We were lucky to catch up with Karla Rios Luna recently and have shared our conversation below.
Karla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I’m the daughter of a mathematician father and a very artistic mother. I was also raised by my paternal grandmother, who was an English Teacher. Therefore, I consider myself blessed for having this variety in personalities while I was growing up. It led me to be who I am. A logical thinker, an extrovert and a spiritual person. All of them showed me the importance to pursue your dreams and to be compassionate to others. My father grew up without a paternal figure and it made him the best dad I could ask for. Instead of dwelling on what he didn’t have, he got inspired and offered me the opportunity to grow knowing that I was protected. He earned scholarships to get to be a professor and offered to his family the stability he didn’t have.
My mother was part of a big family, and her story is easier during her youth and early adulthood. However, when I was about 10 years old, she suffered a severe brain injury and even when doctors did all they could, she had awful migraines and her mental health deteriorated. However, she always was very loving and patient to her grandchildren. She played with them like a kid and enjoyed spending time with them. Sadly, she passed away from cancer in June 2023.
My grandmother was an orphan and she had to be fostered throughout all her childhood. When she was a young adult, she studied hard to become a professional woman, and regardless of my grandfather abandoning the household, she worked hard so my dad and his siblings could have a career.
Their stories are my daily inspiration, as they showed that regardless of the ups and downs of life, we are the ones who make the choice to get defined by situations or grow out of them and conquer the best versions of ourselves. There is no sense of light without knowing what the darkness is. I do understand life can present to us very difficult moments, especially because there is anything we can truly control, beyond our attitude while facing these. We have always the choice to learn from obstacles and become wiser or, let them destroy our hope.
Thanks to my family, I decided to create this channel where people can feel they are not alone while facing these obstacles. I logically know that we all survive when we feel that we belong, because we are part of a tribal society. Also, that more than expressing my thoughts, sometimes is just better to listen, learn and support others. And let’s not forget the spirituality, as it gives the hope that we are in this Earth for a special reason.
The human-being I am, comes from a family, they are my roots and through them, I feel strong and I keep growing, as I honor their and my journey.
Karla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My instagram page allows me to be creative while designing posts and reels that aim to let other people feel supported in their journeys. I have certified in active listening and life coaching, and while I consider myself a practitioner, I’m not being lucrative while doing so. Instead, I keep growing as the audience grows. I post stories from other pages, support other accounts and learn from every interaction I make through this social network. I believe, there are many accounts like mine and that, makes me happy, as we all mean to support each other. However, none would be the same and each will have a different touch, as each journey is different. Our paths are like fingerprints, there are unique.
My followers comprise a wide range of personalities and that is the most encouraging feeling, as I know that we reciprocate by benefitting from each other’s perspectives and learnings, throughout this lifetime. My work is to let the daily experiences I live, to guide the messages I want to communicate. Sometimes, I actually go back and re-learn the moment by scrolling through my own posts.
The ultimate potential of these two years of work and growth is to publish a book to condense my journey through the acknowledgement and overall integration of the parts of me, mind, body and soul. Even when I recognize that all journeys are different, I have the hope to ease the path of those who might recognize themselves in some parts of me.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
As an extrovert, I’m very keen to share and to talk but I have realized that my listening skills are not as advanced as I thought they would be. I’m a very good observer and I used to offer advice, when sometimes I wasn’t even asked. Of course, my intentions were good but there was a next level to reach. To let everyone, experience their journey and be there for them. The mere act of being a friendly face in a moment of struggle, brings a little peace to the troubled soul. Trying to guide others, it’s for me a need to control their own experiences. Instead, I rather to let them know what I have gone through and if something can be applied to their journey, fine, and if not, fine too. More than creating a community where people can hear me, I want them to see me go in my awareness. As I don’t think I am after being the best version of myself but, knowing myself the best I can. I want to learn to stop the judgment within me and towards others, as this create a fragmented form of me, and society.
While doing this, I have met creative minds, businesses, artists, mental health professionals, holistic healers, religious people etc. Which has led me to open my eyes to the world around me. The most important advice I would provide is to be and to do what you love the most. It really shows when you do it.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My pivot moment was the pandemic, as I was divorcing the father of my kids and my extroverted-self had to be confined, homeschool the kids and work from home. All of these were new to me, and I realized I needed to reach for help. So, as I went through therapy and I started seeing the benefits of some practices, I kept being curious about the concept of mindfulness and all its applications. Pandemic was a very lonely time for many and some, even lost members of their family. In my case, I used the solitude to listen to the parts of me and get to connect them. And even when I lost my marriage and husband, I tried to grow skills to facilitate the task ahead of co-parenting.
My extroversion got me into sharing my journey, as I found very useful methods and methodologies to help me while going through the pain of a failed marriage and the stress of the pandemic and all it implied in our daily lives.
More than anything, I believe that this pivot moment was the foundation to build a more resilient version of me, able to cope with pain and live in gratitude. Learnings that were my safeguards in 2022, as I (physically) lost three members of my family, including my mother.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @signals_from_the_soul
Image Credits
Quotes: “Piece is this moment without judgment” – Dorothy Hunt “Behind the clouds the sun is still shining” – Abraham Lincoln “Life is a journey filled with unexpected miracles” – Unknown “Two things define you: your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything” – George Bernard Shaw