“Embrace today as tomorrow may not come. Dust off your shoes, stand up and realize that as long as you are breathing, you have the opportunity to change.”
It all started with an old dream of mine : help people connect to their heart and believe in their unique authenticity. By sharing these life lessons I hope that you can travel in time to relive those unforgettable moments when you found your strength and reached that special place of wisdom and harmony.
Lesson 1: Strength and courage inspired by Edelweiss
Since I was a child I loved to hike with my dad, to feel the wind in my hair and take deep breaths of fresh air at the very top of the mountains. I was impressed by the strength and courage of a bunch of small grayish flowers, which grew in those harsh places. Those resilient flowers taught me patience and trust as they found the strength to coping with cold winds, the sun’s heat and the danger of being eaten by chamois. They stood still, matching the beauty of crystal lakes and the magnificence of the high mountains.
At their sight I knew that I had found a delicate treasure. Deep down I knew that life would take me far away from those magic places. I was nonetheless confident that these precious flowers would give me strength and a brave heart to stay open and believe in wonderful encounters on my path. Indeed, the people met on my journey inspired and helped me stay true to my inner nature. Those people, alike the edelweiss in the mountains, made my heart grow wiser, patient and resilient.
Those people, alike the edelweiss in the mountains, made my heart grow wiser, patient and resilient.
Lesson 2: Change and resilience inspired by the beauty of the changing seasons
I grew up in a small village in the north of Romania, surrounded by mountains and beautiful forests.
In my early years I spent all my time in the company of my dear and kind grandmother. With her I talked and laughed and shared the best moments of the magic world of the childhood. She baked the best scrambled eggs made with fresh eggs and creamy cheese. She was my storyteller during winter times, inviting me to stay by the stove and listen to the crackling fire. As she stood by me, I was hypnotized by the sparkling light of the fire, seeing in it my mother when she was a child, my grand father working in the forest, my young grandmother singing while helping her parents in the garden. My grandmother became the living example of a resilient and kind fairy, accepting the natural flow of change and passing on the cherished memories of her ancestors.
Duringmy childhood, I was living in a fairy tale and time was my friend. Later on, in my father’s library, in J.M. Barrie’s book Neverland I discovered the same beauty and magic as in my own childhood’s village.
Back in those days I could explore at ease the forest near my grandmother garden, stealing juicy apples and playing with my best friend, a brown and tender teddybear. Time stopped for me at that given moment but it played hide and seek with the people around me. Back then I felt lighthearted because my inner nature stayed untamed while the hair of my loved ones turned light silver. Even though I felt protected in my small world change and time did not play a fair game with my dear ones.
One day, while playing with my teddy, the same soft voice whispered in my ear that I would soon be ready to start my own adventure. That day came sooner then expected as at 14 I left home to resume my studies in a small town not far away from my parents’s village.
Lesson 3: Adaptability to new places and openess to new opportunities
The next step was at 18 when I left my village to go to university.
After finishing my studies, I got a fun job as a teacher and then as an interpreter. The frantic traffic and the gloomy atmosphere in Romania’s capital made my heart ache so my husband and I decided to leave the big city and to go abroad to start a new chapter of our life together.
As we were young we were not afraid of the cultural impact or that we could not adapt to our new environment. We were thrilled at the idea of a new beginning and encouraged by the fact that a new place was beneficial to our ready to explore curious nature.
I cannot entirely say that we were not both afraid of what life had to offer at the time. We took things as they came, enjoyed our walks in nature, our bicycle tours through the city, meeting new people and familiarizing ourselves with customs different from ours.
At times, we missed our family and friends, our favorite dishes and songs but our curious spirit and our openness towards new ways of understanding life motivated our enthusiasm and nurtured our nostalgic moments.
Lesson 4: Gratitude and joy when appreciating the here and now
Eventually moments came when I realized that staying in my mind and feeling most of the time not good enough made me skip an important aspect of life: enjoying the present moment.
One day while taking a walk with a friend, she asked me what I mostly enjoyed during the day. My mind got puzzled and I instantly realized that during the day I was most of the time in my head, worrying about what I had to bake in the evening, how I could better cope with my children tantrums before they went to bed, worrying about not having called my parents in a while or making plans for the next trip to visit them.
That was the first time when I realized that I was living in my mind’s cage, believing every thought it fed me, living either in the past or in the future, unconsciously escaping the very present moment.
As I raised my head towards the sky I could see two storks flying above and that image stopped the chatter in my mind. I could freely contemplate them for a while, while my friend beamed with a big smile.
Since then I am training my mind to stay quiet. I breathe in and out and look around, cherish the simple things that are coming my way. I choose to talk to my kids in consciousness, to revitalise my inner strength while walking in nature, while playing with my cat or whatever brings joy to my heart.
Throughout these lessons I am able to live my life fully even when chaos and instability come my way. Life taught me that whatever comes can be lived consciously. When I lose my balance I simply make use of my breath, I find a quite place, pause and am grateful for the present moment. here and now is safe and tomorrow’s feras are just a mind’s trap.
Miracles do exist at every corner. When I choose to live in the present moment I am able to see them, I can enjoy my life and be grateful for being alive.
Leave a Reply