Early Two-DoubleO-Five Review

It was January 2005. Aged 22, I was just back from my traineeship in India, 10 kilos extra and quite confused, heading for a CC experience within the IPM 05 team, my university a mess, a job proposal and a marriage request on the table.
Swimming in tangled thoughts, took a deep breath at a random 2AM and decided to let my inner voice speak to me... As I was listening, words started forming on white paper...

Almost a year gone by, I understood and acknowledged what India was and still is within me. The CC times turned out as a kick-ass experience, after many sleepless nights I graduated this summer and I am almost one year into being a trainer with my company. Marriage proposal turned down (I was trapping myself in a lie), boyfriend turned into ex-boyfriend. But most of all, I have lived (consciously and at times unconsciously) as my inner voice urged me to.

It has been a year of Fireworks and Breathtaking Experiences.

This was the year when I parted with certainty and decided to live the unexpected.
It was the year when, while maturing, I found more of my childhood within.
It was a year of dreams and a year of deeds.
I was there for my friends and we shared magic moments.
I found balance in my body (losing 10kg in 2 months just by plain inner balance was unbelievable ;)).
It was a year of fully expressed feelings and no regrets.

I feel serene. And so very grateful! As I have realized that achievement for me is not merely static but essentially dynamic. As I have realized that the environment I seek is one where I can challenge and be challenged, keeping connected with my higher purpose in the same time. I have acknowledged my purpose, I have assumed my verb: to CONTRIBUTE. I have been filled by the revelation of my noun: BEAUTY, inner and outer beauty. I have accepted my ultimate goal, NON-VIOLENCE, inner and outer peace. I have become aware of my path, EDUCATION.

My next year?
Stepping on The Magic Journey – Believe. Build. Beautify.

A blend of youthfulness, challenges, inspiration, deep connections, traveling, energy blast and discoveries. A year of contribution, of triggering beautiful experiences. A year to discover more of love and more of magic.

Keep you posted!

Experiment 7- Perspectives on Violence...

In the last few days...

- I read lots of opinions about how justified Humanitarian interventions (aka regain peace through violence -now how much a contradiction in terms is that?) are on AIESEC's Global LN forums at http://www.aiesec.net/members/clubs/globallearningnetworks/forums/message-view?Message%5fid=34758858;
- I subscribed in supporting a No Violence against Women campaign in Romania at http://www.121.ro/nu_violenta/ (in Romanian only) and read (again) that worldwide, 1 out of 2 girls are the victims of some sort of a sexual abuse before age 18;
- I had an intense discussion on Violence, Army and War with a friend of mine whose dad has been with the Army his whole life and my friend is pretty much a supporter of the system (though, never mind the system, I believe that anyways the final output of the army is violence and that is fundamentally against Humanity);
- I challenged a plenary of almost 100 people in making a choice between "sacrificing the last 2 whales on Earth and 1000 random people" in the search of different perspectives on valuing Humanity and usage of Violence;
- and so much more... Anita Roddick http://www.anitaroddick.com/readmore.php?sid=496 draws the attention on Amnesty International UK mass demonstrating against human torture, Deepak Chopra invites all at the "Alliance For a New Humanity- The Human Forum of Puerto Rico" http://www.chopra.com/sitecontentpage.asp?ContentID=529.

Somehow, my path lead me to having a SINGLE perspective on violence. Being part of that "comfortable" 50% of abused girls starting with 17 years ago, being around a bloody revolution against communism 16 years ago and witnessing so many other violent episodes around me has left me with no choice but having this one perspective on violence: it does irreparable harm and there's nothing to compensate it or make it "look good", justified.

But then I keep questioning... Lots. Like, I am sure that every single individual NEEDS to feel important and needs to have a relevance in his/her environment as perceived by self. And to so many of us, power and control through use of Violence is nothing but the easiest choice we can make and satisfy our need for significance. How do we compensate that?
Or another one, I have many friends that have been in one way or another exposed to violence since childhood or worse, been victims of some sort of violence and now they share my perspective on it. But I know people that luckily have been safe from that and they tend to be so much more indulgent, to accept violence for a "good cause". And where does that take us? Have a rough childhood so that you know better as an adult? No way! I want my children save from what I got but respecting Humanity as well.

