I
am delighted to share that on Tuesday (May
4, 2021) we had the third anniversary of ALICE & Friends
Circle™, celebrated
on line together with a group of dear and loyal friends. Whether we
realize it or not, time is flying by very fast, and YES, our Circle marked 3
years of existence – fact which gave us all the perfect occasion to manifest
our group satisfaction.
Nowadays, since the pandemic related restrictions continue to be strongly
enforced by the officials throughout the entire world in order to limit
socializing, the available technology came again to rescue offering us the
possibility to communicate with each other.
This time, at our gathering we were pleased to have with us again a dear 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.
After everyone settled in, I was happy to open the evening with a concise slide
show (published below), in order
to re-emphasize several highlights from the existence of our circle…reiterating
beautiful moments spent together over the last 3 years brought back to each of
us many pleasant memories.
Also, I’m fully aware that ALICE & Friends
Circle™ has a number of
wonderful participants and in my opinion they each deserve to be recognized in
a way or another, but above and beyond, at this gathering I was pleased to
nominate two special friends (Dorina
Aldea & Dana Secu) for walking the extra mile and proving their
outstanding loyalty to our group. As I’ve said many times before, I truly appreciate
all those who join us when they can, but it really warms my heart to see how
some people make time to join our events and the two rewards of the evening are
an example of such attitude, which fills my heart with so much gratitude!
Then, our guest of honor, Consul Grecea congratulated the group for all the
achievements and encouraged us all to continue to stay united and inspired,
because such activities would enrich each of us even more. To our delight,
our guest also quoted few lines from Eminescu (recognized as Romania’s national poet), whom we all hold in high
regard. Further, our dear friends Dorina & Dana (the
two awardees of the evening) expressed their appreciation and offered genuine
congratulation since we (as a group)
reached so far in time.
Next, every guest of this festive evening got the chance to express their appreciative
remarks about the existence and the activities of ALICE & Friends Circle™.
In addition to our festive celebration, the
group discussions emphasized the significance of positivity, communication
and balanced relationships.
Due to confidentiality, as I usually do, I won’t get into the very specific details
discussed, but rather I’m sharing only few highlights as well as few additional
points:
● Thoughts shared about ALICE & Friends Circle™
- This circle of friends is offering the beautiful
joy of belonging to a group of People (yes, capital P) whom we resonate with
- Here, at our gatherings, we all experience
a true and honest communication
- All the invited guests feel good, all feel
welcome and encouraged to express themselves with authenticity
- From a roundtable perspective, our circle, has been compared by a dear guest with
a masterpiece sculpture executed by Constantin Brâncuşi
(a famous Romanian sculptor), called “Masa
Tăcerii”; she feels that here is a peaceful place where we could reunite,
talk and ponder upon matters pertaining to collective interest
- Another dear guest of
the evening compared our circle with another masterpiece also executed by Brâncuşi, wishing our Circle a long & healthy existence
Additionally, Trandafir family composed a
song for our circle that both interpreted at this festive gathering…a lovely
gesture, indeed!
● Few thoughts about the significance of positivity
- It has been reminded that a positive
attitude brings much gratitude / - After all, being positive is a matter of personal choice
- Nowadays, given the crisis the entire world is facing, being positive is
becoming crucial
- Avoiding
toxic positivity allows people to remain realistic, but with an optimist life outlook
- Positive thinking is empowering; being
positive doesn’t mean ignoring the negative; being positive means overcoming
the negative
- When you focus on positivity you will begin to see many beautiful things
around yourself
● Few thoughts about the significance of communication
- A good relationship starts with a good
communication; without communication there is no relationship
- Lack of communication could ruin everything
because instead of knowing how the other person feels, we just assume
- The
biggest communication problem is that most of the time people do not listen to
understand; they listen to reply
- A good communication leads to a good
community; it is not distance that keeps people apart, but rather the lack of
communication
- The way we communicate with others and with
ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives
● Few thoughts about the significance of balanced relationships
- Balanced relationships are always based on
mutual respect
- In everything we do in life, balance is the key; the secret to life is finding
balance in everything we do
- Balanced relationships are about two things:
first, it is about finding the similarities, and second, it is about respecting the differences
- Balanced behavior is always greater than
knowledge because in life there are many situations where knowledge fails, but
behavior still can handle it
- Balance is not something we find, but
rather something we create.
As usual, our group discussions were vivid,
open, from heart to heart, from mind to mind, making us all completely forget the
time…it is always so captivating to talk to people who are on the same wave
length.
