Lotz of thoughts

This specific race up the mountain at the borders of South Africa and Lesotho I have run twice in my life. Knowing the route one might say that fact is on its own special. Well, what is so unique about this race for me is that every single time, that run teaches me so many things about me, about my loved ones, about life itself. I had previously shared “running” lessons here but this time around, while running at the end of November under dismal conditions (I will tell you just now..), I had an internal review of the year that passed. Moreover, with this came the realisation, that many thoughts, lessons and success were taught to me by ….my running shoes. To put some perspective… I decided to run the Sani Stagger half – marathon for the first time in 2015. The excitement was at its peak, although I was relatively scared too. I had never run off-road before and the rumours were that this is not an easy downhill. On top of all of this, it was cold – very cold. To cut the long s

I always loved birthdays, all birthdays... Just the excitement of waiting for the day to come…  Mine were my absolute favourite always (before my kids arrived)…As every little child I guess. It was not about the specific day but rather the whole week beforehand. The weekend before, my mum was taking me to choose the clothes I would wear at the party. Oh the excitement! I could pick anything. Well, almost everything. My mum always had her own stylistic preferences that at times were imposed to me and my sister making us look like unnatural twins with a five-year age difference. And then, the choice of a birthday cake. A couple of days before the party, my father would take me to a (the same every year) pastry shop. They had hundreds of photos of possible cakes to order – or it felt like it. I spent the whole afternoon discussing the options; whether another friend had it already, whether it was in fashion, the colours, and the flavours. Thinking about it now, it was not only abou

The last couple of months I decided not to write (well, ok, circumstances and busy life contributed to that decision too) but I was actively observing life around me. To be more precise, I was trying to identify demonstrations of love. Any kind of love, anywhere. I have consciously convinced myself I have a purpose to seek love in all its manifestations and in all possible places. Almost like a social experiment trying to disprove the hypothesis that we live in a cruel world without love. Or maybe a personal experiment to convince myself that love is here around me and I should worry about nothing. Or maybe call it an exorcism of the bad: the more I find love, the more love will find me. In order to do so, I had to first define love in my mind…and I looked at the dictionary…. Love (noun) 1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for aparent, child, or friend. 3. sexual passion or d

What I learned from my nephew… Or my angel-nephew’s legacy through his tannie’s eyes… They say that there are people that are close to us for a lifetime and they make absolutely no impact in the way we see the world or the way we want to be as personalities. And at the same time there are others that pass close to us like a ray of sunshine through the curtains in a cold winter afternoon and bring us warmth and hope unimaginable. I had one of those in my life. Mistake….I HAVE one of those in my life. And most people would think that I would talk about a guru of self-fulfilment, or a teacher of spirituality, or a priest… No, he is a 3-year old, our ray of sunshine, that was borrowed to our lives for a little while but changed us forever not only with his quality while he was with us but also with his absence.. So what I(we) have learned and how I (we) have changed was his purpose on earth? I am not sure… people don’t come with a manual, ultimate purpose a

(Addition 05/05/2017)     You are an angel! (Scroll down for the English translation) Σ αν σημερα εφυγε. Αν και η λεξη «εφυγε» δεν ταιριαζει στην περιπτωση.. Δεν εφυγε ακομα εδω ειναι. Βεβαια, το παραδεχομαι δεν τη σκεφτομαι καθε μερα, δεν την αναφερω καθε τοσο... Τα «μαθηματα» απο τον παππου ηταν πιο εντονα νομιζω. Αλλα αυτο που καταφερε ο «Αλεκος» μου (ετσι την ελεγα) δεν το εχουν καταφερει πολλοι ανθρωποι στην ζωη μου. Με καθορισε, μου εμαθε πολλα οχι με τα λογια αλλα με τον τροπο σκεψης της, με τον τροπο που εζησε τη ζωη της. Με καποιες στασεις και νοοτροπιες της με διδαξε τι να μην κανω, τι να μην αφηνω να μου κανουν. Η Αγλαιτσα μας ομως ηταν αγαπη, ηταν δοσιμο, ηταν θυσια. Δεν την ενοιαζε ο εαυτος της, το εγω της. Την ενοιαζε η ευτυχια των δικων της ανθρωπων, για αυτους γινοταν θυσια. Αν ησουν στον κυκλο της θα εκανε τα παντα. Την ενοιαζε ομως και «τι θα πει ο κοσμος» και για μενα, αυτο την κουρασε πολυ. Κι ετσι αποφασισε να σταματησει να προσπαθει. Ειπε ν

