personal growth

Enlightened by Bravery > personal growth
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Two New Zealand Star Experiences That Drove My Love For Astronomy

By In brave, New Zealand, personal growth, self awareness, travel508 Views

Bright. Plentiful. Stars are just everywhere. Unfortunately, growing up in New York City meant that I really didn’t get to see all the stars that exist in our night sky. The highest I ever counted was about nine from my dining room window, though I am pretty sure that five of those ‘stars’ were actually airplanes because stars don’t usually blink red and white right near John F. Kennedy Airport, right? No, no they don’t.

Living in New Zealand, though, that number went from “nine” to nine-hundred (and quite possibly to nine-thousand) fairly quickly. I felt comfortable with the first one hundred, but the more they appeared at night, the more scared I started to become. I had, what you would call “astraphobia,” the fear of stars and space. And the feeling was real. It was like I was a cavewoman and someone lit a torch in front of me for the first time. You can’t process it. You feel threatened. You feel like you don’t know what to believe. Camping in the middle of farmlands and mountains and being surrounded by pitch dark and little lights in the sky was just scary. Read more

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Tony Robbins UPW: How It Changed My Limiting Beliefs & Life

By In brave, confidence, new beginning, personal growth155 Views

 – – part 3/3 – –


CONFRONTING MY LIMITING BELIEFS:
Post Tony Robbins’ UPW seminar, things seemed pretty clear to me. I mean, talk about immersion; you were non-stop working on you, day after day, four days straight. Forget eating and sleeping. You didn’t really need that. The energy was all in you and you alone. I opened up to total strangers who became some amazing friends. Those amazing friends, in turn, opened up to me about some things they were going through. It didn’t matter where we were from, what the color of our skin was, or if English was our first language or not: at the core of it all, we were humans with emotions and our own set of goals (remember, there were 42 different countries represented in one arena!).

It showed me that, as a community of support, we rise; we are all here to help each other on this earth. We can all learn from each other. Overall, the seminar taught me that we all need to listen to our most inner desires, pivot our mentality to “can-do” and go after what we were seeking for a more positive, true and meaningful life.

Remember that deep exercise I shared in my previous post that we did, where Tony made you think about something that was a limiting belief and how it would affect you up to forty years from now? Well, to share with you candidly, my limiting belief was Read more

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Tony Robbins UPW: I walked on fire– literally.

By In brave, confidence, personal growth105 Views
personal growth

 – – part 2/3 – –

 

THE SEMINAR:
If you read the previous post about who Tony Robbins is and how his Unleash the Power Within seminar came into my life, then you’re all caught up for this next post that goes into what I experienced — and what you would, too, if you go!

The seminar is about four days in length at around thirteen hours on average per day.

Day one of registration was filled with a super long line outside of the Prudential Center. Hundreds of people all ready to get inside and start. I remember walking in, passing security and seeing everyone high-five each other left and right as I made my way over to the check-in table. As I signed in, the volunteer handed me my packet filled with Tony’s latest book, a workbook and some goodies. As soon as he let go of the bag —I will never forget this— he smiled at me and said:

“Great! You’re all set! Now walk through those doors and make a right. Oh, and remember, as soon as you walk through those doors, life will never be the same again.”

I looked at him puzzled, but thanked him, smiling back and proceeded to walk through the door. They asked me to grab a button that would set the intention for the day. Amongst a whole wall of pins, I knew which one stood out to me the most: brave. I grabbed it and proceeded to find a seat.

And there I was, walking into the Prudential Center arena, to join 39,999 other people from around the world (42 different countries represented) for an event I don’t think many expected. Seats were all getting filled quickly. Music started to blast like it was a club. “Where am I? What am I doing here, alone?” is what I thought; I found my way to a seat and gave out a giant “GULP.” Here we go. Read more

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Tony Robbins UPW: What It Is and How It Came Into My Life

By In brave, confidence, personal growth160 Views

 – – part 1/3 – –

Tony who? Maybe you’ve heard about him, maybe not. I never knew who he was but, at the time of writing this post, I can tell you that he helped change my life.

With a brief introduction (you can read a better description of him here), Tony is a “life/peak-performance coach” that is highly admired by so many people around the world. He’s worked with Presidents of the United States, Olympic athletes and has been working on his craft for over forty years. He started from nothing and is a successful multi-millionaire today. Oprah’s interviewed him for Super Soul Sunday and you can find him in many Forbes articles– Warren Buffett being a close friend of his. If you want a one-on-one session with him, prepare to get on a three-year waitlist. And, while you’re at it, get that one million dollar fee ready.

Yes, it sounds like a big deal and the fact that I got to go to one of his seminars was absolutely a blessing– in total disguise. It is something I am eternally grateful for and have decided to dedicate the next three posts to this life-changing event as part of a series. Read more

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Why I Stopped Blogging for 6 Months

By In brave, confidence, lifestyle, new journey, personal growth, What is Enlightened By Bravery?71 Views

Why I started Blogging:

The only thing constant in life is change and when I started this blog three years ago, that’s exactly what I wanted to capture: how things in my life were changing. This personal blog started with me standing up to anxiety and tracking how my learnings were helping me further develop into a wiser, less-anxious person. As things naturally changed, I changed. I became mentally stronger and mentally healthier. I finally started to find my groove and became open to all of the possibilities of enjoying life as a result of being brave. Sure, many things in life cause fear and I am fearful of many things; but, when you’re brave, you recognize that you’re afraid and you do it anyway. THAT was what started to help me on my journey.

