The Story of Erica Castañeda

To kick off my special story on the first Sunday within my blog, I decided to bring you the story of my friend Erica Castañeda. She lives with us and is doing an amazing job of teaching the kids Spanish. The story is presented as an interview.

Me: How would you summarize who you are in a few words?
Erica: I am a woman deeply loved by God with a mission to share with the world lessons from life I’ve learned through strong experiences He opens to me.

Me: What books have shaped your life?
Erica:

1. The Bible, especially the Book of Corinthians 1

I was once broken-hearted and I became an atheist because I did not want to trust in love and God sounded too sentimental to me. My mom was worried about me rejecting spirituality and doing things out of character like smoking and partying too much. In essence I was trying to bury my old ‘good self’ who was healthy, very sane, pure and always focused on reading and learning (I had read leadership books since I was little). My mom began to fast and pray for me for one year. She asked God to help me to know him, but she prayed too much because I became a missionary. I fell in love again, but this time it was Jesus, who is very easy to love because He loves me unconditionally.

2. The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino
I read this book one day after I had a Miracle in my home. I felt God in my heart without any outside influence. There was a huge difference between the day before October 9th, 1999 when I was an atheist and October 9th when I saw Him everywhere. I saw my face in the mirror and suddenly realized that I couldn’t even create an eyelash in my eye, how did I think God didn’t exist? I found this book in my parents’ bookshelf and when I read it I saw that all I am is a Miracle, which propelled my self-esteem up and I wasn’t so worried about my ex-boyfriend anymore.

3. Life Strategies by Dr. Phil
I was in physical pain after an accident and I was in terrible pain. Reading was a great escape. A librarian introduced me to this book. This book attracted me. The book talks about how many people work in something not related to their passions. I came to Canada working with pigs, which is not something in my experience or passion. The book talks about how we have talents that nobody can duplicate. We are the managers of ourselves. we are in charge of different departments in our lives: the physical, the social, the professional, the familial, the personal, the economical, and the spiritual. I used these ideas to write down a plan to be a better manager of myself and I went back to what makes me happy to do which is theater (I created one in Winnipeg with Children as a volunteer), journalism (I made a documentary in English [which was a challenge] to participate in a contest), I became involved in the Church to keep developing my spiritual life, I never gave up with the physiotherapy. The book was a fuel for my insides. I set some goals for the next 5 years to achieve the dreams I have and be the person who I really am inside. I also set a goal to stay in Canada while working as a journalist, in my profession. I always wanted to live with peaceful people who speak English to help me practice my English and I attracted that. The things I wrote down are becoming real. I am about to launch my own magazine and I am living with a family who is focused on leadership and languages, who are models for me and I am now encouraged to think about new goals to do with family.

Me (to you the reader) : Here is that documentary, please watch and comment on it. I think Erica did a fantastic job. Remember, this was done over a few days to enter a contest in a new country with a new language. Just imagine what she can accomplish now. I am waiting to see and admire:

4. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah’s Book Club) by the Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel García Márquez
This transformed my writing. The book showed me that my natural style of writing was more for literature than for journalism. I had been writing for my job by simply following the journalism techniques for writing, but after reading this book, I wrote an article which received more accolades and appreciation than I ever did before. This is because I started writing from my heart, and my creativity exploded.

5. Developing The Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
This book showed me that I could be a leader. It gave me confidence that I didn’t have to be born a leader to become one.

6. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth by T. Harv Eker
This transformed my thinking about money and wealth. The sentence “Think about helping thousands of people if you are wealthy.” turned the switch in my mind. I love people and this motivated me so much to become wealthy. I am becoming business-minded and am so interested in learning more and more so that I could use my money to help a lot of people. The book also says “Use your talents.” and I have realized that I have many talents and I realize that I am rich because of them. I am having many ideas on how to use my talents to help others and make money. I also have so much information to share now that I can encourage others to use their talents to build wealth for themselves. All this learning lead me to do what I love with people I want to spend time with in a very flexible way.

7. Positive Personality Profiles by Dr. Robert Rohm
This helps me love and appreciate myself more and feel love for those who are so different to me.

8. How Did I Get Here? by Barbara De Angelis
I tried to manage, more carefully, my integral being, but sometimes I feel lost. In those times, I am without motivation, even for simple things like cleaning up or whatever. I am without in an unknown country, in pain because of the car accident I had two years ago and in grief dealing with my past. This book made me understand that sadness is not that bad because I am in an ‘wake-up call cycle’ in my life where sometimes I just need to slow down, stop and cry about what I didn’t cry about when I was too busy. I was too busy pretending that everything was okay. This book clarifies that I am not a loser because of the gut-wrenching difficulties that I have experienced. It helped me to take a deep look inside and turn and face things I had left unfinished because I was avoiding grief.

Me: I was going to ask about some Aha Moments, but we got into some of your AHA moments while talking about significant books. So, tell me about two people who have changed your path in life.
Erica:
1. Robert Gómez: He is a friend with who I had a volunteer radio-evangelization program (starting at 3:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays) after my conversion. I had 100 misunderstandings about Religion, especially the Catholic one, and he took the time and patiently gave me all the material I needed to realize I had a treasure being a Catholic.

Sareli DeRaj: She is so gorgeous inside. She led me again to my path of leadership training through inviting me to live at her place when I was ‘homeless’, and in physical and emotional pain. I was ready to move on. It has been a journey back to my childhood living with the kids, watching a nice couple, to give more value to who I am and motivating me to find soul-mate.

Me: What is your message to others?
Erica: Do not be afraid to follow your happiness, no matter what your obstacles are right now. Listen to your heart about what makes you happy in all departments (from Life Strategies) and pursue an integral happiness. You are extremely bigger than you think you are. If something makes you feel uncomfortable in your heart, you have not found the right path. Keep looking.