Living Unfiltered: The Courage to Show Up as Yourself with Maggie Habieda and Sandra Tadros Guirguis l S2E085

Welcome, everybody. Welcome to A Call for Love. I am so

glad you're here. And if you're new to A Call for Love, then welcome

because I have two special guests. And the only

time else we've had two other guests is when we did the or

one year episode, first year of podcasting episode,

which these two lovely ladies were actually at. So it's

perfect timing. Now I'm going to introduce the first

lady, which is Maggie Habida, and she was

actually on the episode that I shared about the

story of your brutal inner critic, you know, that

self compassion piece. And people Maggie, the

story about me dressed up as the pink bunny, people still come

up to me and know that whole story. I will share the link

in the episode, but it was, I believe, episode three or four. So I will

share that again. But, Maggie, why don't you just share a little bit

about yourself, and then we'll go on to our next guest. Oh, thank

you so much for this welcoming, Linda. I am Maggie Abieda.

I'm an iconic portrait artist. I specialize

in capturing people's beauty, love, and dreams.

And you are one of the we've known each other for a very

long time, and I photographed you, many

times and and and and so did I our guest,

Sandra. So we're very connected. I know you from every

angle. But beyond that, I know you from how beautiful

you both are inside. And I could say so much, but I know my

introduction is very little. So we can come back to you because I do

want to talk about our connection, how we why we're here today.

Right? Absolutely. We're very connected. It's it's

very connected because, of course, there's Maggie. If

you go on to my website or you even go on

to any of my social media, you're gonna see these photos,

and Maggie captures the soul and heart of people.

And so we will definitely hear more from Maggie. I'm so happy

that you're here on A Call for Love. And our next guest

had such a popular episode because she was on the

episode number 40, from grief to growth, sharing her

book, Embracing Abundance, and her name is Sandra

Tadros. And, Sandra, first of all, I wanna say thank you

because it was my birthday just in October. And

I went to your workout class first thing in the morning, and Maggie was

there. And we had a what a beautiful way to

celebrate my birthday. It's just so beautiful.

And so I welcome you back to A Call for

Love. Thank you so much. It was amazing to have you

there. You crushed it. We had such a good time.

High energy music, moving our bodies, Motion is

lotion. We we had a great time. And as you mentioned about the photos, Maggie

has also done all of my social media, my family,

my blended family pictures. So I you're both so special to

me, and I'm really honored to be here to have another great conversation

with you. My name is Sandra Tadros Kyrgos as you mentioned,

and I am so passionate about wellness,

partially from the fact that I had to use every bit

of, you know, professional training and personal experience in my own

loss, but I see it every day. I work in primary care health and

I teach group fitness as these beautiful ladies have mentioned. And

I'm really passionate about public speaking. So I will go anywhere

and talk to anyone about practical tips of how they can

improve their mental health, their physical health, and their overall

well-being. Yeah. So beautiful. I have to say, you

know, the message of a call for love is noticing how you're

living. Are you living in the lower vibration of stress, fear,

and anxiety? And if not, it's a call for love, a

call to shift higher. And these two

beautiful women live from a high vibration.

They have huge, huge hearts. It could make me cry.

And so because there is

a lot of love from you too, it requires

intentional living. And I know you

both live very intentionally. I wanna talk

today about what word

vibration or energy you use to

really amplify your life to spread that to others.

So whoever wants to go first. So, you

know, you're you couldn't have said it better, Linda. How we

spend our time is really how we spend our lives. Right? What is

that expression of it takes ten thousand hours to master

something? So, wow, that could be self care, meditation,

a new language, or it could be level full of call of duty. Right?

