Day 135: Amy Nakos
“… it became clear that all the power is within me. The power for my life is within me, and I give up that power when I let what other people say and do affect me. Certainly you can’t always prevent that; certainly you can’t, but you always have the choice of how to react.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Amy, for agreeing to be part of the Project, and before we begin, can you introduce yourself?
Amy Nakos: It’s my pleasure to be here. My name is Amy Nakos.
Toni: And Amy, what do you do?
Amy: Well, currently I’m doing a lot of different things. I’m a mom of two little boys ages seven and four. I work as a real estate broker, and I am starting a new company right now called Mind Redesign, which is a personal development training company, so that’s really where most of my energy is going towards.
Toni: Well thank you for that. Amy, when you think of that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire and how do you do that?
Amy: In my life I really hope that I can inspire everyone I come into contact to in some way. I think … the first thing I think about usually are my kids, and the thing that I tell my kids is you have to follow your heart in your life and, if you do that, you can be and do and have whatever you want. And I think that’s a great message, and that’s how I try to live my life, too.
When I think about adults I know, it’s a little bit harder to tell them that, to say “Oh, you just follow your heart and you can be, do, and have whatever you want” because adults have a lot of baggage. You know, things that have happened in their life, and they don’t always believe that. But for adults, the way I like to inspire them is by living a joyful, positive life, hoping they can see that by example. And certainly if they turn to me for any advice or anything, I give them my mantra, which is, well, it’s up to you to live the life of your dreams and help discuss that concept with them.
Toni: That is the way that you inspire the people around you, I would imagine, professionally and personally that way.
Amy: I try; I definitely try.
Toni: When you are just being that way and inspiring others with that sense of attitude and with your children, that follow-your-heart mentality, how do you think that that helps others to explore their potential? And if it does, are their others ways as well that you help to explore the potential in others?
Amy: Yes, I think that when you truly live from your spirit and from your heart and when you’re in alignment with what you’re supposed to be doing, you have great emotions that come with that and you project a confidence and a sense of peace and calm. So to help explore the potential in others, it’s just encouraging them to find those things that make them feel that way.
Certainly what is going to make me feel that way is not going to make somebody else feel that way necessarily, so that’s what I try to do. And what I’m working on with my company, Mind Redesign, is putting that into a product in a way that people can come to the seminars that we’re going to hold — and I can talk more about that — or become a trainer and truly explore who they are as a person and what makes them happy.
Toni: Okay, okay. So really from your perspective how you inspire others is leading by example by living that joyful, positive life, but also you believe it helps people explore their potential because when you live that way, it frees you up of the negative and puts you more into your greatness; that’s what I heard you say.
Amy: Yeah, you said that much better than I did but, yes, that’s exactly true. I just heard what you said.
Toni: Amy, let’s talk about you then. What do you need to be inspired?
Amy: I have to kind of go back to answer that question. I lived the first 25 years of my life thinking that I had little control of what happened in my life, and I always felt that things happened to me and other people said things to me and other people did things to me and that circumstances were out of my control.
And when I started to explore my own personal development and realize my power as an individual and as a human being, I realized that I have the amazing ability to make choices that truly affect the outcome of my life. So what do I need to be inspired is I need to remember that. I need to remember my power and to always, like I said before, be in alignment with my spirit. That’s how I function.
Toni: So you said that when you were in your younger days that you were very … things that were done to you and for you to realize now that you do have those choices and you have that power, was there a switch that happened? Was there something … because there’s a lot of people that are going to be listening and reading this interview, and there’s a lot of us that are out there going “I haven’t hit that point yet.” So for you, what was that, whether it was a moment or an evolution that happened within you to go “Wait a minute, I need to take back that power.”
Amy: It was definitely an evolution and a collection of things that I was exposed to that I started to pursue. I did a personal development seminar. People may have heard of it before; it’s called the Landmark Forum. I did that and then just started to do more reading, met my current mother-in-law — she wasn’t my mother-in-law at the time — who works in the field of personal development and started to study things like the Law of Attraction and the power of thoughts and things that I had never, ever been exposed to in my life in rural Nebraska in a very strict Catholic family. Those concepts don’t come into your world view when you’re living in that place.
So, just doing more reading and talking to people; and it became clear that all the power is within me. The power for my life is within me, and I give up that power when I let what other people say and do affect me. Certainly you can’t always prevent that; certainly you can’t, but you always have the choice of how to react. So for me, Toni, it was an evolution of learning, and it’s also a passion of mine, so I was voracious in getting information and figuring out how to take control of my life, my thoughts, my emotions.
Toni: That’s really something, because it isn’t the way that you were raised and yet you had a passion for learning about it when you were exposed to it, and then that literally kind of switched the way you thought about things and changed your life. I just … I find that really amazing. And so, are there tools or techniques, methodologies that you tend to reach for more than others when you’re just at that point going “Okay, I’m looking for a little inspiration here?”
Amy: Yeah, I think we all need inspiration. I mean, I can talk about being in control of my destiny, but goodness gracious, life happens and you need to make choices, and so I do use tools. I use … the one that helps me the most is just gratitude. I look around and see the things that I have and how fortunate I am in my life, because you can always want more and you can always want things to be different.
But just even looking at my two little boys, you know, looking at their sweet little cherub faces, that usually can turn me around. So I use gratitude. I also use visualization a lot in thinking about what I want, because truly if you focus on what you want and how you want things to be, it’s more helpful than focusing on what you don’t want. Because if you’re stewing about the things that you don’t like, you’re just going to get more of it. So those are the tricks I use.
Toni: So gratitude and visualization.
Amy: Yeah.
Toni: So when you are exploring your own potential, what do you need? What do you need to do to keep moving on that path?
Amy: I probably need about 10,000 years to get it done.
Toni: Well, let’s say you don’t get that 10,000 years.
Amy: I really just think it’s an open mind is what I need to explore my own potential. I never, ever believe that I know everything, and I am constantly on a quest for more knowledge, for more learning. And whether it’s about personal development — which is one of my passions — or I’m working with my kids and my four-year-old just wants to know more about dinosaurs, we’re out exploring and having an open mind for more knowledge. So that is what I need to explore my own potential is to stay open-minded and work every day to stay aligned with my spirit and to stay aligned with why I’m here.
Toni: And you think you’ve got that pretty close to figured out now?
Amy: I think I’m getting there. I think I’m on the right path. I think working in the field of helping other people to explore their potential, helping other people to overcome subconscious barriers that they have in their minds that are stopping them from living the life of their dreams, I think I am on … I know I’m on the right path.
Toni: Well that’s fantastic, and just the way that you have talked about how you inspire others by leading that great positive life, but that it didn’t always raise to the level of awareness the way that it did until you started to really work at it, and I think that is the message that has come across so loud and clear from you in this interview which is, that is the life that you lead. You know you’re on the right path; didn’t always know it, wasn’t exposed to it, but boy when you were, look out.
Amy: Right.
Toni: That’s awesome, and that’s what you do for others. How amazing is that?
Amy: Yeah. I mean I don’t think my work is done until everybody gets that and knows that it’s their power.
Toni: Well thank you so much.
Amy: That’s why I need 10,000 years, Toni.
Toni: Okay, well good luck with that!
Amy: Thank you.
Toni: Thank you so much for your time today, Amy, and I really hope we get to speak again soon, and good luck with pursuing your own passions.
Amy: Thank you.
Toni: Thank you so much again.
Amy: Oh you’re welcome, and good job on this Project; it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing you’re doing.
Toni: Thank you. Take care.
Amy: You too.
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For more information about Amy Nakos: anakos@landmarkregroup.com
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