Yep. To all these questions and many more, my answer is only one so far: EDUCATION. Personal Development. Enabling people to understand themselves and the consequences of their actions, enabling people to find meanings and relevance in the BEAUTY of life not merely ephemeral power in controlling the lives of others. Being humble and surrendering, serving, breeding beauty can lead to meaningfulness, controlling is just an illusory significance of self.

But left alone my perspective, do challenge me! In my beliefs, in my answers, in what I do... Challenge me as it triggers growth and deeper understanding and deeper connection with self.

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." -- Mohandas K. Gandhi
http://www.indianchild.com/Peace_Quotations.htm

Experiment 6- To Truth or Not To Truth

Hypothesis: Few months ago I took a definite decision. No more hiding from myself. No more lying to myself. No more hiding from others as well. The Truth.

The cool thing is that:
1. since taking the decision I’ve been constantly challenged in that respect and
2. being truthful makes me feel free, genuine and it builds up the fairness in my life.

The Future conf I was at last week triggered some questions within and some visions for the future too. And I clearly saw myself leaving what I do now, moving on. And I started questioning my relationship with AIESEC as well. Felt like maybe I was in too big a rush in March after IPM when I left...

All in all, between To Truth or Not To Truth ;), I made the choice to stick to the truth still. And so I had a chat with my manager on future challenges and plans and I opened up for all options. Searching... searching... no fears. Just plain inner truth.

"Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before." Erich Fromm

designing My FUTURE Vision with faci team ;)

My FUTURE

And so they said Friendship, Self-Discovery, Summits, Passion, Ignition, Inspiration, Peace, Vision, Adventure, Extraordinary!

Last week I was chairing FUTURE, the Austrian National Conference. I envisioned 3 things beforehand: connecting with some really cool people, building up a Beautiful Experience for everyone and challenging myself and where I stand/ who I am nowadays.

Mission acomplished! Thank you Alexis for asking me to come round, thank you guys for the wonderful chats on people and whales, making choices and responsibility, AIESEC and beyond AIESEC, training, coaching, branding, cultures, globalization and local markets, love, passion and living an intense life and so, so many others ;)! Thanks to all for joining in and making the Experience Beautiful, thank you for I have found new answers and oh, so many new questions! Thank you for we built such magic moments together that I started questioning my leaving AIESEC earlier this year!

...das ist der Tag der Fragen aber das ist auch der Tag der Antworten...

And after all that, you said: “My FUTURE was Friendship, Self-Discovery, Summits, Passion, Ignition, Inspiration, Peace, Vision, Adventure, Extraordinary”.

My Other Half...

This week-end I found a treasure! Like in those old stories in which there's always a treasure and everyone would know of it and everyone would long for it but you seldom actually get it.

This week-end I have discovered the other half of me... I have rediscovered my brother! I am grateful for after five years of being apart (since my brother was just a 14 years' old kid) we are back in the same place! Five years ago I left my parents' house and since then I've been around for only a few times and for very little time. He basicaly went through his whole adolescence, a hugely transforming period without me being around... He grew up, learned, changed lots and for a month now he came to Bucharest.

As some of you might know, dancing is a very important part of my life. And so it happens that there are quite a few messages that get across to me through this medium... Going to my cousin's wedding this Saturday I realised that my brother and I have never actually danced before... but guess what? Our moves and the spirit was so much inline! It struck me as it was almost like having a mirrored image in front! And so we decided to dance the night away and it was such a show that everyone kept coming to us asking how much do we usually rehearse ;)!

It was loads of FUN, it was a beautiful discovery and a kick-ass experience!

Hey, Vick, thank you so much! For I learn so much about myself while being with you, for I capture some of my looks in your eyes and some of my gestures in your hands, for you are so much like myself and yet so different, so unique and so you!

me and vick