Carmen Monica Oprea

Is there anyone today who doesn’t yearn for a simpler life?

When we appreciate how much we already have, we feel the urge to get back to the basics and learn what is actually essential for our happiness. We soon realize what’s important. Is it important for us to work overtime to buy a new dining room set or to attend a soccer game? We must distinguish between our wants and our needs. What we want is not necessary something we need. When we understand the distinction, we are able to make healthy choices. Perhaps, we can refinish the old chairs we already have and add a few colorful cushions. We should welcome simplicity because it is a part of our authentic journey.

True simplicity is a conscious life choice that illuminates our lives from within. It has the power to liberate depressed souls from the bondage and burden of extravagance and excess. Less can mean more. We should stop for a moment and consider how appealing simplicity can be. Visualize a bouquet of yellow roses in a clear vase on a coffee table, the sunlight streaming through sparkling clean windows, the shine of the wooden floors, the shimmering glow, and fragrance of pure beeswax candles. Through the practice of simplicity, our frazzled and exhausted souls can discover the place where they were meant to be.

Every day brings simple gifts when we are willing to search our hearts for the place that is right for each of us.

Love,

Carmen Monica

We’re meant to be hungry every day and to satisfy that hunger every day. Our souls know different kinds of hunger: physical, psychic, emotional, creative and spiritual. We have the gifts reason, imagination, curiosity, discernment. We possess the ability to distinguish between our hungers.

In my twenties, I thought fame would do it. In my thirties, I became convinced that a comma in checking account was the answer. Now, I know that all my seeking can be summed up in one word: contentment.  Now, I realize that being an accomplished woman who shepherds successful creative projects from conception to completion is appealing. In my deepest recesses of my soul, I know that money cannot guarantee happiness. I realized this with certitude when I read that a famous and wealthy author, whose books hover on the best-seller lists for months, had lost a beloved child to a freak accident. While washing the breakfast dishes, I glanced out the kitchen window to see my child playing—safe, healthy, and alive. I knew that famous author would trade all her worldly success in a heartbeat to know again the blessing bestowed upon me. After I had prayed for her, I prayed for myself. Please, let me never forget how rich my wonderful life is right just now. Don’t let me forget that all I have is all I need in my life. Don’t let me forget to give thanks.

I know that I am happy when I take care of all my needs, indulge a few of my wants and have a cushion of savings. These days, contentment is my constant craving. Just as harmful desires sneak up on us a day at a time, so do positive cravings. Meditation, creative movement, moments of self-nurturance that bring contentment—all can become positive habits of well-being. I find that when I take the time to get quiet and go within, take a walk, or ask how can I make the next task more pleasurable, my wants diminish.

Today, consider the desires that really count. Think about what you really need to be content. Then, make sure there are at least three moments today that fulfill your mind, spirit, and body.

Love,

Carmen Monica

Hi Everyone,

I’m busy writing, cozy at my desk, with my notes all over the place, things to munch and a cup of tea, working on my new book. I’ll get back to the blog when I can! Bellow is the first look into the novel Unveiled Secrets.

One

” The apartment still wore my mother’s scent, a combination of lemon and clay. Her room remained intact—the same silk curtains hanging at windows, books about molding clay lying open on the floor and pictures on her desk gathering slight traces of dust. I picked up a photo from the nightstand. I was twenty-one, and my mother and I were in Egypt, visiting the pyramids. That was fourteen years ago. My mother, Gabriela, looked youthful with her hair in a ponytail and her skin tanned from the daily exposure to the Egyptian sun. After that trip, we had never been able to put our schedules in agreement and, after constant failures, we decided that it would be best not to make plans together. That was the reason the trip to Egypt was ever so special.

Since her sudden death—five months ago, I often came into her room to breathe in the fragrance lingering in the things she had touched. There was still unfinished work in Gabriela’s studio. Her apron was still on the back of a chair, three unopened cans with clay lay on shelves along with prints for orders she would never finish. Her funeral was short and painful. Clair, her best friend, helped me scatter her ashes across the Black Lake during a freezing February afternoon. She hugged me tightly and told me to come and visit her in Vigo Bay. I promised Clair that I would do so on my first vacation. But then life happened in between—and Denis Fraga.

