Healing yourself

A few weeks ago I wrote about the book I read on march: The healing self . I finished the article telling you I would write a second one talking about specific actions you could work on to heal yourself. The authors suggest that you try one for each day of the week. So the book goes from Monday until Sunday. I think differently, I think that to make an habit you need to try it for 3 weeks at least. BUT, if you feel 3 weeks is too much because you will invest 21 weeks for this 7 actions, then, how about we try each habit for only one week?

If you like this illustrations, follow: lovenotemx… open to comisions and etsy shop if you wish

W E E K    1 :   diet!

I know, we even learned to hate that word… let’s change it…

W E E K    1 :   love your body and treat it nicely

How? Well:

• Increase fiber
• Switch to olive oil
• Drink coffee and green tea
• Cut junk food and remember, Whole Foods are non addictive and they do not have tags or packages.
• Multipurpose vitamin and probiotic suplement
• Avoid red meat, white bread, rice and sodas

I have already done this diet. As a matter of fact it is my current diet and the results are visible. I am not going to share a “before and after” picture that seems to be the only WRONG reason to feel motivated to eat properly, but I will tell you a few things: my stomach rarely hurts, I lost 10 kilos and have not gained my weight back, I have gained muscle and aI rarely feel tired.

Another experience I have with this is with coffee. For a religious matter I decided not to drink coffee for 40 days and this has been the first time I had constipation in my entire life. I know some people say it is bad for you and some say it is super good. That is why you have to try it yourself. Do not let a book or me tell you, try it and give your point of view from your own body, experience and perspective.

W E E K  2 : love your inner body (aka soul)

• Meditate
• Yoga
• Schedule a quiet time
• Avoid indecision stress… “Indecision keeps you in suspense, which is the same as anticipating pain; which, as we’ve alluded, it is a stressful as actually experiencing pain.”  

How to avoid it?

* write down pros and cons of possible solution

* choose the best

* negotiate (if or when others are involved)

• Have a routine (as boring as it sounds and as spontaneous as you are, try spontaneity once a week if you must) why? A predictable lifestyle builds trust (very important as a mother / parent of young children)

I would like to share some other previous experience with this. Before pandemic started, I quit my job and dedicated myself to my business and working freelance. Even when my routine was spontaneous or non existent, my son had a predictable very specific routine: wake up – school – lunch – time with mummy – bath – dinner – sleep. 

When pandemic happened, his routine collapsed. We did not have a specific time to wake up, eat or doing the delivery of my products. Due to that, his mood also changed. He was only 3 back then so, even when he was very able to express himself, we did not get what was going on. For my psychologist was easy: “have you changed his routine?”. The answer was an obvious yes, all the world was changing his routine. I even got desperate with her answer until one day my son asked me “what will we do today?”. Once I told him “we will stay at home sweetie”, he asked again with a little desperation on his voice. That’s when I understood what she meant with “routine”. So even in lockdown and working freelance,I tried to stick to one in order to give him trust and peace in the middle of chaos.

W E E K   3 : have an active life !

• Avoid having a sedentary life
• Eat well, sleep well and take your vitamins J, P and L

* j of joy… “good genes are nice, but joy is better” page 2013

* p of positivity

* l of learning new things

• Sleep well
• Embrace aging… “if you hate and fear the thought of growing old, aging will become more and more negative as time passes” page 216

W E E K  4 : stand up!

• Yes, every hour
• Walk 5 minutes for every hour you work
• Stairs instead of elevator

W E E K  5 :  new transcript

• Write down 5 core beliefs and evaluate why you believe them
• Read for inspiration
• Take your favorite role model and list their core beliefs
• Examine your negative ones (related to fear and mistrust)
• “date” someone with radically different values… why? To grow, to evolve, to open your eyes to different perspectives and thoughts about life in general.

“after an unhappy event, whether it is a bad breakup or a financial loss, we return to our set point, generally within 6 months” but sometimes it takes longer or we think we have healed but the truth is we have those beliefs or negative thoughts rooted.

You can turn negative aging thoughts to positive ones; examples:

“The best years are behind me”… change to: “I can create a better future if I chose to”

“People always let you down” change to: “People are doing their best”

“Time is running out” change to: “There is always time”

But keep also in mind that it is not being positive just to be positive, like faking it… “it tends to be superficial and therefore not as important as self-acceptance. A strong sense of self, weathers any storm” (page 217)

To get rid of negative thoughts:

1. Recognize
2. Talk to it: “I do not need you, you can go” or “”I am not that person anymore”
3. Let it be
4. Breath until it begins to fade

And remember “the earlier you face your past wounds, the better. Running away and acting out only works in the short run” (page 239) 

Note that a belief would be healing if: 

• It is flexible
• It promotes happiness
• It is loving and kind
• You gain self-esteem 
• Does not create stress

W E E K. 6 :  S A F E  (this word is not on the book, I made it up)!