But before we wrapped up the evening, on the wings of the music offered by the famous song called “La mulţi ani!” (a song that is very near and dear to each of us) we had a group
toast wishing each other only the best, at the same time trusting that for all
the good things that life has to offer there is always a great blessing!
Last
but not least, given that soon on this part of the world people will celebrate
Mother’s Day (on May 9’21) at this
time I’m sending along my warmest regards to all mothers who are part of ALICE & Friends Circle™ wishing them good health, joy and happiness!
Until next time, once again, my best wishes
to each guest of this special evening!
Alice
Mesaj personal din partea lui Alice, adresat la ceas
aniversar
Dragii mei,
Pentru mine a fost o bucurie absolut deosebită să fim împreună la aniversarea
de 3 ani a cercului nostru când încă-odată mi s-a confirmat cât este de important să ne îndreptăm atenţia înspre proiecte frumoase, care chiar dacă necesită un efort continuu pâna la urmă au capacitatea de a ne umple la fiecare în parte sufletele de o mulţumire profundă – mulţumire care ne surprinde şi ne apropie. Cercul nostru nu este foarte mare şi poate că nu are
neapărat faima unui renume răsunător dar în ultimă instanţă oglindeşte dorinţa concretă a unor
oameni preocupaţi de frumos...suntem un grup mic, dar avem
idealuri înalte – palpabile şi tangibile….sigur, ne-am dori să fie mai mulţi cei preocupaţi de frumos, de activităţi comunitare, de implicare, de relaţionare echilibrată,
ponderată şi civilizată, de colaborare dezinvoltă pentru exemplificarea bogăţiei culturale a ţării de baştină, dar facem ce putem, cât putem şi cu cine putem….important este că nu ne împiedicăm de
scuze pentru a face ceva frumos, ci cu stoicism mereu căutăm soluţii pentru a continua, pentru a progresa şi...pentru a exista ca grup.
Trăim cu
toţii într-o lume în care se pare că timpul
nu ne mai ajunge, când multe principii şi valori încet-încet dispar, când goana după iluzii
pare să fie tot mai acaparantă, când sufletele noastre devin tot mai însetate de bine şi frumos – deci, în măsura în care putem, să ne
oferim posibilitatea de a cultiva acel frumos care ne încarcă bateriile.
Cred cu multă tărie că este înţelept să fim ceea ce suntem cu adevărat şi în expunerile noastre cultural-literare să spunem ceea ce simţim, pentru că cei
care se supără nu contează iar
cei care contează nu se supără, altfel, la sfârşit, vom regreta timpul pierdut şi şansele de care n-am beneficiat….deci, aşa cum ziceam, să
continuăm să savurăm împreună această mică oază de linişte şi bucurie lăuntrică!
Vă doresc numai bine, sănătate, pace şi bucurii alături de
toţi cei dragi vouă!
Cu apreciere,
Alice
Mesaj primit înspre publicare din partea Domnului Dr. Ovidiu Grecea*
Dragă
Alice & Friends,
Chiar duceam
dorul unei astfel de întâmplări-eveniment, după atâta timp de restriște și
jale, de încorsetări și măsuri obligatorii de urmat pentru a rămâne în viață și
relativ funcționali.
Nu întâmplător,
cu implicarea și sacrificiile de rigoare din partea ta, acest "prunc"
de 3 ani, crescut și ocrotit cu atâta dragoste și implicare, a demonstrat că
adevăratele valori se coagulează în timp... și în pofida tuturor caracterelor,
percepțiilor sau comentariilor neavenite, Cercul se dovedește viabil și benefic
unor elite și personalități reprezentative din comunitate.
Mult succes și
sănătate, calm și înțelepciune pentru promovarea frumosului românesc, cultural
și de sensibilitate sufletească, pe meleaguri canadiene.
La Mulți Ani, măi
Cerculețule Mic, spre a te dezvolta și maturiza în timp util, în armonie și
toleranță, cu credință în a clădi ceva trainic și frumos.
Cu sentimente
prietenești și de apreciere,
Dr. OVIDIU GRECEA
- Ministru
Plenipotențiar -
Consul
General/Șef de Misiune
*Domnul Ovidiu Grecea este Consul
General şi Ministru
Plenipotenţiar al României la Vancouver
“A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are for what you have.”
This event has been
delivered in Romanian Language, featuring Romanian culture.
● Previous anniversaries of ALICE & Friends Circle™ – 2020, 2019 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).
