2021 – Happy NEW YEAR!

 Best greetings to all for a peaceful, harmonious, safe and healthy New Year, filled with true, lasting joy! 
Good bye, 2020! Welcome 2021!
Life in front of us is far more important than the life behind us; let's cheer the New Year and another chance for all of us to get it right!

Happy New DREAMS! Happy New DESIRES! Happy New WAYS! Happy New DAYS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
❄❄❄❄❄

❄  LA MULTI ANI PENTRU NOUL AN! ❄ HAPPY NEW YEAR! ❄ BONNE ANNÉE! ❄FROHES NEUES JAHR! ❄ FELICE ANNO NUOVO! ❄ FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! ❄ ΕΥΤΥΧΙΣΜΈΝΟΣ Ο ΚΑΙΝΟΎΡΙΟΣ ΧΡΌΝΟΣ! ❄

New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic 2021 – video

● My previous greetings on the same theme: NEW YEAR – 2020, 2019

December 25, 2020: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dear friends, at this time of the year, I wish you would enjoy the spirit of Christmas, which is Peace; the gladness of Christmas, which is Hope; and the heart of Christmas, which is Love. MERRY CHRISTMAS, dear ones!

❄ FRÖHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN! ❄ CRĂCIUN FERICIT! ❄ BUON NATALE! ❄ ΚΑΛΆ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΎΓΕΝΝΑ! ❄

● My previous greetings on the same theme: CHRISTMAS – 2019, 2018

Socializing: Pre-CHRISTMAS Reunion 2020

As we are nearing the completion of this very different and tumultuous 2020, tonight (Tuesday - December 22'20) we had our usual year-end gathering...it was the perfect time to speak about some old seasonal customs, to sing few traditional Christmas carols, to recite several dear poems appropriate for the occasion & to simply share a number of unforgettable childhood stories...without any doubt, a peaceful instance to bring each other joy, to bond, to reconnect & to create new memories.

Once again, dear friends - THANK YOU SO MUCH for your ongoing, loving, support, which is deeply appreciated!

I hope that the distinct peace and joy of this very special season would stay with you throughout the year ahead! 

This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture. 

● A previous event I organized on the same theme: Social Pre-CHRISTMAS Reunion 2019

● Some of my additional greetings about CHRISTMAS – 2020, 2019, 2018

December 21, 2020: WINTER Solstice

 Winter solstice marks the arrival of winter in our Northern Hemisphere, so at this time of the year I'm wishing you all a safe and pleasant season!
"When life gives you snow, make snow angels."

● NOTE:
The year of 2020 will end with a very interesting astronomical occurrence...the closest great conjunction of two different planets is happening, when Jupiter and Saturn will almost touch in the sky.
● Additional references:
> Jupiter and Saturn converging in the night sky, shown in weekly intervals. This simulation is for New York (USA), but the great conjunction on December 21, 2020, can be seen all over the world. 
> Excerpts:
- "On 12.21.2020 (the December solstice), Jupiter and Saturn will align so closely in the nigh sky that they will create a radiant point of light, some call 'Solstice Star', 'Star of Bethlehem', or the 'Christmas Star', said an expert."
- "Alignments between these two planets are rather rare because of how close the planets will appear to be to one another", said Patrick Hartigan, an astronomer at Rice University. "You would have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226 (nearly 800 ago), to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky", said astronomer Hartigan.

> ARTICLE: "Jupiter and Saturn Will Align to Create the First 'Christmas Star' in nearly 800 Years"
> ARTICLE: "For the First Time in 800 Years, a 'Christmas Star' Will Illuminate the Skies This Month"
> ARTICLE: "The December 2020 Great Conjunction"
> ARTICLE (via "The Globe and Mail" / Canada): "How to see and photograph the great conjunction of 2020"
> ARTICLE (via "CBC News"): "Christmas Star 2020: Jupiter, Saturn to meet in rare <great conjunction>"
> ARTICLE (via "The Sun"): "Great Conjunction 2020 LIVE: Watch Jupiter & Saturn 'nearly touch' TONIGHT on winter solstice plus meteor shower"
> ARTICLE (via "International Business Times" / Science section): "Is 'Christmas Star' Visible on Winter Solstice 2020? How to Watch Great Conjunction"

● My previous greetings on the same theme: WINTER Solstice – 2019, 2018

December 2020: A charitable gesture

Astronomically speaking, winter is around the corner, but before it arrives, on Thursday (December 17'20) I was able to organize a charitable gesture, this time helping the shelter of women and children affected by domestic violence.

With a handful of modest donations collected from several supporters of "ALICE & Friends Circle" as well as my family contribution this charity gesture could take place. On this matter, after my discussions with the manager in charge of the facility, in order to have a better understanding of their most stringent needs, I was able to purchase a number of items for these unfortunate women and children. Needless to say that our rather shy helping hand was sincerely appreciated by all!
We trust that those souls won't lose faith in humanity and would keep alive their hope for good.

