Loading the searchable article library…
Browse published articles attributed to Anna Aparicio, with full-archive search.
Being a woman in today’s society can be extremely fulfilling, but also challenging at the best of times. We know we should feel lucky and grateful after how far we’ve come in history. Yet, a lot of us may have taken on more that we can chew...
According to Richard Bandler, creator of NHR, most of the problems and things that people do and bad feelings that they have work automatically but they weren’t there when you were a baby. These are all learned behaviours, and when you hypnotically repatte someone what you are basically doing is teaching them not to get to what they don’t want to get. Richard says that archival memory systems always have to have up-datable memory where you put new information in front of old information.
Sugar coated insults, or backhanded compliments are insults disguised as compliments. Sometimes a backhanded compliment can be inadvertent, other times the intention is to belittle or condescend. “You drive well for a woman!”, “you’re very clean and tidy for a guy”, “wow, you look amazing in that dress, it really hides your tummy!”… most of us have been the target of a sugar coated insult or two in our lives. These can leave us confused, frustrated, even angry, and often not knowing what to do about it.
A friend of mine recently lost over two stone. She went to visit her best friend, who she hadn’t seen in a while, expecting a big reaction to her very visible transformation. What did she get? Nothing. No shock, no excitement, no recognition, no pat on the back, no “well done”… nothing. When she told me about her disappointment at her friend’s reactio I wasn’t surprised.
Do you know anyone who makes excuses for why they can’t exercise? Maybe you have been making excuses… According to research published in 2009 by the department of health, 61 % of the Irish population is overweight or obese. The ratio is 29% obese to 32% overweight. That’s a whole lot of people making excuses! Excuses rarely have anything to do with the reality of things, and often have a lot to do with a ridiculous rationalization for why one should stay fat and unhealthy.
A few years ago, I thought that mindset was about 10% of the reason for why one person would succeed, while someone else wouldn't. Then, the more I worked on myself, and the more I worked with clients, the more I thought it was like fifty fifty. Now, I believe that your success is 90% dependent on your internal state of mind. What this means is that you can't make more money, find a job, attract love, lose weight, or whatever it is that you want without first knowing what's getting in the way.
Summer has oficially arrived! With good weather come skimpy clothes, ice cream and barbeques. The streets will be perfumed with the hunger inducing aroma of charcoaled sausages, chicken and burgers. Buns will come out too, together with salads and copious amounts of beer and wine. How can you avoid overdoing it with such culinary delicatessen on offer? How do you get to enjoy the sunny season’s celebrations without overeating or destroying all the hard work you’ve put in the gym for months? All is not lost! Here’s how you can enjoy your bbqs without too much collateral damage:
“Speak well to yourself because your deep mind is always listening” I remember one evening at a boot camp session, when a fellow boot camper working out right beside me managed to slightly vex me, to put it nicely... her self-talk, which she let out for everyone to “enjoy” went on something like this: “O my god, it’s so hard, it’s so hard, it’s so hard, it’s so hard, it’s so hard...”
Today I find myself collecting spiders to use with a client with a phobia. I’d usually spend most of the time either ignoring them, killing them or sweeping them off my walls… but today I am actually actively looking for them. Who would have thought! I used to fear them myself once, but now, I really don’t see the point. Do you suffer from a paralysing phobia? Are irrational fears keeping you from living a normal life?
Ever wondered how your brain works? While we don’t know everything about it, what we do know is this: The human brain weighs about 7 lbs and is about the size of a small head of cauliflower. It is a knot of 100 billion neurons and support cells. We can store a lifetime of memories there. We use it to write a poem, build a home, hear a song, enjoy a sunset, love and imagine… The brain performs an incredible number of tasks: * It controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing
/mo·ti·va·tion/ 1. The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way 2. The general desire or willingness of someone to do something 3. *My own definition: the art of getting off your butt and getting stuff done Because here is the thing: you may have a burning desire to do something, you may have the best will in the world, you may even know all the reasons why you should do it… but if you haven’t done it yet, don’t be surprised.
In the current economic climate, we find ourselves with millions of highly intelligent, overqualified job seekers around the world fighting for the same jobs. Millions of Curriculums Vitae’s emailed every day, followed by millions of phone calls, followed by millions of interviews, followed by rejection and disappointment.
