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Happy New Year and my Favorite TEDxtalks for you

1/4/2015

As a way to say Happy New Year to you, my tradition is to share with you the list of my favorite TEDtalks, here they are all for you.

Yesterday, as I was flying back from Miami with my pup, Wellington, I was reminiscing how 2 years ago, on January 3rd 2013, the recording of my live TEDxtalk was uploaded and published here on the TED site - to date it's been seen close to 200.000 times and my guess is you've probably seen it before :)

I want to thank you especially for sharing it with your loved ones as a way to support them in their healing journey, and in experiencing even more freedom and health in their lives. "There are choices that we make that define us, and there are moments that we hope never will".

As I was sharing with an old friend recently, after my TED was released, I crashed and I discussed it in this interview - that crash certainly caught me by surprise, which challenged and stretched me beyond what I could imagine.

Lastly, if you or a friend of yours have ever had questions about how to book a TEDxtalk, that same interview will come in especially handy!

I share this in partnership and with my sincere wishes for a wonderful New Year,
Pina

In loving memory of my pal Marcus Howe, the talented filming director of my TED: you changed my life Marcus - what an angel...

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No Athlete Slows Down in the Last Lap, a.k.a. the Best Friend Process

12/28/2014

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This blog was posted by TheNewHollywood.org on 12/18/14, and shared here with you. To read it in its entirety, click here

As you probably know, 92% of people do not keep their new year's resolutions, so this is for you if you want to be way more effective than that!

Today, my dog Wellington and I drove from the East coast of Florida to the West coast of Florida, and my main thought during that drive was to send you tonight THE power questions to powerfully completing the year, revealed here for you .

Last week we flew to FL for the surprise engagement of two dear dear friends (congrats again Alexis and Chris!!), and decided to stay in the beautiful Sunshine State to finish writing my book this week.

Here's to your powerful completion!
In partnership,

Pina

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SniffingOutCancer.com

10/2/2014

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This blog was posted by TheNewHollywood.org on 10/02/14, and shared here with you. To red it in its entirety, click here

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What is on YOUR Bucket List? From Santorini With Love.

8/28/2014

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What is on *YOUR* #BucketList? I wanna know!!

Who wants to tell me after you watch this 26sec video I just recorded for you with love from Santorini island?! :-)

I look forward to your comments here below <3

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Cannes Film Festival & how does Wellington fly ON the plane?

6/17/2014

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<----Wellington on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2014

A couple of weeks ago, Wellington and I returned from the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France where we attended with a team of amazing women and a short film in competition ~ the theme of the short was the power of kindness, and it was written/directed/produced by women :)

Many of you have wondered how does Wellington travel ON the plane?
He's a great traveler and pretty much naps throughout the entire flight. On the last day of our trip, we visited 4 countries in 24hours!

Here below is a 29s video showing you how Wellington flies ON the plane.

Wellington on the flight back from Cannes to Los Angeles (via Denmark and Sweden).

Us in Cannes, Italy, and Denmark in May 2014

Wellington has been to many places where very few dogs have been, such as the Cannes Film Festival, meditation retreats, broadway shows, the Waldorf Astoria, Las Vegas, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and various conferences (and vacations) around the US and the world.

As a service animal, I do not need to purchase a seat for him. And also, as I fast him the day before flying, there's no need for him to go to the bathroom on the long flights ;-)

Here's an idea that I'd like to see come to fruition:

I'd love to see one airline (to start with) give all the service dogs like Wellington frequent flyer miles, and allows the dogs to then "give" those frequent flyer miles to a charity of their preference...say it’s a kids related charity, this would make it possible for that charity to fly their kids to wherever they'd like to go. If you like this idea and you happen to know a higher up at one of the major world airlines, I would be happy to connect directly with them to explore mutual synergies and see how we could possibly turn this idea into a reality, thanks! Pina@GratitudeInternational.com

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Crazy or Fat?

4/2/2014

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Crazy or Fat?

How many times have we been faced with an either/or choice in life and neither option A) or option B) is cause for rejoice?

It seemed my two choices were crazy or fat and neither was appealing to me…There HAD to be door Number 3!

While I was recently focused on optimizing my health, I noticed that even though I increased the intensity and frequency of my workouts, and was eating healthy, I did not lose any weight in over 4 months - zero - nothing was moving!

Around that time I had entered full blown menopause at 41 (after having been been in early peri-menopause since my late 30s) —and oh boy, that hit me out of left field - nobody warns you what happens to your body, mind and spirit when you go through menopause…

Post by Pina De Rosa.

It literally felt like the floor had been taken away from under me, I spent many weeks of not feeling like my myself -feeling cranky, traversing a very unfamiliar space, I did not want to be around people, most of the time I was thinking “I don’t care and I don’t care that I don’t care” which, if you know me, that's pretty crazy actually!!

