It felt as if the day of my trip to Israel had snuck up on me. I had not prepared a thing. I had planned to get to the bookstore to buy a guidebook since I had purchased my plane tickets without ever making it to the store. On the plane, sitting amongst funny people with black outfits and swirly hair locks, I decided to leave this trip to fate and to Franz.
I had a funny feeling about this whole vacation because it was just too weird how my friend Franz had called two days after I had “manifested” my ideal boyfriend. Let me explain the whole manifestation idea.
After my life coach had asked me if I had a strategy to get into a relationship and I had given her a blank stare, I had conducted a thorough investigation amongst friends and professionals where I discovered that several strategies existed. Suddenly finding my soul mate became top priority. I therefore proceeded to put into action the different techniques and strategies to make the right guy appear in my life.
According to one friend, the “secret” was the way to go. The secret consists in getting a fresh rose and placing it on my night table and stating morning and night: “I welcome love in my life and I am ready for love.”
The second strategy involves setting up an “altar to Love” in my bedroom. According to Feng-shui, it needs to be in the right hand-side corner opposite to the door when you walk in.
My coaching teacher as well as a New Age book advised to write down the qualities and values of Mr. Right on paper in order to attract the right guy.
Marianne Williamson’s book that I am currently reading offers an excellent prayer to attract Great Love.
Finally, my angel cards told me to wear rose quartz.
Committed to the plan, I said my prayer religiously, applied the secret, built an altar, wrote 3 pages of how Mr. Right should be and I got myself not only rose quartz, but a heart-shaped rose quartz necklace to wear at all times.
Like I said, it was only two days after I had started this whole project that Franz had called me out of the blue. I had quickly checked my list of criteria and sure enough, he met a good portion of them. So in addition to the motivation of seeing the pyramids and Petra, I had that hunch that I needed to get myself to Israel ASAP and check out what Franz was up to.
I arrived in Tel Aviv at around 2 a.m. about a week ago and - no sight of Franz. I had waited about half and hour when an exuberant girl from L.A. and a nonchalant Israeli spotted me and explained that they had come to pick me up. As it turned out Franz had a terrible pain in the butt and couldn’t make it to the airport. Two days later, I was taking him to the E.R. to get emergency surgery.
While mending his ass wound, it became clear that Franz had been called into my life for me to learn about religion. So instead of finding Great Love in Israel, I found out about Judaism.
Franz being out of commission, I spent three days of intense sight seeing with a couple of Americans in Israel – one on a religious path and the other on a military vacation. Like Jesus, but by car, we roamed around the country visiting holy cities, meeting rabbis, kabala artists and healers. We sang, prayed and performed the Shabbat rituals. We ran into a 98 year-old street singer and danced the hora around him. We met an Auschwitz survivor. We got our fortune told by a Jewish Yemenite organic pizza maker. We said our prayers at the opening of Shabbat at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem (after passing through metal detectors).
Ever since I got here, I have been in a constant state of awe and disbelief that I am actually living these amazing experiences totally unrelated to getting into a relationship (or starting my own business for that matter); yet so relevant with the way my life has unraveled since the beginning of 2009. As the Yemenite mystic read into my eyes, I am slowly letting go of material things and making my way down the spiritual path.
The moral of this story is: Although my soul mate has yet to manifest himself, I’m having one hell of a trip.
Next on the agenda, the Pyramids. Or so I think.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
yep, pyramid it is.
In the end, the decision really wasn't that hard to make. I'm going on vacation. Next Monday. For two and a half weeks.
Things just come up sometimes and it's best not too think too rationally. I would have missed out on seeing Tel Aviv, the Dead See, Jerusalem, Petra and the pyramids - and my good friend the private eye – had I focused on the financials and my business-to-be.
For those who have not been able to follow, I am starting my own business. (As Philippe would say : “did I miss a step? oh yeah, of course I missed a step – I’m talking to Patricia.”) I went through many phases since I moved back to Switzerland before finally settling for starting my own business: Get a job; start my own business; get a job; get a part-time job; start my own business; get a job; get a job for sure; start my own business.