We returned back home, I found a position in bed where none of my muscles were hurting, I put the medal on the bedside table, and I fell asleep while touching it, with a big smile. That feeling the last three years, the emotions of that exact moment, is what keeps me going... I had never been an active person in my life. I was the kind of child that always had some problem to avoid athletics and anything else at school that required getting off your chair and move. Maybe I got a little bit hooked with basketball at some point in my life but that was mainly because the clothes and attitude was cool. Oh and because I was the tallest in class and I felt they needed me…until other girls grew taller or taller girls came from other schools. I will blame hence the environment and conditions for never being active (nonsense, utter nonsense, only me to blame for but anyway…). Later, I came to South Africa, and I was “accused” of not being active as if that was a crucial negative aspect o

Do you know what a business cycle is? Let me be the economist for a second… A business cycle is “the fluctuation in economic activity that an economy experiences over a period of time. A business cycle is basically defined in terms of periods of expansion or recession…During expansions , the economy is growing in real terms (i.e. excluding inflation), as evidenced by increases in indicators like employment, industrial production, sales and personal incomes . During recessions (contraction), the economy is contracting, as measured by decreases in the above indicators” [1] The main elements in a business cycle are peak (top) – recession – trough (bottom) – expansion. I have observed that these types of cycles exist in my desire for social life. You know what I mean? The one period of time, I am a social bee ; I organize events, I say yes to all invitations, my calendar is full, while at the same time, family and work obligations keep me super busy as well…and the next period, I

The last few days the concept of showing appreciation plays a lot in my thoughts: its various manifestations and forms, what are the different things and personality characteristics that people appreciate, and if there are any links to a desire for self-improvement when been appreciated. I am busy observing different approaches and I make an effort to vocalize my appreciation more often nowadays to observe the reactions of the receivers. So, while I was doing my own small-scale research, and in a class of almost thirty individuals (professionals and more mature in life – not typical students) from all over the African continent, I realised there is an important determinant without which (in most cases), a person can neither appreciate life and its beauties, nor be comfortable enough to express his appreciation: that is the moving forward concept, as I call it. (Thank you to this amazing group I work with the last ten days! – People with beautiful qualities). Let me explain now wh

This was the first weekend after almost a month that I managed to relax and enjoy my family. Deadlines and work did not allow me to have a meal with them without my mind being at work, obligations (both work and social), and planning. Last night, the four of us went out for dinner to a favorite restaurant, the kids were in a good mood and so did the parents (there is a statistically significant correlation – causality – between the two!!!). While the Big boy sits nicely and enjoys his fish and chips (Miracle! Miracle! He ate fish!), a very cute older lady signaled with her hand towards him as if she was begging for food. Normally, I get irritated with people trying to “tease” kids they don’t know in public, but her positive aura made me sit back and observe my son’s reaction. And he amazed me once more! He looked around and he took a bunch of fries and gave it to the lady! Proud mama I was!! The lady was equally amazed and praised him for the politeness. She told us she has seve

In a world where I am not sure if and where I belong and a world that makes me cry more often recently, I am struggling to find positive thoughts to express myself… So today’s thoughts shared hopefully will help me be optimistic and cheerful again, maybe you too. It has always been there; the belonging issue…especially the first couple of years in another country. My one foot was there and the other one was here. And trust me the two countries are very far from each other so the position was always very uncomfortable. Now, ten years down the line, things are better in my everyday life. I know where I belong. I don’t belong in geographical place; I ‘belong’ where my men are. But every now and then, a political incident, a statement in the press, a voting result and I am again hanging there not knowing where to go, where I am welcome and where not. Surely it is not only me. In current times, globalisation has been a constant presence in our lives. Look around you: surely someone

It seems everyone is writing about that. It appears at least once in everyone’s resolution. The last week it seems as if we all made a pact and we all promised with our pinkies to “get toxic people out of our lives”. Only the last week, I read more than five different blogs in two different languages giving advice on what to do if you have toxic people in your life. And there are as many approaches as you can imagine. From “throw them out NOW” to “take your lessons” to “change them with your positivity”. All of them especially confusing when it comes to practice. But even before we start thinking of the plan of action with them (us?)... The question is “who is a toxic person? How do I identify them? And eventually, if someone is a toxic person for me, is he/she a toxic person to everyone?”. It is the person that behaves badly, that gossips with bad intentions, that wants to keep people below, that is not happy with the others’ successes, that is jealous, that creates dr