Here’s the self-sabotage I was able to uncover:

Having your TED talk come out is supposed to be a pretty good thing, right? Dare I say an amazing thing…an honor?

Well, it surely was, and yet, after my TED talk came out -1/3/13-, I started crashing, and next week is my full recovery - here’s what happened:

My TED is the kind of moment in life we’ve all experienced….that moment where we share a story we have never shared before, a story we are afraid to share because if we do, we think others will think less of us, and we will quite possibly die of shame… but after my initial resistance in sharing this story, I decide to do it to do it any way as my intention is to support people getting to experience even more freedom and health in their lives.

As a result of sharing that story on that world-wide stage, I surprisingly started feeling so vulnerable knowing "that the rest of the world knows that story”...I’d walk into a room and say to myself “oh good, nobody here has seen it” (which obviously makes no sense as all my social media efforts were focused on having the talk seen). Then when I’d walk into a room where a few (or all) of the people had seen it, even though I *knew* that was the intention, my body started to feel unsafe..

too visible…

..so the old self-sabotage started again!

I put on weight and started repeating my same disempowering subconscious weight-gaining negative pattern that I described in my TED. And even though I was eating healthy and exercising, 2013 was months and months of self-sabotaging behavior…

After the Summer, as part of (and with the help of) one of the electives in my women’s philanthropy goal group spearheaded by my friend Brianna (http://www.TheNewHollywood.org), I committed to regaining my body back once and for all in the space of 12 weeks - we even put money on the line, and that money went to charity.

Because we all know that to get drastically different results we have to be ready to do something drastically different (I guide my clients in that, daily), well...I did something I had never done before (because I had never seen the usefulness of it, frankly), I hired a trainer...not just any trainer, I researched the right type of trainer, an expert in the field of nutrition & fitness competitions. I started exercising differently than I had, I started losing the weight and was feeling quite satisfied with the shift: went from 29% to 21% body fat in a matter of 8 weeks. I was feeling like I was finally winning at the game of getting my body back.

Right around that time, I started seeing a naturopath to regulate my whacky menopausal hormones, chose a holistic path of bio-identical hormones (the ones that do not give you risk of blod clots, breast cancer, or stroke - a plus, if you ask me).

I noticed that I started feeling better, feeling like myself again, but for over 4 months, even as I increased the intensity and frequency of my workouts with my trainer, I did not lose any weight.

Could it possibly the bio identical hormone replacement therapy I was on? Were my two choices crazy & fit, or happy & fat…?

I was talking about this with my friend Laura, and I said to her if my choices are Crazy or Fat, there HAS to be door Number 3!

Where is that option C)? Where else in life do we feel that it’s either A or B? Like we can have finical freedom but we have to give up time with our loved ones and work 60+hrs/week…or we can be an artist, but then we are a starving artist, or perhaps that we can’t have both spiritual and financial abundance - how about A *and* B? What’s that next step to create that?

How about turning option A) *and* option B) into option C)?

I went back to my doctor and requested more blood work (as it turns out one of my other levels was off and when we adjusted appropriately), my exercise intensity and weight loss started to match up, and I finally started to drop again, down to 16% body fat now. Oh yeah, cuz in the mean time, I did something that pushed me completely out of my comfort zone (see FB post below).

My fitness challenge ends next week week, then I go into maintenance; having been silently resigned for years due to what I shared in my TED, being now a lighter weight & a healthier shape that when I was 18 years old was unpredictable for me…my "after" pictures and my weigh-in are 10 days…and, after 25 years, getting to wear those black velvet pants now is a most grounding and fun part of Phoenix Rising journey... #blackvelvetvictorypants

What’s your option C)?
...I'd love to hear it and if you need any support with it, feel free to reach out :)

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The Day I Totally Lost It ~ Sobbing Without Understanding

3/14/2014

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Sweet Nonna Anna
March 14, 1916 ~ Sept 14, 1999

That Fall day, in that little church not far from Pompeii, I totally lost it - sobbing without understanding: How could she die the morning she was finally being released from the hospital?? - I had just spoken to her the day before and she said she'd see me soon ~ my plane ticket to go back to Italy was already booked to fly out there in 3 weeks...this was beyond comprehension..I mean dying on THE day she was being released??

After 6 weeks in a few hospitals (she had been transferred a couple of times) she was finally being discharged, and she had just told my grandpa that morning "I'll see you at home soon"....I didn't get it. I didn't want to get it - it made no sense to me. It couldn't be!! It seemed so unfair. (I was 27, still operating in that paradigm..)

