Natalie:  Hi everyone! My name is Natalie Ledwell and this is the Inspiration Show.  Today on the show my special guest is going to tell us how we can start to live our happy.

 

Now, she has a new book that’s out and I’m looking forward to getting into how we can increase the happiness levels in our life, how to live a life of joy. But, before I introduce my guest or get into that, I just want to remind you that if you’re watching this show on Facebook Live, or if you’re watching it later on our YouTube channel, don’t forget that after you finish watching the show just click the link below this video so you can take my 30-second quiz, so we can figure out what’s holding you back from success.

 

So, please let me introduce my special guest today, Maria Felipe. How are you, Maria?

 

Maria:  Good, I’m very happy! I’m very happy to join you, Natalie.  Thank you for having me.  Yipee!

 

Natalie:  I know! There’s so much energy this morning! I’m very happy. I mean we’re too happy together, so this is going to be a very interesting show.

 

So, what we might do to begin with is just – if you could just give people just a bit of an idea of your background and your story because it involves things like modeling, and wrestling, and a whole bunch of --- you’ve had quite the experiential life I would have to say.

 

Maria:  Yes!  I began my career as a model when I was about 16 and then I started to do TV hosting. I started to host national TV shows for big TV channels such as Univision and Telemundo. 

 

And then from there I was the first Latin woman boxing announcer, so I would call fights in Las Vegas. You know, “In the red corner, weighing..” that kind of stuff. I was also working for WWWE for a long time- World Wrestling Entertainment.

 

In 2009, I began to have a new calling after doing 18 years being in television/film here in Miami and Los Angeles. I had a new calling to become a spiritual teacher and motivational speaker. Now I’m an author. So, it’s interesting how I just had this big, successful career in television and just got called to have another purpose.  So, it’s very interesting how life is sometimes.

 

Natalie:  Absolutely!  I mean I used to run a nightclub. I’ve done so many different other things.  I worked in fitness, and had company developments, and coffee. You name it, I’ve tried it. But then, I’ve also had the calling to come into this kind of industry as well. 

 

But you know, what I love about this is that this is many people’s story right now.  There are a lot of women and men, but a lot of women, who are either stepping out of a long- term marriage, or the kids are going to college, or they are finished with their career. It’s like, “Now what is my purpose? What is my contribution? What could I do?” So it seems that we’re both a great example of how the next chapter of life doesn’t have to be a struggle.  It could be something that’s really amazing.

 

So, let’s talk about the book. Live Your Happy. What does it mean to live your happy?

 

Maria:  Well, living your happy means... Basically living a life where you’re not affected by what’s happening outside of you.  So basically, whatever could be going on in form, form would be the world – so, be it in relationship or being with work or whatever is going on in your world, in your world, in your worldly experience – it doesn’t hinder your peace.

 

That’s what living happy is. It means that you are not affected by the outside world. You’re not a victim of the world that you see. Living happy means that you’re completely responsible for your projections. But, mainly, living happy is recognizing that your happiness is within you.

 

Natalie:  Yeah. So it’s not relying on things outside of us. It actually comes from within.  So are you saying we should be happy all the time and never feel a negative emotion?

 

Maria: Yes.  (laugh)

 

Natalie:  I’m like,  “What”?

 

Maria:   No. Well, it’s half true what I’m saying.  And I tell you what, in truth and spirit of who we are in truth - connected to love, connected to God, source, whatever word that resonates with you - you can be happy all the time.  I think that we’ve just been conditioned to believe that we need to suffer.

 

Suffering is a condition.  It’s not our inheritance; it’s not who we are in truth.  So I really feel that we could be happy all the time, just how we’ve learned to be fearful all the time.  So I feel that there has to be that opposite. That’s what my book is doing. It’s helping to be able to change: Hey you know what? Maybe this fear thing doesn’t need to be forever. Maybe it could change. Maybe it could be the opposite of this.

 

But yes, in form we do appear to suffer and it appears that we do get sad, etc. But, I think within the sadness, because I feel that spirituality is not brushing things into the rug, I feel spirituality is really calling it out being authentic.  I always say authenticity is sexy.

 

So, I feel that it’s important and I talk about it in my book, it’s called ‘feeling your feelings’. So one of the ways to really come back to your happy place is feeling your emotion and being, “ Hey! You know what? I’m feeling crap right now, I’m scared, I’m nervous, I’m depressed”.  Just really feel your feelings and within feeling your feelings, instead of denying them and pretending that you’re happy, you are going be happy because you’re going to awaken within feeling the feeling, instead of suppressing it.

 

Natalie:  You know, I agree. I think that it’s important that we- it’s not like you're going to have a death in the family and then be happy. Of course you'll feel grief, you will feel sad and there'll be things that come up.

 

I think that with this kind of work what you're saying is that things that would knock us off kilter don't do so anymore because we see them from a different perspective. But when we are feeling every thought, we feel them, we get them out because if we suppress them they will manifest as some kind of disease, or something in the body, and then you will have to deal with it a later time.

 

Now, what I've also noticed with your book is that it’s kind of based on “A Course In Miracles” and it's like a practical application of that. Now, I don't know if all of our community understands or have heard of that book, so tell us a little bit about that... How that's applying to A Course of Miracles.

