September 23, 2019: Happy AUTUMN, dear friends!

      AUTUMN has arrived – enjoy it!
On September 23, 2019 is the autumnal equinox, marking the first day of autumn in Northern Hemisphere.

Autumn is a wonderful time of fruition when the abundance offered us all is acknowledged and honoured. 
The harvest period brings along wonderful occasions to extend gratitude toward all what it has been given to us.

Wishing you a beautiful season! 

The Autumnal Equinox is an astronomical event, nearly noticed by everyone, marking the arrival of autumn in Northern Hemisphere.
During the equinox, the night & day have almost the same length (twelve hours) throughout the entire world.

● A previous post on the same theme: 
AUTUMNAL Equinox – 2018

Alice’s Book Club – SUMMER session of 2019

Slowly but surely the current summer time is coming closer to the end, but this Friday (September 6’19) I was pleased to meet with my group of dear friends for our seasonal book club session. 
Upon arrival, while my guests were joyfully settling in, the soft classical music from the background along with the relaxing fragrance of jasmine & French lavender oils made everything coming together nicely and smoothly emanating at the same time a profound sense of collective peace and shared content. 

On the other hand, as some of us traveled extensively this summer or being super busy with lots of outdoor activities, rather than our usual novel this time the chosen subject of discussion was an essay on communication (called: "Psychology in Communication Process") issued by Stanford University. Additionally, this was conjugated with another brief paper, called “The Importance of Personal Boundaries”.

Needless to say how well these materials were embraced by the entire group & how extensive, interesting as well as stimulating were the subsequent conversations…true heart to heart connections & brain to brain talks. 

From a scholastic perspective, I would like to briefly state that the fields of psychology and communication are closely related, and a distinctive area which is common to psychology and communication is the study of cultural influences on identity formation and social interaction. Aside of that, we all know that psychology has a well-established tradition of examining cultural differences on how the mind functions. Over time, psychologists have also focused on how culture shapes thought by directly comparing people from different cultures, while in turn, communication scholars have theorized and examined the very acts of expression and interaction of cultural processes. Given the historical development of these two areas, psychology is more of an established discipline than communication, so communication may benefit from the consolidated approaches of psychology.

The second paper discussed that evening emphasized that in fact setting boundaries is a key concept ensuring that relationships are collegial, respectful, supportive and caring. Once clear boundaries are set in place, people would become more polite, therefore you can be yourself to a greater extent, graciously addressing your needs without the fear of judgment; as a result, the emotional manipulators would vanish away being replaced by sustainable, loving and mutually respectful relationships. 

Our group conversations that evening were flourishing exponentially making each of us completely forget the time. All participants were truly delighted with the topic, asking for a repeat session of such kind, which of course was music to my ears. 
Like usual by now, we closed the gathering with a light meal, and genuine life related conversations, abundantly ‘seasoned’ with kind fellowship. 
Once again, my sincere appreciation goes to my friends who promptly & enthusiastically responded to my invitation. Wishing them each a great rest of summer! 
Best regards,
Alice

“Only through communication human life could hold meaning.”

Inner Peace

A large amount of research has been showing that once inner peace is achieved the heart becomes happy and the mind ‘feels’ liberated, all leading to a peaceful state…at this point, you truly realize that in fact there is no greater wealth in this world than a lasting peace of mind. Our elders often said that "the true peace always comes from within". 
The short simple story below is emphasizing that self-analysis is essential to achieve inner peace. Enjoy the reading!

Story: The internal peace

“Once upon a time, a student said to his teacher: - Professor, I have an ungovernable temper. Can you please help me get rid of it?

- You have something very strange, said the teacher. - Show it to me.

 - Right now I cannot show it to you.

- Why not?

- Because it arises suddenly.

- Then it cannot be your own true nature, said the teacher. 
If it were, you would be able to show it to me at any time…so, why are you allowing something that is not yours to trouble your life. Thereafter, whenever the student felt his temper rising the remembered his teacher's words and checked himself. In time, with discipline and perseverance, he developed a calm and balanced spirit, and acquired a steady inner peace."

“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.”