My grandma Anna helped raise me and taught me the quality of tough love, compassion, discipline, fun, hard work, laughter, sweetness...all qualities that I hope to remember/express when I most need them :)

When October came and I finally made it to her native little village, a myriad family members gathered at the local church for the 1 month memorial service of her passing and I just lost it, sobbing uncontrollably there at the altar, so much so that after giving me lots of space & plenty of time, my mom had to pry me away... I left that church numb, mad, and sad beyond words.

As there are so many of us in town for the memorial service of Nonna Anna, there is no room for all of us to stay with friends and family, so my dad, my 5 & 6yrs old little sisters and I are staying two nights at a hotel nearby.

My 6yrs old sister and I are sharing a room and we wake up super early the next morning, which is uncustomary for us, so we decide to go to breakfast without waking up dad and baby sis who are still sleeping. The hotel is serving a magnificent continental breakfast and we are standing in line at the fancy omelette bar, happily waiting to be served.

Suddenly a deep pain comes into my left foot and as I look down, there is blood gushing, I mean gushing, everywhere! I look at my little sister behind me to make sure she is ok and, as I fall to the ground, she has the forethought to rush out to my dad's room to go wake him.

A hotel guest who is also having breakfast, a dr. from NY, rushes to me to apply a tourniquet and tells me "your artery has been severed, you are bleeding profusely and we need an ambulance; your tendon is also likely severed, you cannot walk, you need to be put on a gurney and transported out immediately". Sadly I never get his name, I wish I could thank him personally for saving my life that day.

I translate for him, the ambulance comes, see that the bleeding seems to have momentarily been contained and the EMTs ask me to walk to the ambulance, the NY doctor says no way, but as he does not speak Italian, so I am translating for him and the EMTs think I am exaggerating and tell me I should just walk to the ambulance because getting the gurney into that breakfast room will be a little too complicated for them.

After much back and forth, as I feel getting weaker and weaker from the continued blood loss and the zero food in my system, I do something I've rarely done: I literally yell at them to "get the freaggin' gurney down here, do your job and carry me on it to the ambulance - please", at which point they listen and they rush me to the local hospital, where family members follow me. This is my first (and last) ambulance ride and I have absolutely zero memory of it.

After I get checked in at the ER, and then admitted for urgent surgery, before I land on the operating table, I get moved around a few floors, transferred here and there as part of the pre-op... Now, I've never been in surgery before, but I am pretty sure you are not meant to be left in an empty hallway outside 2 shut elevators, waiting on a gurney, alone, in the dark by yourself, with no one around you (remember it's 1999, so no iPhones or anything of the sort).

All I know is that in that moment I feel what my Nonna Anna must have felt "get me out of here!!"

Eventually a staff member finds me, I do end up in surgery - they are able to reattach part of the tendon, but they cannot reattach the severed artery, so they simply seal it (huh?); my parents come see me in the recovery room and say the doctors have advised I stay one night for observation.

Against the doctors’ (and parents’) recommendations I sign myself out, I will not stay one minute longer in this place and go convalesce at my aunt's nearby house for the night. I cannot wait to get out of that hospital, and it's not even been 24hrs...I cannot imagine what those 6 weeks must have been for my grandma. And in that moment, I completely understand why she chose to leave, and I am at peace with that, and fully honor her choice.

Needless to say my fresh scar opens during the night and starts bleeding while I am at my aunt's house, so I get rushed to the hospital again, where they patch it up, and off I go...airlifted back to my dad's home, followed by 6 weeks of bed rest and daily syringes in my tummy to ensure my blood does not clot. Physical therapy, re-learning to stand, walk, drive...

All because one busy waiter in a far-away hotel was carrying two fancy crystal carafes filled with fresh OJ, accidentally hit them against each other, causing the base of one of them to break off in one thick single piece that fell sharp and deep on to the mid section of my foot.

Sometimes, especially when we resist the unfolding of life, it takes something sharp and deep to get the lesson, and accept...and allow...and welcome the unfolding ~

Good bye to sweet Nonna Anna. Your spirit is always with me, especially today as it would have been your 98th birthday...thought about you lots today, and often since your passing almost 15 years now...Thank you for teaching me SO much, especially the value of tough love, compassion & consistency amongst so many of the great virtues you embodied.. You were/are such a deep impact, that when I recently became a US citizen and was given the option to have a name change, I added yours, Anna, as my middle name. Thank you for raising me and always being with me. To our grandmas!!

(after my grandpa passed too, I asked my family for the clock in this picture ~ I love seeing hang it on my wall and reminding me to accept, allow and welcome the unfolding of life)

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My Birthday Gift To You.

1/29/2014

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Wellington's birthday was last Friday (he turned 9), and mine is today (double the legal age!) ;-)

I am taking this re-birth-day off to get grounded: went to Malibu to enjoy some solo writing time this morning, then hiked by the Hollywood sign with Welly, and one of my dearest friends. Don't you just love the restorative powers of quality quiet & meditative time in nature?

