The 10 Lessons Learned During My Life

1. When you put your heart into it anything is possible.

When I sum up my life, this one sentence stands apart from all

others. This mantra has shaped my personality, from when I was a

little girl growing up in Romania all the way to my current position

as a successful American woman entrepreneur. It has trained me to

persevere in my toughest moments and has given me the experience

to push through when most people would have given up.

I trust this phrase. God for me lives in this phrase. He protects

me and cradles me in this phrase. This phrase has taught me to

lead by example. And I passed this personality trait down to my

granddaughter, Isabella, who could utter this phrase even before

she could speak full sentences.

When you learn what this concept feels like inside your heart, you

will feel a passion like no other. Your spirit will participate in your

Life to create a new way of approaching the present and, therefore,

reshape your future. The minimal everyday task will have a higher

purpose and your milestone choices will be rooted in love.

2. Nothing is more important than your children.

I've been blessed with many gift s in my life — health, peace of

mind, a good family, good work ethic, strength, passion, and most

important the gift of all- my children. Everything that I have ever

done and all that I will ever do is for my children. I became a mother

early in life. I know that every purpose from that moment on was

set in stone. Watching my children grow into successful human

Beings has fulfilled me at every level.

Life has not always been easy to maneuver when it came to rearing

my children. At every stumble or bump in the road, at every wrong

turn, I was there for them. My strength was their strength. Their

joy or sorrow was my joy or sorrow. I had faith that through my

unconditional love, they were going to succeed in life and reach

their own vision of happiness and contentment. I never gave up

even when I was hit against insurmountable odds. I stood in the

storms of our lives and I bent like a willow in the wind. I knew that

God would work through me. I had faith sometimes blind faith that

the best would come. And it did.

In present times, I see my daughter parent her children with

the same fierce passion. I taught her that. Therefore, the legacy

that I have instilled in her will live on in the next generation — my

grandchildren. And this is the greatest gift of all to pass on — the

ability to love unconditionally and the strength to carry it through.

3. Follow through on everything you do.

A promise is a commitment to do something — to follow through

on a task, or to finish a job. The concept of a promise is that once

you've said "I promise" to yourself or others, you are bound to keep

it. When you say "I promise," it means you can count on yourself to

do whatever needs to be done to fulfill that commitment. If you do

not keep a promise, you are not being responsible. You will not be

able to count on your own word, and others will not trust you. This

is first and foremost a matter of trust.

My family, friends, business associates and employees all trust

me. It's that simple. All of these people trust me because I follow

through on my commitments. When I make a promise, it's as good

as gold. I learned this lesson early in life. And it has led me down

the path of success, love and trust. I trust my instincts because I've

learned that following through on my commitments I make leads

to all the wonders this world has to offer. This is one of the main

ingredients to being a successful business woman and a fulfilled

human being.

When you have done your best and cannot follow through with a

promise, be remorseful, be sad. It is not that you failed; only that you

failed in your promise. People want to see remorse when a promise

is broken. They want to feel that even though the commitment is

questioned, that they can trust you will do your best the next time

you make a promise.

Cultivate inner trust and it will expand outward to every person

in your life. Make promises wisely. It is the calling card of your

character.

4. There are no failures in life; only lessons that lead you

towards success.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to the things that happen

in our lives — there are only lessons. This concept reminds us that

everything that happens to us in life happens for a reason — to

teach us our lessons. Life in action is made up of two kinds of events

that tend to be viewed as either right or wrong. In every situation

Your brain reacts. When something happens in our lives, it is more

important to find out why it happened than anything else.

When we reflect on the topic at hand and we figure out the lesson

That we are supposed to learn, we can manage the incident easier

And with much less stress. Also, when we discover the lessons that

life is trying to teach us, we shift our view and become a student

of life rather than the victim. The universe presents us with new

lessons daily. When we don't know to even look for a lesson in

these times, we miss a great opportunity to learn about ourselves.

Life comes at us fast. How we react to it determines how our days,

weeks, months and years on Earth will play out. There is not much

time for contemplation and most of us just react. Contemplation

time is very important, though, but not at the time that our lives

are spinning by us.

