Costa Women Blogs

If you’re trying to figure out finding friends as an expat (or heck) just finding friends as a woman over 35, this post will give you some hope and much needed laughs. Read here. 

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of our first online pop up shop, we are back with an even bigger and better version. This event will take the format of an online Festive Market, so there will be a lot more going on besides our wonderful shopkeepers.  The event will begin 11th November and will continue to be “live” until 6th December, however you will still be able to purchase our favourite items until 7th January. There are many reasons why an ONLINE shops are becoming more and more popular. Since March, a massive increase in people are now using online facilities to do more. People have been ordering food, goods, courses etc. They have also been keeping in touch with friends and family through online video chats. It is expected that this will not only continue in the long term, but it will actually increase even more. Then there is the change in the purchasing process itself. We have been locked up at home and many are wary of going to crowded places, whether it´s for a business meeting or just to buy groceries. So the natural alternative has been to go online.   All consumers (not just the younger market) have increased their usage of all things online, which all point to a stronger preference for e-commerce versus in-store shopping experiences:  People have become more mindful of their own safety and that of others, and feel more confident to order online, pay online or use digital contactless payments, video conferencing. Even when going to the supermarket, more people are choosing to use self-checkout options. A very popular method which is gaining in popularity to help small businesses to retain clients, is to offer various subscription services.  Now that many restrictions have been lifted, as well as continuing to shop online, people are preferring to shop local rather global.  They choose to shop where there are less people, and also to support small businesses. People are understanding the pressures that small businesses have been under, and continue to be under, and are making a conscious decision to support at a locally. Most people prefer to support something on a more personal level as they realise it actually does make a difference. It helps support the local economy full circle.  For most the convenience and relative safety of online or local shopping takes precedence over everything else.  Some people are also deciding to move away from their preferred high street brands in a bid to support local suppliers in their communities.  Also by shopping online, and using contactless banking, more and more are having to put their trust in digital payments.  As this continues, online purchases will continue to grow. Many local retailers have also had to make changes to their businesses or the products that they have to offer.  Many are becoming more creative and have made extra efforts to care for the most vulnerable members of our society as things got tougher.  The approach is more direct and more personal.  They are part of the community.   Trust has played a big factor in the resurgence of the local business communities, and consumers have seen that in most cases, they do actually really care for each individual customer. We all love to visit the Festive Markets.  Many countries are renowned for them.  This year, however, we do not as yet know what will happen.  Will we be able to travel?  Will they be cancelled?  So we thought we would bring you the best of both worlds to you – Small Businesses selling online, giving that personal touch during our Festive ONLINE pop up shop.   Costa Women businesses from all over Spain will be selling their wonderful products.  Join our team of Pop Up Shopkeepers for our ONLINE festive shop. We are looking for a variety of businesses offering physical and online products or services. We realise people will be looking to support more local businesses than ever as restrictions have been tightened. This will hopefully have a positive impact on those selling Christmas/Festive decorations and related products, gifts for friends and family etc. We have also found that it is a time for people to re-set and think ahead to the new year. Perfect for learning something new from a course, planning a holiday, thinking about home improvements. If you or anyone you know within the Costa Women Community might be interested in participating, join our team of Pop Up Shopkeepers for our ONLINE festive shop. We will also be raising money, food and awareness of our chosen charity – Bancosol Alimentos. To find out what happened during our inaugural event, click/copy and paste here FIRST EVER COSTA WOMEN ONLINE POP UP SHOP If you are interested in being one of our “shopkeepers” send us a message, or if you simply want to support our wonderful Costa Women businesses, you can join our Facebook Group COSTA WOMEN POP UP SHOP FACEBOOK GROUP – you can even invite your friends.  They don´t have to be members of Costa Women.  Every one of us appreciate your support.       