Also, while at this page, I would like to share that the charity work my family does is private (as we don't need to show off), but the purpose of this briefing is to continue to exemplify (from a community stand point) that if you really want to do good in this world it is possible and you don't have to be extremely rich, but you have to be willing to care!

Once again, many thanks to my loyal friends and to my beautiful family for always being by my side and supporting all these heart driven projects - I consider myself truly blessed to have you all part of my life!

"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, the opportunity and the responsibility
to give something back by becoming more."

● Previous philanthropies I organized for ALICE & Friends Circle™ – 2019 (gesture 1 & gesture 2) | 2018

KINDNESS – a noble virtue

These days, in a world full of all sorts of issues, kindness is becoming more valuable than ever before, and despite the ongoing harshness many people still find ways to help each other. According to scholastic papers, kindness is defined as "a behavior marked by ethical characteristics, a pleasant disposition, and a genuine concern for others."
Over time, it has been observed by many that kindness is an essential ability, a noble virtue, a universal quality, a valuable interpersonal skill, based on altruism and empathy. 

In other words, being polite, compassionate, gentle, carrying and thoughtful would be associated with kindness. 
Personally, I believe that kindness is a way to change the world for better, as well as a wonderful way (for each of us) to become better for the world. Different acts of kindness (from small to big, from minor to significant) are always heart-warming. 
For instance, kindness towards nature, towards animals and towards any other people definitively could transform the world and make it a better place to live, but this won't be complete if it doesn't include yourself. Kindness towards yourself is also crucial for one's personal journey and it starts at home; basically, it is about living with integrity, it is about being fully aware of what it is right or wrong, and by having a solid ethical foundation, based on which you could continually build upon. 

Unfortunately, sometimes people tend to believe that kindness means that someone is naïve or weak, but the truth is that being kind actually requires courage and strength.

On the other hand, sometimes people do confuse "being kind" with "being nice", but there is a difference: "being kind" is based on your personal beliefs, values and ethics, as opposed to "being nice" which refers to the way other people perceive you. Being aware of this, many people deeply realize that true kindness is essential to our daily lives as well as an excellent avenue to happiness.

Random or planned acts of kindness always had and will continue to fill the world with good. Many times, just a simple smile could change your day, shifting your feelings from anxiety to calmness, from anger to peace...the choice is yours; it might not be easy or simple, but definitively truly satisfying!
                    "Kind words can be short and easy, but their echoes are truly endless."   

2020: Honoring together Romania's National Day

 ~ A yearly Romanian socio-cultural evening filled with poetry, history & good cheer, featuring Romania's National Day ~ 

On December 1st is Romania's National Day, and despite the fact that the current year is so much different than all what we have experienced before, on Tuesday (December 1'20) I was happy to organize a video-conference having each guest connecting virtually from the comfort of their own living-room. 

Also, at this time, I would like to extend a warm "Welcome!" to the new friends who are joining my circle, bringing so much joy to my heart.

The official program of the evening began with the Romanian Anthem (since this evening we were honoring Romania's National Day), followed by the Canadian Anthem (since Canada is our country of adoption), allowing the musical notes to warm up our patriotic sense, and at the same time, widely opening the door for the subsequent, appropriate, discussions.

At this event I was glad to have with us again a guest of honor - Dr. Ovidiu Grecea, who is the General Consul of Romania and the Head of the Romanian Diplomatic Mission in Vancouver, as well as Plenipotentiary Minister of Romania in Canada.
This time, Consul Grecea brought along a renewed message of peace, re-iterating the significance of a productive collaboration, effective communication as well as the importance of unity. He also stressed that the generations to come are the ones that would take further in time the Romanian pride. Consul Grecea, as a Romanian official as well as a Romanian fellow, comes often to my Romanian literary evenings, and I appreciate his presence each time he could join the group, because he represents for all of us the country we each left behind.
As I've mentioned a number of times before, I would like to refresh again that by commemorating our roots, implicitly we honor our ancestors and cultural traditions, helping us remember our dear parents & grandparents, most of whom are gone today, but whose memory will be eternal, no matter where in the world we each are. 

My program continued with a number of interesting presentations, evoking famous Romanians, reciting poems, recalling dear traditions, sharing personal perspectives, or reminding important pages of Romanian history, and here I will give you only a very brief synopsis:
- Our dear friend Dorina Aldea opened the presentations cycle with few fragments from an article she wrote (her article was published by "Observatorul" from Toronto, and with Dorina's permision, also published in comments section) and then shared few personal remarks about the historic event in itself
- This time, I was truly happy to have with us our friend Luminita Aldea (joining the group straight from Romania for a little while), who recited for all a brief prayer and sent us for publication a poem she wrote (with Luminita's permission, the entire poem is published in comments section)
- Then, Teodor T. continued with a summary sharing few historic facts, following with a personal poem & an original song, both referring to "December 1".