The time for contemplation is when we are relaxing — when we set

aside time for meditation. This gives us the time to open our minds

and train ourselves to react calmly in the face of our daily chaotic

events.

Our brains learn these relaxation techniques and can turn to them

to diff use our emotions in times when our 'Not so good Mondays'

are running at full speed. We learn to turn to our quiet meditation

exercises instead of reacting to the stresses of the day. These

exercises soothe us in our time of need. Our brains begin to trust

this new pattern in handling stress. In times of meditation, we learn

to reflect on the events of our lives and ask questions on how we

can do things differently. It trains our minds to have a bird's eye

view instead of staying within the bubble of any event. Training

your brain takes practice.

In Romania, the concepts of modern psychology aren't really well

known and least of all practiced. When something bad happens,

people just react in total drama. They get stuck in this negative

place in their minds. Therefore, they never learn. Mistakes get

repeated and the process never evolves. The entire country's

mindset is like this. My family was different in this regard. Why?

Because my grandparents had lived in the United States. They knew

that life could be different if viewed from a different perspective.

The American perspective. The American way. Logic will not serve

you well in Romania. This part of the world has not evolved much

with globalization. People don't take responsibility for their failures.

Successes are also over inflated and short lived.

As Americans, we know the importance of awareness in a situation.

We value humility. The "own it so you can change it" phrase comes

to mind. Only from this important belief of taking responsibility for

all of your actions can you fix what's gone wrong in your life. When

you place blame on circumstance or other people, you also give

away the power... the great strength in your own ability to fix it.

I knew this from my family. My grandparents had been Americanized

in their ways of thinking and not a million Communist regimes could

take that gift away from them. This gorgeous and fruitful American

mindset also affected my parents' generation as well. We were

American in our spirits. It trickled into every one of our choices and

ran through our veins.

I always saw my mistakes. Instead of being stopped in my tracks by

them, I learned what not to do the next ti me I was presented with

the same scenario. I have faith in God that whatever fate threw at

me, I was able to learn a valuable lesson to guide me through other

areas in my life.

This is a big lesson. Fate only gives you what you need, not

necessarily what you want at the time. Fate knows that in order to

succeed, stumbling and failing is a part of each person's personal

process. Always look for the lesson. It's there. Find it. Learn it. It's

the most important thing of all.

5. Don't be afraid to put your faith in a higher power.

Every culture spanning our planet has some view on spirituality.

In the last century or so, science and technology have made the

belief in a higher power like God almost dismissive. The universe

we have discovered is a highly organized system of being, so how

can something that is only felt and not proven possibly exist? Well,

to those who have felt that they have a connection with God,

regardless of what religion or spiritual training they may have, the

answer is quite simple. It exists because I feel it. Faith is real. The

universe produces miracles every day. We have to believe it to see

it.

In other cultures besides our over-technologically advanced one,

the science of the spirit is real. People have been practicing it for

thousands of years. We know that every religion has its code of ethics

and that they are all based in good deeds not bad ones. We live in

a world of dualities. Right vs. wrong. To be able to have balanced

lives, we have to transcend these laws of duality and see our lives

with the spiritual third eye inside our own hearts and minds. Love

for our families and our world live in this thing called faith. Ensuring

that the new generations have what they need financially, morally,

emotionally and spiritually is important only if we have faith and

love.

At the base of all of our emotions there are only two guiding forces

— fear and love. Make sure you know which one you operate out

of. When you operate in fear, your whole life has been a series of

lost and chaotic events. When your life has been based in love, it

has been driven by your connection to your higher self — God. Faith

always leads you to love.

Having a strong faith means different things to different people.

However, that's where the differences end and the bottom line is

the same for each and every one of us — a flicker of hope, deep inside

each of us. Our connection to that tiny flame that is untouched by

our life's circumstances determines everything. Trust and strength

is built when we are aware of our connection to our higher selves.