So you can choose how you spend your time, but just knowing

where you spend a lot of time is really ultimately how you're living like you

said. And do we need that call? So you asked us kind of about

our theme or word and how I have been

really intentionally trying to live has been around the

word surrender. And I came across this

often, you know, in faith and in different walks. And I came

across a Hebrew translation that I loved so much because it

said, contrary to what we may think, surrender doesn't

mean doing nothing. It just means relinquishing

control. And so as someone who's very type a, I'm

constantly just, like, running forward. Right? But my Christian

faith is very important to me, and so I've kind of resolved

to say, okay. What if I try to practice humility

and stillness? One of my good friends in my prayer group actually

has the Bible verse be still, like, tattooed, like, right

here. She's the same kind of temperament as me. And she says, you know,

multiple times a day, I see it on my hand. And I'm like, okay. Be

still and know. Right? So I think practicing stillness and

humility is a constant, goal for me

and trying to really and I've noticed it this year, trying not to

force any, things. Still going for everything in

every direction, but trying to to see where I'm led, if that

makes sense, and to not be trying to dictate how

everything will go. Yeah. So what I hear you saying that

you surrender to not only your higher self, but a higher

source Yes. To guide you. Exactly. Yeah. Which

is really intentional. Like, and it's such a

beautiful intention because when we work from our egoic

mind, you know, there's layers and layers of

past conditioning and worry and fear and socialization.

But when we really hold space for

that inner divine wisdom,

we can live so much better. So that was beautiful, Sandra. Thank

you. And, Maggie, what do you think, Maggie? My friend.

Linda, Sandra, and and,

anybody who is listening, my biggest word still

is you have it in your name, is

love. Love call for love.

And next to it is authentic. I

have gone I think all of us were going through I don't

know, but many I've been talking to everybody's

looking inwards, involution.

And what I'm what I have, learned over the past

few years is that, we got

to be authentic to ourselves, speak our truth.

And speaking truth doesn't mean, you know, other times you're lying.

Far away from that. It means that I used to be, like,

shy and afraid to say what I really wanted to say, and

I I'm very big on that. You got to speak speak. You

got to stand up for yourself. You got to, you know,

just be very authentic. And more

than ever before, that word resonates with me

because I express that, through

my art, through capturing people. And you

know how I'll say this because this is when a world of

filters, and filters equals mask.

And and and it's like, you know, especially in business. Like, in

art, like, when I create fine art pieces, you

know, it could be very it could be fantasy. You can be whoever you

wanna it's it's an art. Right? It's an expression of some kind. But in

business portraits, it's it should be authentic. It should be real

because, you know, I think it's like the new luxury

today. It's it's it's being real,

expressing yourself because it connects us on a different level.

And that kind of energy and combined with love

is, is huge for me. It's like it's a it's

it's it's just like, you know, it's a beautiful energy

that just brings us to a different,

you what do you call this? Just like a different level, different

frequency altogether. So that's me at this Yes. At

this point in my life. Yeah.

And I love how you say at this point in my life because we're always

evolving. We're always evolving. And, well, I

just going to your portraits. It's isn't it

timeless you have in Yes. Because timeless

is well, don't they say that the

only thing that's really true and lasts is is what

never dies? And so that's

what your art, I think, Maggie, does because

it captures the spirit, the soul, the heart

of a person and a situation. I love

that. And I really like that you said, you know, in an era of

digital and filters, but a filter is really a

mask. And I saw that my kids had downloaded a certain app where you

can put all these filters on your face. And I remember they were playing on

my fame phone and they were showing it to me, and there was this one,

like, glam or makeup, and, oh, boy. Right? All of a

sudden, there was no fine lines, and I had makeup. And at

first glance, it was like, wow. Vavoom. Right? Is

that me? But then I was like, it doesn't even look

like me, though. You know? And it's, I think, exactly what you said, Maggie.

Like, even these filters on the surface, you know, they put this, you know, this

beauty or whatever. But then if you lose who you are and, you know, these

lines that are me, then it's not authentic.

May I add something to this? Of course.

Somebody brought this to my attention, said it. Like, a

friend that's very real, like, you know, she always speaks her truth.

And I just admire that. I love it. She said,

is how she said it literally. You know, when you see these dolls or

these super looking women doing business and then they they

show up and, like, you meet with them in real life. And I was saying,

what? Thirty years older. Ugly. Scary.

So how are you really portraying yourself? You're scary.

You're not being you're you're you're being completely

someone else. So who is it really to impress

online when you're looking like, you know, it's like literally those

masks, those filters that will change the shape

of your face. They will make you so plastic, and and, you know,

will make the eyes bigger. The makeup, It's it's when

you when you videotaping yourself with us through that filter

and you're putting that on social media, doesn't that

feel like you're actually lying? And why?

