La Primera Navidad Blanca Con Mis Hijos

Este año voy a pasar la navidad en Aspen, Colorado, esquiando con mis adorados hijos.

Estoy muy ilusionada de verlos disfrutar de la nieve y practicando deportes al aire libre, en vez de que estén pegados a los aparatos tecnologicos. Es una lucha hacerles entender la importancia de socializar y de contemplar la naturaleza...pero ahí vamos, poco a poco.

Los niños crecen tan rápido y se van de nuestras manos en un abrir y cerrar de ojos. Por ello, es importante sacar tiempo para compartir con ellos, para conocerlos a fondo y para que en el proceso, ellos también aprendan a conocernos. Es la única forma de desarrollar una conección especial, un puente entre ambas generaciones....lo cuál es fundamental para cuando nos toque enfrentar los retos de la vida.

Ya les expliqué que una vacación como la que he planeado para ellos éste diciembre es un lujo, y que sólo es posible gracias al esfuerzo de mi trabajo todo el año. No quiero que crezcan pensando que se lo merecen todo. Me esfuerzo para que aprendan el valor del dinero, y para que entiendan que el sacrificio y la dedicación son siempre recompensados. Debo decir con mucho orgullo que este año los tres se han ganado ese viaje pues han sido muy aplicados en la escuela y respetuosos en la casa.

Usualmente pasamos las fiestas en Puerto Rico, pero este año quise hacer algo diferente. Va a ser la primera "Navidad Blanca" de mis hijos. Por eso estoy tan contenta.

Luego regresamos a casa en Miami para la Despedida de Año, y esperaremos juntos la llegada del 2011 llenos de positivismo y esperanza.

Gracias por acompañarme en el bello viaje de la vida.

A nombre mío y de mis hijos Julián,Adrián y Lara....

Les deseo una Felíz Navidad y que el próximo año sea aún mejor.

Vive tu vida al Rojo Vivo

Enuentra acá el video de “Vive tu vida al Rojo Vivo”

Siempre supe que llegaría el momento en el que finalmente llevaría al papel el libro que durante años he estado escribiendo en mi mente.

Fue una noche del año 2007 cuando regresé del trabajo más tarde que de costumbre y descubrí tres bultos debajo de mis sábanas. Mis hijos, Julián, Adrián y Lara, se habían quedado dormidos, esperando mi llegada a casa. Esa noche apenas había espacio para mí en la cama, pero no me importó.

Hice un huequito y me acomodé, sintiéndome culpable por no haber llegado más temprano para compartir con ellos y disfrutando del bienestar que sólo siento cuando los tengo entre mis brazos.

Estaban profundamente dormidos y cuando levanté las sábanas para besarlos, me llevé el susto de mi vida. ¡Esos no eran mis hijos!

En vez de mis “bebés”, encontré a tres enormes niños que ocupaban prácticamente toda la cama. Con razón no había espacio para mí.

Después de unos instantes, que parecieron una eternidad, me di cuenta de que ni mis hijos habían sido secuestrados, ni yo estaba alucinando. Mis pequeños habían crecido de repente, en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, y yo no me había dado cuenta hasta ese momento. Sentí que la vida me estaba pasando por delante a la velocidad de un rayo. Mil emociones diferentes invadieron mi cuerpo, pero la principal fue miedo. Miedo de que si pestañeaba otra vez, mis hijos serían adolescentes. De que yo podría morirme, sin haberles enseñado tantas cosas. Miedo de lo inevitable: de que un día, muy pronto, cada uno se enfrentaría al mundo, solo, sin tenerme a su lado protegiéndolos incondicionalmente.

En ese momento, comprendí que era hora de abrirles los ojos, pero esa noche no pude cerrar los míos. Sentada en una esquinita de la cama comencé a escribir este libro, que espero sea leído por mis hijos como una brújula, para navegar seguros en el turbulento mar de la vida.