Here's my little gift to you:

Have you ever experienced a depth of spirituality and unconditional love with a pet? Would you like a simple way to deepen that even more? I was recently interviewed on the fascinating topic of "Pets in your Spiritual Practice" by Annika Martins, the host of "spirituality on YOUR terms". It just so happens this interview is being released today. Click on the picture, and you will see it there!! Enjoy :)

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Happy New Year and my Favorite TEDxtalks for you.

1/3/2014

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As a way to say Happy New Year to you, I thought to share with you the list of my favorite TEDtalks, here they are all for you:
http://www.ted.com/profiles/1605105/talks

A year ago today, on January 3rd 2013, the recording of my live TEDxtalk was uploaded and published on the TED site - to date it's been seen almost 200.000 times.

As I was sharing with an old friend recently, after my initial resistance in sharing my story on the TEDplatform, I started feeling extremely vulnerable knowing that the rest of the world knows... I so appreciated everyone who let me know my TEDxtalk touched them in some way..The encouragement and the many amazing stories I heard from people who could start on their healing journey allows me to fulfill this TEDxtalk intention: to support people in getting to experience even more freedom and health in their lives.

It caught me by surprise how unsafe/visible I felt whilst (and since) sharing this story with the world, how challenged I've been feeling in my sense of freedom, and how I noticed I started struggling again with my health right after I gave my TEDxtalk live...I started to feel unsafe feeling so visible, and it went on for some time ~ then finally found what could turn it around in the empowering direction, and succeeding in maintaining that focus. We never stop learning and growing...hmmm...

This TED brought the healing of that trauma to the 'you shall heal this now' level and boy it's been stretching me.. Thanks for letting me share and much love to you on your journey and expansion!

If you haven't seen it before, or if you'd like to share it with your loved ones, my TEDx talk is clickable here :)

In loving memory of my pal Marcus Howe, the talented filming director of my TED: you changed my life Marcus - what an angel...
Pina

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The Best Friend Process: 9 simple questions to powerfully complete the year!

12/23/2013

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No athletes slow down in the last lap, eh?!

As we are about to come to the close of another year, I've been working with 9 simple questions to powerfully complete the year, and prepping the creation of a new amazing year ahead...
I call this "The Best Friend Process" and I've thought to pass it on to you:

Why do I call this "The Best Friend Process"?
Well...You know when you don't see a best friend for quite sometime, you notice the (+/-) changes immediately?
It's harder to get that same sense of perspective about ourselves because we see ourselves every day...

So... as you look back to Dec 2013, imagine you are your own best friend and you have not seen yourself in 1 year, then go ahead and take a moment to answer these questions for yourself..I will be doing that myself in a special notebook this week, and would love to compare notes with you.

Here are the 9 questions:

1. What specific results have you achieved so far this year?
2. How are you healthier, wealthier, wiser?
3. How are you winning or just holding ground?
4. What results are you committed to achieve by the end of the year? (make these last few days count, no athlete slows down in the last lap..)
5. How have you grown and what have you learned this year?
6. Is there any unfinished business that needs to be tended to in your life?
7. How are you actively pursuing what's most important to you on a daily basis?
8. What habits or behaviors do you need to change to ensure even better results? (you can use the "SKSfactor" for this one**)
9. What is the key issue that inhibits your ability to perform at your best? ("SKSfactor" great on this one too..**)

..a simple way to help you think of your answers, is by looking at any (preferably each) of the 8Fs:
family
fitness
finances
friends
faith
fulfillment
fun
food
(These are not to limit you, they are just to help you think of things)

**and remember, you can always use my "SKSfactor" to keep it simple for all the above questions (especially for 8 & 9)
with the "SKSfactor", you choose 3 simple things:

one thing you will Stop doing
one thing you will Keep doing
one thing you will Start doing

If you feel there is an area in which you have failed this year (mildly or big time), check out this 30' seconds Michael Jordan video I chose for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc

I'll let you ponder & play with your process for now and I'd love to hear which was your favorite question, and why - I welcome your comments here below :)

If you are so inspired to pass this process on to others, feel free to do so, I simply ask you give them know the source as well.

In partnership to a powerful completion of 2013 and a prosperous 2014,
Pina

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Happy New Year and my Favorite TEDxtalks for you

No Athlete Slows Down in the Last Lap, a.k.a. the Best Friend Process

SniffingOutCancer.com

What is on YOUR Bucket List? From Santorini With Love.

Cannes Film Festival & how does Wellington fly ON the plane?

Crazy or Fat?

The Day I Totally Lost It ~ Sobbing Without Understanding

My Birthday Gift To You.

Happy New Year and my Favorite TEDxtalks for you.

The Best Friend Process: 9 simple questions to powerfully complete the year!

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