• Surrender: give up attachment
• Acceptance: reality is never wrong
• Flow: approach life as smooth as you can
• Enjoy… this is purely mine… maybe life is not the ball you were planning to attend, but you are already here, so let’s enjoy dancing!

When this SAFE align, you will be living with no struggle… one misconception is that acceptance is to settle and flowing is just something rivers do. And there is a lovely analogy that follows… picture yourself in front of a river, your angel behind you. Your angel wants you to know your own strength and the meaning of flowing, so he pushes you to the river. You fall and the first thing you do is fight the current so the river pulls you down. But then, you surrender, you accept that it is a fight you won’t win if you actually fight it, so you let yourself float with the current… you flow with the river… and you end up enjoying the ride.

“Trust that life can take care of itself” (page 247) Nothing is random… everything is connected and happens for a reason… syncrhronicity.

Why don’t we flow as humans? Because we want to control it all and when we can’t, we get stressed or stress someone else, or life itself.

W E E K 7 : be more conscious.

• Look out for synchronicity
• Change your daily narrative for the best
• Be compassionate and generous
• Express love and appreciation
• Leave what you can’t control in god´s hands
• Be self aware (without it, we betray our uniqueness and fall into the masses and conformity)
• Stay away from drowners, cultivate relationships with positive people.

The goal is to find your “enlightment”, the spiritual path where you don’t know where you are going (the “pathless path”)… become a witness of your life, a calm observer.

The healing self: my notes

This will be a long read article, prepare yourselves as well as I will prepare myself to write for the next couple of hours…

The book: The Healing Self: A Revolutionary New Plan to Supercharge Your Immunity and Stay Well for Life, written by  Deepak Chopra and Ph.D. Tanzi, Rudolph E. The first few pages of the book, contain, mostly, evidence coming from experiments and highlighting facts such as:

*music can heal, as well as ur responses to pleasurable memories

*neurotransmitters live in every single part of our bodies and they also keep our mood, beliefs, expectations, fears, memories, habits and even old conditioning.

*our bodies know how to survive but they can also be taught or trained in a way

*you can consciously make choices that will upgrade your immunity. The response your body will have to any disease won´t be the same if your healing self is aware of its power rather than not.

The book could be reduced to the next phrase and notes:

“The people who manage to stay well their entire lives, and who enjoy the highest state of wellness, are people who have no trouble getting eight hours of good sleep at night, eat a balanced nourishing diet that keep a healthy weight, and who breathe easily – not burdened by stress and anxiety.” (page 31)

You can become your own placebo, you don´t even need a pill to create the placebo effect. In the end, the pill is a symbol, a powerful one… and it is on our mindset and you can activate its efect by instilling the one thing that triggers it: a positive belief in being healed. The healing belief must be convincing, have a personal meaning and dispel a negative belief. Examples: I feel safe, I am loved and I love, I accept myself the way I am. If contrary to this, you keep repeating that you are unsafe or out of control or not as loved… how do you feel by just thinking this? I already feel a bit sad and sick just of writing it down here.

First of, what does NOT help a healing process?

• depression
• worry or anxiety
• bad habits
• low self esteem
• lack of fulfillment
• loneliness
• life without purpose or meaning

How to transform your beliefs?

*1. whenever you catch yourself saying something negative, ask: “is his really true? is this helping me?”

*2. be detached

*3. for every negative belief you expose, offer 2 positive ones

*4. journal it

*5. spend more time with supportive, loving, inspiring and positive people.

An important thing is knowing yourself and being conscious or mindful, whatever word you pick to use. How to be aware of yourself? knowing yourself. Knowing you physically and emotionally… learning how to interpret the signals.

Being mindful at work:

• despite all the positiveness we have brought to the word “multitasking” it is actually not good, because it reduces your efficiency
• be relaxed and present at the moment
• mind your body´s needs: get up, stretch, move
• breathe
• your place should feel comfortable

And remember, your main goal should not be meeting a deathline BUT to enjoy your job until you reach it… having a happy day at work should be your goal

How love can heal… the book gives us plenty of experiments and life stories in order to understand this, but we can also understand this on the following quote:

“somewhere in our brains we carry a map of our relationships (…) just knowing that these are there to hold us if we fall gives us a sense of peace.”