Starting my own business didn't feel quite right until I reviewed my resume to look for a job. I showed it to someone and that person said: "you're all about sports." It's true, my entire professional career has been about sport. I got a college scholarship through basketball. I played professional basketball. I worked for a fitness equipment company. I had my own basketball player management agency. I worked for an athletic footwear company. So it hit me: I can start a coaching business about what I know best. I show athletes how to carry over what they learned in sport to the “real” life and how to have a life while playing sport. That's the two aspects of sport that have had a strong impact in my life and that I feel passionate about.
When I was playing basketball, I struggled with the lack of balance in my life. I devoted so much time to sport that I left my personal development for later. I also focused so hard on performing that, many times, I forgot that playing basketball was first and foremost a game.
Once I retired (I love that word - it sounds so serious), I felt lost. I realized that my circle of friends revolved around basketball and that once I left, I didn’t feel like I belonged anymore. I lost my identity. I had always been Patricia the basketball player and suddenly becoming just Patricia felt odd. I quickly replaced "the basketball player" by "the director of communication". I devoted as much time to my professional career that I had to my athletic career, leaving personal development and other important aspects of life, once again, for later.
It is only about eight months ago that I started to re-evaluate the importance of family, relationships, social life, personal development, spirituality, finance and health and to put them in the center of the picture where they belong.
It was a long and slow process to get to a feeling of balance, and a lot of letting go. First I was let go by someone I had loved and stuck with for many years. Then I let go of the job. Breaking these two emotional ties somehow set me free and things began to fall into place.
It was like an gigantic shift had happened. I suddenly realized I wasn’t lonely anymore: I had so many dear friends that were there for me in Boston, in Charleston, in Miami and in Switzerland. I became aware of how much my family mattered and how much I missed them. I got the money I needed to accomplish my projects. I went on a spiritual path and healed. I found faith along the way and got to appreciate that life is so much easier when we follow our heart and let it guide us. I finally had time to read all the books I had been dying to read. I got to travel and meet amazing people. I got a solid education in coaching and a fresh chance at starting in a new direction.
Taking another vacation sounds like a big joke considering that I’ve been on “vacation” for so many months. It really is and I’m sitting here laughing because I’m so damn happy. Life is good.
Life is good.
Things just come up sometimes and it's best not too think too rationally. I would have missed out on seeing Tel Aviv, the Dead See, Jerusalem, Petra and the pyramids - and my good friend the private eye – had I focused on the financials and my business-to-be.
For those who have not been able to follow, I am starting my own business. (As Philippe would say : “did I miss a step? oh yeah, of course I missed a step – I’m talking to Patricia.”) I went through many phases since I moved back to Switzerland before finally settling for starting my own business: Get a job; start my own business; get a job; get a part-time job; start my own business; get a job; get a job for sure; start my own business.
Starting my own business didn't feel quite right until I reviewed my resume to look for a job. I showed it to someone and that person said: "you're all about sports." It's true, my entire professional career has been about sport. I got a college scholarship through basketball. I played professional basketball. I worked for a fitness equipment company. I had my own basketball player management agency. I worked for an athletic footwear company. So it hit me: I can start a coaching business about what I know best. I show athletes how to carry over what they learned in sport to the “real” life and how to have a life while playing sport. That's the two aspects of sport that have had a strong impact in my life and that I feel passionate about.
When I was playing basketball, I struggled with the lack of balance in my life. I devoted so much time to sport that I left my personal development for later. I also focused so hard on performing that, many times, I forgot that playing basketball was first and foremost a game.
Once I retired (I love that word - it sounds so serious), I felt lost. I realized that my circle of friends revolved around basketball and that once I left, I didn’t feel like I belonged anymore. I lost my identity. I had always been Patricia the basketball player and suddenly becoming just Patricia felt odd. I quickly replaced "the basketball player" by "the director of communication". I devoted as much time to my professional career that I had to my athletic career, leaving personal development and other important aspects of life, once again, for later.
It is only about eight months ago that I started to re-evaluate the importance of family, relationships, social life, personal development, spirituality, finance and health and to put them in the center of the picture where they belong.
It was a long and slow process to get to a feeling of balance, and a lot of letting go. First I was let go by someone I had loved and stuck with for many years. Then I let go of the job. Breaking these two emotional ties somehow set me free and things began to fall into place.
