| Five years ago, during the summer of 2015, we were running the “International Language Summer School” program, and we decided to take the kids to see the movie INSIDE-OUT at Cineplex. I had over 20 kids with me, but I ended up on my lap with a cute little girl, who close to the end of the movie, in a quiet and scared tone, yelled: I DON’T WANT JOY TO DIE!!! A big pause followed. HOW COULD JOY DIE? I was thinking as an adult! But thinking as a kid, JOY is more than happiness; JOY is a mix of emotions! The way we deal with our emotions takes us through FEAR, ANGER, DISGUST and SADNESS! This pandemic is pushing all five buttons and week after week, the “social separation” keeps the buttons all on “ON” – somedays, all at the same time! To play with our emotions we relay on the online world: we learn to go to parties, museums, shows and concerts online.  You know what’s funny? Until COVID19, everyone was complaining that we spend too much time online and had no time to enjoy the nature, to meet with friends and spend time with our closed ones! Now, we are linked to the online world! Online is our anchor! And in order not to leave the ship to sink , we reinvent our OUTSIDE-IN, in our house. It is like the INSIDE-OUT but backwords! In her book “On Death and Dying” a Swiss- American psychiatrist, Kubler-Ross talked about the five stages of grief. In 1968, when she published the research , she presented these as normal emotions we have during tragic news. Or more like similar emotions with what we are going through now! And here we are from: FEAR ANGER DISGUST SADNESS JOY TO: DENIAL, ANGER, BARGAINING, DEPRESSION, ACCEPTANCE. And because all we have these little voices in our head, and we have more time to speak and listen to them, the emotions are playing with us and moving us from one stage to another, based on the pace we decide to go at! And the bad news is the fact that you can go back and forth between them like a roller coster. Roller coasters are not my cup of tea, and neither is the Mad Tea Cup! My favourite ride from all Disney parks was, after all: “It’s a Wonderfull life”! And I decided to go fast through the emotions that put me down and slow through the ones that make me happy! And what make me happy is to live a busy life, help people and have people around me! In my case, I discovered the JOY or went to the ACCEPTANCE stage, during week three!  “But the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit!” (unknown) To stay on this stage you need to keep your islands alive! HONESTY…FAMILY…HOCKEY…FRIENDSHIP…GOOFBALL The day when I hit the jackpot was the day when I woke up with time, I put my make up on, I dressed nicely like I was going out. I did what I love doing: connecting with people, in my case delivering a virtual workshop. After I had my coffee with one of my best-friends and her mom, I attended my gym class with our group of SUGARLESS BABES and I ended the day at 1PM cooking for a cause! And that day, I decided that I will not read or even browse news that did not motivate me! I ended that day without knowing how many cases we have, if they are or not close to me, or the percentage by age of the people who died! The important events combined with positive emotions throughout the day fed my own personality island: HONESTY Island- do not focus on things you can control or change, focus on sharing just good and important informations FAMILY Island – call your parents, sister and kid and cook something fun for the ones that live with you SPORT Island – do not miss the sport class with your BABES FRIENDSHIP Island – call a friend or more and if you can’t help, at least listen GENEROSITY Island – make a difference in someone’s life Always inspired by people around me, shared between two religions (catholic and orthodox), I decided that between The Palm Sunday until EASTER, almost every day, I will try to make a difference in someone’s life! I spent the Sunday driving to eight houses around Hamilton delivering a three course meal to a friend of a friend that is going through a really tough time. I dropped a gift to a person I admire for his leadership, investment and support in our children, who recently turned 50 with a postponed party! And I dropped a few other little gifts wrapped in joy and happiness with a ribbon of love, to another six families!  If you still want to play with me, for the upcoming week, you need to complete two tasks: 1. Send me your five “Personality Island” with a description. Use any words you want; you do not have to copy mine. 2. Because we talk about GIFT receiving, I will tell you another story: Imagine that you will be the person to receive a gift and many cards during Easter at your door. But the gift is coming from someone you never suspected! Who is the sender? (when answering the question, write down the name of the person with the gift and if you want, the names of the rest of the people that sent you cards). Use “CONTACT ME” to send me the answer for the task 1. And I will send you the answer for task 2. In final, I want to share with you the love I received from people around me on my porch last week, which was totally unexpected! Thank you Lidia, Deliana and Veronica! Your flowers, seed and gift made me realize how blessed I am to have such amazing people around me, and your messages were truly priceless!  “ I am looking forward to seeing the pictures with the flowers on Facebook during summer!” “ Have a blooming wonderful day” “ You always find beauty in everything you do! Thank you for all that you are and everything that you do!”: |
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1. Spiritual Island- where I can find peace, calm and harmony with myself.
2. Books Island- I can find reality, fantasy and make me forget about myself.
3. Dance Island- I can move free I can feel my body the way I want.
4. Memories Island- where I can find the people who are not longer with us. I can see my ideal of family without any regrets.
5. Kindest Island- O God! Being right does not mean that you are kind. Being kind is like a gratitude you cannot find in these days to often