Carmen Monica Oprea

Christmas reminds me of my childhood. It reminds me of vanilla and orange zest and sugar mixed with flour and melted butter. It was the perfect combination for what we call “cozonac” or a type of coffee cake filled with nuts. I remember that it was a long and tedious process that started early in the morning when the dought was prepared until late afternoon when the cozonac was pulled out of the oven. But the highlight of the day was the moment when we tasted the first cozonac. Along with this traditional sweet my grandma prepared tiny croissants filled with Turkish delight or a mixture of nuts and cocoa and sugar and milk, and also cheese sticks made of butter, flour, cheese and eggs t toast melted as soon as they touched my mouth. Even today I wonder if she added a special ingredient in her food to make it taste so delicious. Christmas reminds me of fresh pine tree. I remember that Grandfather went into the woods with an ax and when he returned he carried with him the perfect tall tree for us to decorate with ornaments and tinsel and lights. He was also in charge of smoking the meat and the wine cellar. Every year, on Christmas Eve, carolers showed at our door and they sung about Joseph and Maria and Jesus and his holly coming into this world. Because this is what Christmas is all about: celebrating Jesus’s birth , who represents hope and love, who reminds us that we are always loved. So, I wish everyone a very happy Merry Christmas surrounded by your loved ones! Love, Carmen

Legend has it that Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him, but Jack didn’t want to pay for the drink, so he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin. Instead of buying the drink, he pocketed the coin and kept it close to a silver cross in his house, preventing the devil from taking shape again. He promised to let the devil go as long as he would leave Jack alone for a year – and that if Jack died, the devil wouldn’t claim his soul.

After a year, Jack tricked the devil again to leave him alone and not claim his soul. When Jack died, God didn’t want such a conniving person in heaven and the devil, true to his word, would not allow him into hell.

Jack was sent off into the night with only a burning coal to light his path. He placed the coal inside a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth ever since.

People in Ireland and Scotland began creating their own creations of Jack’s lanterns out of turnips, beets and potatoes. The tradition traveled to the United States along with the immigrants and people began to use pumpkins, native to North America, for the lanterns instead.

Life rarely goes as planned in our heads. It may be confusing at times, yet it can also be a source of amazement.

Forgive yourself for being too hard on yourself, for being too fussy, for saying the wrong things, for previous errors and misjudgments. You need to understand that no one has it all figured out. We all make mistakes along the way, but we keep trying until we find pleasure.

You will love again even though their last words are still dancing in your head. You will love again even though their last kiss is still lingering on your lips. You will love again even though they promised you forever and still walked away. You will love again even though your heart is still beating at the sound of their name.

Love,

Carmen

It comes a time when we understand that perfection is an illusion, beauty is fleeting, and flawless isn’t truly possible. It comes a time when we learn the hardest lessons along the path of a broken road. We stumble and fall, we listen and learn, we break, but we also evolved. We let go of the ideals to always have it together. The truth is, we are none of those things and never would be. The moment we recognized our journey, a real trip into what matters, we became free. We are free to accept ourselves and our flaws, but more than that…we learn to love our scars, appreciate our imperfections, and relish our sometimes disastrous ways.

We are different. We are real. We are proud. We laugh through the tragedy and smile through the tears. We celebrate our triumphs and learn from our mistakes.

We embraced those places within ourselves that we had once hidden away, desperate to savor any resemblance of perfect façade until we realized we were trying to be what we weren’t and never would be. We lived with courage, loved with passion, and breathed life into an undying spirit. Every crack and crevice reveals a little truth about us, our lives, and our journey to find ourselves, love ourselves, be at peace with ourselves.

We can finally understand that broken people lived and loved, lost and lamented, but they still loved through the pain without regret. They’ve seen the darkness enough to appreciate the light, and their love was the deepest and most beautiful of all. They’re all the things the world tells them not to be:

Compassionate. Empathetic. Caring. Real.

We should smile and remember who we were and how we had clawed our ways out of rock bottom in those moments. Yes, we were beautifully broken, but more than that, we were honest and strong, and we just kept going.

We weren’t just a spark, a fire, or a newfound flame. We were a phoenix, and this was our time to rise. This time, nothing would extinguish our light. This time …we are unstoppable.

Love,

Carmen

There was a time when I asked: “why me?” But after a while I had decided to stop asking this question or allowing the past to weight me down. It was hard to understand that some things happened for a reason and that, in time, I would understand if the things didn’t work out the way I expected them too. I had tough times that really hurt and I have been at rock bottom more times than I could count. But I learned that those experiences didn’t define me. By choosing not to stay down but to keep moving forward I have transformed myself into something better, not bitter. I also had great days with big accomplishments and full loads of happiness. I learned that life is a balance of good and bad, and that it is in my power to find joy in the bad days and to appreciate the good ones. Life will never be perfect; things will never go as planned and there are going to be days when I will want to hide somewhere; I want to get lost, to disappear. But one thing is for sure: I control my destiny. I choose happiness above all else. I make the best out of the bad times and soak in the beauty of the good ones. I learned from my mistakes, embraced my flaws and kept loving myself a little harder during the hard times. I have learned to use my pain as fuel and motivation to evolve. I may never be rich or famous, but I will be happy. And this is what matters most: that I had faced life head on and kept pushing forward, kept rising again and found my wings to fly higher every day. And when everything is said and done, I will look back and treasure the little things, and I will know that I followed my heart. And above all, that I was truly happy. Love, 🌸Carmen 🌸

The beauty of creation inspires me to live a life where I, too, can create something beautiful. This is why I take time to reflect on people and things around me. It is in these quiet moments that inspiration grows and I recognize the miracles of life.

