The Universe is our best guide
I would like to dedicate this first blog post to all of YOU MY FRIENDS!
This is my own experience and I wish to REVEAL how my interest in Mental training and Personal Growth was born and why I decided to investigate further on that.

THE REALIZATION OF A DREAM – 2009 FREIBURG
The season 2008, “Horrible Year”, was filed in the grip of delusions, depression and lack of direction, that’s why winning the Italian Championships and classifying myself for the World Cup in 2009 was certainly an unexpected goal. That would have been my first World Championship!!

But just when everything seems to go to the right direction, on time, the beatings arrive ..

Few weeks before the World of Freiburg in 2009, I fell during a workout and I broke my elbow. With one arm in a cast and unable to skate, I had two ways: abandon myself to despair or, as I was suggested by my dear Doctor P., dedicate myself everyday to a mental workout. I decided to go this way.

“Once touching the bottom, you cannot help but standing up, with perseverance and patience. I had done exactly that. “

Every morning, systematically, I used to wake up, to start walking on the seafront of Genoa with the competition music in my ears and … I skated, I skated in my mind.
Once removed the plaster on my arm, it was not the same as before: reduced mobility, aches and absent musculature … The fear of falling and hurting myself accompanied me in every following workout. Reintegrating the injured part to the movement in such a short time seemed to be a miracle. Less than three weeks to the battle, I had to do my best in the limited available time .. I could not throw away a dream!

We are in Freiburg.

After the first part of Compulsory Dances I was in 3^rd position, the next day there would be the Free Dance, that meant for me the rebirth dance.

In life, you must learn to pay attention to the signals that the Universe itself sends up to us: I was about to dance the music of “Lord of the dance” and surprise, the city of Freiburg, in those days, was half-covered with billboards of “Lord of the dance ” because the Irish Company would have come soon … it seemed like a good sign! After the Compulsory Dances I was in 3^rd position and I wrote a message to my trainer–physiotherapist F., who replied: “What we need to do tomorrow is to disconnect the mind from the body.” I did not understand what he meant by this message, I thanked him and forgot about it. The big day came, the Free Dance day. I was quite excited, but ready and willing to take on this new challenge. As soon as I closed the door of my hotel room to go to the rink, I remembered that I had forgotten Patty, my fortune teddy-bear that my grandmother, dead the year before, had made for my first race when I was child. Returning to the room and grabbing Patty left on my bed, the eye felt down on the book left open on the table:

“The Warrior of Light believes in miracles, and because he believes, miracles begin to happen” (Coelho).

I had never paid attention to that sentence, it struck me so much that it almost frightened me.
It was my time! My Mom, who is also my coach, was there with me saying: – “Paola’s up to you, you cannot give up now, think of everything you’ve been through, you built up the your Free Dance the way you like it and, now, it’s the time to enjoy it, come on! go in and enjoy!. “- I went into the track with a big smile on the lips, with an emotion that came from the heart and expanded all over my body. After the first three steps, however, I realized that my left shoe was untied … panic !!! During the entire choreography I kept saying to myself: “And now what I do? I stop? If I stop I throw everything away! I try to keep going, ok now I’m on the right, attention left now …. ” So my rational mind kept worrying about what was happening to me as well as my rational mind was guiding me … I had disconnected the body from the mind! I ended up my program without even realizing it, but I knew I did well so I started to jump and shout for joy!
The score was good, the screen showed “place 1”, but I had to wait until the end of the race. While waiting I was completely in trans, I felt I had already experienced that situation…a mix of feelings … amazing! I realized I had won only when everybody came to hug me. The final placements compared on the maxi- screen, it was all true … World Champion !!!

It took months for me to really understand what had happened … the miracle had actually happened, the whole universe had moved to help gaining that result. I struggled a lot to get it, nothing seemed to be going in the right direction but I continued to believe in it, not to give up, to overcome every obstacle, my head held high. Furthermore, all the signals were speaking to me, the numbers too: I won the World C. on November 19 -2009, on July 19, I won the Italian C. and the 19th was the date of birth of my dear grandmother died exactly a year before, she cared so much me and my races!
This experience marked me deeply, showed me that I had always had that power inside me but, since that day, I had not exacly found the key to express it. It was like I had been taken, shaken and screamed in my ears: “Wake-uppp … there’s a lot more than you think“ I could not remain indifferent to all that. I was hungry to understand. And so I started my search, my studies, my experiments … and slowly, like a puzzle, the pieces were composing more and more in a meaningful way. I know for sure that we are much more powerful than what we think to be. We should all learn to know each other a bit ‘better and trust our potential and abilities!.

What about you, do you have confidence in yourself and listen to the signals that the Universe sends us up all the time?

I’m curious to know your answers and your experiences. Please write me at Ask P@ola!
This experience has taught me that anyone, willing to go beyond his own limits, can overcome the challenges that life can bring.
In this blog you will find many hints to bring out your true potential in order to succeed in sport and in life! So, please, follow me and participate to the discussions of Paul@ttitude!
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Let the smile of the World shining on your day!