It was like an gigantic shift had happened. I suddenly realized I wasn’t lonely anymore: I had so many dear friends that were there for me in Boston, in Charleston, in Miami and in Switzerland. I became aware of how much my family mattered and how much I missed them. I got the money I needed to accomplish my projects. I went on a spiritual path and healed. I found faith along the way and got to appreciate that life is so much easier when we follow our heart and let it guide us. I finally had time to read all the books I had been dying to read. I got to travel and meet amazing people. I got a solid education in coaching and a fresh chance at starting in a new direction.
Taking another vacation sounds like a big joke considering that I’ve been on “vacation” for so many months. It really is and I’m sitting here laughing because I’m so damn happy. Life is good.
Life is good.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Pause
It’s been a while since I sat down and wrote. This morning, I drew one of my angel cards and it said “Pause – you’ve been doing too much lately and you need to slow down.” I got annoyed.
How can I pause? I’ve taken it easy ever since I moved back to Switzerland. The pace here is already slower and on top of that, I’ve been taking it one day at a time accomplishing each day maybe one task off of my long to-do list. And one task is on a good day.
But then a little voice inside my head said “look closer at what you’ve done” and suddently it hit me: Bumble bee has been in full action. Who am I kidding?
If I summarize my life since I last wrote, which was on February 11th – brace yourself – I’ve moved along. A few days after that last post, I was back in Miami. I stayed there a month. Just enough time to get a bunch of degrees in coaching: life coaching, business coaching, weight loss coaching and social emotional intelligence coaching. I also was attuned to Reiki, which basically enables me to open a practice should I choose to. I spent some time with my friends there and hopped on the plane back to Switzerland.
I stayed there a few days and flew with a friend to Lisbon for a long weekend. It was not quite your relaxing weekend. We visited the city from morning to night and both my friend and I were going to some transition time, so we spent a lot of time talking or in deep thought.
I came home from Lisbon in awe from that city. I loved the way it stayed authentic, almost untouched by major hotel, restaurant and shopping chains. Life there seemed modest and simple. Besides the awe, I was also in a state of panic. What next? Where do I start? Job? Apartment? New business? What did I get myself into?
That’s when I got the “Pause” card for the first time. Now I get it periodically or other similar cards such as “Retreat” and “Slow down”. I do get the message. I do. Now, how do I do that?
It seems that no matter what I get myself into, I end up spinning myself in circle until I and everyone around me gets dizzy. I clearly saw that look of dizziness when I told my mom this morning that I was thinking about visiting my friend in Israel…
And then I pulled that “Pause” card. But my friend talked about going to Petra, Jordan to see the temple from Indiana Jones and to Egypt to see the pyramids! How often do you get an opportunity like that? I always wanted to see the pyramids!
Did I misunderstand the card "Pause"? Should I pause the set-up of my business and check out the pyramids instead? ...
How can I pause? I’ve taken it easy ever since I moved back to Switzerland. The pace here is already slower and on top of that, I’ve been taking it one day at a time accomplishing each day maybe one task off of my long to-do list. And one task is on a good day.
But then a little voice inside my head said “look closer at what you’ve done” and suddently it hit me: Bumble bee has been in full action. Who am I kidding?
If I summarize my life since I last wrote, which was on February 11th – brace yourself – I’ve moved along. A few days after that last post, I was back in Miami. I stayed there a month. Just enough time to get a bunch of degrees in coaching: life coaching, business coaching, weight loss coaching and social emotional intelligence coaching. I also was attuned to Reiki, which basically enables me to open a practice should I choose to. I spent some time with my friends there and hopped on the plane back to Switzerland.
I stayed there a few days and flew with a friend to Lisbon for a long weekend. It was not quite your relaxing weekend. We visited the city from morning to night and both my friend and I were going to some transition time, so we spent a lot of time talking or in deep thought.
I came home from Lisbon in awe from that city. I loved the way it stayed authentic, almost untouched by major hotel, restaurant and shopping chains. Life there seemed modest and simple. Besides the awe, I was also in a state of panic. What next? Where do I start? Job? Apartment? New business? What did I get myself into?
That’s when I got the “Pause” card for the first time. Now I get it periodically or other similar cards such as “Retreat” and “Slow down”. I do get the message. I do. Now, how do I do that?