For whom? Who are you impressing? Yourself? The people that are gonna run

away when they're gonna see you afterwards in a

real situation. So who's what just is

to whom? I'm I'm I'm I'm speaking my

truth, you know, or, like, my experience. And this is why I'm I I

am so big now to say, okay. You can use,

the tools. They they're they're for us. It's like when I

paint a painting, you know, I I will create whatever I need to

do. When I'm editing, I will use it to perfect

wrinkles in the suit. Maybe maybe perhaps, you know,

your hair didn't work that day. Hair is something a stylist can do.

Did we women, you know, make the hair nice, curly, straight, whatever you want?

So we could create more volume or whatever. You know? These things,

they're just, like, things that you can do yourself really in real life, but they

were let's say you were in a hurry. We couldn't do it and whatever. So

I'm here to do that. Okay? I'm speaking business portraits.

And but but to completely put this mask on, the filters,

like, I would just beg people don't do that, please. No. I said,

let's just like, stop all of us. Like, technology gave this

to us, and people just went overboard with it. These are my

2¢. It's so interesting

because, you know, I had a mindset when we came on this podcast

together, and I just feel like the theme now

has changed my mindset that filters

is this theme for this podcast because the

word authenticity, surrender, being present,

love, those are such powerful

and important essences that

can't really be masked. You know, if you

meet somebody I don't know about you, but I I'm

very intuitive, and they are not true.

They can look the part. They can act the

part. But you know their heart is not

radiating the part. And so

are they really shining forth what is inside them?

And, I don't go on dating apps,

but I've heard from other people that this is the case

in dating apps because you try to have an image and then

when you show up you don't look like that image. And so,

we are actually doing a disservice to ourselves.

And of course this began with society's

pressures, but now, we've not

only distill instilled it in our own age group, but

even the young people, you know, they're afraid to

not look perfect. You know, I have to sometimes if I'm taking

photos of people, I have to show them the photo to get

approval to then share it.

So this is a really big, actually, discussion.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a big problem that we should resolve

somehow and tell people that today is, like, the the

trend now is be authentic. I'm gonna bring up one name

if I may. It's a beautiful actress from the past that I thought she was

so stunning hours. And today, she's the biggest advocate,

like, for having no makeup on, the hair, whatever. It's a Pamela

Anderson. I don't know if you've seen Rodenning. Like, why I'm

loving? Because true natural beauty. But I I'm not against makeup

and hair. I love it. I'm an artist, and and, you know, it's for

they're for everybody. But you know what? That's

that's not when all of a sudden you just like, through

those filters, they just change you completely. You don't even look the

same. And I don't know what the purpose of this plastic skin is.

That mask, I cannot look. When I see another filter of that

kind, I just can't look. I just can't. Me, my,

arm like that. You know? Because you you you want to see the real

person that's when it's inside them, and the beauty usually comes and shines

from within that real beauty that you're referring to.

And when combined together is powerful. So it's almost like we

need to do a a rebirth, renaissance, you know, like

the dark ages. We're coming out of some strange

era of time that conditioned us to something that's

fake, that's not real. We need to bring that back. And

it's just beautiful, and it's to be celebrated and to

be to, you know, combining the beauty from

within the soul, the to be in alignment with the soul

and in combination of all, but not to

exaggerate or overdo in one area. You know what I'm saying? And especially

disaster. I I'm sorry. Because that leads to mental illnesses, you

know? And you're like, it's it's really

bad. It's and you're hiding behind something. And then and then you

know what? You're gonna hide from people and then from the whole world when really

that's not the idea here. You both reminded me of something

pretty profound I came across when my daughter was young,

and I was so grateful. Someone forwarded it, you know, a note or it was

like a mental health recommendation. And it said, if you have little

girls, especially, and I'm sure this applies to everyone, when

you see them, refrain from always commenting

about their appearance first thing. So you think about it. You see a little girl,

how cute are you? Look at that pretty dress. Oh my goodness. You're

beautiful. And it said, make sure and not all the

time. Of course, you're still gonna comment on the appearance, but they said focus

