The Power of Perception by Carla Lombardo

“The words you hear will shape you but the most important words you will hear in your entire life, are the words you say to yourself.” – Marisa Peer

Through adversity, I discovered we cannot control how a message is delivered to us but we can control how we react. This is a critical message, because if we have a strong, positive thought system/program in place, we can overcome any situation and shorten the recovery period. This made me dig deep, asses the type of mother I wanted to be, which led me to question how I would help my children navigate the world. 

Only recently, did I realise that perception is one of the pillars of happiness. And the pillars of happiness become the foundation to thrive in life. The way we perceive the world is by choice. However, what we’re exposed to growing up, parents, teachers, media, tv shows, family, friends, books, and the conditioning of how we should function in society, influences our beliefs. 

I’ve been a major victim of limiting beliefs as I’ve gone through life.  I believed that because I didn’t go to university, I wasn’t “smart” enough. I believed that I had to work extra bloody hard to be “successful”, so I perceived life to be hard. Being shy as a young child turned me into an adult with a lack of self-confidence. When I achieved something great, I’d get over-the-top praise and I’d get incredibly embarrassed. I didn’t know how to accept compliments, praise or a present. I was always so worried about what people would think, thus I wasn’t speaking kindly to myself.

When I hit my 30’s a lot of stuff just seemed to finally click. Values were redefined, priorities transformed and a portion of my beliefs got renewed yet the majority of my beliefs completely changed.  

My beliefs and values gave me my perception across all areas of my life. How I nourished my mind, body and spirit changed drastically in a short amount of time. I taught myself a whole new level of self-love, I learnt forgiveness is the key to health and a positive mindset can actually restore health, and prevent dis-ease and reduce discomforts to clear.

At 32 years young, I had a healthy baby boy. I had a traumatic birth (at 36 weeks) and recovery, or lack of recovery, which I now see totally affected every area of my life. This unplanned pregnancy excited me but terrified me. I was scared of the unknown but even more scared of knowing, so I went into my first pregnancy uneducated because ignorance was bliss at that point in time. Sick with various ailments for 8 months straight; I was a complete victim about it. I struggled every day, my mindset was foul; riddled with poor me negative thoughts.

I now see, I was the one manifesting the sickness with my thoughts. 

The first year of my son’s life was a filled with love, pain, joy and despair. It was hard, beautiful, exhausting yet fulfilling. I was irrational and irritable with the wildest mood swings. Postnatal depletion? I didn’t know it was even a thing.

Fear engulfed me and I suffered in silence, fearful of being out of my ‘safe zone’, (aka my bedroom) as I had baby that I couldn’t settle in public areas. Nor would he ride in the pram or car with ease. Safe to say he was a screamer and it was traumatic to leave the house. Again, so worried what the strangers could possibly say to me on the streets. 

Overcome from overwhelming sense of pressure in the offerings of kind gestures from friends and family to ‘give me a break’; it made me want to scream with rage. For the best part of a whole 12 months, how could no one understand I simply wanted to be alone with my baby?

I had several underlying health issues that the medical professionals just couldn’t help me with. Their solutions were band-aids to symptoms. 

So, off to the library I went to get some books on alternative medicines and gut health. This is where I found the deepest understanding of the gut-brain connection - an unhappy gut can be tremendously responsible for moods, anxiety and depression to name a few.

A homebody at heart, the days of solitude I craved and cherished to deal with the long sleepless nights. I lived close to the beach, I found my groove with a routine I loved - an early morning walk, when the path along the beach was bare, followed by a mid-morning gym class to “bounce back” (cue eye roll) after giving birth. I was then free to immerse myself my books, letting my baby sleep on my chest so he’d sleep longer and I could get proper reading done. I was able to read, get cuddles, oxytocin and two outings per day; it was my new kind of perfect.

I’m now 35, prior to having a baby, on paper; you would have called me a healthy person. Exercise, diet and lifestyle were all in check. Exercise was always intense, hardcore workouts at the gym, which always made me feel terrible. Nutrition was mainly raw salads with some sort of protein, which always made me feel sick, my insides squirmed with pain, and I was too busy with friends and weekend plans to look after myself and rest properly - I didn’t want to let anyone down. Those were severe warning signs that what I was doing currently wasn’t working for me, but I refused to listen to my body because, well, doing what the majority of people do, is the right thing to do, right?

