Carmen Monica Oprea

Imagine you are a child and the magic of the holidays pours over you like the sugar powder over the freshly baked cookies on Christmas Eve. Can you sense the cinnamon flavor floating in the kitchen as you prepare rolls? Do you feel the soft flour tickling your hands as you work the dough into spirals of tasty wonders when you pretend to help your mother? Is the vanilla flavor filling your nostrils and make you wonder about the pastries baking in the oven especially for Christmas? Chocolate chip cookies rest on the plate keeping an eye on the Christmas tree. I am sure you notice the glimmering of all those sparkling decorations and the sounds of the carols resonating between the everlasting green. Garlands of tiny bells are wrapped around the emerald branches intoxicating the entire room with a resin perfume. Just look at it! A magical display of elegance in silver and blue dominates the pine tree that you cut from the forest and brought it home. The angel from the treetop rules the solemnity of the holidays and supervises the fireplace where red, orange and yellow flames blend in enthralling waves of heat that warm the space.

On Christmas Eve, only one fantasy visits the minds of the young and the old, the rich and poor, boys and girls from every continent. The aged man in the burning red suit carries his sack filled with presents for everyone who presumably behaved throughout the year. If you struggle, you can hear the reindeer’s bells piercing the icy air as they fly in circles pulling the sleigh from where Santa scrutinizes city after city and street after street for fear not to miss someone. He never disappointed me when I was a child. I remember I used to keep a keen eye on the horizon not wanting to lose his arrival. Even after staring into the night, not once have I caught him by the Christmas tree as he dropped the presents. I only found the books, or the toys, or the clothes, and I was happy he ate a cookie or two before continuing his voyage around the globe. As much as I hoped, I never caught him, not even once. I remember one special night when the flame of his costume sneaked through the door and disappeared before I had time to ask him about the North Pole and the elves, and how I can make it in that mysterious place. The shape of his boots imprinted on the fresh sheet of snow covering the asphalt.

On Christmas day, we listen to the nativity story and we sing carols heralding his coming for our salvation. I see Jesus in a manger surrounded by sheep, and the three magi as he rests in his mother’s warm arms under Joseph’s supervision.  Everyone kneels before him as the sky is brightened by the largest star ever. When I say Christmas, I remember the festive atmosphere in my grandparents’ house where we laughed, and we danced around the tree. I remember eating the wonderful meals my grandmother cooked and the hot chocolate in ceramic cups waiting for our return after we sang carols to the neighbors.

I wish I can go back to the time of innocence and purity where the hardest dilemma consists in not having enough time to play.

Have you ever paid attention to the way people smile? I did, and, sadly, many smiles remained encrusted on the lips never to rise to the eyes. If you will only take the time to study the people who pass you by, you’ll notice they are in a hurry, their thoughts darkened by exhaustion or unhappiness. I wonder about the misfortunes threatening their hearts. Concealed inside our shells, some of us forget that our time is limited. Should we try to change our perspective on what is truly meaningful in life? Should we go around spreading joy or should we hide in the confinement of our souls pretending we live?

Once upon a time, I lost sight of what was truly important and I wandered between dark alleys chasing dreams. And, when I reached the one I thought I wanted the most, I realized I had lost something special. I lost myself. The journey back was terrifying since I didn’t know what to expect. I was one of the people who only moved their lips pretending to smile. But the smile didn’t reach my eyes. A thought had cropped in my mind. What if smiling will be illegal in one hundred years? What if all dreams will die?

Will the hope survive?

In an old bag, behind boxes covered in spider webs, I discovered something special, something I received many years ago: love letters. I asked myself if today anyone writes letters to the special people in their lives. I read them, one by one, and something incredible happened. I finally smiled, but not only with the quick move of my lips, but with my eyes too, and I realized that happiness came in the shape of the old love letters. Someone considered me special and he made sure that, after many years, when I had stumbled across those letters, I remembered what brought us together in the first place.

How many others find themselves in similar circumstances as I? Probably many. Everyone has a choice: to go with the flow and pretend to live or to take charge of his happiness. Be with the people who make you happy, do the things that satisfy you, give to the ones you cherish without expecting much in return.