Son las lecciones que he aprendido durante toda mi vida. Espero que les provean dirección en los momentos difíciles. Este es mi legado, mi propia esencia. El libro que hubiera querido tener, cuando estaba creciendo. Ojalá les sirva como un escudo que los proteja del peligro y de sí mismos.

Me lo debo a mí y se lo debo a ellos, antes de su próxima metamorfosis.

Make Your Life Prime Time

Check Out the Make your life Prime Video!!!!

I always knew there would come a time when I finally would put on paper a book I’d been writing in my mind for years.

That moment came one night in 2007, when I arrived home from work later than usual and discovered three lumps under my bed sheets. My children, Julian, Adrian and Lara, had fallen asleep in my bed, waiting for me to come home. There was less room for me in the bed that night, but I didn’t care. I squeezed in next to them, feeling guilty for not being there earlier to spend time with them and yearning for that feeling of wellbeing that comes only when I can pull them close.

They were sound asleep, and when I lowered the bed sheet to kiss them goodnight, I got the scare of my life: Those were not my kids!

Instead of my “babies,” I found three enormous children taking up practically the whole bed. No wonder there was hardly any room for me.

After a few moments that seemed like an eternity, I realized that my children had neither been kidnapped, nor was I hallucinating. My little ones had suddenly grown up, in the blink of an eye, and I had not fully realized it until that moment. I suddenly felt the sensation that life was passing me by at the speed of light. A thousand mixed emotions rushed through me, but the main one was fear—fear that I would blink again and they would be adolescents. That I would die without having taught them so many things. Fear of the inevitable—that one day soon, each one would go out into the world alone, without me by their side protecting them unconditionally.

At that moment, I knew it was time to open their eyes.
That night, I couldn’t close my own. Sitting on the corner of the bed, I began writing this book that I hope my children will use as a compass to safely navigate the turbulent sea of life.

It’s a guide of life lessons I have learned throughout my journey, and I hope it will offer them direction in tough times. This is my legacy—my very essence. May it serve as a shield that protects them from danger and from themselves.
I owe it to myself and to them—before their next metamorphosis.

Sahara

"Una de las veces que vole sobre Africa,me asome por la ventana del avion en el que viajaba y vi el Sahara por primera vez. Desde alla arriba parecia mas una pintura de Dali que un desierto. Me quede largo rato admirando sus dunas que parecian colinas derritiendose,maravillada antes las inusuales formaciones de su arena rosada ,preguntandome como seria verlo de cerca. Desee visitarlo un dia y por un instante ME VI alli abajo.

Nunca mas volvi a pensar en ese momento,hasta ahora,cuatro anos mas tarde. Estoy parada en medio el Sahara, sintiendome diminuta ante su inmensa belleza,mirando a un avion que vuela en un perfecto cielo azul. Parece un pajaro metalico, alejandose lentamente en la distancia. Me pregunto si desde una de sus ventanas alguien esta admirando este desierto, como lo hice yo.

Es increible como la vida da vueltas y como las cosas que visualizamos intensamente tienen la capacidad de convertirse en realidad.

"El desierto no es un espacio vacio. Para descubrir su magia hay que entrar en el a solas y en silencio. Solo entonces somos capaces de escuchar la serenata de sus arenas."

MC

Sahara

One of the times I traveled to Africa I looked out the window of the plane and I saw the Sahara for the first time. From up there it looked more like a Dali painting than a desert-with dunes that looked like melting hills. I stared at it for a long time, fascinated by the bizarre formations of the sand, wondering how it would be to experience it from the ground. I wished I could visit it one day and,for a split of a second, I SAW myself THERE.

I never thought of that moment again until now,almost four years later. I'm standing in the Sahara, in the middle of its breathless beauty looking up,in the distance, at a plane that just flew by. It looks like a metallic bird,slowly moving away. I
wonder if someone was looking out from one of the windows,like I once did.

Talk about a juxtaposition! Talk about the power of visualization!

