Infinite patience gives immediate results

That’s a quote from A Course of Miracles. Because when you know it’s yours to come, you have all the patience you need to wait forever. It’s the same as what you cannot change you can accept and what you have accepted has already changed.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

I’m not a very patient person. I just created a technical mess on my website. And instead of taking a pause, breathing for a bit and maybe sleeping on it I asked 10 people simultaneously for help. Because, you know, NOW is the only time.

But what if we could just trust that everything comes in divine timing. That we are taken care of. That we can create all that we dream of, otherwise it would not have been planted in our psyche.

I’m working on this. Patience. Thinking that breathing is a good start. And trusting. And focusing on my circle of influence and letting go of what I can’t control.

What are your best tools for building patience?

With all my love,

Helena

Responsibility leads to power leads to strength leads to change

This is the whole beautiful symphony of Pure Personal Power. When you start taking responsibility of your life, thoughts, feelings, actions, reactions and needs you step into your power. You put yourself at the driver’s seat in your own life. From that position you have all the strength you need to do the changes that you need to make. That’s Pure Personal Power.

From the perspective of the driver’s seat you can easier identify what you can change, what you can leave and what you need to accept. You can consciously choose to leave victim mentality and take yourself to a more empowered state.

From the perspective of the driver’s seat you can ask for what you need and drive away from that which no longer serves you. You can build the support in and around you that will help you grow and evolve.

From the perspective of the driver’s seat you can decide when to pull over and take a break to look at the beautiful scenery around you, or to take a nap.

From the perspective of the driver’s seat you can choose when to speed up and when to slow down, where to turn and the next intercross and how many laps you want to take in the roundabout.

Pure Personal Power is no guarantee to a problem-free life. But it is a recipe for more self-agency and a greater impact on your own life. You are empowered to make informed choices and drive your own car. I’m not saying it’s easy. But I do know it’s possible.

How can you get into the driver’s seat of your own life today?

With all my love,

Helena

When you take nothing for granted you'll grow a grateful heart

I always include gratitude in all my talks, workshops and podcast interviews. Because, it’s magic. When you live with a grateful heart you’re not only a happier person, you’re also a magnet for more things to be grateful for.

It’s one of those things you need to experience for yourself before you can truly understand the value of bringing gratitude into your everyday life. And anyone who has tested it out in their life will testify to its power.

So, I bring it up, over and over again, any opportunity I get, because, I want more magic in our world and I want for you to experience it. And when I do talk about it, those who haven’t experienced the magic of the practice, ask for examples.

Here’s some from top of mind right now;

I’m grateful for the person harvesting the coffee beans for my morning coffee

I’m grateful for the earplugs that allows me to listen to music without disturbing the people around me

I’m grateful for the quality of air going into my lungs right now

I’m grateful for my fingers getting what my mind is telling them to do

I’m grateful for new leafs growing on the trees every spring after they have fallen in autumn

I’m grateful for the freedom I’ve created in my business and life

I’m grateful for faith in my heart

And when I make examples like these sometimes I get the comment; “But most of those things are just normal stuff that we all have. They’re not special enough.” To the first statement; true, there are a lot of things we all have and that might be considered “normal”. To the second statement; false, they are enough. Because what if coffee, music, air, fingers, leafs, freedom and faith where all taken away from you, wouldn’t you miss it?

When you take nothing for granted you’ll grow a grateful heart.

Billions of people on this earth today would do anything to have what you have. It doesn’t mean that you need to feel bad for having it. It means you shouldn’t take it for granted.

When you live with a grateful heart you’re not only a happier person, you’re also a magnet for more things to be grateful for.

With all my love,

Helena

The magic is in the in-between

Some of the positive psychology and positive thinking lingo that’s out there can easily be misunderstood as always being in perfect bliss or never going through rough times. That’s not it.