Chipping away at my pile of books, I discovered Ayurveda and the power of alternative medicine, which my food diet changed along with my style of exercise. I learnt I had to eat and do the right exercise that was pleasurable for my body, my constitution, that didn’t add unnecessary stress. I forgave myself for all the things I didn’t know and the things I didn’t do right, I realised I didn’t need to be too hard on myself but I didn’t need to make the same mistake twice.

I learnt to do what was right for me in the season I was in, and we have different seasons of what works for us just like the seasonal weather patterns. 

And then I had a stroke. My baby had only just turned one. It was the 1st January 2020. When my doctor delivered me the news of a stroke and didn’t tell me I was going to be ok, my thoughts spiraled out of control. I had no idea how to deal with this word, let alone the debilitating symptoms. 

The part of my brain that “died” as they so nicely put it to me was my cerebellum, the “third brain”, and the “seat of the subconscious mind” (Dr Joe Dispenza – Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself) where your automatic skills, habits, behaviors and associative memories live. This is the part of the brain that coordinates your movements and controls your balance.

I couldn’t walk, stand, sit, lie down or pick up my baby. I had to take matters into my own hands and figure out how to heal. I was on a mission to prove myself right, that I could heal my brain. 

Then lockdown hit, April 2020, and this was my opportunity to thrive. I chose not to be a victim; I chose to fight for my quality of life. I needed the world to slow down for me and it did. I had all the time in the world to discover what sort of parent I wanted to be and how I wanted the rest of my life to play out. I proceeded to lose my job that I loved; yet I brought a new business to life. 

I couldn’t look at a computer, tv or mobile screen so I read countless books, listened to podcasts on neuroscience and how to heal/rewire the brain. As I got deeper down the rabbit hole, the right type of information kept falling into my lap. Synchronicity was happening all around me and I did not ignore it, my intuition told me to follow it. I made positive change and created new habits by way of affirmations. 

Affirmations became my invisible shield. It would allow the positive experiences to be absorbed and repel the negative ones. 

Those closest to me could physically see my dramatic transformation of my mind, body and spirit. When I practiced my positive affirmations, I was unstoppable. When I stopped and let he doubt and negativity creep in, I’d spiral out of control.  And so, I’d found my new purpose, my why. 

Through the power of affirmations, I figured out how to replace a negative thought with a positive one. This has enhanced our life as a family and our home environment; I am a better mother and partner because of my outlook on life and how I deal with challenging situations. The words I spoke to myself were critical in my healing journey. 

“You can’t control the wind but you can control the sail”, and that is what I did. I steered my ship to a new direction, I created a business called Eagle & Owl, developing the Conscious Kids Affirmation Cards.

So, with countless hours research, I developed my concept with neuro-scientific principles paired with an holistic approach and created a tool to help parents holistically educate children of the mind, body and spirit. 

For an adult to make lasting positive change, we have to access the subconscious mind by reaching the theta state. This is generally reached by meditation, hypnosis, or first attaining the alpha state of relaxation, before theta (I like to call it the drowsy state before you fall asleep). 

A child’s brainwaves are predominately in the theta brainwave state, which is the direct path to the subconscious mind, meaning they are receptive to everything that is going on around them and events get stored in the subconscious mind. It made total sense to me to help children to develop a positive thought system from a young age, utilizing this advantageous stage of life with that direct access to the subconscious mind. 

Eagle & Owl’s Conscious Kids Affirmation Cards are the ultimate tool to assist parents with the challenge of raising children and deal with any unwanted challenges that we are faced with during the journey through life. Hard times are necessary to appreciate the good times, it helps us to learn and grow. One can respond with calmness and clarity to a difficult situation or react and go down a path of destruction. Let’s encourage our children to perceive this miracle of life to be wonderful, magical, and easy, effortlessly happy. 

I am thriving, not just surviving. 

Together, we raise the consciousness of humanity. 

Carla is a mother who’s found her new purpose in life, through adversity, with a mission is to help others thrive in life. The Founder of Eagle & Owl, creator of the Conscious Kids Affirmation Cards, Conscious Kids Mindfulness + Affirmation School Program, and many more initiatives to help children develop a positive thought system from a young age and thrive. An avid traveller advocating that travel is the best education, hard copy books are healing and the ocean is one of the best medicines. 

Website : https://www.eagleandowl.com.au/
Instagram: @eagle.and.owl