I see life as a jigsaw puzzle. When I look at each individual piece, it makes little sense. But when the pieces are all in their proper places, the end result is a beautiful image, whole and complete. Thus the individual events in my life may make little sense at the time they occur, but when viewed as part of the big picture, they make all the sense in the world.

I don’t want my life to be perceived as nothing more than noise, but as beautiful music that inspires, soothes, and uplifts. Gothe said that “one ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

I truly believe that being in the flow of life means letting things happen in their own natural timing. When we try to force things to happen we are met with resistance, and we run up against numerous obstacles. We end up taking detours that waste time and energy, our enthusiasm wanes as the task becomes more difficult. Often we make something happen, only to find that it wasn’t what we really wanted to happen. But if we relax and go with the flow of life, the natural order of things takes over, and timing kicks into gear.

Life becomes effortless, harmonious, and enjoyable, just as it was meant to be.

Love,

Carmen

How many times did we wonder what is joy?

Little that we know that joy grows in the most unlikely places. Joy wedges itself through the cracks of loneliness when a voice at the other end of the phone line is that of someone familiar and loved. It spreads itself across our faces when we greet old friends. But how is it that joy is found where it’s least expected? In truth, it is because joy roots itself not in the shifting sands of circumstance but in the rich soil of a grateful heart. When we experience true joy, we will naturally express it. Only when we open our hearts to new opportunities we will see that the possibilities are endless.

Let’s look at our future with the excitement and joy we truly deserve. We will see into the lives of the things surrounding us when we quiet our eyes with the power of harmony and a deep power of joy. There is a fulfilling joy that comes from serving others rather than putting our own desires first. There is a place of renewal and happiness within us. All we need to do is withdraw our attention from the outside world and focus on the strength and the energy inside ourselves.

How we feel is determined by how we think we feel. If we think we are happy, we will be happy. If we expect good things to happen they will. This is why we should go where the energy makes our hearts palpitate and our spirits sing, for there we will find fulfilment.

Love,

Carmen

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love always trusts because love is a staple of love. If you are always suspicious and uncertain, then love is lacking. Love thrives in an environment of trust but shrivels in a spirit of distrust. To love without trust is difficult, for trust is a lubricant for love. It is important for a love relationship to take root and flourish. Look for the best in someone else and trust them, even though they may not have been trustworthy in the past. Love is all about second chances. But do not blindly trust everything everyone tells you. Have a policy of trust but verify.

Love doesn’t write someone off when they fail to meet expectations or experience failure. Love picks them up and says that they will be trusted again. Love always trusts, because affection and love are meant to originate in heaven, not on earth. Love leans on and listens to the heart because the goal is to fall more deeply in love. Search your heart and you will become more and more infatuated with your love interest. Be a lover of mind, soul, body, and emotions, and have no inhibitions in expressing your feelings. The more love you will project, the more love you will receive.

Love,

Carmen Monica

Gratitude is an attitude of loving what we have, and this undoubtedly leads to having more. When we open our eyes to bountiful blessings already in our lives, we realize just how abundant the world really is. And suddenly, we feel more giving, more loving, and more open to even greater blessings. Gratitude is a key that unlocks the door to treasures we already have, and it yields greater treasurers yet to be discovered.

Gratitude is also the most highly underestimated virtue. We think of love, hope, faith and the power of prayer and forgiveness. But how often do we stop each day and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives? Are we too focused on what we lack, what we don’t have, don’t want or don’t need? By opening the heart and mind to focus on gratitude, we unleash a treasure of unceasing good that’s just waiting to overflow into our lives. A grateful person knows that by giving thanks, they’re given even more to be thankful for.

So today, let’s give thanks for second chances. Sometimes we all feel like we can’t do anything right. It’s embarrassing to make mistakes. It’s embarrassing to show others that we are less than perfect. So, let’s give thanks to everyone who has given us the chance to try again, to make things right.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love,

Carmen Monica

Denial is a powerful tool. We should never underestimate its ability to cloud our vision. And, for different reasons, we have become experts at using denial to make coping with the reality more tolerable. We have learned how to stop pain caused by reality by pretending our circumstances are something other than what they are. But we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves because even if one part of us busy creating a fantasy world, the other part accepted the truth. It takes courage to face the truth, to let it sink in. Only when we can do that we will move forward. 🌹Love🌹 Carmen