MC

Find the work you love by Maria Celeste Arraras

Read about María Celeste Arrarás’ experience as a member of the Women@NBCU advisory board and as a woman at NBC Universal in our series where we hear from employees across the company.

I remember the day Telemundo announced I would be joining the network. It was the same day the FCC approved NBC Universal’s acquisition of Telemundo. I always look at that as the best day of my career because of what was to come. In the seven years that I’ve been with the company, I’ve had more opportunities than I ever could have imagined %u2014 guest-hosting Today, contributing to NBC’s Dateline and NBC Nightly News, even appearing on NBC’s soap opera Passions.

Now I have the opportunity to be a part of a new think tank, Women@NBCU. Advertisers are trying to tap into the fast-growing Hispanic audience, especially Hispanic women, who are overwhelmingly responsible for making their family’s purchasing decisions. But they don’t always know the best way to go about it. That’s why it’s so important to have Telemundo represented.

nteracting with other women at this company is an empowering experience for me. I’ve learned that when you love what you’re doing and you see that you have the support of a company that lets you grow, respects your opinion, and gives you a place of consideration, you can really thrive. I think that support has prompted me to give above and beyond what is expected.

Along the way there have been situations I have had to confront, both personally and professionally. Like going through a divorce and figuring out what is best for your children. I’ve learned how to be successful in my job without having to sacrifice my relationship with my children, and how principles and my word are so important in this business. I also realized that sometimes as young women (and men), we so often pass up career opportunities because we follow the wishes of others instead of listening to our own needs. I learned a lot about that from my own mother, who followed her own mother’s advice instead of paving her own path. I learned from that and sacrificed many personal situations for a while so that I was able to achieve my career.

I’ve been lucky and successful as a woman, as a mother, and as a professional. I think you have to live your life by a certain set of principles and they have to be your True North. In order to be successful in every area of your life, you first have to be successful as a human being. If you’re successful as a human being, you will feel satisfied at the end with whatever you have and most likely, it will be everything that you dream of.

“Hispanic Women and Breast Cancer”

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for Hispanic women. Yet it doesn’t seem to face most Hispanic women. Many think “it will not happen to ME.” But it does.

I have many dear friends who are cancer survivors and I believe that they’re all alive today because they discovered the cancer through a mammography;before it was too late. That’s not the case for most Hispanic women.

Studies have shown that 3 out of every 4 Latinas discover they have breast cancer themselves,wether by accidently finding a lump or by finding the lump through a self examination. Sadly, by the time a woman can “feel” a tumor it means that it has grown, that it is in a more advanced stage. That’s why mammograms are so vital.

Hispanic women also have such a high mortality rate because,according to research,after finding a lump, many wait AT LEAST a month before seekinghelp. And when you have breast cancer,every day counts. Tumors don’t ask for your permission to keep growing. Cancer doesn’t need you ok to spread.

Why do Latina women wait so long putting their lives at risk? Mostly because of lack of health insurance but I also believe is because of fear. Fear of what that mammogram will say. Fear that the lump may be a malignous tumor. Thay have the “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” mentality. But when it comes to breast cancer nothing can be further from the truth.

As part of the research I made for a Today show story about Hispanic women and breast cancer,I visited a Miami clinic with the most advanced technology available. I was shown the xrays of women that had discovered breast cancer through a regular yearly mammogram and the xrays of women that had gotten a mammogram only after discovering a lump. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The cancer was noticeably larger in the second group. Machines detect tumors way before we do.

My grandmother died at an old age of breast cancer. Back then there wasn’t as much awareness as there is today about the importance of going to the doctor for a yearly exam.

Today I’m lucky to have never lost a friend to breast cancer. My friends and I make it a priority to go get a mammogram once a year. That’s how the ones that had cancer were able to catch it time. They survive cancer because were not afraid to discover it. When it comes to breast cancer information is power.
They are my heroes.