Only from the strength of this connection can we create positive

outcomes in our lives. Surrendering to what fate has to off er us

is the magic of spirituality. When something happens to us that

throws us into imbalance, it is not fate's responsibility to change. It

is our responsibility to do whatever it takes to align ourselves with

fate's wishes and bend like willows in a storm.

Put your faith in God's hands and he will cradle you and carry you

through your life's greatest disappointments and highest glories as

if they were made of the same fabric.

6. Be passionate about everything you do.

Passion in life is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it

gets and the better it serves you. To have passion for the big things

in life, you must practice passion for the little things. As children, our

zest for life is insatiable. Children find excitement and inspiration in

their own imaginations that trickle in their games and conversations.

"I am going to the moon in the rocket I built." Or "Did you see me

jump? I jumped from here to the end of our street."

As teenagers and young adults, some of that passion begins to fade.

For some of us, it almost disappears altogether. Some of the lucky

ones out there find passion in their profession, in a business, in

being a parent, in a hobby or in a cause. As adults, we must find the

passion that is buried deep within us to have a balanced life.

Some of the most successful people in the world have always had

passion. It never dwindled in them as they grew. I am one of those

people. Passion grows inside me in abundance. Whatever I set my

mind to, I achieve it. It does not matter if it's a small daily task or

getting a building permit after a city's told me it's not possible year

after year. Passion is learned in the small details; the insignificant

daily tasks that don't really matter. It's like the gymnast preparing

for the Olympics — all of those floor exercises that those men and

women do for years and years for one shining moment in front of a

panel of judges and the whole world to watch.

Just like in life, preparing yourself to make milestone decisions

with fierce passion, you must learn to do a lot of practice runs in

the daily decisions. That's how you grow your passion muscle. If

not, the big decisions somehow mirror the little ones. The way we

handle the little decisions it seems we handle the big ones exactly

the same way.

The business owner or the executive of a major company was not

always in the position he is in today. He worked his way to the top.

His work ethic drove his passion with an intended goal in mind to

succeed. He worked at a steady pace until he reached his final

destination.

I've had the same passion in every area of my life. I've always

wanted to move forward at a nice even pace. When I was young, I

created my life with passion out of instinct. For example, "I want to

go to America. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get there,

but I will figure it out." Now that I'm older and my building era is

over, maintaining my present condition takes just as much passion

as it took to build it.

Some people believe that if only they can get that great job, the

right spouse, the nice home, they will be so much happier and

they will work hard then. No, the common consensus is to put your

passion in everything you do now. Not years from now, but now.

Our lives only improve when we become present and give today

the best of ourselves.

When we find our passion and infuse it in our daily lives, things

begin to flow. Find your passion.

7. Common sense leads to innovative fresh ideas and new

approaches to the same old stuff .

Common sense is a gut instinct. Gut instinct is a way that your

higher spirit guides you through life's choices. Our world is based

on universal truths. These truths are based in logic and choosing to

be normal in the face of controversy and rebellion. These universal

truths stand strong no matter where you live or where you come

from. Character traits like seeing the normal way to run a business,

support a friend, apologize first, learn to keep your mouth shut

even though you're scared or angry, parent a child, deal with a

heartache.

I always ask myself at the beginning of a project, "What is the final

goal? What do I want the outcome to be?" I work backwards from

my answer, always keeping the end in mind.

This working backwards from the end approach allows me to never

lose sight of my goal. No matter what the necessary steps entail

to finish the task at hand. I don't get weighed down by details. I

say to myself, "Even though it seems impossible because of this I

know the big picture is what I want and need to accomplish next

in my life." Therefore, I stress less than another person in the same

circumstance would.

Common sense also means that your communication lines with

your inner voice are so clear that ideas flow out of you like a river.

Whenever fate presents a situation to me positive or negative, I

take a minute not only to think about it, but get in tuned with how

I feel about it. It really doesn't matter if your current condition is

good or bad.

Ask yourself, "How do I feel about it?" For example, when you were

expecting an answer of "yes," and the answer you get is a definite

"no" before you let your mind judge the outcome, quickly ask

you