  Loving yourself, putting yourself first and giving yourself time and attention, to get to know yourself, to know All of yourself; Body, Mind, Spirit & Aspects, goes against everything you and I have been taught and brought up to believe… yet it is the one thing that will open the truth up to you and set you free.   As a society we’ve been told to put others first, to fit in, to be busy, to push ourselves to be the best and establish a good place in life. To accept that others will give us a hard time, will judge us and tell us what they think is best for us, for society… because it’s in our best interest!   AND we fell for it all..   We became lazy and irresponsible and god forbid… if we become assertive and selfish.   Today we can sense, as we walk around muzzled, standing 6 feet apart from friends or sitting around a cafe table or at home isolated, just where our submissive behaviour has brought Humanity.   We the people, not believing we are important, worthy and powerful, became victims and prey to a few greedy and evil people who stand behind worldwide governments and organisations with an agenda to control us all.   We have become afraid and forgotten how to stand up for ourselves, never mind move around in freedom, in love, joy and peace as the Sovereign Divine beings we were all truly born as and experience a most joyous life.   When is enough, enough?     Feeling the stir to go within & LOVE yourself…   Do you not feel a stir within you? An urge to follow through on a feeling, of how something just doesn’t feel right? of how there must be more to yourself and life than what you see?   There has been no time quite like now, when it has become essential to follow your own instincts or intuition; the nudge and communication from your Spirit, your Divine self… urging you to love yourself, to pay attention to you and get to know about yourself.   It is such a loving gesture to give yourself time to be with yourself… simply sitting in silence with yourself or in relationship with others. Doing nothing but breathing, observing and feeling all aspects of yourself and your life without judgement. Exploring and discovering how you feel, what is important to you, what brings you joy, what you love to do and how you love to express yourself.   Yes, it is the opposite of what we’ve all been taught, to rely on others to show us the way and give us the answers. However, haven’t we discovered by now, each is unique and has a different story! What is good for one, is not necessarily good for another and surely nobody can know another’s feelings or know what is best for them.   Do you know yourself well? Do you know what makes you smile, jump for joy and gives you twinkles in your eyes? Do you know what your body craves to eat, what it longs to perform as and how it loves to relax?   Of course indulging yourself in nature and sharing acts of kindness with others helps you to open up to your own Divine flow within, but it’s only when you allow yourself to go one step further and explore the true depths of yourself… you will discover in all ease and grace and in each moment, how to bring in and experience your grandest dream of NewEarth.   I promise you, the more you love and know yourself, you will quite magically know your next move, answers to all your questions and you will trust this whole process of Ascension.     The Bigger Picture…   Yes, there is a bigger picture behind what you see in the physical world, behind the lies and manipulation of our dual reality. You are part of a grand and beautiful tapestry of consciousness that is experiencing itself in all its facets, facing the light and the darkness and coming back into your sovereign oneness.   Team Dark are playing their role and will not release you from the game unless you see the truth and step out. They will continue to confuse and push everyone, they won’t give up and there is nobody coming or anything to save you either!   It’s up to you! Up to each person to touch that sacredness deep within and embody the love, light and All knowingness that will guide you forward through these exciting transformative times.    I continue to hold the vision of NewEarth, of Humanity shining their true vibrant colours, and bringing themselves, one heart at a time, into a new multi-dimension to experience first hand the embodiment of the Divine.   I remain grateful to many awakened hearts who continue to follow their passion and mission and are bringing in new potentials to make this transformation happen.   How it’s all going to unfold for the majority, depends on many, but rest assure, if you are aware of the bigger picture, have allowed the integration and embodiment of all your yesterdays and your desire and intention is to embody Your Magnificent Self and live a life of celebration… we’ll no doubt meet each other to celebrate in person.   Meanwhile, things are happening in our now physical reality to bridge the gap of this transformation from old dual world to NewEarth… remain the observer, hold your grand dream high, keep yourself well and let’s bring as many people with us through this most magical time… just by loving yourself.    Remember… knowing the truth allows you to stand up and say no more! To demand your Sovereign Human right to be free and live your life as you desire, for the good of all… knowing in each moment what move to make next.   Back in 2016, I wrote 3 detailed posts about… What is Loving Yourself all about, Part I, Part II, Part III. Enjoy   ©Barbara Franken… Creative Visionary & Master CreatorInspiring New Energy Consciousness & Multi-Dimensional Living         A paperback and Digital Book is available from all Major online stores… Amazon and Apple.  I share my own magical journey, exploring Who I AM with the help of nine Elemental Beings and expand from a world of fear, struggle and limitation into a New Energy Consciousness of love, grace and freedom. It is in this loving space that I discover my Divine and ALL LOVING self and allow myself to integrate together as one Body Consciousness… a DivineHumanBeing… and Magnificent Master Creator who expresses and creates heart and soul passion on the physical plane and beyond..    Are you choosing to see the bigger picture of life and step out of the 3D or Dual Human life and live the multi-dimensional life you were born to fulfil? Join my MasterCreator Class; a 3 Day dedication to you, reminding yourself through dance, song, art, writing & relaxed inner journeys, how you are the Sovereign Master and Creator ready to birth yourself and your life anew.   Give yourself this magnificent gift of participating in our next ZOOM class… Sign Up here for more Info: MasterCreator Class     All the money raised from my books and classes go to my non-profit association The Magnificent Consciousness that holds free local Creative Art projects in Benalmadena, Spain.

