Madalena Fossatti on creating joy no matter the circumstances

Madalena and I are friends since we shared a hotel room during a live event of Denise Duffield-Thomas in London back in 2015. We had good times in Switzerland and in America since then and I’m so happy to have this talk with her. Madalena’s zone of genius is connecting and having fun, she just shines and it’s the best thing to spend time with her. She’s like a kaleidoscope offering a huge variety of colorful facets and her laughter and joy are simply contagious. Dive into this episode and enjoy.
 
Madalena lives in in the State of California, in the small beach town Santa Barbara. «Especially during these crazy times, I have experienced a lot of gratitude for where I live, it’s a beautiful place», she says. «I do a lot of different interesting things». Pre-covid Madalena did tourist-tours in Santa Barbara, she’s a musician, artist and a voice-over artist. If you’re ever at the Santa Barbara Airport you’ll hear her voice welcoming you. : ) Madalena also taught music at all the local elementary schools, she does standup comic, hosts trivia games and pop quizzes and also taught fitness classes at the local gym. «Basically my entire income and social life was based on going places and being in front of people and talking and being there and present so that kind of went away back in March (2020).

Madalena says that she experienced some downfalls and depression during that crazy time, but she happily says that she’s feeling more positive and very excited about all the things that have shifted in her life. Having been through tough times where Madalena lost her home, her income and her relationship before, acknowledging what she was able to get through then, helped her get through another tough situation like the one she experienced this year.

«One of the things I learned and that brings me joy in a profound way, is that when you get through the other side you realize that you can’t unsee or unlearn something, you know that you’ll be able to get through another situation too», Madalena

«It’s important that you remember what you’ve been through and what you’ve recovered from and just knowing that you can overcome challenges», Madalena

Madalena says that the way she got there was recognizing the little things; «The two main things (in manifesting) are forgiveness and gratitude».

«The biggest thing is forgiving myself», says Madalena; «I forgive myself and I know that the Universe has a plan for me and I have a little faith in that».

Having taught some hours a week at the gym before, Madalena now teaches several hours a day via zoom and really enjoys it. She even includes trivia questions which brings a lot of laughter to everybody and makes the time go by quicker, that sounds like a lot of fun indeed! : )

«The most important thing for me is to stay connected even when we’re not physically connected, that brings me a lot of joy», Madalena

Madalena tells about a 78 years old client that never exercised before and who is now able to do long walks with his wife, which Madalena is so happy about.

«It’s never too late to change your habits and change your body and take care of yourself!», Ronja

Madalena now also hosts online trivia games, which brings her a lot of joy. If you want to join, her cool international group is open for new people! I’ll put the link in the description below. : )

«Things that make me laugh bring me joy», Madalena

Madalena started traveling at a young age, she toured Japan with a band for 6 weeks at age 17 and kept traveling for another year and a half. «The rule was making money in an expensive country and spend it in cheap countries».

As her parents didn’t support her when she wanted to study theater and music, Madalena went abroad to Italy, where her father originates, to learn Italian. After having discovered - among other things - the goodness of wine in Italy, Madalena studied wine making back in America and kept traveling and bonding with her Italian relatives and friends all over the world up to this year when it all came to a sudden stop.

Madalena says that a big source of joy in her life has been traveling and meeting people so the shift for her was meeting people online.

«When things change you have to evolve, you have to find (joy), you have to create (joy)», Madalena

Madalena is really good at manifesting things so I ask her for any tricks and hacks that she could tell everybody out there that doesn’t know how to do that or where to start.

«One of the things I’ve always known is that I was not going to live a very traditional life, from the time I was a little kid I would look at people and see the people and instantly know «that I want, that I don’t want». Some of those things were clear but how to live that life was not very clear, because I did not have a lot of examples. I grew up really feeling undervalued because I was a girl, that was really hard and I think I put some pressure on myself to prove to myself and the world that I didn’t have to have a man to find my worth, I didn’t have to be a mother in order to have value and that is something I have struggled with but it’s again having some faith in the Universe. I’m not a religious person but I definitely believe in however you define, however you identify with, that energy, whether it’s God, whether it’s the Universe», Madalena explains.

«It’s important to have faith that there’s a balance between what we create ourselves and that there’s a purpose. When I follow the path that brings me joy, that’s when I manifest, that’s when I feel good, that’s when I have a purpose, so I guess really simply put, I really like to do things that are fun», Madalena

Madalena adds laughing that one of the things she doesn’t like is exercising, so she asked herself how she can make it fun, which resulted in awesome online fitness classes that everybody enjoys whilst working out, what a great way!

«That’s really been the thing that has inspired me during this COVID time. How can I make the things that I should do, or that I know would be good for me, how do I make them fun? How do I make them joyful?», Madalena

Madalena tells a story that she used to be very angry and having road rage in her town, especially the tourists that keep stopping in the middle of the street or ignore the stop sign, so experiencing no road rage after not being on the road during the lockdown for some time, Madalena realized that she could actually shift her perspective. Instead of getting angry she thought about the person taking a beautiful picture of her beloved town and that the person will probably show it to somebody else and that they’ll enjoy it together and that thought brought Madalena joy instead of anger! «I realized that I could have a joy explosion instead of road rage», Madalena says laughing. «I manifested joy».

«There was a moment that I realized I can recreate, and I can shift», Madalena

«I think it’s more important than ever to create joy, joy really is sort of the antidot, it’s the vaccine, it’s the cure and we do have it in our power, even just a little bit, we do have that choice», Madalena

«If we can find the things that we have in common instead of the things we disagree on, that’s really the key», Madalena

This reminds me of the book «Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness», where the author collected things that bring joy to everybody, it’s such a beautiful book.

«When we were in serious lockdown, I was wearing fancy gowns around the house with my flip flops, because, why not?», Madalena

«We often think we have to do this or that, but no we don’t!», Ronja

«I think anything is better than nothing. In traveling, in experience, in exercise, in meditation. Anything you do that stretches you is going to do something good», Madalena

«What can you improve today, that’s a question you can ask yourself», Ronja

Madalena says that she started having groceries delivered only from local farmers and local fishermen to support local businesses, but she eventually realized that only eating food that is in season and that comes directly from the sea or from the farm to the door, changed a lot for her as well. «I didn’t realize how powerful that shift was. I can feel the difference in my energy. When I realized that that was a change that I had made gradually, I got excited».

Madalena also loves to host big parties and cook for a lot of people, which wasn’t possible anymore. She then realized that she can shift that joy to also have it when she only cooks for herself and her boyfriend, that she can make an event out of that as well.

«Being aware and having some presence just made me feel like being part of something bigger», Madalena

«I feel like I’m blessed and lucky having made the choices that I made», Madalena

The hour with Madalena just flew by! Don’t miss the episode and I highly recommend you watch the video too : ), also check out Madalena’s Trivia group where you can be sure to have a lot of fun amongst great people. : )
 
This is where you can find Madalena:

Facebook to play Trivia: https://www.facebook.com/TriviaWithMaddy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Madcatti
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madalenafossatti/

Things we talked about:

«Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness», Ingrid Fetell Lee

Watch our conversation here: