We all have unique qualifications for the passions we turn into jobs (otherwise they wouldn't be unique because everyone would be qualified in the same way with the same certifications). Experiences and events just seem to conspire to make the job the perfect fit. It seems all the experiences you had, have led you to being fully capable of the job your heart truly desired!

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Well it was definitely this way for me, I can tell you that much. As a destination retreat leader that focuses on the self-love teachings of Louise Hay I'd like to share with you how I am uniquely qualified and what my certifications are *should they interest you*.

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As a young girl, in my early twenties while continuing my education at the university, I realized, upon my return from Spain, that I wanted a full-time job to make the task of finishing school oh so much more feasible right? Well, ask and you shall receive. I applied with AppleOne, a company that helps people with certain skills find matches with employers. I was matched with a landscape architect company. From day one it was a success! They hired me and I continued on their staff for nearly 3 years.

 

My first long-term, committed, arrive everyday to "open up shop" type of job. I was the receptionist. Or at least that's how it started. It was 2007 and as the construction times had come to a very low point in the U.S., new projects for the company had slowed. Therefore, I began to wear the hats of many different roles in that company. Not only was I receptionist but I began working with the owner to write RFPs or (Requests for Proposals) for our company so we could land more jobs! I was sent out to spend the day at proposed job sites with other companies interested in the upcoming jobs. I took photos/notes and reported back to my boss. I also started planning company events and parties. I had to call different venues and inquire about their pricing and ask for a proposals from various venues to make sure I was getting the most for our company's money. 

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My role as receptionist and later, administrative assistant, allowed me to learn to interact with people. How to wear a smile with grace even in somewhat stressful situations, how to respond to and write professional emails and respond in a timely fashion to requests. I learned how to keep a schedule and how to stay organized and focused on the task at hand.

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As my roles increased to proposal writer, event coordinator and planner I also learned many things. I learned how to showcase (our) work and demand a fair price for the work our company would do. I learned the steps to create TOP NOTCH one-of-a-kind events and parties that people would remember. I learned how to find the best of the best, and the most hidden gems. I learned how to differentiate activities for the type of event I was planning.

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FAST FORWARD TO...

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Teaching. While the job continued to be awesome at the landscape architecture firm, I had an ever-growing, relentless inspiration in me to return to school for an additional year to earn my teaching credential. Believe me (as many friends and family will admit to), when I want something I GO FOR IT. Without hesitation. I'm in. I'm all in. That's how it was with this program. I immediately looked up the requirements and got myself into the program. I student taught at a high school and I had two FABULOUS guide teachers that REALLY inspired me to want to teach even more than I did before. They were both native speakers, one whose family was from Mexico and the other's from Argentina. They got me interested in the Spanish cultures of the world, south of our own border here in the U.S. (as my studies had all been in Madrid, Spain).

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I continued teaching Spanish for an additional 6 years after completing this very rigorous program. I taught in both the middle and high school sectors. I learned so much as a teacher. I learned how to plan. I learned that the MORE YOU PLAN the BETTER your plans turn out. The better your plans turn out, the more interested, excited and engaged your students (or participants) are. I learned that a lack of planning will cause a MESS. A big mess. I learned (early) on that I don't like big messes.

 

So I planned. I pinned, I researched, I created, I practiced, I read, I documented, I had students complete surveys... I did whatever I could to make my lessons intriguing, fun and adventurous for a classroom full of students, stuck in a portable classroom. Stuck in a box. I did whatever I could to get them out of the box. 

 

I learned the power of caring about your students.

"Students don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."-John C. Maxwell

 

The power of empathy and compassion when listening to students having a difficult time either in my class, with their friends, or at home. I learned that we are all created different but we all have basic human needs and desires that we are all trying to meet everyday. I learned that caring is about more than shoving information at someone. It is about spending time with them. It's about exciting something deep down in their soul. It's about meeting them WHERE THEY ARE, not where you want them to be, or where you think they should be.

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FAST FORWARD TO...

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Drinking too much. Yep. Can't be all sunshine, rainbows and unicorns now can it? Drinking to drown out my sorrow of being "lonely" and not having a committed man in my life really got me down a lot of days. And it got me into quite a bit of trouble. My need and desire for a man (be him the right man or not) really brought out my most negative and trying times and experiences in life.

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"Negative" experiences. Powerless. Unmanageable. Insane. Character defects. Shortcomings. Guilt.  

While their were many messages and stories shared in these groups that gave me hope for a new future, these are the message I don't agree with from the AA meetings I attended for over two years, of my own free will. What I wish the AA program would have emphasized is the power of SELF LOVE.

 

Below are the 12 steps of AA, for those of you who may not know them, which ran my life for nearly 2 years...and the affect shown below.

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1. Admitted we were powerless over alcohol - and that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9.  Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

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*I am NOT advocating we change the AA program or any of the other 12-step programs as they have and continue to help and encourage many people all over the world and provide a safe place for many citizens of the world to gather and share their experiences. There are pieces that work and pieces (that in my opinion only) do not.

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What I don't or didn't understand about this program, looking back on it now, is where is the self-love? Where is the love and approval of yourself? Where are you being gentle with yourself? Where are you allowing yourself to be imperfect? Where are you allowed to see your defects as beautiful and unique and how to use them in a positive way? Where is your own personal power? Where is your ability to manage? Where is the compassion for yourself? Where is the grace you could be extending to yourself? Where is your initiative and positive thinking? 

