How to find the best gifts at any time and under any circumstances?

“The best gift is giving from the heart”

In this special period of the year, we would like to have the secret key to find the best gift to give to our loved ones and receive the best gift at the same time! Right? We would like to be able to find “THE” gift that is good, nice and cheap! like my grandmother used to say.

For me, one of the best gifts is definitely a life “experience”, a great experience that will remain engraved in my memory.  Something that I can do or share with the person who is giving me the gift: for instance, a dinner in a unique restaurant, going to see a movie together or a mini trip to a place where we have never been before, …, the options are huge. When I receive a gift that I don’t like or need, I don’t hesitate to tell the person (with a lot of love) and ask him/her to take the gift for himself/herself (because I’m sure he/she bought it because they like it). You will say, how rude, how uneducated, you cannot do that! But believe me, it’s the best thing you can do for the person who is giving you the gift and for yourself. If the person who gave you the gift feels offended, it will be the perfect time to talk to them about your way of seeing things and show them a different way of giving gifts. Even if it’s difficult for you and the person, that situation is a gift in itself.

Now that we are going through a difficult period because of this pandemic, it is also the perfect opportunity to learn to see the “gifts” that difficult or painful situations bring us in our lives.

My first difficult situation in life was the sudden loss of my mother when I was 14 and a half years old. You are probably telling yourself that that situation cannot be considered as a gift, but it does! In fact, that immense pain taught me many lessons that have been very important in my life: starting with the fact that I learned that “pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional”. When I decided to accept the pain caused by the loss of my mother and leave aside the role of victim, I began to be an independent person and to see clearly what my mission in life was. That was the best gift the universe has ever given to me. A few months after my mother pass the way, I began to see a psychologist in order to cope with the grief and I was fortunate to have the help of an exceptional person who was not only a psychologist but also a coach and who taught me all the coaching techniques that I have used for 30 years and that has led me to have a life full of exceptional moments and happiness. So I can say with great certainty that my mother’s death has brought me a great gift in life.

This period of lockdown and difficult times for my business project has also brought me a great gift: being able to realize my dream of having an online Academy to share my coaching techniques with the whole world.  The dream of having an online platform for my coaching also came as a gift after the death of a great friend and colleague: Beatrice Ruiz. Bea and I would meet once a month at the same salad bar for a coaching session and every time we finished she would tell me that I should record my sessions so that she could watch and listen to them several times and I would always tell her: Yes, yes I will do it! With Bea’s sudden death in November 2018, I understood that the gift that this situation was giving me was to create my own Academy and several difficult situations (full of incredible gifts) led me to take all this time to learn to trust my instincts, to protect myself, to not be afraid of the camera, nor of being criticized. I had the magnificent gift of being able to learn to shine like the way our eyes shine at the moment we receive the best gift in the world.

So in this holiday period, I wish you with all my heart to receive the gift of seeing the gifts that difficult situations have brought you in your life and to see the gift in the important and simple things in life: the experiences lived with your love ones. It goes without saying that if what really makes you happy is that green dress or that tie that you love so much, the best thing to do is to “ask for it”. And just to avoid filling yourself up with thousands of things a good “deal” is to donate one of the clothes that you no longer wear in exchange for the new one you just received! This way you will be happy and you will make someone else happy! A simple way to give and receive!

A warm greeting and a spark of happiness!