It happened sometimes to open a book and to stumble over a sentence that seemed it had been written for me. Or to find the answer in the lyrics of a song. Sometimes, angels appeared to whisper in my ear.

One day I realized how exhausted I was emotionally and physically from concentrating on things I wanted to buy or the places I wanted to visit, but I couldn’t afford. I felt trapped in a vicious circle and the more I focused on what I couldn’t have, the more depressed I became. The more depressed I became, the more I concentrated on the lack. I had to quiet my heart and listen. At that moment, I acknowledged the deep longing in my heart. I was hungry not for the things in the stores, or the places around the world I couldn’t visit, but for inner peace, something the world wouldn’t take back.

I opened my eyes, and I saw how wealthy I was: I had an abundance of friends, and I swam in a pool filled with my family’s love. I saw I had much to be grateful for, and I felt humbled for taking for granted the abundance that existed in my life. I made an inventory of my life’s possessions: my restored health, a wonderful husband, a happy son, their health, our small but comfortable home, my precious cat that is a great joy. Plenty of food on the table and the red wine in the fridge.

I was blessed with so many wonderful friends who care deeply about us. And the list grew longer. When I looked at my life’s register, I realized I was a wealthy woman. At that moment, I realized that my net worth wasn’t determined by the size of the bank account or the multitude of places I visited. Each day from that moment offered me authentic moments of pleasure and contentment because I noticed and appreciated the gifts each day brought.

The power of gratefulness took over my heart and transformed what I had into enough, and even more. Gratefulness brought peace for today and created a vision for tomorrow.

It takes courage to go on after you’ve lost something so close to your heart that the mere thought of it brings terrible heartaches. In the beginning, your pain will take your breath away, it will sting, and it will hurt. You wonder if you’ll ever make it out of the plight or if life will be the same when you do. Gray clouds will cover your sky, and you’ll find it difficult to smile. Then, one day you decide that enough is enough. You are reborn at that moment as a stronger version of the previous day’s individual.
Day after day, you pick up the shattered pieces of your old self and glue them together with toughness, empathy and willingness to keep on going no matter where the road will take you. It can’t be worst than what you’ve experienced. You put your trust in God and let him guide you through your journey. Weeks will pass, and new experiences will come your way. You’ll meet new people, and read new books, and do new things. The excruciating pain fades away until it becomes a memory lost in an ocean of other memories. You will never forget what you’ve lost, but you’ll be in control of what to remember.
You’ll regain the most beautiful smile ever, and you will display it for the world to see. It is your way of saying that you came out triumphant from a hardship, much wiser and more compassionate than before. It is within your grasp to pick between hope for a better tomorrow or despair for the loss.

It is a new season, and the ideal time to do something new, something beautiful. The air is crisp, and it makes me think that autumn is the new spring when every leaf is a flower. Fall dyes in colors that summer has never seen as if an imaginary painter has lost his palette and the hues have scattered all over the place. It is the season when everything bursts with its last beauty as if nature had been saving up all year for an outstanding end. When autumn comes, everyone has to sit and watch the leaves turn from green to yellow, and to red and brown. They clamor on the branches, and their murmur is carried away by every gust of wind.
Autumn is a season of maturity when the fruits replace the leaves. It is the time when we reap what we sow. Kids are back to school, and the summer vacations become sweet memories. Melancholy dances in the air and a sense peace invades the hearts. It is a time of preparations, a time of expectations. You are ready to unwind after a tumultuous season colored with trips, and parties and craziness. It is the faint sound of nature that brings a sense of tranquil unequaled by any other season.
Enjoy fall and the beauty that comes with it!

Every day is special, not because the sun rises when the moon falls asleep, but because you get a new chance to express gratitude to those special people in your life. Life is meant to be lived surrounded by grace and miracles. They, the miracles, happen every day from the flowers that bloom, to the breeze that cools your fever, to the clouds that dance in the sky, to the sea that kisses your toes. Every breath we take is a miracle and a gift, and we forget to consider today the most important day in our lives. We always plan for tomorrow, hoping and praying it will come.