Early today I made a comment on Facebook: I tell you one thing you need in order to change your life: you need to be stronger. Straight away, I received comments saying “it’s easier said than done”, and asking “how is one to be strong when things are bad?” It is, easier said than done, and it’s not necessarily an easy thing to be strong when things are not going our way, but I believe you can become a stronger person.
Did you know that 60% of your brain is fat? THE FUNCTIONS OF FAT: - Source of energy - Building blocks for cell membranes - Building blocks for homones - Help vitamin and mineral bsorption - Control blood pressure - Regulate body temperature - Boost immune system - Optimum brain development & performance GOOD FATS V BAD FATS: - Monounsaturated fats: Nuts (not peanuts!) pecans, almonds, seeds, avocado, virgin olive oil, - Polyunsaturated fats (omega-6 & omega-3):
Why is it that some people achieve seemingly impossible things while others shy away at the smallest challenge? Why is it that only a tiny percentage of the world population go on to accomplish some extraordinary things in their lifetime, while the rest simply tick along from birth to death? I wonder what it is that we are so afraid of, and how we can break through the barriers that are keeping us safe, but not necessarily happy, so that we can go accomplish some amazing things.
Typically bad nutrition and lack of exercise are blamed as the main causes of obesity. Some say it is as easy as: if you eat too much and you don’t exercise enough, you get fat. However, experts say that theory doesn’t explain every case. Now we know that the bacteria that live in our intestinal tract could be keeping us overweight as well as causing other health conditions.
Sugar is a name given to a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavour. In food sugar almost exclusively refers to sucrose, which in its fully refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet, though is present in natural form in many carbohydrates. Other refined sugars used in industrial food preparation are glucose, fructose or fruit sugar, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maple syrup, malt syrup, honey, etc.
1/ SHOP NOW! But not for clothes girls, sorry! For food! Buy your groceries before the weekend so that you have the right foods in your fridge and cupboards. Use the PSP system: Plan-Shop-Prepare. As with anything in life, the more prepared you are, the better chance you have of staying on track. Taking a bit of time to prepare a couple of meals in advance so you can just tuck into them when you need to can make all the difference. 2 / PLAN YOUR CHEAT MEAL
Sometimes, and for no apparent reason at all, we get stuck. It’s like something breaks inside the engine of our brain, keeping us from moving forward. We feel the symptoms, we can’t seem to think clearly, make decisions, or get motivated. We wrestle with problems, understanding concepts or are unable to take action. Unfortunately, we can’t open the bonnet upstairs and fix things, but there are some simple things we can do to clear our mind and get our brain juices flowing again. DON’T FORCE THE ENGINE
Hair extensions, fake lashes, filled pouts, whitened teeth, pumped breasts, stick on nails, Spanxed hips, 6 inch heels… size ten women killing themselves to be a size eight, and size eight women putting their life at risk to be a size zero. All so we can all look like each other, be accepted and feel good. Only all the paraphe alia, wasted time and money doesn’t seem to be doing the job. Instead, it’s freaking out men and turning more and more women into insecure girls.
Anyone who knows me knows I am not a fan of winter. Understatement! Come October I turn into a bit of a bear (metaphorically speaking) and all I want to do is hibe ate. Wake me up on the first of May when the earth comes alive; when I can see the world in multicolour, hear the birds sing, feel the warmth of the sun on my face, and I can walk around in shorts and flip-flops! No amount of Halloweens, Christmases or Easters could ever make up for my beloved summer.
Every day is full of little happenings that bring us happiness: getting home form a hard day at work and slouching on the couch, a hug from a partner, a call from a friend… it is the little things that are determining factors in our estate of mind. We need these to minimise the hardships we overcome every day. But do we and should we always rely on these to make us happy? The ability to enjoy the little things in life seems to have become a rather elusive quality. We want more, bigger and better, and we want it now.
If you think that the foods you eat and how you feel have nothing to do with each other, it’s time to open your mind, and close your mouth, to certain foods, that is. I remember my recent visit to Spain, where, for the umpteenth time I heard my own mother complain about how crappy she is feeling pretty much all the time. And for the umpteenth time, I told her to stop eating so much bread, pasta, potatoes and sugary foods, or quit whining. Her response is always the same: Don’t be silly, we’ve always eaten these foods – she said. Always? – I asked.
This past year I’ve thoroughly enjoyed coaching clients starting business ventures. New coaches trying to find a suitable niche, young businessmen and women with organisational and time management issues, a lovely lady starting a franchise, a self proclaimed entrepreneur with lots of ideas but no action plan… a lot of them sharing similar fears and insecurities: Am I good enough? Do I know enough? Where do I start, and how? Is this the right time?
Women, and men, of all ages and backgrounds come to my coaching practice: singletons looking for love, young professionals looking for a job, career or life direction, business people with public speaking fears, a lot of people struggling to lose weight… The common denominator is usually low self-confidence and a lack of self-belief.
The other day a client told me he had been taking anti-depressants. I didn’t know him to be depressed, so I asked if he had been diagnosed. He said he went to the doctor because he’d been having trouble sleeping and he’d been stressed out, and the doctor prescribed anti-depressants. I was shocked to hear this. He said he’d been taking them for a few days, but that he’d been feeling even worse than before, so he stopped taking them. This I was not shocked to hear.
Lean but not too skinny, and not to muscly either. Slim hips, cellulite free and toned thighs, small calves, skinny ankles… When it comes to talking about our legs, we seem to have what we want pretty clear. We all have different body types and are genetically predisposed to store fat in different areas in our bodies. However, studies show there is direct correlation between the type of foods we eat and where in our bodies we store body fat.
Do you insist on screwing up your weight loss efforts and making sure you stay overweight and unhappy forever? Here’s 5 ways you may have been doing this: 1/ WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERY DAY: It is completely unnecessary and you will only be disappointed and frustrated. When you step on the scales, you are weighing much more than just body fat. The numbers that come up reflect the weight of your bones, muscles, tendons, organs, brain (which on its own weighs about 7 lbs!), fluids, jewellery, clothes…
“Happiness Doesn’t Depend Upon Who We Are Or What We Have; It Depends Upon What we Think” Happiness… our ultimate goal. But should it even be a goal, or a daily habit? Thousands of books have been written on the subject, seminars taught, articles published, debates debated… yet a lot of us, as Bono would say, still haven’t found what we are looking for. Is it about money, material possessions, status, achievements…? It seems not. What’s one to do if one gets to have all the things one ever wanted (not always easy but possible), and one still isn’t happy, what then?
If you think there are just not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do, if it often seems as if you are chasing your tail, if you are underperforming, or stressed out, and don't know what to do about it, this could be just what you need. To this day I am always shocked when I discover most of the clients I coach on time management have no organisational systems in place whatsoever. My clients are usually super busy entrepreneurs, self starters, business people trying to juggle career and home life... but they have no plan! And when you have no plan, anything can happen.
Do you have trouble sleeping or find it really hard to relax? Do you feel overwhelmed by people and things in your life? I am not surprised. Most people I coach are so stressed out they don't know whether they are coming or going. A lot of them sleep badly or not at all. Their eating habits are out of control. Many find it a struggle to maintain or lose weight. They also feel like life is passing them by, that they lack the time, energy, confidence or motivation to do everything they need to do.
It is that time of the year when a lot of us reminisce about what we have accomplished over the past 12 months, and, start thinking about new goals and objectives for 2012. We’ve been making New Year Resolutions since as far back as the year 153 B.C. and yet, we still have trouble with them! Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals! Here are some of the most popular resolutions you may identify with: Losing weight Getting fit Eating healthily
Intermittent fasting is a well researched way to lose weight healthily and quickly while maintaining muscle tone and boosting health. Intermittent fasting involves cycles of feeding and fasting. Contrary to what you might think, this is not a new fad or concept. Our ancestors fasted naturally when food was scarce or when they returned from a failed hunting trip. To this day, many religions and cultures use fasting as a way to cleanse the body and soul. There are multiple health benefits to intermittent fasting. BENEFITS OF INTERMITTENT FASTING
Here's part II of "New Year Resolutions: where you've been going wrong". If you haven't read part I yet, make sure you do that first! Mistake #6 Failing To Plan We say we want to do things, but often we leave it to chance, or to God… to actually get us to do them. I believe nothing happens by chance. As they saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. You need to devise a plan, fast! Otherwise, how are you going to make sure you do the things you want to do?
It’s spring! Flowers blossom, trees bloom, landscapes boom with summer colours, animals and insects awaken from hibe ation, and we…well, why not make this the time we start to love ourselves more? It’s time for Self-love!
The blockbuster movie Avatar conveyed the heart warming message that we are all connected to each other and to mother Earth. And it seems we are; maybe not in the romantic slash holistic sense I got from the movie, but in a scarily futuristic and cybe aut kind of way. It seems we flew mother Earth’s nest to move in with our lover, the Mac Book.