more on the traits so that this little girl

grows up knowing that her value and her worth is

not just in the physical appearance. So, you know, it would be how clever

you are or I love that bright smile or, you know,

I love your energy as you walked into the room. And this is

something actually we were taught, and I say this you guys, Meg, you've heard this

before in my fitness classes. I always you know, before the holidays and stuff, I

tell people, especially in the gym setting, refrain from

commenting on anyone's shape. Even if you think you're doing

something well, you think it's encouraging to see someone at the gym and say,

wow. You've lost weight. You look great. Right? And,

and when we were done training, our dietitians brought someone into clinic

from SickKids, and they said, when you put worth again on

you lost weight, you gained weight, it gets in that person's head

that their value is on their weight gain. And they tell us all these devastating

stories, people who are struggling with eating disorder, you know how that can

put that pressure on them, or someone who now doesn't go to their,

family gatherings or whatever because they've gained some weight. And wow,

everyone celebrated the weight I lost last year. I'm so ashamed

now to, you know, to go, and I look different. So the general

room I try to raise my children to do is don't

comment on anything, you know, on somebody that has

to do, with their appearance as much as you can as a general thing.

Wow. You look great. You look sharp. You know, you are beautiful versus,

you know, wow. Look at those cheekbones and that tiny waist and that

bubble butter. So you see how one was very overall

celebrating your appearance as a human, but not making you feel like

your value is in your assets, so to speak, or your

attributes. Yeah. That's so powerful. I

often say people are beautiful inside and

out. You know? Because but it's inside first.

And I had said, on the last episode, episode 84,

that I had a family friend who was like a grandmother to me,

and she always used to say, oh, Linda, you're so beautiful. You

know, I was, like, 10, 12, 13, somewhere around that age, very

self conscious. And I would think, no. Oh, I'm I'm not. I got this. I

got that. And I realize only now through

maturity and through, growing older and hopefully growing

wiser that she was really talking about my heart.

And, I really appreciate that now.

But it's it's a temple. Our our body, our physical

body is a temple. Some people call it a spacesuit. There's different names for

it. I call mine a temple. You know, I honor my temple.

I I take care of it, but it's not who I am. It's the heart

and soul inside of it. Not your identity. It's where

you reside kind of thing. But thank goodness we have Maggie to

take care of or to photograph, but that

that comes out of ourselves. You know, the the

world the word beautiful, I I

refer to this and you, Sandra, and you, Linda, you mean it

always the same way because, you know, I know you're both, and we're sharing

that beautiful energy. And, and and we know

exactly what that means. That goes deeper inside here, and that's the whole

picture because it shines. You know? And and, you know,

now, Sandra, to what you said about, you know, complementing the

dress or whatever, it's nice. It it could be secondary.

But what if, like, we replace it? And I actually I

don't know how it it it just happened. I I I'm

paying attention more to many, many things. And and one of

the big things is, like, you know, I I when I see somebody, I say,

oh my god. I love your energy. Yeah. Isn't

that beautiful compliment to us? Beautiful. Because that and

and, Sandra, like, when we like, I come to your class and and I go,

my god. I need a Sandra in my life. And

same. It's just all love. Right? I love you. I'm so happy to

see you. You are a beautiful human. You know? Beautiful human. That

word, that's what it means. Yeah? Yeah. Doesn't mean a filter on my

face or makeup or something. That I knew mascara?

No. Exactly. Mascara. Yeah. I'm coming. Laughing.

It's the general. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, like, it's all about that

beautiful insight, the energy and everything. And and I think it's

like soul. It's a soul,

like, it's everything about to do with the soul for

me. And you find that these people gravitate to each other.