Life is brutal. And beautiful. Brutiful as Glennon Doyle would put it. But most of life is in the in-between. Just days passing by, mundane, in routine, gloomy, okay, nothing-special-at-all. This is where the magic happens.

Sure, we can do our best to sharpen our peak experiences and make them last or cut off the depth of our rock bottom, but I’m not so sure we’ll succeed. They’re part of life and are experienced best by letting go of resistance and accepting reality as it is.

I love how James Baraz describes this:

Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).

The space where we have the most power over our life quality is in the in-between. While brushing our teeth on a Tuesday morning, commuting to work, in a job meeting, while reading emails, in the grocery line, cooking food, putting the kids to bed, cleaning up, in the sofa, the thoughts as we lay down to sleep. If all those moments are suffering or filled with worry your life quality is likely not very good. If most of those moments are present or filled with gratitude your life quality is likely very good. The magic is in the in-between.

If you want to start somewhere I suggest a gratitude list every morning and every night. It’s the surest way I know of to start building new neuro pathways that will, with practice, change your life. Because, gratitude is the gateway drug to happiness. If we can find gratitude in days passing by, mundane, in routine, gloomy, okay, nothing-special-at-all, we’ve come a long way.

With all my love,

Helena

All of a sudden I felt okay with my body

I’ve had two photo shoots this week. Not that I do a lot of photo shoots but for various reasons two coincided in the same week. And it made me realize: I don’t hate how my body looks anymore.

I learned to love the function of my body during my healing journey and I’ve grown to respect it tremendously. It works its ass off every day to serve me. It does the best it can. And since 7 years back I also do my best to serve it back. We’re a good team.

Still, I didn’t like how it looked. As many women learn to not like the way they look. We’re daily fed with the idea that there’s something wrong with the way we look and that we need to fix that, with various products or diets or fixes. There’s a lot of money involved in the industry of making women feel as if they need to change the way they look. Like millions and trillions.

I’ve been part of that circus and probably somehow still am. But it was a huge realization the other day when I noticed I was actually enjoying being photographed as I focused on the energy I sent out. I wasn’t focused on how my tummy looked or if the angle was good for my thighs or to tense the muscles in my arms. I was totally relaxed, knowing that my worth is not in my looks and that I’m okay.

Nothing has changed with my body. A lot has changed in my thoughts about my body. I’m not sure which have been the main causes for me healing my relationship with my body (and don’t get me wrong, it’s still not a completely uncomplicated relationship). These are a few of the practices I’ve put into to place and I think they combined and over time have helped:

• I’ve dug into the areas of #healthateverysize and #bodypositivity and listened to podcasts like FoodPshych with Christy Harrisson and Insta accounts like @danikabrysha, @bodyposipanda, @aerie .

• I’ve unfollowed all the triggering accounts online. Content that makes me feel unworthy or makes me compare instead of inspire are gone.

• I read the book “Women, Food and God” by Geneen Roth.

• I’ve started questioning all the “truths” portrayed in media or in the beauty industry. I look for the source, I ask my heart, I select my intake.

I think body love is a gradual process and that it goes back and forth depending on where we’re at in life. But one thing is clear to me; looking a certain way that external sources tell me to look it’s not worth my peace, happiness and mental health. That’s it.

What are your best tips for healing your body image and start loving every part of you?

With all my love,

Helena

It's much easier to cause pain than to feel pain

I do believe in the good of every human. When we hurt others it’s either because we’re misinformed (e.g. actually believing that what you’re doing is “good”) or because we’re in pain ourselves. Because it’s easier to toss the pain over to the next person, projecting it, than to actually feel it and transform it ourselves.

Other people treating you poorly has much more to do with them than it has to do with you. As the popular quote says: “Everyone is fighting their own battle. Be kind, always.”

No one in their right mind who are content in their own lives; feeling seen, heard and valued, wakes up in the morning and goes out into the world with the intention: Today I’m gonna make everyone around me miserable.

Knowing this does not excuse other peoples way of behaving in the world. But it might help you reach for a little more compassion for the humans around you. Because only hurt people hurt people.

It’s still okay for you to walk away, to say no, to set clear boundaries. And have compassion. This is another of those beautiful paradoxes in life, that I know we are wise enough to hold.

And as for yourself; work on your awareness and feel the pain that needs to be felt, transform it if you can, so that you can be the one closing the pain spiral down. No emotion can kill you. And as an adult, you can take care of the little child inside who’s hurting. You can comfort yourself, and ask for what you need from others.

What do you say? Are you ready to show compassion to those hurting even when they try to pass it onto you? Are you ready to deal with the pain you’re experiencing yourself without projecting it onto others?

With all my love,
Helena

This might be the most important lesson I've ever learned

I’ll give it away right away: You don’t have to believe in your own thoughts!

I don’t really know when I learned this but I do know when I forget. Yesterday I was feeling overwhelmed (it’s happened a lot lately, I know!) and completely lost in my own mind. Then someone asked me how I was and I stopped to actually reflect on her question. As I realized the truth my answer came: I’m really great, but my mind is really busy and overwhelmed.

She looked at me funny as if that was a weird way of answering a very common question. But for me that was the truth in that moment. And as I write to you now I think it still might be. I’m really great, I am. And, my mind is really spinning with ideas and to-do’s and what if’s and questions which is, at times, really uncomfortable and so tiring. Both can exist at the same time. I am not my mind.

Our minds are amazing. They can come up with really advanced fantasies, store so much information and analyze and dissect almost any situation. But we need to remember that it’s not the master of us and we can learn to master it. It’s a tool. An amazing tool. But that’s not to say it’s all that we are.

Just before our lunch meditation yesterday, at the co-working space where I spend most of my time, we all reflected on our experience of meditation. A brand new meditator was joining us and she was interested in hearing about what she could expect. My friend said: It’s simple, you just shut off your thoughts in sit in “blankness” for 15 minutes. I just laughed because I was sure he was kidding. Turns out he wasn’t. He could actually turn off his thoughts like that. That’s never ever been the case for me.

But I do know that I can be the witness of my thoughts. Sort of like an anthropologist just observing. Sometimes I actually say it out loud to myself: Hah, that’s a funny thought! Or, wow, that’s a strong reaction to that persons behavior!

I just want to tell you this: You are more than just your thoughts. And you can choose which ones to follow and build upon and which ones to drop. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I know it’s possible.

The greatest tool for the practice of witnessing my thoughts has always been meditation. If you’re a Swede and what some support in getting started you can download my guide here.

What are your best tools for remembering to not believe in everything going on in your head?

With all my love,

Helena

How to not lose your footing in times of stress

Don’t do what I just did ;)

Sometimes you really do teach best what you most have to learn. Meaning, all the things I talk about here, with my coaching clients, in my newsletter, on Instagram, at my talks, in my workshops and elsewhere are the things I most need to hear myself. And I guess that’s a good thing: I’m human too. Well, that’s a relief isn’t it? Haha!

I’ve been in a bit of an overwhelm for the last few weeks. It’s not really that I’m stressed, it’s just that my mind makes up all these stories of me not having enough control (=lack of faith in life in general), that I’m not enough (=forgetting my intrinsic value by just being born) or doing enough to better this world (=taking responsibility for things that are not mine to carry).

See the common thread of all those statements: enoughness. Some say that the core wound of every pain or problem in our life is the fear of not being enough. Not being worthy of being here. If we could just focus on healing this wound so much else would resolve as well.

I don’t have a one-size-fits-all-solution to this issue, cause there aren’t one. I just wanted to address it and remind you that, if you’re in a similar place as well, you are not alone. And to say I’m sorry for being absent last week due to above mind trap. And also, to let you know that I just opened the registration to my online course (in Swedish). It closes on May 15th - if you wanna know more - go here.

With all my love,

Helena