 

Maria: Yeah, my book is based on “A Course In Miracles”. Not necessarily for the people that are reading it now. Of course students are actually understanding what is the Course of Miracles by reading it.

 

The Course of Miracles- what it is and how relates to my book- is that my book is helping you so that you can begin to understand the way your mind works.

 

I feel that we don't know. You wake up in the morning, you go to have your coffee, you brush your teeth, you get on Facebook, you start to do your stuff...And you don't recognize how your mind works.

 

The thought system that my book is talking about is two thought systems: fear or love. Depending on your thoughts, you're either having fearful thoughts or loving thoughts. And that's going to be the perception you're having and perceiving of the world.

 

So that's what the course talks about. The course talks about that there's two thought systems in your mind- Holy Spirit and ego. So, ego in the world... You've heard it in a different sense. In this case and the Course of Miracles, ego is that part of your mind that's limited; it's that part of your mind that's fearful. It's that part of your mind that judges. It is a part of your mind that is always ‘I should have,’ ‘I could have,’ ‘I wish I would have done it better.’  It's always in the past, or it’s in the future.

 

So, the Holy Spirit is your very center. The Holy Spirit is the voice of truth. The Holy Spirit is what brings you back to heaven. Heaven here on earth... Because the course talks about- and my book talks about- that heaven and hell is not somewhere you go to. It's actually right here, right now.

 

Natalie, haven't you felt like you were in hell before? Because I sure have felt like I'm in hell.

 

Natalie:  (laugh) I’ve had moments, yeah.

 

Maria: Well, you just feel so sad, or just so like, “I'm distraught”. You know? You feel hellish.  So my book goes hand- in- hand with the course because it helps you to understand that this is a world of duality. It's a world of separation and fragmentation.

 

So when you understand the way your mind works, you're able to discern between the voice of love and fear and you start to perceive things differently. Now, when you were saying earlier about problems- like if somebody passes away or little problems. In the course, it would be every problem is the same in the sense of all problems stem from fear and/or sadness, or the opposite of love.

 

So when even if it's a death in the family or whatever big deals, I call actually those problems big deals in my book -- it could be IRS problems, it could be divorce, death in the family -- those are big deals in my book. Yeah, you can perceive them through fear or love.

 

It's not like you're not going to mourn if somebody passes. Right? It's not like... I'm not saying, “Oh, you're going to be happy that somebody passes”. But, you can change your perception of it and see it differently, and you can experience it and go beyond the sadness.

 

If you perceive it with the Holy Spirit, it's going to be a different experience than when you perceive it with the ego. The ego would be more victim like – oh, poor me somebody died versus when it could be more of an empowerment. Like, “Okay I love this person. I'm going to mourn this person, but I'm not a victim of this”.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Natalie:  Yeah. I think what you're saying is that- yes, it's important for us to feel the grief and the sadness, but not stay there.

 

Maria: Yes. Or, mainly, not be a victim of your outer circumstances.

 

Natalie: Right. Absolutely. Yeah, I agree. The thing is... When it comes to feeling our emotions, it's exceptionally important. And, I think that when we're looking at living our happy, like you said it's -- and to me I think it's a dance, you know? Because the ego is really the human part of us. You know? There’s a lot of great things about it. And there are some things like the programming and the past behaviors and everything that comes with it as well.

 

But, when we can connect to the divine within us, then we have this beautiful dance we're getting the inside and the inspiration from the divine, so that we can have this incredible human experience.

 

Is that what you agree with?

 

Maria: Yes, absolutely! I love that you call it the divine. I love it because everybody calls it different- in my book I call it the “Holy Spirit”. But people can say inner wisdom, your best friend, the divine. I love that. I'm going start using that, Natalie. I love it- the divine. What a beautiful word because I feel that the Holy Spirit is so divine. It's so bright. It's so beautiful! But yes, my book is bringing you back to that internal voice.

 

The key to my book really, I think Natalie, that distinguished it- that's different from other books- is because I suffered so much with self-help books. I suffered so much just watching Oprah, or watching all kinds of shows, or workshops. I was in self-help desperation. I was just...  I'm sure a lot of people could relate to that. So I wanted my book to really call you not to your head, not to your intellect, but I wanted the book to speak to your heart and inspire you to live your happy.

 

It's called Live Your Happy right? So it's LIVE, so LIVE means LIVE IT. So let’s stop the kumbaya, and I am loved and I am light and pretending versus “Come on let's go. Live this shit”. You know? Let's go! Let's go crack this system, max capacity with your relationship with yourself and others.

 

That's like the biggest message in the book because we've all heard that happiness comes from within you, we've all known about intuition, we've all heard about God, about love and all these concepts. And I have that in my book. But, what I'm trying to do is motivate people to get out of this thing of not really living the principles of whatever you're studying – it could be Buddhism, it could be yoga, whatever it is -- to really integrate these teachings in your life and live them at max capacity without compromise, even if you don't want to.

 

Let's say you don't want to forgive... forgive! Because it's going to be helpful if you forgive, right? Even if you don't want to do the work.