But what about today? What incredible things are we going to accomplish today? Are we going to call a friend we haven’t seen or spoken to in ages? Are we going to read that excellent book waiting on a dusty shelf for the right time? Is there a good time? Every morning brings new avenues to uncover your inner self, a world waiting to be discovered among the beats of your heart. Most of us choose to ignore the song so beautifully sung by the chords of our soul. We shut it off before it even starts, so the tune dies. Have you ever wondered why the song began in the first place? Maybe it wants to spread a message, a warning that we are travelers through this world.

Spend more time enjoying the little things in life, talk to your loved ones and give thanks for everything good or bad that comes your way. You learn something new from everything, you become sturdier, and you’ll rise above the clouds. We should never forget that life is nothing but a dream, so enjoy today for tomorrow is not promised.

Hi Everyone,

I love finding quotes that inspire me. I thought maybe these would inspire you too.

– “Wake up every morning as if something wonderful is about to happen.”

– “Be strong when everything seems to be going wrong. Believe that tomorrow is another day. Believe in miracles.”

– “Do more of what makes you happy.”

A good motto in life is if you can’t say something good, say nothing at all.
We are not created in the same way. We have a different design, although our conception follows the same principles. Some of us are genetically more sensitive than others, and the outside factors don’t act upon us in the same ways. Whatever some might view as normal, others might view as unusual. We might do the same things during the day, but our unique design allows the external factors to influence us in ways that make us unique. It is the reason we react differently to the forces pressing upon us. Whatever some view as weakness, in fact, it is a response, a chosen method to answer to the environmental factors.
A noble rule is not to judge what you can’t understand, or it doesn’t fall into the category of things you consider normal. Don’t be in a hurry to express your opinions. Stop, think, analyze the circumstances, put yourself in the other person’s place, and practice kindness. By being ourselves, we put something beautiful into the world, something it wasn’t there before. If we build a wall of positivity around us, the negativity that comes our way it won’t get through; it will bounce off and no longer affect us. Everyone deserves a time when worries will not get in the way of anything, a time when the insensitivity of the others will not influence the positive attitude about life.

Many times I’ve wondered what a woman wants in her life to make her feel loved, desired, respected, needed, and every time I had reached the same conclusion. A woman needs romance, not riches, power, money or grandeur. She wants love, and when she got it, everything becomes a child’s play. She gets wings to fly; she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to do, and she gives her all to the ones surrounding her. A woman needs to know she is more than an object subdued to someone’s wishes. A song, a love letter, a walk in the moonlight, a romantic dinner, an aromatic bath, these are the little things that could heat up a woman’s heart. How difficult is to make time to listen to a woman’s heart? Women give up their dreams to fulfill the wants of the others, to keep them saturated, happy until she forgets what she has desired. Her wishes minimize, and they get lost among memories. A woman wears many hats. It is the silent pact she had made without knowing what it implies.

A child expects his mother to be there and take away his/her fears. A husband expects his wife to stay by his side unconditionally and give him her full. A parent expects his daughter to understand the things he/she is doing without questioning. And the list can go on and on. And one day, the powerful woman crumbles to the ground, and all she wants is a good word, an embrace, a sweet touch. Those become the very moments when she takes the time to think if her life had turned out to be as she had envisioned once. For some, life had been kind and treated them right, for others, life had been a continuing struggle. One thing is for sure: every woman ought to have romance in her life. Her face will brighten up when she’s in love, her feet won’t touch the ground, and her heart’s filled with joy. Her world becomes beautiful because of it. A woman can break down temporarily, but a real woman will always pick up the pieces, rebuild herself and come back stronger than ever.

I love finding quotes that inspire me and sharing them with my friends. Maybe they will inspire you too.

– “Wake up every morning as if something wonderful is about to happen.”

– “Be strong when everything seems to be going wrong. Believe that tomorrow is another day. Believe in miracles.”

– “Do more of what makes YOU happy.”

– ” Success is not accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing.”

– ” The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”