It seems that no matter what I get myself into, I end up spinning myself in circle until I and everyone around me gets dizzy. I clearly saw that look of dizziness when I told my mom this morning that I was thinking about visiting my friend in Israel…
And then I pulled that “Pause” card. But my friend talked about going to Petra, Jordan to see the temple from Indiana Jones and to Egypt to see the pyramids! How often do you get an opportunity like that? I always wanted to see the pyramids!
Did I misunderstand the card "Pause"? Should I pause the set-up of my business and check out the pyramids instead? ...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Resident of Planet Earth
“Oh you live in Switzerland! What a beautiful country!” That’s the usual comment I get when I say I’m Swiss from pretty much anybody in the world. What these people don’t know is that in Switzerland lives a fairly large amount of crabby people, especially in the Swiss administration. Nice people, but crabby. It takes some serious perseverence to get through that crust of crabbiness and get, say, hum, a smile.
When I set foot in Switzerland, I had clearly intended on making this experience a positive one. I have so many memories of coming back from the U.S. and feeling completely shrunk and trapped. It usually took to see the customs officer square face and to hear his Swiss accent to bring me down.
This time felt different. My parents were waiting and there wasn’t that weight of the expectation that I had finally come home for good. Over time, everyone around me has learnt not too say “for good.” That’s just very unrealistic.
We grabbed lunch at a smoking restaurant (always a shock) and visited grandma on the way home. She was happy to hear that I was coming home “for good” and quickly corrected herself with a smile.
At home, to my surprise, my parents had anticipated that it would be difficult to be back and had entirely remodeled my old room. They made the walls bright yellow and orange and installed a sink and mirror so that I would have somewhat of independence. I felt immediately at home.
The following morning I proceeded to take a quick shower and… completely usde up the hot water supply for the day. There might need some readjusting to do from both sides.
I called the town hall to see what documents I needed to bring in order to register with the authorities, then walked there. The clerk is notoriously grumpy, so I wore my biggest smile and best intentions. But nothing gets through the grumpiness of that man. Not even, “how is your daughter” whom I know since I was little. (All I know of his daughter now is that she is “just fine.”) I was sent home and asked to come back when I had all my documents ready. So much for calling ahead.
So right now, I’m a resident of nowhere or an alien as the Americans would say. I like that! Wouldn’t it be nice to live without a passport? Without boundaries? Simply be a resident of planet Earth.
When I set foot in Switzerland, I had clearly intended on making this experience a positive one. I have so many memories of coming back from the U.S. and feeling completely shrunk and trapped. It usually took to see the customs officer square face and to hear his Swiss accent to bring me down.
This time felt different. My parents were waiting and there wasn’t that weight of the expectation that I had finally come home for good. Over time, everyone around me has learnt not too say “for good.” That’s just very unrealistic.
We grabbed lunch at a smoking restaurant (always a shock) and visited grandma on the way home. She was happy to hear that I was coming home “for good” and quickly corrected herself with a smile.
At home, to my surprise, my parents had anticipated that it would be difficult to be back and had entirely remodeled my old room. They made the walls bright yellow and orange and installed a sink and mirror so that I would have somewhat of independence. I felt immediately at home.
The following morning I proceeded to take a quick shower and… completely usde up the hot water supply for the day. There might need some readjusting to do from both sides.
I called the town hall to see what documents I needed to bring in order to register with the authorities, then walked there. The clerk is notoriously grumpy, so I wore my biggest smile and best intentions. But nothing gets through the grumpiness of that man. Not even, “how is your daughter” whom I know since I was little. (All I know of his daughter now is that she is “just fine.”) I was sent home and asked to come back when I had all my documents ready. So much for calling ahead.
So right now, I’m a resident of nowhere or an alien as the Americans would say. I like that! Wouldn’t it be nice to live without a passport? Without boundaries? Simply be a resident of planet Earth.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Transition Flight
As I sit on the plane that is taking me back to Switzerland, concluding my Bostonian experience, I reflect on the transformation that I have gone through over the past couple of months. You joke that I keep it moving and that it’s hard to keep up with me. I just like to keep you on your toes. Maybe some think that I am half crazy and unstable, but in your eyes, sometimes, I detect a tiny little spark of envy!