So imagine all of the amazing things that happened when I started to take care of myself and my mental health? I had new opportunities to travel and collaborate with tourism boards & properties across the U.S., meet new people and build great friendships, be a part of experiences that I didn’t even realize were possible (I’m looking at you 13 New York Fashion Week shows along with the insane beauty-pampering events that revolved around them), getting more into photography (I am a huge iPhoneographer) and getting the balls to finally stand up for myself and speak up for what I wanted in my corporate job. For all of these things and so, so much more, I am forever grateful. They all allowed me to go on some amazing adventures that I didn’t even think were ever possible, while learning some lessons that I needed to learn.

Why I stopped Blogging:

And then one day, my wonderful husband contacted me about an event; it was an event that changed my life and one that I will forever be thankful for. I attended a Tony Robbins event that made me question my role here on earth. It was quite the experience– a very positive one, I should mention– but one that unearthed so many questions. That post (that describes my experience even deeper) is coming within the next 2 weeks and I cannot wait to share it, as if you ever get the chance to attend it, I HIGHLY urge and recommend you to. Yes, that life-changing. But, along with this beautiful event, came roughly 6 months of heavy self-reflection and soul-searching. I knew that I needed to step back from blogging because, at that point in my life, nothing was really calling me to post things. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love fashion, travel and everything in between; however, I felt like some of the things I was doing was just on auto-pilot, with not much intention– I was just doing. And, listen, doing is fantastic! It means movement. But there needs to be a conscious doing. There needs to be a reason why you are doing something and you need to be in that action, be in that moment at 100% attention.  I enjoyed seeing everyone else post and blog away, but I was left not so certain. I, suddenly, wasn’t feeling the same way. So I stopped, because why force things if they weren’t there? I was questioning everything. How could I, so confused and not super passionate about what I was producing, possibly share any clarity on any specific subject matter?

I needed the time for me. And as selfish as that may sound, I’m not sorry because it allowed me to really think about life, re-evaluate my efforts, be a student, observe, relax (in the sense of putting less pressure on myself) and be more in the ‘present’ with family & close friends. All of this made me think about who I was, where I was going and what I wanted to offer. It was a beautiful experience as I got to take my own ‘pause’ and give myself the attention that I so needed. No pressure, just loving me, myself and I. And guess what? I learned so much!! Friends, from this point forward, get ready, because I’ve thought and thought and though, and I’m ready to bring you all some even more awesome, exciting, and inspiring posts than what you’ve seen on here before– fully intentional, fully present, and fully 100%.

Why I will Continue Blogging:

With that said, I want to help continue to inspire anyone who comes across my blog to be their best darn self. Because life is short. Because you don’t need to deal with BS. Because you DO have the power to make your life your own. It’s what I learned even more so from the event I attended and one that helped me continue to unlock my hidden passions. If you’re new to the EBB site, I am so happy to have you here. If you’ve been following for a while, welcome and thank you for coming back; your support throughout these years have been nothing short of amazing. Being able to share my journey has been nothing less of a gift and I appreciate all those who choose to follow and share with in this journey as your support is what makes me keep going! All the time! <3.

EBB promotes positivity, confidence and seeing the positive, learning opportunities in everything we do.

Future of Enlightened By Bravery:

With that said, being your best healthy self for all of your best healthy adventures remains top of mind and the future basis of EBB, which means more posts on:

  • Feeding your mind: thoughtful posts that strive to be of inspiration for a healthier state of mind (most likely through my own personal experiences and things that I see around me, but only posts that I think will help others out there (this won’t turn into a ‘dear-diary’ ;)), just like it was when I first started my blog. Mental health is so important and I want to help keep sharing ways to reduce anxiety and enjoy life to its fullest. Books, meditation, breathing techniques.. it’s all going to be here!

 

  • Feeding your body: more focus on delivering the latest for a stronger, healthier body (inside & out!); this can include my latest health discoveries/obsessions (think adaptogens(!)), recipes, workouts and much more! I have suffered from many digestive issues within the past three years that lead me to being more curious about foods, their medicinal powers, and creating a complete holistic lifestyle. Takes some work, but the benefits are incredible!

 

  • Feeding your soul with curiosities and beyond: I love when my soul feels fulfilled after an amazing experience, especially when it comes from travel. No matter where I travel, a little piece comes back with me and stays with me for life. Experiences like these are exactly what I want to share with you all! Get ready for some more amazing well-curated travel destinations/ideas that aren’t just picturesque, but also leave you inspired. From learning about history, trying a french-and-cheese class, to dancing (just because it just makes you feel so darn good), we will together explore many of life’s bounties that are just waiting to be tried as we continue to feed our soul all the amazing things we ALL yearn for and deserve.

I want to build a community of people who are ready to stand up for that they believe in, ready to have the most amazing experiences in life, ready to live in a positive state, and ready to be their best, authentic self. There is no holding back, just more thoughtful, present, beautiful moments. So let’s do this!! Yes, US!! This new year will be our year– let’s get it!

xx,