- Further, our dear friend Sandu O. brought to our attention a number of 6 contemporary names of successful Romanians.

After all the announced presentations were delivered, the famous Romanian patriotic song  "Treceti batalioane Romane Carpatii" ("Romanian Troops, Cross The Carpathian Mountains") was referred to, followed by a lively group tribute (as we each, from the comfort of our house, were accompanied by a glass of champagne or wine)....we all toasted unanimously: "TRAIASCA ROMANIA MARE!" ("LONGLIVE THE GREATER ROMANIA").
At this point, I would also like to briefly refer to another theme related song, many Romanians enjoy, called: "Tara noastra-i tara noastra".

The group discussions of our evening together were lengthy, fervent, animated by lots of comments and different personal remarks, jokes, perspectives (some of them quite controversial), dear memories, making us feel that time was passing by much, much faster. Without any doubt, we all had a refreshing and cheerful time!

Aside of that, while at this page, I would like to express my profound gratitude to those who were able and willing to join this gathering, when we all got the chance to fondly talk about our homeland - Romania.
Until we meet again, dear friends, my best wishes to each of you for a peaceful rest of the year!
Alice

Mesaj personal din partea lui Alice, adresat în limba română, la ceas aniversar:

Dragii mei,
Şi pe această cale, doresc să vă transmit sincera mea apreciere pentru prezenţa, susţinerea şi participarea la întâlnirea noastră de grup, având ca tematică "Ziua Naţională a României". 
Cu această ocazie am avut posibilitatea să aducem un aport omagial ţării de baştină, onorându-ne rădăcinile, străbunii, părinţii şi dascălii care au pus o piatră de temelie la fundaţia formării noastre ca oameni şi profesionişti.
Am petrecut împreună nişte momente absolut speciale în care bucuria de a fi român s-a împletit într-un mod armonios, cu sincera dorinţă de communicare şi relaţionare.
Calde mulţumiri!

Alice

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” AliceFriendsCircle.blogspot.com

"Once you understand and appreciate other people's cultural background then you would connect more with them."

This event has been delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture. 

● Previous events I organized on the same theme: ROMANIA's NATIONAL Day – 2019, 2018

● Some of my greetings referring to ROMANIA's NATIONAL Day – 2020, 2019, 2018 

NOTE: Dear readers, please be advised that on this website each of the previous postings, pertaining to the recurrent annual themes, portray a different perspective of the subject/s presented (same theme/s, but a different outlook without duplication due to the cultural richness of the specific topic/s discussed). 

December 1, 2020: Romania’s National Day

 Every year, on December 1^st, Romania celebrates its National Day (also known as "The Great Union Day"),

which is an event of a major historical significance, marking the unification of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918.
Dear Romanian fellows, near and far, together with my family, we wish you peace, good health, prosperity and joyful moments together with your loved ones!   

● My previous greetings on the same theme: ROMANIA's NATIONAL Day – 2019, 2018

November 11, 2020: REMEMBRANCE Day

On November 11 is 'Memorial Day'...the perfect time of the year to remember and honor our veterans since they gave their tomorrows so we could have our today...lest we forget...

● A previous post on the same theme: REMEMBRANCE Day – 2019

The ’art’ of WELLBEING

Nowadays, given that the entire world is still facing a multitude of challenging situations, lots of people began considering more seriously their state of well-being. But before I will share with you few insights on this matter, I would like to briefly refresh what well-being is. According to varied scholars, well-being is the experience of health, happiness and prosperity, which include a good mental health, high life satisfaction, a clear sense of meaning (or life purpose), and the sound ability to manage stress.
All seems to be pretty straight forward, but when it comes to the practical aspect of it, so many people stumble badly, and the big question is why? Hard to draw a general conclusion because every person is different and the subject in itself is truly vast, but here, I will list very few concepts from classics, which I find worth sharing further:
- In life, moving toward a greater sense of well-being is an ongoing journey, made of many small steps
- For a well-being seeker it is recommended to constantly be active, be positive, be social and be mindful
- Have every day a clear sense of purpose and sound resilience
- Create for yourself a healthy mindset (remember, a positive mindset is an investment on your overall well-being)
- Stop blaming others for your life failure/s (also known as 'the victim syndrome' or 'the victim mentality'), analyze yourself (in a mature & objective manner) and then take full responsibility for your behavior and actions
- Stay connected with people through meaningful relationships (in other words, be a good friend...if you don't know how, grab a book and learn the skill)
- Be grateful (appreciate every moment, every sunset, nature, and everything which surrounds you)
- Keep learning new things and smile every day
Generally speaking, when people think or speak about well-being, they are tempted to consider that only big things in life could make a big difference, but more often than not, the many little things, done consistently, with a bright smile on the face, have the biggest impact on one's life
So, as I wrap up my brief comments here, I'm glad to leave you with an excerpt, helpful to meditate upon...enjoy!
"Never forget that the skin wrinkles, the hair turns gray and the days turn into years...but what it is important remains: your strength and determination are ageless. It is your spirit that removes the spider webs. Beyond any point of arrival is one of departure, beyond any success is another attempt. As long as you live, you feel alive. If you miss what you've been doing, do that again. Don't get lost among the photos yellowed by time...carry on, especially when everybody expects you to renounce. Don't let your strength perish and by doing so, instead of pity, you command respect. When you can't run anymore, take a trot; when you can't do that either, walk, and when you can't walk freely any longer, take a cane, but never give up." (Mother Teresa) 

