease.
5. Want to admit it or not, we all traumas from our childhood which in turn makes us run programs which are no longer serving us, some have started emotional release therapies, reiki, emotional freedom techniques or managed somehow to be at peace, accept and find a new reactions which serves better, for the rest, I only encourage you to treat your emotional wounds as seriously as you would do with a bleeding, open wound. Maybe you do not see the effects, but you cannot go living with such a emotional injury and expect to be healthy.
6. If you have no resources for investing in such emotional cleansing experiences, then meditation and forgiving are the free, these are 2 of the most available tools to us to create a supportive mindset and emotional state, you don’t have to be a buddhist monk to meditate all day long, but take a break from time to time, try to focus your attention on your breathing, and choose to release yourself from the the state of a victim and take your power back and forgive where forgiveness needs to be given. Forgiveness does not equal endorsing certain behaviours but rather setting yourself free from a negative emotional state. There is a saying that I resonate with: „We we choose not to forgive, it is like taking poison and expect the other person to die”.
7. What I would add from personal experience to meditation and forgiveness would be journaling, pour onto pages whatever is on your soul, talk to yourself, get to know yourself and where you are coming from, where you want to go, because you and only you are the persona which can listen to you any time of the day r night, understanding you completely and what is inside of you, and there is a relief and freedom when we discharge the negative thoughts and intensity of the day but also take the lesson and reframe it in order to have a more constructive reaction the next time, the next day.
8. We are all one, we are all connected and if we understand that we are the same energy vibrating since the big bang then we will understand the power of collective prayers, the power we have to contribute to other people’s health and well being and dismiss the thoughts of loneliness, isolation, unworthiness or maybe start to harness the collective consciousness to evolve, I know we have the potential to stop hunger, stop wars, take care of our planet, be enlightened, healthy and fulfilled, we just need to go towards this direction one by one, and support the ones who want to join us along the way.
9. We all die, that is a fact, but it does not be because of a disease, or it does not need to be in excruciating pain and our last days filled with dread, suffering, deep loss and regrets. Death is what is happening to an experience, not to us.

These are my thoughts on the documentary, but again, I encourage you deeply to see it. I have set a mission to let as many people see it, so if you have decided to do so, leave me a comment, I have a target of 29 people to start with 🙂

You can find the documentary on Netflix. Please let me know if you you do not have an account, and cannot afford one, I am also considering of paying for a month trial and give people access to it, in order to be able to see this documentary. Let me know in the comments if you have seen it and what are your impressions!

Also, if you want to read more on how to start a journaling practice, please read my previous articles „Journaling: how to start your practice today?” followed by „Journaling for personal fulfilment”.

As Wim Hof says, I wish you „All the love, all the power!” 🙂

P.S.: While writing this whole article, I was listening with my headphones some healing beautiful music. Listen to it, even try to hum with it, it creates amazing vibrations in you. I discovered this music during an emotional release retreat called the Journey by Brandon Bays. I have an entire playlist, subscribe to my youtube channel @minadocinski to listen to them all.