Concisely regarding PERCEPTION

Generally speaking ‘perception’ it is explained as being the ability, the awareness or the way a person thinks, notices, interprets or understands something or someone by the means of senses, or through the cognition of the mind. Over the years, numerous studies have shown that in general people expect a perfect match

between personal perception and reality, which are not always matching up, because the human lenses are constantly shifting. 

“Every person has a different view of another person's image. That's all perception.” (Steve Alford)

In the light of this concept here is a short story which I recently came across and find worth sharing it further … some of you might know it, some of you might not, but regardless, it will make it for a good, short reading. Enjoy!

Story: Changing our vision

There was a very wealthy man who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted many physicians and was being treated by several. He did not stop consulting a galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections, but the ache persisted with more vigour than before.

At last, an elder who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for the suffering man. The wise man understood his problem and said that for some time he should concentrate only on green colours and not to let his eyes fall on any other colours. It was a strange prescription, but he was desperate and decided to try it.

The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green paint and directed that every object his eyes were likely to fall to be painted green just as the elder had directed. When the wise man came to visit him after few days, the millionaire's servants ran with buckets of green paint and poured it on him since he was in white dress, lest their master see any other colour and his eye ache would come back.

Hearing this, the wise man laughed and said "If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few dollars, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the entire world green. Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.”

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” 

A Literary Afternoon

Saturday afternoon (June 9, 2018), I was very pleased to meet with a small group of friends at a public library to spend some time discussing Romanian literature (personal compositions as well as masterpieces written by famous Romanian authors). 

I was truly happy to be able to greet them all with “Poema Românã“ by George Enescu (George Enescu, 1881-1955, who was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher, regarded as Romania's most important musician and one of the world's greatest composers of the 20th century).
In addition, the aromatherapy with natural French lavender oil that I brought had a nice relaxing effect on all of us.

After our usual introductions around the circle, which this time took longer than usual and helped our friends open their hearts even more toward each other, we began our program, as per below: 
- Teo brought again few personal compositions (“Florile” & an acrostic, dedicated to our dear friend Ligia, who is also a virtuoso musician & a choir conductor).
- Asiza recited 2 poems composed by her departed mother (“Odoras“ and “Doar noi doi“)
- Ligia recited few poems, (“De-a v-ati ascunselea”, “Din tara de unde venim”), by Ana Blandiana, who is a Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure, considered also one of the leading contemporary authors

- Ioana narrated a chapter from “Maitreyi“ – a semiautobiographical novel of great intellectual and emotional power, written by Mircea Eliade, who was a world renowned scholar 
- Monica brought a poem filled with timeless wisdom, written by Emil Cioran, who was a famous Romanian philosopher and writer

At the end of our cultural program, Teo offered us all a live violin performance, gratefully re-emphasizing the heart touching love for his wife and lifelong partner (also part of the audience), who is such an adorable person. 
We all had a great time together and again we wrapped up the afternoon with light refreshments, snacks we each brought, and prolonged conversations, because food always tastes better when you eat it together with likeminded people. 

In closing, I want to share that I sincerely appreciate the participation of all these dear friends, who at the end of a long, busy week (mine not being an exception either) took the time from their relaxation program to join me for few hours to discuss literature, to share life stories, and to enjoy the presence of each other, which I find simply beautiful. Until next time, my best greetings to all and each of you!
Alice 

Don’t count the days, make the days count!

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

Pondering about LIFE – random thoughts

These days I’m deeply enjoying a time of profound peace, but a number of circumstances made me ponder about the meaning of life in itself.

As we each walk the path of life, there is no doubt that at a certain point in time, we’ve experienced joy or sorrow, victory or defeat, but above all what we have learned from those experiences (from those lessons) is what really matters.

We know that each person is different, and what it is important for one might not be important at all for another. Many of us observed that at times, some people spend their entire life looking for something in particular, which they believe it is important for them, but (truly) never finding it, while there are other people who know exactly what it is important for them, where to find that, how to get it, how to keep it, and above all, how to continue to retain what remains important for them, no matter wherever they might spend the rest of their life, and that is beautiful and inspiring.

Psychologically, also it has been noticed that sometimes people have the tendency to wonder what other people think about them, because they look for social acceptance in order to accept themselves, but regardless of circumstances, one must never forget who s/he is, where s/he is coming from, and what it is of personal importance in life, and only then one could clearly and selflessly embrace the world in a non-judgmental manner, while having gratitude (gratitude, which is the greatest virtue of all, as Cicero said many hundreds of years ago).

Generally speaking, life is not complicated, but we have the tendency to make it difficult, because we are rushing and judging too much, forgetting to slow down while taking one step at the time, being fully aware of what is really going on – inwardly and/or outwardly. Some scholars believe that man’s accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to details, and the quieter we become the more we can hear. They say that if we pay attention to details, the big picture will take care of itself. Many times we don’t have to chase the extraordinary, because that very special thing that we are looking for it is right on front of us, but usually we are too busy to notice it. I remember that once upon a time, Ernest Hemingway said that every man’s life ends the same way – it is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one from another. 

Anyhow, in closing, I strongly believe that at least once in a while, in this super busy world, it is truly worth it to take few moments from the daily routine to pursue something positive that you haven’t addressed yet and that is near and dear to your heart, or to admire a beautiful sunset or sunrise, or just to simply enjoy the fragrance of a beautiful flower, because after all life has been given to each us to be enjoyed as well!

Life is a journey, not a race, and it is up to each of us to see the beauty of every single day!