April 2021: Happy EASTER!

Rebirth, renewal, hope...wishing a safe and healthy EASTER to all my friends who celebrate today (April 4'21) this special holiday of the year!
Also, at this time, very early greetings to all my Romanian & Greek friends who will celebrate this holiday a month later. 

💮 HAPPY EASTER! 💮 PAŞTE FERICIT! 💮 FROHE OSTERN! 💮 ΚΑΛΌ ΠΆΣΧΑ! 💮 JOYEUSES PÂQUES! 💮 BUONA PASQUA! 💮

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

March 20, 2021: SPRING Equinox & World Happiness Day

SPRING has sprung....enjoy it! 
Today (March 20, 2021) is the "Spring Equinox" - an astronomical event, marking the first day of spring in Northern Hemisphere...
a beautiful time, noticed by everyone.

Tchaikovsky: "Waltz of the Flowers" (audio - video)

● My previous greetings on the same themes: SPRING Equinox – 2020, 2019

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Also, today (March 20, 2021) is the International Day of Happiness, and at this time I'm sending along my best greetings
 wishing you each a wonderful happy time together with the ones  you love! 

Alice’s Book Club – WINTER session of 2021

On the last day of winter (Friday – March 19, 2021) I had the chance to organize my seasonal book club session, featuring courage - an inspiring virtue.

Currently, the ongoing pandemic is still affecting the entire world and since the related restrictions are continuing strong, again I chose to collaborate and communicate with my friends using the available technology.  

This time our group was made only of women, fact which allowed us to approach the chosen topic a bit differently, while somehow reaching deeper levels of communication and understanding. Due to confidentiality matters, I will not share in this briefing the very personal perspectives discussed, but I will be glad to highlight few additional concepts of general interest (relating to courage), worth pondering upon:

- Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any others
- It is important to face your life with courage, dignity, integrity and don't be afraid of people's criticism
- Many people agree that it takes true courage to become who you really are because it means turning into a person you know deep in your heart that you should or could be
- Change requires bravery and willpower, but it also implies getting rid of beliefs that you might have embraced and implemented (knowingly or unknowingly) from people around you over years (things such as: you can't do this job, you are not strong enough or smart enough, your competitors are much better than you, you don't have sufficient experience, you are either too old or too young, you are not prepared for it, try another time - maybe later or never, etc.)
- It helps a lot to have the courage to face your fears (mostly when you are alone)
- It is wise to develop your courage by taking calculated risks
- Courage leads you to those defining moments that in fact are the life-changing decisions you made along the way
- Maintain the courage to be a person of inner strength, as this would help turning the right thinking into the right action/s.
Wrapping up the sharing, we all agreed that in life it takes courage to become who you are meant to be.

Also, in order to bring even more content to this subject, in comments sections I’m sharing a short story which features “the courage to be yourself”, trusting that by doing so it might add more meaning. Additionally, for your convenience and enjoyment, here is a briefing I wrote some time ago on this very subject, called: "COURAGE - an inspiring virtue"....peaceful reading!

As usual, our group talks were open, authentic, pleasant and to the point, making the time fly much faster! When we reached the end of our gathering, we realized that we still have left a lot of points to touch on, but (to our satisfaction) knowing that there will be a next time, we adjourned for the evening.

Concluding, I would like to extend over my renewed appreciation to each guest of the evening, and state once again, loud and clear, that it brings so much joy to my heart to see my friends putting a bit of extra time aside for heart related projects. Yes, we all are busy (myself not being an exception) with secular jobs providing for our daily needs, we all work, shop, cook, or have all sorts of medical appointments, have family responsibilities or just simply take time to relax (watching movies, taking walks, do sports, etc., etc. ,etc.), but my hut up for all those who still find the necessary strength and positivity to stretch just a bit more (for an extra hour or so) to look after heart and soul related matters…awesome attitude, which I find truly beautiful and inspiring.
Until next time, dear ones, please stay safe and healthy!
Warm regards,
Alice

“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on; it is going when you don’t have any strength left.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)