 

Natalie:  Yeah. So forgiveness is a really good subject, as well, because I do believe that for us to free ourselves, to be able to live in happiness and joy, that we need to be free of the things that are holding us down- and forgiveness is one of those things.

 

So, how do you forgive someone? You know if someone's really done a bad thing to you, how do you go through that process of forgiveness?

 

Maria: Natalie, this is a really great question. I have a chapter in the book it's called: ‘You're now Ready to Practice the F-Word’ and it's not that F word, it's the forgiveness word. It's one of my chapters in my book and the whole chapter is dedicated to forgiveness.

 

Now, the funny thing is that forgiveness is completely, completely radical in my book and it's completely radical in the Course of Miracles, as well. The true forgiveness of the world... The world has taught you that forgiveness is you forgive somebody for what they did, right? You forgive somebody because you believe they did something to you, so you need to be the better person... So you need to forgive them, right?

 

Natalie: Right.

 

Maria:  In my book and in A Course In Miracles, you forgive the person for what they didn't do. (laugh) Look at your face!

 

Natalie: Okay.

 

Maria:   I know. I know. When I first heard this 20 years ago, I was like, “ah what”? What do you mean ‘they didn’t do it to me’?

 

So, forgiveness in my book is a radical forgiveness. It's basically you take responsibility. So in the forgiveness practice, you take responsibility for what? For your perception! The way you’re going to see it, right? You take responsibility.

 

The second thing that the course would say is that everything is love, or a call for love. Period. There isn't anything else. Love, or call for love. So, in truth, that person hasn't done anything to you in the truth, in the divine, right? In truth.

 

In a separated stuff, when it's an ego, it does do stuff, but that's not our inherent truth. So, you forgive the person for what in reality they didn't do because at that time they were saying that they forgot who they are- and haven't you done that?

 

So, I'm talking in general to everyone, right? How could you go and judge that person, or get upset about that person because they’re in their ego when you have also been in your ego. So why don't you love them?

 

The second step is really forgiving them for what they didn't do because that person forgot who they are, which you have done as well.

 

And the third step is giving it over to the divine. I like this word to the divine- to have a change of perception, to have the miracle, to see it differently and then that's when the miracle happens and you forgive. So the Course In Miracles says forgiveness is remembering the love you gave and the love you received in the past. All else is an illusion because the Course says only love is real, loss is an illusion.

 

So, that's such a powerful forgiveness practice versus forgiving the person for what you think they did and making it even more strong and even making it more limited.  Because you're giving it more energy... “That’s something so bad”, you know?

 

Natalie: Absolutely! I know when my 18-year marriage ended, the first question I asked was, what was my contribution to this? How did we get to this place and what was my role in this? So it helped me understand what happened and I understood how I contributed to it. I took responsibility for my part in it, but it also helped me... Like, I didn't need to forgive Glen because I'm like, “Well, of course. When my actions are this, your actions are this, and your actions are this”.  So you get to emotionally detach for a moment and have a look and see what actually went on and go, “Oh I see”. There is nothing to forgive. This was obviously what was going to happen as a consequence of the actions that we took, or the actions that we didn't take.

 

Maria:  I love that example, Natalie. Yes! That's pretty much it. You know what?  I like the practical examples because I feel that people could relate more and that's why my book- I share very personal stories. My personal stories are my clients personal stories, so people get the message. I feel it’s so much easier to understand. But this forgiveness is so empowering because you can't be a victim of it. You're completely empowered. I think that's just so beautiful. I think it's a whole new way of living and it's like I feel it's the key to happiness, really.

 

Natalie:  The thing is, as long as you keep blaming somebody else, you'll stay in it. You'd lose all power to do anything about it because it's someone outside of you... It's their fault and so nothing can be done.

 

But, when you take responsibility, then you have the power to change the way you feel, the way you look, the story you tell about it, everything. That's when you get to step out of that and out of whatever pain it is you are feeling from that that situation to be able to live a life of happiness, which is what we're talking about today.

 

And, Maria, we have run out of time and we -- you and I could talk for ages on this subject, which is a fantastic. And so, if people want to connect with you, or get their hands on the book, where can we send them to do that?

 

Maria:  My website is Mariafelipe.org. The book if you just put Live Your Happy on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles it's available online. Right now there's- I think it's discounted right now at the moment- and also you can look me up on YouTube. It's Maria Coconut TV and there I have over 200 videos on happiness- really on How to get Your Happy on. I’m just grateful to be here, Natalie. Thank you.

 

Natalie: It's been such a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for joining us today.

 

Maria:  Thank you!

 

Natalie:  Now, guys, I encourage you to click on the banner, or the link that we have here so you can go through to Maria’s website.  Get your hands on the book and start living your happy now!

 

Don’t wait. Now is the time to get it done. When the show is over, if you're watching this on Facebook live or later on our YouTube channel, click the link below so you can take the 30-second quiz so we can figure out what's blocking you from success. And, if you're watching this on my movies.com, just leave your email so we can send you the manifesting with a Master's video e-course. So until next time, remember to live large choose courageously and love without limits.

 

We'll see you soon.