The adventures of a photographer entrepreneur

By Ima Ortega

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
- Raymond Lindquist

The last two months have been full of hard lessons. The main lesson at the end was to understand that for new things to come into our life, we have to let go of things (including thoughts), habits, and people sometimes that no longer have a purpose in our path. At that cross road, it is hard to let go the familiar things and we need to develop courage to let go and start from cero if we have to. I can only speak for myself but sometimes I feel that I have gone through some years of my life, not completely aware of all that has been happening around me and how it affects me.  And now when I finally decided to change my life it hits me, I am now going over every aspect of my life with a magnifying glass and it is shocking what I can and cannot see.

In the last year I have clean “my closet” several times and I have had to let go many things, fears, doubts, resentments, bad habits, friends that were not so friendly anymore. It wasn’t that hard until I got to the point where I had to let go familiar things including people that no longer serve a purpose in my life. Guilt becomes a talker and letting go becomes a hard courageous task. Perhaps because sometimes we think that if we let go we have failed when the only true failure is the failure to learn from our mistakes. Recognizing that making mistakes over and over again is because I have failed to learn from my errors and adapt accordingly is imperative. This holds me back from reaching my full potential.

Successful people know that the pathway to success is often littered with failures and setbacks so stand up, dust yourself, let go those barriers that are holding you back which ever they are and make space for the new opportunities that are opening for you.

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
- C. S. Lewis  

With love,
Ima

Here is what I love doing www.ortega.ca

The adventures of a photographer entrepreneur

By Ima Ortega

It’s been hard lately, not because of things not working out, but because of the doubts that come like thieves in the middle of the night and can rob us from all that self esteem that we have been working on for so long! It happens; these moment of self doubt. But what to do when it happens?

I believe that we doubt our abilities when we compare ourselves with everyone else that we perceive is better than us. Then all hell can break loose. This is often followed by that dark place I like to call “doubt”. When this happens, I try to remind myself of recent challenges I’ve faced and overcome - even succeeded though! I think about all those past experiences where I did succeed regardless of the obstacles; and I find my courage there.

If you doubt your abilities, put them to the test so you can build up yourself worth. Do what you are so afraid of doing. Accept that there will be successful and unsuccessful outcomes throughout life. Each time you succeed, you are building self-esteem and self-trust. If you fail, remember what Einstein said “I learnt more from my failures than my successes. Without my failures, I would not have had my success.” Failure is ultimately only failure if you don’t learn from it. When we push ourselves through that wall of fear, I believe we are going in the right direction. Fear shows me where I need to go next. Freaky? Maybe. But true for me.

When we doubt ourselves, we seem to forget one of the most basic facts of life. Our uniqueness. There is absolutely no one else on earth like you. In fact, there will never be another you in this universe. Therefore, I believe, we need to trust that we are all here with unique gifts and that we are also here to actualize ourselves and succeed. Doubt and fear are two places where we can be challenged. Let them not interfere with your success!

I leave you with a quote that has helped me get through times of fear and doubt.

“At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

With love

Ima

Here is what I love doing www.ortega.ca

The adventures of a photographer entrepreneur

By Ima Ortega

I was taking a seminar the other day, and had the opportunity to physically see the impact that our thoughts and words have on our daily energy.

Jim, one of the facilitators, was demonstrating how our field of energy – aura - is really a manifestation of our internal energy. When we are happy, our aura shines and radiates light energy. When we are unhappy, the radiation decreases and the color changes as well.

To demonstrate this, Jim used a metal rod used by engineers to measure energy, a rudimentary tool but considered very accurate. When it was my turn, Jim measured my energy field after saying very nice things about me. At that point, my aura extended about 18 inches outside of my body. Then, Jim asked his wife to stand up and criticize me. I stood there and listened to what she had to say for the purpose of the demonstration. Jim measured my energy field after I listened to her negative comments, and my energy field had been reduced to less than half of what it had been. The impact of her words - regardless of whether I believed them or not - had a powerful impact on my psyche. Whatever we think or hear about us might have an impact on us, but, ultimately we have the power to either listen, or not.

In the same way that we have the power to put ourselves or others down with words or thoughts, we have the power to bring ourselves up to a very high vibration level and keep ourselves there. To demonstrate this, Jim asked me to breathe and then say with confidence words that contradicted Jim’s wife comments. He then measured my aura again, and it was even bigger than the first reading!

This experience was a very valuable lesson to me. It showed me clearly how much responsibility I have to take great care with my own thought and words. So from now on I am just going to keep thinking “I am Fabulous!!”

Like Albert Einstein once said - “Thoughts become things, choose the good ones.”

With love.

Ima

Here is what I love doing www.ortega.ca