Love can give us a sense of being protected and safe. It can also expand our empathy, compassion, forgiveness, sacrifice and devotion. A “raw” example of being protected and safe comes to my mind: when a child is scared of the dark, their parents leave a table light on. If the child has a nightmare the light won´t help, the child will go directly to his or her parents and maybe sleep in their room even when the room is in the dark? Why? because there, in their presence they feel protected and safe, loved. Now, sacrifice? whenever I thought of this word in the past, the only person that came to my mind was Jesus and that you should not sacrifice for love, BUT motherhood gave me a completely different point of view. Being a mother I understand how love sometimes is putting someone else´s good above yours. I understand it, I do it and I honor it.

The book touches what we could be doing to defeat diseases such as inflammation, heart attacks, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer. And how most of this sickness are mainly caused by stress, the pressure we put ourselves, within a sedentary routine that does not helped. Sometimes this sicknesses are “unexpressed negative emotions” (page 69), biodecodification between lines?

But how can we cut stress? There is a simple recipe:

• get enough rest and sleep
• make time for yourself everyday
• nature!
• active life
• share responsibilities before feeling overwhelmed
• do not victimize yourself
• stop self-judging

“Worry is self-induced anxiety. It solves nothing and blocks the possibility of dealing with things more positively. Complaining increases tension and anger. As a display of hostility, it encourages other people to act hostile in return. Pessimism induces the illusion that a situation is hopeless. It fosters the belief that expecting a bad outcome is always realistic, when in fact it is not.”

Let´s think of my last trip to Paris, when everything was perfect up until my dad lost (or was robbed) his passport; what do we have? unpredictability and loss of control. In the book it is called “airport solution”… I suppose because this kind of unpredictable situations happen often: missing planes, late planes, lost luggage and documents.

What did I do?

*1. detach myself from the stressor: letting my dad solve on his own.

*2. become centered: I called and messaged useful family and friends.

*3. while remaining active: I was at Disney, so I tried to move on and enjoy a little.

*4. seek positive outlet: being at Disney, this step was an easy one

*5. Rely on emotional support

*6. Escape if you must... this happened the day after, I went for a walk on my own and it helped me tons

The book also talks about mindful eating and how dieting often does not work if you are not loving yourself as you are first (because, yes, we also “eat” our thoughts in a way… and if we keep saying to the mirror “I do not like you” it will do everything to dislike you back)… “only 2% of dieters succesfully lose at least 5 pounds and keep it off for 2 years” (page 94). I am a witness of how fantasizing about “my future body” did not help until I loved the body I was wrapped in the present time. Once i did that, and thinking that I was not on “a diet”- but my body was so beautiful and admirable for everything it does form me that I should treat it like a temple and respect it with the right food – I started to lose weight and in less than a year I reached my goal. Not only that but I have kept it since 2021 and now I am focused on exercising and keep treating my body right. Things i did also came in the book:

• stop eating after being full
• less sugar and fat
• respect your eating times
• eat more greens

I started to love this “diet” the moment I stoped seeing it as a “diet” and coming to realise how many benefits were coming from eating well: no inflammation, more energy, more health… It is more being conscious of what you let yourself eat.

There is a story that moved me a lot, Britt´s: the beginning of wisdom, which teaches us what happens when one of our pillars collapses with no warning… example: sickness, being fired or heart broken. Sometimes all the pillars at the same time. What Britt, and most of us, felt was as if she has lost some part of her and she really wanted herself back. This also happened to me back in 2017 (I have an entire novel talking about this: love note). The book talks about four possible choices of the “I”, the “self”:

*outward: your social person… friends, money, career…

*private: who you are behind closed doors (at home, with your family)

*unconscious instincts: what we wrongly call “the shadow”, the “worst” inside us

*higher: surrendering the ego to keep yourself on the higher state of consciousness

The good thing of losing yourself is that it is not as losing someone else, there is ALWAYS a way back to you. The stages (that were also mine, without knowing it):

• overcoming anxiety: meditation and yoga… if your religion does not believe in this, my advice would be: pray (repetition)
• learning self-reliance
• getting back into dating (not just or only romantic dates, but also with friends and with yourself)
• find a spiritual path

You will start noticing you are on the conscious life path when:

• you help people
• notice something beautiful
• are kind
• smile
• value your private time
• enjoy nature
• forgive with ease
• make someone laugh
• feel light

Also, there is also this thought of “people never change” but there is a scottish study proving the opposite (page 165), I also do… I have lived it in my own skin. I am definitely not the same person I was 8 years ago, not physically, mentally or emotionally speaking… “we are all works in progress” (page 167)

The book also has a 7 day action plan. Though I think it will work best turning days into at least 1 week or even 3. You know what they say… when you practice something for 21 days it sticks. I am going to talk about this actions in hints, otherwise I will be sumarising the whole book. And, though I think it is interesting, I am thinking it would be more interesting talking about each in another post, once I have put it in practice on my life.

• Anti- inflammation diet
• Stress Reduction
• Anti – aging
• Stand – walk – rest – sleep
• core beliefs
• non-struggle
• evolution

If you have read my article, until here, thank you! I really hope you enjoyed my notes on this amazing book, my 7th book this year. I will put it into practice and get back to you with a new article on this last 7 days (that for me would be weeks) action plan.

About our trip: Istanbul

Istanbul was a dream from start to finish, except the nightmare of our bed and breakfast. We arrived to the AirPort and finding it very similar to Mexico City AirPort. We took a taxi to the air b & b, which has been the only horrible experience and with a b & b that I have had. In all my travels, with its only good feature: steps away from Galata tower.

This b&b was one of those in which you can enter on your own. They put the key in a safe box and you are supposed to open, find the key and enter to your home for a few days. This time the number was wrong, then they gave me the right one and ended up being empty, no key inside. I called again and they told me it was on its way, on its way took more than an hour. Then we enter and even when lovely, it was dirty, specially the kitchen. Besides that tiny complaint of “istambulians” (just made that up) hospitality, we can carry on with all the rest which is good.

Galata tower: worth visit! And it is packed with lovely restaurants, pastries and coffee shops. My favourite was “Rose papillon”. A desert you should try? kubefe fistikli, the one in picture! Can’t even describe the flavour in Spanish, but it is similar to my Italian favourite (sfogliatelle) and Mexican favourite (merengue gaznate). It is super sweet so please accompany it with Turkish coffee.

The second one is the most delicious dessert I tried to describe before…

There are two closed to each other mesquites in Istanbul ( the blue mesquite and Santa Sofia), one of them charges to enter (not worthy) the other one does not (worthy). I am not saying that they are not stunning but why pay for something beautiful when you have something beautiful for free? So this suggestion is just for the persons visiting on a tight budget.

Cruise? Worthy!

Walking around Beyoglu and old bazaar? Worthy! Getting lost in the streets? Worthy!

I don’t remember the name where Kız Kulesi is, BUT, walking around that area is also lovely!

One day we went to the Bakirkoy beach and though we were unable to have a proper dive in (because the water too cold to our sensitive Caribbean used to bodies) it was worth the trip and we enjoyed it a lot.

Honestly Istanbul was one of the most amazing and interesting experiences, from the foods their markets, the hospitality of the sellers, how they enjoyed when you dribble. On a side note: it was hard but fun for me to do… in my culture and values to dribble is not something nice to do, specially with artisans since they already give you the cheapest.

Right on the middle, the most beautiful sunset!!!

Have you ever been to Istanbul? What other places and food would you add here? I wish I had been able to write more about food but maybe next time!

About our last trip: Italy

Italy; for me, contrary to Paris, is always a good idea…

Since my dad was stolen his fanny pack (fun fact: in Mexico we call it “cangurera”, which translated would be “kangaroo bag”… in other places it is “riñonera” which translated would be “kidney bag”… so “fanny bag” for me, sounds funny jaja) and, as a consequence lost his passport, we stayed in Paris a little longer and lost 1 plane and 2 trains. Our main plan was: Paris – Milan – Como – Venice – Florence and Rome. But we could not fly to Milan because we had to report the passport to Parisienne police and to get a new one with the Mexican Embassy. My dad lost his passport a Thursday (when in Disneyland) and we report it to the police on Friday… obviously the Embassy does not work on weekends so we waited until Monday. Fortunately we got it that same day on the afternoon, we got lucky, so we purchased a plane to Venice to catch up the rest of our trip.

 

We arrived to Venice around 7 pm, had a lovely night view from Venice and dinner. I have never tried “black pasta” before… did not even knew it was a Venetian dish, but I think it is my favorite pasta now. “Pasta nera” in Italian is a Venetian dish that consists on a pasta with squid ink. When we finished, I had a coffee (obviously not a cappuccino, not aloud at that time for Italians) and when we finished they brought a limoncello. I think it was my best dinner in days.

 

The next day we walked a lot… we visited piazza San Marco, we obviously had our “gondola” ride and I purchased a messenger bag in one of my favorite colors: burungdy. Our visit ended up in a light rain and we took our train for Florence.

 

Tried not to use the typical pictures BUT gondola is a must! From top to bottom: Venice at night, pasta nera

Florence… always beautiful! Piazzale Michelangelo, coffee shops, walking around, eating pizza, Ponte Vecchio, ice cream… we did not have much time to visit museums this visit but we loved it. After having “pranzo”, we took our train to Rome, where we will stay for only 2 days. What did we do? Colosseum, Basilica di San Pietro, Trastevere, pasta, coffeeshop, Castel St Angelo, Fontana di Trevi, walking around and resting because that was the day we walked the most on our entire trip… around 30 km

From top to bottom: Piazzale Michelangelo, a view of Ponte Vecchio with an illustration of mine (you can check on Instagram: lovenotemx) and a park near my Airbnb

 

We catched an early flight to Istanbul the next morning, where we stayed for four days… catch up the rest of our trip on our new post.

 

As always, I tried no to post the typical “Fontana di trevi” picture 🙂

A little note on traveling with kids: take the stroller, even if they are 8 years old and hate it. They will love it during the trip, I promise. The only day my child walked was when we went to the picnic in Paris, we walked around 12 km and half the day he complained a little… can you imagine if he had to walk those 30 km? He would not! So, it is a good idea to take a light stroller with you, even if you are back pack traveling.

About our last trip: Paris

Everything happens in Paris. A couple of days ago I wrote a post about the books I have read this year. There, I wrote one phrase that talked about blessings, saying they come in groups of 3. That is the bittersweet feeling I have about Paris… 3 good things happen BUT every 3 bad things. Is it a cursed city for travelers as some TUMBAS are in Egypt for the ones uninvited?

Here some notes about the trip I made to Paris back in 2015… On the black side: my phone broke, I ended up sleeping on the streets and I passed a cold. On the bright side: I made new friends and they lend me some socks for the cold (I slept with them in the street), though it seemed like it was going to rain, it did not and I was able to go to the Eiffel tower.

Here some quick notes about the trip last 2024, almost 10 years later… On the black side: my dad lost his passport and money, I witness racism by a man (because he can not be called gentleman but more like racistman) on my own skin and we missed a train. On the bright side: my son was given a Mickey Mouse as a gift and we had 2 free fast passes at Disneyland and a nice french lady defended us from racism and the Mexican Embassy treated us nicely… also the police officers and our neighbour were kind to us.

In conclusion, Paris is bittersweet from my perspective. And this is not the only time… I was about to lose my son back in 2016 (but that is another story and a novel that I already published). I truly love it but hate it too. I love it because of its food, architecture, views, museums, parks; BUT #sorrynotsorry , their hospitality is their weakness. What shocked me the most was that we went 1 week before the olympics and this man saying those things… I wonder if he enclosed at home during the games…

I did not wanted to use the typical Eiffel Tower photo but I chose my highlights:

From top to bottom: art bridge, manège park and Disneyland Paris.

Extra notes:

* The day we went to manège park, we visited Lafayette and d’ Orsay museum (highly recommended if you do not have much time to visit crowded Louvre). About the park: it is quite big, it has a lake, carrousel and a lot of green. We truly enjoyed having our picnic there. Bought some Chinese and bubble tea around Lafayette.

* It is pretty simple to go from Paris to Disneyland on train. It even have mouse signals, you won’t get lost, promise.

*Please remember it has been a very long time since I have not posted about traveling, please let me know if there is something else you would like to know about our trip.

Bookworm´s Progress: reading to reach 13 this year!

My 1/4 year milestone: 6 down, 7 to devour.

Honestly, I do not know if my first 3 count, since I read them to write and they are my novels. Nota de amor (Love Note), Hasta que amanezca (Until Dawn)1 and 2, shall I count them?

Out of that, I have also read 3: Extasis, Nefertiti and Lunas de Estambul (Moons of Istanbul). I am feeling very excited because I feel like I am half the way and it is not even mid-year.