Linda, we said that when we met. Like, so for your listeners,

Linda, that might not not know the whole backstory, so I know

Maggie because she was coming to my classes at the gym. And I'll ask you

guys to fill in how you know each other, but I came to know

Linda when I was talking to Maggie about my story and the loss. And I

was telling her the public speaking is filling my soul, you know, whether

it's a a company or a church or wherever. And she

said, you've got to talk to my friend Linda. Right? And

she said, I think you guys would love each other. You were so similar, and

she connected us. Linda, you left me a voice note, which I love, by the

way, because an intro text, of course, is fine. But when

you hear somebody's energy Linda just left such a lovely

you know, I'm a friend of Maggie's. A friend of Maggie's is a friend of

mine. I'd love to hear more. And, you know, the rest is history as they

say. You know, I've, incorporated you both as my lifelong

sisters and deep friends, you know, who I love so much, but it was

incredible how our energy and then we shortly after you guys

came to the book launch for me, and we went to the,

Linda's beautiful celebration of her anniversary of her

podcast. And we went and got our pictures done by Maggie, and it's just

been so full circle and so lovely. And that's

a surrender. Yes. Like, surrendering to

just, like, okay. Just like an openness. Like like, we

don't know always what's best for ourselves, but when we surrender to

that deeper wisdom, then there's no

effort. It's just a beautiful orchestra,

a symphony of coming together. Yes. A symphony of I

wanna write that down. A symphony of coming together. I was trying to

tell my husband the other day how how I've been feeling

these few months, and I found there's certain avenues I'll pray about something, and it

is just like shut down, shut down, shut down. Like and and I'm past

trying to force that. I'm like, okay. And then you'll find a different path or

opportunity that's just, you know, opening and opening

and opening, maybe waiting for your, you know, your surrender or your openness or

your welcoming of that. Right? Of I don't always know what's best for me. I

don't always have all the answers and that can be It's

called it's called alignment. Alignment.

Yes. Exactly. Another word for it. But if we feel it, we know

it. We know exactly what that is. Yes. And I think we've

all been in a position, everyone listening, all of us here, where sometimes you

want something so bad, but you just see, like, it is not

coming together. Right? Like, that alignment is not there. And I think once you

learn that experience, you can really recognize when something is aligned or

when something is intentional because you know what that resistance

feels like when it's not for you. Right? Absolutely.

And I just wanna share that so beautiful, before

we we end our our wonderful time together, which I think we could

go on forever, that

Maggie and I were introduced by Paul

Lukewski, who has now passed, and I think of him

often. So he introduced us, and I'm so

really grateful that he did. And we have spent many times

together, and so that's how I know Maggie. And then,

of course, through Maggie is Sandra, and it's just a beautiful snowball.

I love that. Yeah. It's really beautiful. Okay. So

thank you. Thank you. I do want all the listeners

to know how they can reach you and what you offer because,

there's a lot of love and really, really beautiful

high energy here. So how can people reach you? What

do you offer? So for me, you

can reach me. My website is

www.stgwellness,um,

C a. You can also find me on Instagram at s t g

underscore wellness. Sandra Tadros Gurgis is my name. You'll

find me anywhere. And, my sir my main service

is public speaking. So you have a group of people,

small or large. You would like to have someone come give a keynote, a

workshop, anything about a variety of wellness

topics, mental health and burnout, exercise and movement,

improving your sleep. And these are all medically

evidence based strategies as we call. So this is kind of best

practice in the guidelines looking at the holistic person. So

you've got the clinical pharmacist angle and the,

fitness angle and the spiritual angle, and I try to

bring it all together to give practical, helpful tips in

a very engaging way. Oh, thank you,

Sandra. Thank you. And Meggie.

And myself. So, my business name is Fotografia

Boutique, f f. Two f's, no p

h's. And it's such an

international photograph. It's Polish, Portuguese, and, you know,

international. So it's photografiaboutique.ca is the website.

But I go under Maggie Habieda, h a b I e d

a, And, I capture timeless

portraits. And I'm very big on branding now for

businesses, helping people, capture the best for their

business because social media is so big,

that portrait speaks before you do. So it's very crucial,

and you don't need zillions, of pictures that you

cannot find on your phone. You just need one iconic photo.

So so I do invite you to check my social media

under Maggie Habieta mainly. And, and also

my studio is in in Oakville on Cornwall. Yeah.

Oakville, Ontario, Canada, which we are all in

very close proximity to. So these beautiful women

are and when I mean beautiful, I mean heart

complete. Big heart. You will

feel it instantly if you did not already feel it here

listening to to them. And so I want to thank

everyone for listening to A Call for Love.

I really do believe in the power

of love, loving kindness, if

we can be more loving and caring

and kind. That is a huge ripple out

into the world that truly needs it. So from my

heart to yours, namaste, everyone. Thank you. Love

it.