No, I’m not talking about the infamous and autumnal flu vaccine, even though I have already got an email and text reminder from the doc… I’m talking about a different type of vaccine; this one is made of 100% natural ingredients and has been proven to induce a quick and comforting feeling of contentment, almost like happiness itself. I prescribed it to a client a few weeks ago. He went for it and took it like a man. I’ll tell you what happened…
As humans, being rejected is one of our biggest fears. This fear sometimes keeps us from doing things that we want to do, or that we need to do in order to improve our lives. One of the inherent needs we are born with, or that maybe we acquire during out childhood, is the need to be liked and accepted.
Hundreds of books have been written pointing out the differences between men and women. Some suggesting that we come from far apart planets, it’s obvious that tour physiology differs and that since man lived in caves we’ve been brought up to fulfil different roles in society, and so, yes, we can think and behave in different ways sometimes. But we can choose to focus on all the things we don’t have in common, or all the things we share. And our results, when it comes to love, dating and relationships, will be determined by which one of these positions we choose to stand on.
When coaching clients, my focus is to help them get from where they are to where they want to be in the quickest and most enjoyable way. But no matter what challenges they present me with, most of the time, it all boils down to a lack of confidence and self-belief. People want to feel good, they want to do things to improve their lives, but fears and insecurities of all sorts blur their minds and freeze them into inaction, often for months and even years.
7 billion of us on Earth, and yet so many people feel so alone. With more avenues than ever to connect with each other, quicker than ever before, many people find it harder than ever. We can Skype, twit and poke people on the other side of the globe. So far, yet so close. So close, yet so far. We can internet date, speed date, blind date… and still, so many people have no one to love.
In such a challenging economic and workforce climate, career development means different things to different people: getting that first job, keeping your current job, returning to the workforce after a long hiatus, dealing with redundancy and unemployment, starting an entrepreneurial venture… Having personally been in all these situations, I wish I would have had a mentor back then, a coach, a book, someone or something to help me through the process more quickly and with more ease.
Ok so go with me on this… if your car is your brain, and petrol and water are the fuel that make your car run smoothly, then the fuel that makes your brain run smoothly are the foods you eat, the drinks you drink, and the thoughts you allow yourself you have. I’ve written before about the correlation between food/drink and your thoughts. To simplify, food turns into thoughts and thoughts turn into feelings. And… thoughts turn into feelings, and feelings affect your physical health. Digest that! Yes, it’s all connected. The body-mind connection is not just a yogic concept.
With January behind us and Valentine’s day fast approaching, a lot of people are starting to feel the sometimes inescapable pressure that comes with being single at this time of the year. And whilst many singletons take it in their stride, professing to be single by choice and celebrating singledom, millions of people all around the world are finding the search for true love a rather arduous task.
Do you find it hard to focus or concentrate on the task at hand? Do you ever get brain fog, can’t think clearly or retain information? Do you tend to over analyze things or get mood swings for no apparent reason? A lot of my clients do. Housewives, students, successful business people, young professionals… men and women of all ages and backgrounds experience a lot of the above only too often.
It’s all over. The festive season is behind us and it is back to normal now. Or is it? For a lot of people January is a dreary long month. Waiting for the next lifesaving pay check is bad enough, but then there are the long nights, the cold days, the new year with all its expectations, and the post christmas blues. Symptoms can range from simple grumpiness to depressing thoughts. Mood swings, feeling low, lethargy, insomnia, stress, bloatedness, sluggishness… add to those a cold or flu and there you have it: the January blues in full swing.
Have you ever failed to come across the way you wanted to when you needed to the most? Did you ever find yourself struggling to make a good impression or persuade the person you’re talking to whether in social situations, at interviews, or at presentations? Does speaking to an audience or someone new make you anxious, stammer or get all sweaty? You are not alone! Over the years I’ve helped hundreds of people with low self-esteem, lacking confidence, and not being able to communicate effectively.
Ah New Year’s Resolutions… gotta love them! Every year we swear we are going to lose weight, quit smoking, cut down drinking, get organised, achieve our business goals… we talk about it with conviction, even stubbornness… this is it, next year will be our year, starting on the first of January. Really? You are actually going to start on the first of January?! I’ll believe it when I see it! According to research only 12% of people who set new year’s resolutions actually go on to achieve their objectives.