Extasis

Every single page is worthy, not only a good story but aspects to know your sexuality and a little bit about how tantra works. It is not a “50 shades of grey” novel but it will definitely involve sex on the ecuation. But, more spiritually speaking when you get through the mid and ending pages of the book.

4.5 stars… .5 out because, even when I loved the ending I would have loved what else happened after that fascinating trip to find herself. Second part please?

Nefertiti

One of those books that is fast to read. The thing that I liked the most was that it was not a tale narrated by a narrator or Nefertiti herself, BUT by her sister. It made me hate her a little bit, when once I admired her. But, at the same time, admire her more for her audacity, cynicism and strength.

I chose this book as part of my research for the last part of Hasta que amanezca, but it liked me beyond my expectations.

Here some of my favourite quotes:

“I studied the way Nefertiti held men in her power. She spoke softly, so they had to bend closer to hear, and she gave her smiles sparingly, so that when she laughed a man felt like he had been bathed in her light.”

“In Egypt there is a saying: When good fortune looks down upon us, it does so in threes, one for each part of the Eye of horus. His upper lid, his lower lid, and the eye itself.”

5 stars!!!

Moons of Istanbul

Lunas de Estambul took me two years to read. Not that it is bad, but I always read 2 in a row and some other books were more fast passed than this one. Again, it is not bad, it is a lovely book but it is one of those books that took me longer to read than expected. Here the possibilities: I read faster when books are like series… every chapter has a cliffhanger which keeps you reading non stop. And this one is more about every day life and a really brave grandma that left Istanbul and her family to go marry someone she did not even know.

What is lovely about this book? The recipes

What was lovely for me about this book? The fact that it made me think about my own family, my ancestors and my grandma. I read the last 100 pages in less than 2 days… I think I chose the best time to finish reading this book. My grandma passed away past october 2024 and she was as special (or more) for me as for Sophie (the author of the book) was her own grandmother. She wrote a book to honor her life, as I wrote one to honor my grandma´s favourite aunt: Rosita. So, I really enjoyed the last pages, felt as if it was my very own story and smiled. I am also happy that my grandmother did came to know about my last novel, the one I did for Rosita: Hasta que amanezca. She did not have the time to read it, beause I just showed her the pages the day I went to registered it. I will always treasure that smile in that restaurant, my mother´s words: “it looks like a bible” (talking about the number of pages) and her words: “we really do have a writer in the family”. She was always so proud of who I was, of who I am. Always expecting and hoping the best for me. Always stitching my wings. I am crying while writing this. Yes grandma, I am a writer, your writer. And you will forever be my patron and inspiration. And now, my angel.

4.5 stars… Sophie really sticked to her grandma´s life… and sometimes life is slow paced, I know… those are the big commas in the book… the big commas that did not t have me reading in a row. But well, you know, you do not always have to want to read a book fast, sometimes you have to savor it, like a dish. So, honestly I do not know if it should have 5 stars because it is a lovely book!

About our last trip: Spain

Such a long time I did not write a post about traveling. The past years I did have travel, but they were “easy” beach travels and Disneyland. Shall I post about that? My beach travels: a cruise and the other one was Los Cabos.

Back to the last ones… the trip was supposed to be as follows: Mexico – Madrid – Barcelona – Paris – Rome – Milan – Como – Venice – Istanbul. BUT! Something happened in Paris and the plan had to change a little bit. Here the part one of our trip:

Madrid was lovely, but something I have to say about the food for tourists is that paella was awful on the two places I tried it and these was in the city center, so a bit of a shame. But the “torta española” never deceived me no matter were I tried it. Also, if you happen to be mexican or been to Mexico and tried “horchata”, please never try it in Spain. I remember it was horchata of something else but it was terrible. Wish I had written down the name but I forgot. Also, to save some money, we stayed in an Airbnb out of Madrid, in Moralzarzal and it was supposed to be close and to have a bus that will take you out of and to Madrid but it happened to arrive every half an hour and the schedule was a bit weird so we ended up spending more money on uber than if we had chose a hotel or Airbnb in the city center of Madrid. Also, something fun: not even one uber knew the location of Moralzarzal, they were always like: “what is this place? I have never been”.

Barcelona was our Spain favourite. We stayed near the beach in Arenys de mar. We could easily move in train to the city center, we could walk to the beach… and, even when Arenys is tiny, it is one of those places filled with cute coffeeshops and restaurants in front of the beach. About the beach: when you are from Mexico it is hard to love beaches because we have amazing waters and sand, BUT it was quite nice, the sand was okay and the sea was super clean and had a beautiful colour.