Friends recently told me that they would love to spend a day in my shoes – that it would be a memorable experience. That was after I told them that before moving out of Bay Street, I had bought a “moving kit“ from U-Haul and the kit was so big that I had to put it on the back seat of my Mini Cooper and drive home with the top down by freezing cold weather, acting like everything was normal while stuck in traffic. This incident actually sums up my life pretty well: not so logical, not always comfortable, slightly absurd but always adventurous!
My point is, I’ve gone through a lot of illogical and silly phases to the eyes of many, but really everything pretty much came on time and in an order that, at times, made a lot of sense to me. It began many months ago when I just couldn’t take my job any longer, when Boston didn’t feel like the place to be anymore, when a long-time relationship abruptly ended and when I was feeling pain in my abdomen again. It was time for a drastic change.
But when you decide that everything you are currently doing is not in line with your beliefs any longer, it’s hard to figure out where to start. So, there were trials and errors.
One thing that I learned in Sedona was that it is pointless to try to “figure things out”. No good. You gotta “feel things out.” That’s the key to making the right decisions. So here it is guys: I’m moving back to Switzerland because it’s what feels right, right now.
In terms of jobs, I have absolutely no idea what I’ll be doing and where. We shall see what comes my way. I already received leads for opportunities from some of you and I’m very thankful for that. Keep them coming! ;)
I want to go back to school I told you. That, I still want to do. But guess what? I changed my mind on the subject… After reading many, many, maaaaaaaaaany books, I feel like the environment is a calling. There is so much to do to save our planet. But I also read mind-blowing books about spirituality, sociology, business, meditation, sustainable business, etc. I feel that there is a need to look at the environment and the way we interact with it in a more holistic manner.
I didn’t think there existed such a Master somewhere until Silke came across a program offered by JFK University called “Integral Study.” It’s the study of pretty much everything I’m interested in that prepares you for a new approach on either politics, health, religion or business. So that’s the next step, prepare myself for politics. Unless… I have a change of mind!
In the short term, I have no plans for what I will be doing. The only thing I know is that my parents are picking me up in a few hours at the airport in Geneva. I like that plan. It’s been a while since I was picked up at the airport in Switzerland. It’s a nice feeling of coming home.
Friends recently told me that they would love to spend a day in my shoes – that it would be a memorable experience. That was after I told them that before moving out of Bay Street, I had bought a “moving kit“ from U-Haul and the kit was so big that I had to put it on the back seat of my Mini Cooper and drive home with the top down by freezing cold weather, acting like everything was normal while stuck in traffic. This incident actually sums up my life pretty well: not so logical, not always comfortable, slightly absurd but always adventurous!
My point is, I’ve gone through a lot of illogical and silly phases to the eyes of many, but really everything pretty much came on time and in an order that, at times, made a lot of sense to me. It began many months ago when I just couldn’t take my job any longer, when Boston didn’t feel like the place to be anymore, when a long-time relationship abruptly ended and when I was feeling pain in my abdomen again. It was time for a drastic change.
But when you decide that everything you are currently doing is not in line with your beliefs any longer, it’s hard to figure out where to start. So, there were trials and errors.
One thing that I learned in Sedona was that it is pointless to try to “figure things out”. No good. You gotta “feel things out.” That’s the key to making the right decisions. So here it is guys: I’m moving back to Switzerland because it’s what feels right, right now.
In terms of jobs, I have absolutely no idea what I’ll be doing and where. We shall see what comes my way. I already received leads for opportunities from some of you and I’m very thankful for that. Keep them coming! ;)
I want to go back to school I told you. That, I still want to do. But guess what? I changed my mind on the subject… After reading many, many, maaaaaaaaaany books, I feel like the environment is a calling. There is so much to do to save our planet. But I also read mind-blowing books about spirituality, sociology, business, meditation, sustainable business, etc. I feel that there is a need to look at the environment and the way we interact with it in a more holistic manner.
I didn’t think there existed such a Master somewhere until Silke came across a program offered by JFK University called “Integral Study.” It’s the study of pretty much everything I’m interested in that prepares you for a new approach on either politics, health, religion or business. So that’s the next step, prepare myself for politics. Unless… I have a change of mind!
In the short term, I have no plans for what I will be doing. The only thing I know is that my parents are picking me up in a few hours at the airport in Geneva. I like that plan. It’s been a while since I was picked up at the airport in Switzerland. It’s a nice feeling of coming home.
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