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I made some of my BIGGEST mistakes while a student of this program. I'm not saying that will happen to other people. It was a great program to get me to (immediately) stop the physically dangerous situations I had been putting myself into while drinking. However; what I see now, it did, was continue to push a guilt complex on me. Think of how many NEGATIVE affirmations are included in those steps. It's crazy. And I went to 3 meetings a week and we recited them every meeting. In roughly 2 years that was about 3,744 negative affirmations I repeated to myself! WTF?! Not to mention all the actual work I did to reinforce the negative beliefs and affirmations with my sponsor. To see what I'm saying let's rephrase them to read them as your mind or ego would:

*Your ego is not your friend but an enemy to listen to with much caution. It wants you to live in a fear based world because that is where it feels in control. Please see ACIM (A Course in Miracles)

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1. I am powerless, and I've created an unmanageable life.

2. I am insane, I have to find a Power outside of me to fix me. I'm broken.

3. I have no will. I'm a lost cause, it's better to hand it over to a Power outside of me.

4. I am very (immoral), so much so that I need to make a long list to look back on and feel guilty for.

5. I am not allowed to forgive myself for my past. If I want to, I have to tell other people first.

6. I am defected, my character is flawed. 

7. I must have these defects immediately removed from my being.

8. I am a guilty guilty being and therefore I have to make another list of all the people I've hurt.

9. I hurt so many people. Surely I've never helped. I'm always a burden or trouble. 

10. I must continue the lists. My guilt is never ending.

11. God is not within me so I must do things to remain in contact with Him. It's hard to reach Him.

12. As a result of the above negative self talk I am far from becoming spiritually awake.

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I'm sorry but NO THANK YOU. While I did manage to stop drinking I managed to make myself feel more guilty about my life than I ever had before. And guess what? Are you familiar with the Law of Attraction...? Well you guessed it, I brought on even more "guilty" situations in my life by thinking this way. While I like that the program does try to teach you about taking responsibility, it doesn't do so in a loving way (in my humble opinion).

*A long list of negative affirmations will get you on the road to more negative experiences before you can even snap your fingers.

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I am now, going to REWRITE all of the 12-Steps in the AFFIRMATIVE. I'm removing the word alcohol so you can see that it DOES have potential to be used in anyone's life. But in this way, it is a self-loving program instead of self-loathing. Positive affirmations are always: Positive, powerful, present-tense and personal! So you can rewrite these adding your own personal touch to whatever specific thing you are looking to change in your life!

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1. I am a powerful being, my life is now manageable!

2. I am responsible and sensible, I look within for guidance always!

3. My inner being is trustworthy, I listen to my own intuition with love!

4. I bless every experience I've had as they all have allowed me to grow and learn!

5. I share my many experiences with others freely, authentically.

6. I explore my darker places and find ways in which I can bring them to the light! 

7. I have so much to offer the world!
8. I love to acknowledge all I've done and all the ways I've grown from my experiences!

9. I freely open up about my past and no longer live in fear but in love!

10. Everyday I look at myself and say "I love you!" and encourage others to do the same!

11. Every moment of every day I am in contact with my inner being, guided every day in every way!

12. I am spiritually awake! I love life! I love people! I love sharing my experiences and light with others!

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FAST FORWARD TO...

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Dating another wrong guy. Yep, with all those negative affirmations, and guilt, I created more of my OWN PROBLEMS in my own life. I dated a terrible man, that had the same problem I had with alcohol...and because I refused to stay with him after his psychological abuse continued, he found a way to take my job, my house, my self-worth, my value, my respect and my identity from me.

I was broken to pieces. Torn to shreds. Ripped apart. Left for dead. Shattered. I think you get it...

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FAST FORWARD TO...

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F-THAT! I do what it takes to get back up again! One of the many wonderful amazing qualities about myself that I admire! I am a strong, fearless, driven, opportunistic woman! I am unstoppable. I am a carrier of light, my soul knew this and was waiting for my life experiences to coincide and to ultimately lead me here, as they have! I took initiative, I decided to HEAL MY LIFE!* I read Louise Hay's book You Can Heal Your Life and was INSPIRED to say the least. I started putting her techniques into practice and within less than 6 months became a licensed Heal Your Life® workshop teacher!

*(Talking about yourself in an amazing light is an after affect of immersing yourself in this 2-day Heal Your Life® workshop!)*

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As Louise says...

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"YOU MUST USE POSITIVE SELF TALK, WITH POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS AND MIRROR WORK!"

*Remember, a long list of negative affirmations will get you on the road to more negative experiences before you can even snap your fingers. Now, also remember the opposite is true. A long list of positive affirmations will get you on the road to more POSITIVE experiences before you can even snap your fingers!

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YES PLEASE!!! SPREAD THE LOVE!!!

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FAST FORWARD TO...

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Today. Today I am living my ultimate dream, my soul's purpose. I'm intricately weaving the different passions and interests I've had with both my good and "bad" experiences, all of which I am now grateful for. I'm creating a life I love, free from negative self-talk and full of positivity! And so can you! Join me on one of our next retreats to go through the SAME healing process I did when recovering from my losses (mentioned above). You will be guided by myself, a licensed Heal Your Life® workshop teacher, using the teachings of Louise Hay in her best-selling book You Can Heal Your Life!

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I ABSOLUTELY can not wait for you to join us! You are amazing! You are beautiful! You are full of so much potential that has yet to be realized or even explored! Come join me! Click the button below to view my retreat schedule and see which one you'd like to join us on!

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