A place I would like to recommend to eat at Arenys is: lanovabakery

From top to bottom: Madrid, Arenys, Barcelona. For me this were my highlights.

If I happen to find the full name of the horchata you should not try I will come back to edit my post. Also, if you would like to know something else, do leave a comment and I will add it. It has been a long time since I did not post about a trip, so I think I might be missing out some things. I feel like I wrote too little.

What about kindle?

It has been a long time so far (once more)… but, on the bright side, 2024 was a great year for me as a writer. I have written and published 1 book and 1 children´s book (that I also illustrated). And this year? my book has been translated to english. You can find it on amazon. I will add the links to this books bellow.

Now, back to the main reason of writing this article: KINDLE. You know, if you are a reader of my posts, that every single year my goal is to read 13 books but it has only happened once and if I recall well, it was during pandemic.

I am on a writer´s club and I asked them their thoughts on KINDLE and they convinced me to own one. And one day, during an amazon sale, the matcha KINDLE (that happens to be one of my favourite colours) was in promo so, on no second thoughts, I purchase it.

My thoughts so far? 6 out of 5 stars… So far I have read 3 books (and april is not over) so I might fulfill my bookworm ambitions this year. And, trying to figure out why I am reading 3 books by april and I could not do it on the past years, I got to 3 assumptions or conclusions:

1. sometimes I forget the book
2. sometimes it is too heavy for my bag
3. I am one of those readers that enjoy reading two or three books at the same time, and you can definitely not carry them all in a small bag

So, the main reasons why you should get yourself a KINDLE:

1. you won´t forget it, as you don´t forget your phone ever. Just try to leave them next to each other
2. it is light as a feather (I might be exaggerating but well, it is not as heavy as a book)
3. you would be carrying 3 books for the weight of one third of a book
4. an extra: the books will be sometimes even half its regular price

I hope you find this tiny article helpful.

here the links:

nota de amor (spanish)

love note (english version of “nota de amor”)

mi primera luna (spanish children´s book)

3 books this year (so far…)

So by now you would probably know that I no longer write as much as I did before (JUST HERE) because I have been super busy with my brand, children´s books (illustrating and writing them), the second part of HASTA QUE AMANEZCA and a brand new novel: NOTA DE AMOR. Hopefully soon they will be translated to english.

Now that I have used good enough excuses, here is my post for this Saturday:

This year I have read 3 amazing books. Lately I have been focusing on myself, my soul growth and being okay from the inside so that magic could happen (and keeps happening) in my life. The books I have read this year are: LOS LENGUAGES DEL AMOR (the languages of love) by Gary Chapman, LOS CUATRO ACUERDOS (the four agreements) by Dr. Miguel Ruiz and ESTE DOLOR NO ES MIO (it didn´t start with you) by Mark Wolynn.

L AN G U A G E S O F L O V E

So, on languages of love. Wow. This book helped me so much to get to know my love language and the language my son, family, friends and past boyfriends have. It made me realise so much about love itself and how important it is to communicate and know your love language. But, of course, first you have to ACTUALLY KNOW IT.

I will go really deep and personal with this one.

¿My love language in the past? My order is: affirmations (this is how I fell deep with the guy that broke me in little pieces), followed by gifts (preferably books, flowers or love notes), acts of service and physical touch. I honestly perceive them all as important. It was hard to know which one I could live without. Important to know that they can change with time. Now affirmations are not so important for me because I have realise I needed them because I needed validation. Amazing how when you go deep inside you and know the reasons why, you stop needing them. You just need them from the person reflecting in the mirror, that inner voice that has been with you the whole time.

With this book I also learned how people have hurt me in the past… words, ice treatment, quality time not present. Because of this, I also learned about what I would like love languages in present time.

Affirmations: I even did it with strangers (you know how weird I can be sometimes) and it was lovely to see them smile just by saying them their dress or hair was nice or looking good.

About quality time: I think it is important to start with yourself. Yes, having quality time WITH YOU. In my case it is Wednesdays, it is my day to write (this week swapped to Saturday), paint, go to a museum or to the movies. Once you have done that time for yourself, comes your partner (and, if you happen to be mom, your little ones), followed by family and friends.

On acts of service: learned that I am not a fan doing all of them but if I have a nice reaction to them, I would happily do it again if needed. BUT, I love people being there for me.