LET’S START A MOVEMENT! I am collecting photos and videos of people doing this and I’m going to share it to the world. This is my collection so far! https://mschalin.com/i-am-enough/ If you decide you would like to join in and write this on your mirror and you want to share it, please feel free to share it here and/or send it to me. This is an amazing tool I have learned from Marisa Peer that I share with my clients. I promise you, do this and you will experience a powerful impact on your life!!

Under the groups section of the website, I have created a group all about hobbies and interests and self commitment time for you.  It would amazing if you could join.  https://costawomen.com/group/186/hobbies-interests-commitment-group It is all about taking time out our busy lives, and getting into a habit of doing something just for YOU.   How many of us do this?  At the moment, we are looking at new habits for October, then either the same habit continued the following month or a completely new hobby or something….and so on.   Anyway, for everyone that is reading this, have a fantastic day everyone. For those that have set themselves commitment goals, it´s your mid week check- in. We are half way through the first week of commitment to yourself! How are we all doing? Are we on track, or have we let things take over and let our self commitments take a back seat? Remember, without a fully functioning YOU, your other priorities tend to not perform as well as they might. Invest in doing something, anything just for you! You are worth it! My drawing and my language have not been as consistent as I have wanted, so I need to ask myself why. My exercise – walking/running has been over and above. I think it has helped that I am doing it “virtually” to help my friend. I feel is I don´t keep consistent, I am allowing her an opportunity for an excuse not to do it either. So we are actually helping each other by staying committed. Remember, your commitment goals are your own, so they can be adjusted. The most important thing is to just keep reviewing and see if you need to change them in any way. It is much better to achieve your realistic goals, than to fail when you set unrealistic ones. You can decide whether you want to write here how you are doing with your goals or not. It is a personal choice, so totally up to you. For those that do decide to write how they are doing, I and other members of this group, will support and encourage you to get to where you want to be. If you are off track, let us know if you still intend to catch up, or if this is impossible, what stopped you achieving your personal commitment goals – is that something you can change – or is it your goals you need to adjust. There are no wrong answers – only how you want to move forward doing what is best for YOU!   I hope this has made you realise how important it is for us to take that time.  

Surgery is a BIG thing for our bodies. There’s the medication and anaesthetic, the trauma to skin, muscles and other tissues, the emotional stress . . . . Now admittedly these can vary HUGELY depending on the procedure – open heart surgery is a totally different conversation to an arthroscopy for instance. But all three things happen in all surgeries, whether you are excited to have it (cosmetic surgery for instance) or concerned. I spoke about what you can do before surgery to improve the results (short answer – exercise and specific supplements), this week let’s talk about the 3 key things you can do to improve your results after surgery. 50% less pain and swelling Yup, that’s right – you can reduce your pain and swelling by up to 50%. And it won’t even hurt. Getting lymphatic drainage massage after surgery will reduce your pain and swelling by up to 50%. And, because it’s such a gentle therapy, you can start it almost immediately. We use two main methods at our clinic, manual and electro lymphatic. Both are gentle enough to start within 1-2 weeks post-operative. However, some of the other mechanical methods can put a lot of pressure on the wounds (it’s what they are designed to do after all!) which means you should wait a little longer before starting, closer to 6-12 weeks depending on your wound healing. Often recommended and scheduled to improve results after cosmetic surgery, lymphatic drainage can actually help after pretty much every type of surgical intervention. At the Supermarket What you put in your trolley can affect how quickly you heal. Following an anti-inflammatory diet for a few weeks after surgery can help your body recover more quickly. Lisa, our Digestive Expert, has written an indepth plan that you can follow. Motion is lotion Whatever your surgery was for, getting mobile safely as quickly as possible will help. It gets the good, healing blood flowing to the wound and helps the bad get moved away by your lymphatic system. While usually part of the program for orthopaedic surgery, careful, safe movement and exercise will help you recover faster and with less long term effects from most surgical procedures. What first? If you aren’t sure what is best for you then you can book a free telephone consultation with us to help you get to the right people in the right place as quickly as possible. We are also happy to help with personalised treatment plans over email, WhatsApp and in person as required.