Fortunate Fridays: Just Keep Swimming edition

Hello my loves,

Welcome to another edition of Fortunate Fridays! I am exhausted today but working away. The grind wont stop cant stop. I went out last night with some friends and didn't get home until 4 in the morning (the horror!). Thankfully this only happens once in a blue moon and I did have a great time.

So anyways, as I do every Friday-- I am here to share the top five things that happened this week which I feel fortunate for.

1. Zumba with my best friend {and a new found love for the workout}: Last Saturday my friend Christina invited me to join her at her gym for a Zumba class. The dancing started off a little slow at first but then things got "serious" and I absolutely loved every second.

Last (and only) time I attended a Zumba class was a long, long time ago almost close to the time when I first started this blog. Come take a ride with me down memory lane and check out that post here.

Anyways, I enjoyed this last class so much that it even made me consider becoming an instructor. Is that crazy? If there are any Zumba instructors out there, please email me. Would love to learn more about it!

2. A busy week working in what I love: This week I was off from my part time job at the kids center so I worked full time in my consulting business and I loved every single second. I was busy (and still am) the entire week and it really made me realize that a life pursuing our passion is possible and doable. There are some initial rearrangement and 'sacrifices' that must be made but is totally worth it and I know is part of the process. Thanking the one above.

3. Reconnecting with friends and making plans: A friend of mine I haven't seen in a few month reached out to me to catch up on life and we made plans to hang out soon. Cheers to friendships!

4. Family visiting from Dominican Republic: One of my favorite cousins and his family is visiting from my mother land so I've been spending some time with them reminiscing about the old days and just doing the 'tourist' thing in New York City. Lets see what adventures we pursue this evening.

5. Dinner and frozen yogurt with co-workers: My co-workers and I decided to plan a sushi outing for yesterday and it went great. We met up at The Jintan in the city and had a good time enjoying some sushi and just talking away. The place was super crowded so our waiter was a little slow with bringing us the check at the end of dinner and with serving us water, etc. But it was totally understandable and he was really nice. Oh! one thing I didn't like was that, although delicious, my shrimp tempura rolls were huge! Please serve me something I can fit in to my mouth. No one wants to sit there cutting sushi in half. Thank you.

After dinner we all went and had some frozen yogurt at Sixteen Candles:

6. Bonus: free access to Dropbox This is a bonus because it was a life saver for me this week. After spending wasting about 1 hour at a Kodak picture kiosk, I was unable to upload any of the pictures from my DR trip because after I finished sorting my pictures the store manager and I realized the Kodak kiosk was broken. Anyways, I came home upset but one of my friends recommended I use dropbox and it worked out perfectly! I was then able to upload all the photos on Shutterfly with ease and shared the album with all the attendees of the wedding. So glad that's finally done!

***

And that's all for today. One last thing I want to share- you may be wondering why is the theme for this post "keep swimming"? Well, there is something in the back of my mind, a situation with a certain person that has threatened (and succeeded) to make me miserable and upset in the past. However, I have grown up and learned enough to know that I control where my mind goes and where my mind wonders and I am no longer allowing negative thoughts to take over my life.

I have come to the realization that "whatever will be will be". So, I have made the choice to indulge fully in the things that I love, that make me happy, that keep me going and active and Ive decided to leave everything else to God's will. Sometimes in life we need to stop trying to control every aspect of a situation and just let the situation fly and take the course it is suppose to take. would you agree?

Anyways, that's all folks. thank you for reading and have a great weekend!

Tell me, have you ever used DropBox before? has it made your life easier?

Love,
Mabelle

Mid Week Motivation 1: Five Steps to a better life

Good morning sunshines,

Happy "hump day". My workday started pretty much at the crack of dawn and I was able to enjoy this delicious breakfast.

-Organic oatmeal made w/ almond milk. Toppings: Sliced almonds, PB, Cinnamon

-Cafe w/ soy milk.

So, there is this super motivational guy I've been following for years now (probably since 2011). His name is Martin Llorens and he is incredibly awesome. His content is all in Spanish so I apologize to all non-Spanish speaking followers. You can check him out on You Tube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.

He recently launched a series of videos on YouTube and I absolutely love them. I took some time late last night after my day was over to really listen to a few of the videos and take note. One of the videos really inspired me. So, for this Mid-Week motivation, I respectfully want to share the incredible message: Five ways in which you can lead a more positive, better life. And here is the run-down:

1. Take one minute every morning to imagine an incredible day ahead and a minute each night to think of at least 3 things that happened during the day for which you are grateful for.

2. Every day make sure you take notice of all the positive things you do and say throughout the course of the day. 

3. When negative thoughts come to your mind acknowledge them and then let them go. Make a conscious effort not to dwell on negative thoughts nor feed negative emotions.

4. Accept when people try to help you. Be thankful for it. Understand that you do enough to assist others in your daily life so there is nothing wrong to welcome help in to your life as well.

5. Start creating positive affirmation and positive thoughts. If necessary, play a 'game' with yourself of always finding the positive and 'flipping' any negative thoughts that come in to your mind in to positive thoughts. If necessary, write affirmations and put them inside your wallet; make boards with positive images and place them around your home.

Some of these steps I've already followed for a long time (i.e: making poster boards, and keeping positive affirmations all over my apartment). Others I found interesting and look forward to incorporating in to my life starting today. I've been on this quest lately to transform my body, mind, and spirit in to the best it can possibly be. It is a work in progress and I look forward to getting better and better each day.

Tell me, who do you look to for motivation? Do you follow any coaches or motivational 'gurus'? Share below!

What I know for sure Sundays I: People and acceptance

Good morning lovelies,

Hope everyone had a nice day yesterday-- whether you spent it with family, friends, a special person or simply on your own; I hope it was fabulous.

I woke up around 9-ish and made myself a quick and easy breakfast:

PB&J on sprouted wheat cinnamon-raisin bread, cafe w/ soy milk.

I miss almond butter dearly but haven't been able to get my hands on a jar. Hopefully that will change soon. Peanut butter is okay but nothing compares to almond. Would you agree?

Anyways, the purpose of this post is to share a series I have been thinking about for a while. We all have life lessons; experiences we feel have taught us a lot and sometimes we feel the need to share those 'valuable lessons' with others. If you read Oprah magazine, the name of the series might sound familiar. The last page of every issue is entitled "what I know for sure" and is a space where Oprah herself shares her own personal life anecdotes, what she's learned and what she now 'knows for sure'.

I would like to kick off this series with the following:

What I know for sure:

...people are who they are. You either take them as they are or love them from a distance. 

I've had instances in my life where people showed me their true colors from the very beginning. I kept hoping these people would change either by 'magic' or influenced by me. I soon realized that's not possible. People rarely ever change their ways. If the do is because they personally want to change not because anyone tells them to. 

Sometimes people have wake up calls when is too late. Sometimes they understand their actions and make a conscious effort to be better. However, we should never take it personal if someone refuses to do better for themselves or doesn't "listen to us". We should let people be free to be who they are. Thankfully, we ALL have the power to control our own actions. Hence, whether or not we want to keep that energy in our lives is entirely up to us.

"You cannot change the people around you, but you can change the people you choose to be around".

Tell me, would you agree with today's message? Does this situation sound familiar? if so, how?