Celebrating YOU in 2020

What are you celebrating yourself for this year?

If your answer right now is, "nothing", let's change that by the end of this post.

Why is celebrating so important? What does it even mean to celebrate yourself?

Our adult brains feel more comfortable skipping the celebration. We feel more responsible thinking ahead. We have perfectionist tendencies that keep us looking for more, setting higher goals.

Stop. Just stop.

It's time to re-train our brains. Because if we skip the celebration, we miss the chance to actually enjoy our life. We take all the pleasure out of the experience.

What Story Are You Writing for 2021?

If life in 2020 were a movie, what part would you play?

Would you be the comedian, making sarcastic comments and bringing humor to the darkest of scenes?

Are you the best friend, providing support and encouragement to others?

Or are you the main character, valiantly struggling on the hero's journey against the obstacles to reach your happy ending?

Today I want to invite you to step into a new role.

When it comes to your story, you are not just a character.

You are the author.

We’re on a journey of body, heart, mind, and spirit

How healthy do you think you are?

Most of us, when asked that question, go straight toward the physical: how much we weigh, our cholesterol levels, our heart health, levels of pain and mobility, etc.

Yet we are so much more than just our bodies.

We have busy, busy minds at work during all of our waking hours, and yet we are also so much more than just our thoughts.

We have amazing hearts that allow us to feel all kinds of emotions - and yet - we are more than just our feelings.

We have a soul, a spirit, and intangible part of our being capable of communicating on a level beyond our three-dimensional realm -

As humans, we are body, mind, heart, and spirit.

Our health is combined of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Coaching, Your Best Bilingual Life, SpanishSaturday, MotivationNikki BannisterDecember 11, 2020Life, Health, Holistic Health, Body, Heart, Mind, Spirit, HealthyComment

How to avoid overwhelm this season

What are you looking forward to this month?

If you're like me, when you picture the holidays and the end of the year, you picture a cozy, sparkling scene: you're in your pajamas on the couch, reading into the late morning. You don't have anywhere to be but where you want to be. Your work is done. There's a crackling fire in the fireplace, and a hot cup of coffee in your hand. Later, there will be champagne, dinner with family, and movies and snuggling on the couch. Loved ones surround you, music fills the air, and life is distilled to it's best essence.

You're relaxed. You're content. You're overflowing with gratitude and joy.

End scene.

Now, welcome to reality: it's the beginning of December, and I'm already feeling behind. This is not unusual.

Do you feel extra stress around the holidays and the end of the year?

It's so normal.

Coaching, Your Best Bilingual Life, Spanish, SpanishSaturdayNikki BannisterDecember 4, 2020Life, Perspective, Overwhelm, Holidays, Work, ProcessComment

What season are you in?

What season are you in?

It's our first rainy day in California, and the season truly feels like it's starting to change.

I could not be more excited. I love Fall and all the orange, red, and yellow colors it brings to the leaves in the trees and the vineyards across the hills of wine country. [Incidentally, I did take advantage of the fact that I live in the heart of wine country this weekend, and spent the best available sunshine hours out on the terrace or in a private gazebo overlooking the Sonoma Valley, sipping everything from sparkling to rosé to Tuscan reds with a friend. Ahh, this is the life!]

The thing about the changing season is that it reminds us that life is based on seasons: warm and cold, growth and hibernation. I don't think anyone says it better than Solomon…

Are you acting or reacting?

Are you acting or reacting?

Our reactions are natural, instinctual, and often subconscious.

They're normal and even healthy to have, like removing our hand off the hot stove before our brain has even realized it's hot.

But they're meant to be short-lived. They're meant to interrupt us enough to bring our attention to what's just happened, so that we can consciously create a plan of action.

Are you staying stuck in the reaction?

Coaching, Your Best Bilingual Life, Spanish, SpanishSaturdayNikki BannisterNovember 13, 2020Life, Perspective, Actions, Reactions, TriggersComment

What Truly Scares Me the Most

What scares you most? ¿Qué es lo que más te da miedo?

Whether because it's Halloween or Election Day, there's always something to be afraid of. The question is, how does that impact our decisions?

Fear is a constant motivator in our lives.

Sometimes we take action (or don't take action) because we're trying to avoid whatever it is that we're afraid of.

Sometimes we take action (or don't take action) because we want to confront whatever it is that we're afraid of.

How to shift your perspective and keep it all in balance

If I were to ask you how you were doing right now, would the answer be, "fine"?

I was feeling "fine" at the end of last week when I met with my book club virtually (we're an international, multilingual, anti-racism book club, so pandemic aside, we meet on Zoom!). Our leader, my friend Hanna, started us off with a quick check-in, ice-breaker style question. Her prompt to us was,

What was the high point and the low point of your week?

And it got me thinking.

Coaching, Your Best Bilingual Life, Spanish, SpanishSaturdayNikki BannisterOctober 30, 2020Life, High points, Low points, Peruvian food, Balance, PerspectiveComment

How it all works together for you

I have a confession, mis amigos.

I originally drafted my blog notes to you this week on life and language learning about finding ‘your happy place.’

I wanted to remind you that no matter what your lifestyle, no matter what you are naturally most passionate and excited about, you can successfully learn a second language and live your best bilingual life.

"Welcome to your happy place."

"When you're doing what you love, it all works for you."

Then, quite suddenly, my personal happy place I was writing from changed as the skies in California (and much of the rest of the West Coast) clouded over with a depressing new weather system created entirely by smoke and ash from seemingly countless, raging wildfires.

My Best Bilingual Life