Gifts: ohhhh how I treasure them, but also learned that not everybody will accept them. That made me sad because, to me, it talks about how “unworthy” they feel and I even had a few conversations with one of my beloved ones about it. You have to accept gifts, why not accepting them?

Last but absolutely not least: physical touch, even if it just holding hands, hugging or kissing. How important, is it not?

What I did, is that I did an experiment in which I practiced the languages for one week with my beloved ones, and I registered their reactions, graded them from 1-10 (in which 1 was a sort of “mmmmm…” or whatever and 10 was seeing them or perceiving them super happy). That is how I learned theirs. And it is also lovely that it actually feels good making others happy with your affirmations.

T H E F O U R A G R E E M E N T S

I will be brief or concise with this one. This is so helpful with relationships and life. It makes it more simple in a magical way.

First agreement: be impecable with your words. Be clear, say what you mean. This will save you from a lot of “wars” and “battles”.

Second agreement: do not take everything so personal. THIS IS SOMETHING I ALWAYS TEND TO DO. Changing just since I read this book. ALWAYS ALWAYS think that everything was done to hurt me, to punish me, to teach me something. And no, the world really is not about you, it is about the rest, it is actually a WE, an US. We truly are ONE but each ONE has their own way of thinking, their own life, their one limits and it will NEVER be personal. What the others do or stop doing talks about THEM, NEVER ABOUT YOU.

Third agreement: do not assume. THIS IS LINKED WITH THE PREVIOUS ONE, SO IT WAS A “TREND” IN MY LIFE AS WELL. An example: did not message me when we had a coffee date this week… the brain starts to work: “being rude, does not want me anymore, has better things to do…” and you do not stop to message: “hey, what is going on? will we meet or not, so that I can organise my weekend.” as simple as that… and stop thinking “what ifs” that are not even there.

Fourth agreement: always do your best. But do not over work it, or over think it, or over exploit it.

I T D I D N ´T S T A R T W I T H Y O U

Have you ever had a pain, sickness or “soul pain”? I am sure we all have had at least one of this. So this book goes through this pains and how they happen to be genetically inherited… yes, just like we have our auntie smile, or we laugh just like our mom or have certain gestures of a family member we never met.

It also has excercises through the book that helped me profoundly to heal a pain that truly was not mine.

FIVE STARS +++ all of them, my favourite? hard to decide! but maybe the 4 agreements because it is “easy reading” and very practical in your daily life, any situation and to find inner peace.

Illustration: love note, instagram: lovenotemx

2023 FAVOURITE BOOKS

Wow! more than a year without writing here… the reason why is I have been writing 2 children books, the 2nd part of my novel, Until Dawn and a new novel that will be out soon!

Anyhow, I haver read less than half the books I wanted to read past year but they have been real good ones…

The power of the now was my favourite this year, followed by 5 love languages. Lately I have forgotten completely about reading my usual, novels, because I am in what world loves to name by “spiritual awakening” which from my perspective is really just being more conscious on who you are, what nature has given you and living the present. It is tough for me, being a cancer, I am used to day dream and think about expectations, more love expectations… but this past year I have learned to embrace the present, what I have know, with the confidence that abundance and good things are coming their way.

The power of the now is basically about being present… with that you forget any pain from the past… any future fear. The best thing I did this year to confirm that is that I went on holiday without my phone. I took a new one only my parents and brothers have with only whatsapp… forgetting about messages, social media or email. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! We should do it at least once a month for at least two days. I really was living the present. Yesterday I saw on instagram a video of a guy talking about the Paris welcoming to the new year and how shocking it was to see everyone taking a video of a screen instead of enjoying the cound down with their loved ones… well guy, I lived it in present time… I saw mom, brother and his girlfriend making a video of the count down of the screen on our holidays while I was staring at the screen trying to make eye contact with my loved ones. And, the only one free of a phone in her hands, besides myself, was grandma and my son sleeping. I immediately went to hug here and then the rest of my family got it.

The power of the now does not mention this but I am adding a bit, DO LIVE THE PRESENT. The present is not on your screens, is in the eyes of the person or persons you are with. Or on your brain if you are on your own. Or even on strangers you can get to meet.

5 love languages was a great book. Have not finished it, few pages missing. And no, I am not currently with someone but the whole book was a great one to get to know my language of love and my loved ones (past lovers, family and friends). So if Mr. Darcy has not knock your door jet, lucky you! because you have to learn your love language and get to know yourself better first!

Have a present 2024 filled with magic and love!