Why didn’t Gabriela tell me my parents’ story when she had the chance? What terrifying secret did she keep from me? When I asked her about it, she said, “Leila, the answers you seek are in the diary.”

The only thing I knew for sure was that she had adopted me when I was five. I just assumed that my biological parents were dead. It made complete sense to think they were dead. If they were dead, then I understood the reason behind my adoption. Gabriela didn’t confirm or deny, and I dropped the issue after many unsuccessful attempts. For the first time in thirty-five years, I was on the verge of finding out the truth, and the thought was exciting.”

Love,

Carmen Monica

Tomorrow is just another chapter in your life. It can bring good news or bad ones. You can meet good people or bad ones. It is within your power to discern among the good and the bad and make a selection. Right or wrong is just a matter of interpretation. Whatever it may be right for someone, it may be a mistake for another.

It is almost spring, and as always I like cleaning up. This winter has been an exciting journey, and the long cold months of shivering are finally replaced by the warm days. The plans I made and the goals I set a long time ago turned out just the way I envisioned them, and once more I am more than happy to say that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I walked blind for so long that today I wonder how did I do it? Where did I find the power to smile every day and pretend I don’t see the truth even when it stared right at me? And my thoughts return to the people surrounding me for all this time, my family, my friends and my colleagues. Thank you for giving me a reason to smile every day. You are my heart and soul, and the reason for my happiness. Our paths will intersect one day again, and it will be a glorious moment.

Love,

Carmen Monica

When I worry about the loved ones, I become more focus and get clarity about what is important. Living is important. Every day is a gift and one more chance to get it right.  There are many types of worries, but the ones about the money tease me. Money takes the joy of living and follows me around like a menacing shadow. When I worry about the money, I dread the days and agonize at night, and without thinking, I throw away precious hours. I cease to live and merely exist.

One day, I realized that I have the power to change my lifestyle. You can do it too. You have to find that special something that brings contentment into your heart and work on it at least one hour every day. For example, I love to write. There is nothing more captivating than playing with words, arranging them into scenes and creating chapters in a book. I try to write at least two hours every day. Some days, if I am drained, I read so I can learn from the ones more experienced. Each day is an opportunity to improve.

I realized that the simpler I make my life, the happier I become. There is no scarcity of things to make you happy and life worth living. All you must do is find them.

Love,

Carmen Monica

Sometimes my wishes appeared all-consuming. It was easy to lose clarity about what I needed to live. I was hungry for something more in my life, so I began checking glossy magazines and watching movies trying to find answers. They were always blurry. Then I turned to the quietest corner in my home, closed my eyes and emptied my mind. And only after I pushed away all the thoughts, I was able to realize that I had everything I needed and more. I wanted this or that, and after I had them, I realized that I didn’t need them.

To live a fulfilled life, it was important to distinguish between my wants and my needs. Not everything I wanted was beneficial to my needs. I made peace a long time ago with the knowledge that I couldn’t have everything I wanted. Why? Because it was more important to get everything I needed. I asked myself what was it that made me truly happy.  You should do the same. The answers will be different for each of us—a bigger house, a new job, or the perfect someone with whom to share your life. Only after I acknowledged my inner needs, I could harness the energy to manifest them in my life.

If you trust the wisdom of your heart, you will attract what you need.

Love,

Carmen Monica

Do you know how happy are you now?

Most of us know what makes our parents, partners, and children happy. But when it comes to the specific things in life that bring a smile to our faces, we come up short. It ‘s hard to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we love. We must learn to enjoy the small, authentic moments that bring us contentment. How about we experience a new cookie recipe or take the time to arrange a bouquet of flowers to appreciate their colors, fragrances, and beauty. Sip a cup of coffee in the sunshine in front of a shop or pause to pet a purring cat.

