Who is your inspiration?

My family is my inspiration. Especially my girls.They inspire me to be a better person, to be more humble. My family inspires me to work hard at being my best because I want to give them the best that I have to offer. Because they mean the world to me.

Look at that picture! Aren't they the most gorgeous people on the planet? Well, I'm sure that each of us have in our families the most gorgeous people in the planet. We are all so blessed!

But there are also other people in this world that inspire me, like Oprah, I look up to her so much! She is also an inspiration in my life because she is dedicating her life to help others and I admire that, and aspire to that in a smaller scale of course.

How about you? Is there anyone that inspires you?

Do Teachers influence your future profession?

Today my daughter Gaby who just started middle school told me that they changed one of her favorite teachers. He was her Social Studies Teacher and she told me that this year for the first time she was liking the class.  However this teacher, was actually a Math Teacher who had been assigned as a temporary teacher to give the Social Studies Class until they were able to hire a permanent teacher.

I do understand how a Math teacher should really be teaching math and fortunately he was able to get a job teaching Math at another school. I mean, if he was a good teacher teaching Social Studies, I bet he will be an amazing teacher teaching Math.

What got me sad though was my own memories of Middle School. How my 6th grade teacher was a History/Social Sciences Teacher and how she was so mean. How I hated her, and how much I hated Social Studies since then.  This got me thinking. If I hate Social Studies because I had an awful teacher, would I love the class had I gotten an awesome teacher?

On all my years of Study, including College, I only recall 2 good Social Studies/History Teachers. My eighth grade Social Studies teacher who was fairly nice and my College History Professor who I had for only one semester. I remember going to that History class in College and thinking that I wished I had that teacher since I was young. He was amazing and gave the class as if it was all some gossip, so it was really fun. But had it been too late for me? I have all these years of history lessons with horrible, mean or deathly boring teachers and it left me ignorant on the subject. I did not learn Geography, or History, or Social Studies all through my teenage years so now when I read the news paper or try to help my daughter with homework I feel dumb. I don't know almost anything. So how am I supposed to learn years of History Lessons now? When I really don't care enough to learn it. I just give up on it and maybe grasp a thing or two from my daughter's homework throughout the years.

Then I questioned myself, are teachers really that much of an influence in a child's life? I always thought that the course of study one chooses was mainly based on a basic inclination that we are born with, some kind of innate skill. But this made me doubt my theory. What if a child with a natural ability in a particular subject, say math for example, what if all his life his Math teachers were mean and even abusive to him. What if never in his life he had a nice inspiring teacher on that subject? Would this child avoid math in his career even if mathematical skill was natural in him?

I always found that my favorite teachers growing up where English teachers, I absolutely LOVED all my English teachers and what I Love the most is to write so it makes sense. However when I was in college, I had a horrible English Teacher who discouraged me from writing, not because she said I was a bad writer but because she thought I had a "disturbed mind" when I wrote. This teacher discouraged me to the point that I stopped writing for over 10 years. It was only after I got inspired by other mentors, friends which in a way are teachers as well even if not in a classroom, that I was able to start writing again.

Did I see my English Teachers as Amazing Teachers because they were teaching me my favorite subject? Or did English become my favorite subject because I had amazing Teachers?

What do you think molds us more? What experiences did you have growing up? What do you think influences more our decisions? Our innate passions? Or Inspiring teachers?

How to write and do something you don't like

As I start getting myself out there more as a writer I have come across some assignments that could do wonders for my career yet they seem so hard to do.
To those who know me personally they can tell that I am a very picky eater, I do not like to cook and I like junk food the most. So having to write about health and healthy meal options it's quite a stretch. I am surrounded with plenty of friends who are into health, who eat nutritious foods and actually eat vegetables because they like them, they tell me about the benefits of a healthy life style, yet my body is so accustomed to junk that when I start eating healthy my body goes through not so good changes that make me go back to my old ways. I have a hard time eating things with fiber as they send me running. And eating vegetables often give me too much gas. I wonder if this is normal as I must confess that the aroma that comes from me seems to be more of death than health.
I have been encouraged to keep trying, to keep incorporating health into my lifestyle, that once I see the benefits of it, I will not go back. My friend Karina from eatpretty.com told me that maybe I could see healthy foods as a medicine at first that can cure my tiredness, then after I see how energetic I become then I won't think twice.
As I struggle with this dilemma, about how to become more healthy so I can write about health and not think it's a drag, and maybe further along my writing and get more credibility, it seems now at this point in my life starting to live a healthy lifestyle can reap more benefits then before. So I ask you, what do you do when you must do something you don't like to do? Do you have any tips for someone who is having a hard time making the switch to a healthy lifestyle?

What inspires you?

Last night I took my friend to Times Square. As I got off the subway at Bryant Park I was amazed of all the cool things that I saw. I had not been here in about 3 years and I had forgotten the exhilarating feeling of seeing the lights and the tall buildings and the larger than life ads, and stores from almost all the major brands available to us, plus quite a few not-as-known.
I realized how I have been living in a cocoon for quite a while not exposing me to things that inspire me. I would always find excuses for not going out. But I have decided to expose myself to things that inspire me, because by being inspired I will be encouraged to do better things.
Find out what inspires you, and do it more often.