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

Alice’s Book Club – SUMMER session of 2020

Many of us feel that this summer was flying by very fast, but before is completely over, this Friday (September 18'20) I was happy to organize a video-conference with some of my available and loyal friends, discussing hope for our seasonal book club session.

While our province is slowly reopening more and more, there are still a large number of pandemic related precautionary measures in place - so, in this light, all things being considered, we are continuing with our activities, adopting (for the time being), the "on line" approach.

Aside of that, instead of a typical novel as reading material featuring hope, a concise study issued by Stanford University was chosen, combined with a relevant, related, article presented by "The New York Times Magazine". Of course, in addition to these materials, personal experiences and individual perspectives were amply discussed, making our evening together really special. 

Even though at this session our group was fairly small, the conversation was very interesting, filled with rich perspectives varying from general to personal, with lots of useful tips, fluctuating from theoretical to practical. Hope is fascinating in many ways & we all agreed that in life everybody needs hope, regardless of age, race, culture, etc.

As I usually do, here I will share with you few questions and concepts, which surfaced during our talks, trusting that by doing so, it might trigger a moment of contemplation, and perhaps (at the personal level) more insights (about hope) would emerge, in a beneficial manner:
- What does it mean to have hope and how it affects life? | Is 'wish' a 'hope'? | Are we, as individuals, more similar than different? | Is hope really universal?
- How can we find hope and maintain a healthy level of it? | What keeps us going when we feel tired or overwhelmed? 
- To what extend hope is or it is not interconnected with faith? | It is crucial to recognize hopeless situation/s and change focus in a timely fashion.
- Hope is determined by positivity or the other way around? ...and so on.... 
Definitively, lots of meaningful comments and profound remarks were smoothly flowing all directions emphasizing once again that nowadays hope is highly regarded throughout the entire world, given the ongoing circumstances. 

We all agreed that if we continue to stay focused on our dreams and goals, for sure hope will allow us to approach any given situation/s with a positive mindset, fact which could increase our chances of success.
Once again, my most sincere appreciation to my dear friends who honored my invitation, and until next time, my best regards to all!
Alice

"Where there is Hope, there is life; it feels us with fresh courage and makes us strong again." (Anne Frank)