Alice’s Book Club – AUTUMN session of 2020

As the autumn is softly unfolding, on Friday (October 23'20) I was glad to be able to organize my last book club session of the current year, with a small group of close friends, this time discussing trust. 

Given that officially our world is still functioning under lots of restrictions relating to the ongoing pandemic, we are continuing with online programs. 

For our evening together, the selected reading material featuring "trust" included a relevant article published by the "Harvard Business Review" conjugated with another paper issued by "Psychology Today", both in addition to personal perspectives as well as individual insights and factual life related episodes. 
Also, since my previous book club session was more of an intimate nature and my guests loved it so much, I decided to carry on with the same group size, which helped our conversation reach a much deeper level, to everybody's delight.

The subject discussed is actually quite massive, but for the purpose of our gathering we covered only some fundamental perspectives, applying to the current period the entire world is going through.
The phenomenon of trust has been extensively explored by a variety of disciplines across the social sciences, including economics, social psychology and political science. The breadth and depth of this literature offer a very rich insight, and this is noted in the common elements that appear in the definition of trust, but here, on this briefing, I'm sharing with you only few points, thoughts and statements, concisely touched on that evening:

- Trust is a feeling of confidence and security

- The way people behave and talk are a clear evidence if they can be trusted or not

- To be a trusted person is an honor 

- Trust is a clear indicator if other people evaluate you positively or negatively
- The person who doesn't trust, won't be trusted
- In order to trust people, first of all you need to feel good about them
- Positivity, good judgment and consistency are few key elements of trust
- Trust is an attitude of hopefulness about life, a sense that the power of love is the greatest power 
- Discovering who you really are (self-knowledge) leads to understanding and trust
- Trust is an essential part of all human relationships, including romantic, family, spirituality, business, politics, education or medical practices (for example, if you don't trust your doctor, it would be very difficult to maintain a good & steady relation or to follow his/her professional advice)
- Trust is the most important part of a relationship ...and so on...
Wrapping up this sharing, we all agreed that quite often than not life is hard and difficult, but ultimately it is really trustworthy!

Our talks were open, warm and genuine, from heart to heart, mind to mind, and as usual, our time together flew by very fast. At the end of the session, as my guests were weaving 'good bye' it was very heart-touching for me to hear them wish we could meet more often in the future as our gatherings bring them each a lot of joy! What else could I ask for?!
Also, for your convenience and enjoyment, here is a personal briefing I wrote some time ago on this very subject, called: TRUST...the 'glue' of life...peaceful reading!

While at this page, I would like to highlight an old truth, which says:
               "It is important to understand the difference between a person who joins you in his/her free time and a person who makes time for  you." 

As this was the last book club session of the year, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all my loyal friends who each time (not just occasionally) made themselves available to connect & genuinely support the "Alice & Friends" community initiative...their beautiful contribution is well noted & highly appreciated!
Alice 

"When you completely trust a person, without any doubt, automatically, you'll get one of these two results - 
either a FRIEND for life or a LESSON for life."

October 2020 – Message for THANKSGIVING Day

Dear friends, I wish that this beautiful time of the year finds you thankful, with many reasons to be grateful for! Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Appreciation could change a day, a month, a year and even a life.

● My previous greetings on the same theme: THANKSGIVING Day – 2019, 2018

September 22, 2020: Happy AUTUMN, dear friends!

Dear friends, today (September 22'20) is the first day of autumn, and by this note I'm sending you each a bunch of good wishes for a peaceful season!
Autumn is a beautiful symphony of impermanence and change.

As time goes by very quickly, while days continue to become shorter and colder during autumn time in our Northern Hemisphere, many cultures around the world celebrate a variety of festivals emphasizing goodness and abundance, marking in a way the beginning of a symbolic holidays' season.
Also, I hope that you will find a way to show your appreciation for all what you have achieved throughout the year. Have a beautiful autumn, dear friends!  

● My previous greetings on the same theme: AUTUMNAL Equinox – 2019, 2018