I delight in shopping for shoes, good books, sudden bursts of laughter, and reading in French. I learned to bake Madeleines. They appeared to be simple but actually required a fair amount of patience and careful following of instructions. In the end, I was rewarded with a truly unique little cake, browned and crispy on the outside and spongy and soft on the inside. They are the perfect accompaniment to my afternoon cup of tea. They come in many flavors: chocolate, vanilla, lavender, and orange. Madeleines are delicious when eaten just from the oven and cooled until barely warm.

Learning to bake this French cake made me happy. I encourage you to discover what makes you happy.

Love,

Carmen Monica

Today, many women feel a sadness that they can’t name. Although they accomplished much of what they set out to do, they sense that something is missing from their lives and they start searching for answers. It sometimes happens that they are staring in the mirror and they don’t recognize the women staring back at them. They look familiar, but they bear little resemblance to the women they are expecting to see.

What went wrong? What is that sadness they can’t name? Perhaps the center of their melancholy is that they miss the women they were meant to be. And even if they ignored their desires for decades, the women they were supposed to be are still there. They didn’t abandon them yet. Instead, the women have been waiting patiently for them to recognize them and reconnect.

Turn away from the world this year and begin to listen to the murmur of your heart. Look inside you. Your silent companion lit candles of love to illuminate the path to discovering who you are. The voyage you were predestined to take has finally begun.

Love,

Carmen Monica

We left the holidays behind, although they will be memories to cherish in the future months. A new year is ahead, a year with new goals to accomplish, errands to run, bills to pay, vacations to plan and birthday parties to put together. How enchanting! Nothing beats the time when friends and families gather to celebrate whatever the occasion for celebration may be.

This month it is my son’s sixteenth birthday. When did the time fly? Who is the handsome, tall man who replaced the baby I held in my arms sixteen years ago? But it is not the height that scares me. No! It is that time when he holds his driver license in his hands and gets all excited about driving his own car, and I get anxious about letting him do it. Not that he is not a responsible driver! Oh, he is! I am the overprotective mom who’s not prepared to accept that her baby is about to detach, gradually, until one day, he will have a life of his own, and I will be the one left behind to watch and help.

I think that for us, parents, our children will always remain our babies regardless of their age. We don’t cease to worry about them just because their physiognomy changes. Parents should give their kids’ confidence, must be their best friends, guardian angels, always watching, helping, providing support, loving, admonishing and forgiving. Parents are the first role models for their children—it is mandatory to be the good one. Parents are ever so special, just because they grow old while their children mature. We don’t even realize when silver touched our temples, when a few wrinkles appeared in the corner of our eyes, when terrifying pain formed in the lower back, when we grow weak day after day after day. The signs are all there—I call them signs of becoming wise.

And one day, a young man or woman opens the door, just as my son is doing at the moment, and we wonder where the time flew? It is crucial to mark each new birthday with something special—cake, candles, balloons, a big party, a new piece of electronics—so that, when we look back at those pictures touched by time, we smile recalling the instant when the child celebrated a special moment because these precious moments make life worth living to the last beat.

Love,

Carmen Monica

The birth of Jesus is the birth of hope. We shouldn’t let the wonder of hope disappear with the decorations at the end of the holiday season this year. We should follow hope right out of the manger and into the rest of our lives. We have been given a gift, the special kind of gift that is not wrapped in tissue paper or tied with a beautiful bow. This gift is priceless in nature, no gift in all the world is more sought after than this one—the gift of life.

During the holiday season, we should add extra expressions of courtesy and kindness for everyone. If we look carefully, we can see Him on the road as the one asking for a few quarters to buy milk and bread for the children. We’ll recognize Him in all the volunteers handing out gifts to the poor or to the ill from which some will go to be with Him before His birthday arrives.

I wonder if there is ever a finer gift purchased then that of forgiveness or if there ever was a present more treasured by those who received it. Once forgiveness is granted or received, we’ll know that it is one of the most beautiful gifts of all.

What we should learn this holiday season is to embrace and celebrate our differences, learn to appreciate each other and walk the path of understanding because life is about laughing and loving each other.

Love,

Carmen Monica