Friends Archives - Page 2 of 2

Receiving is an art…

December 26, 2014Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

Giving is easy, we all love to do that especially when it comes to material things. How about receiving?

I think we can all state, after looking at the people around us and including ourselves, that we might be pretty good givers, but we fail at the attempt of receiving – gifts, compliments, help, you name it.

Well, giving and receiving are key aspects of a complete experience when it comes to human interaction. Imagine if all of us would be great givers, who would receive what we feel the need to give? I know now, receiving isn’t easy, but how can we change that? And this one is a decisive question, not only because of the season we’re in.

Let’s look at it this way – How giving to others makes you feel? Do you feel appreciation? How about pride for making another person happy? So, it’s all about you. No problem, we all are kind of egotistic and do things in order to make ourselves feel better. Even when we help others. Let’s stop here for a second and look at the other person. How does he/she feel? Maybe, the thing you just offered saved them a lot of trouble. Or money. Maybe they truly needed your gift. Maybe they didn’t know they need it, and you just made them realize that. Again, it’s not about you – it’s about them.

So, why not let them give something back? Why not let them make you feel the way you made them feel? And eventually, in the most egotistic form, let them be like that for a change! Let them feel great for giving.

My personal opinion? I think we don’t know how to receive anything because of one single reason – We don’t know our worth. We don’t know what we deserve and we can’t accept the fact that someone figures it out (figures us out) better than ourselves. In the end, isn’t all of this about us and us only?

The next time you find yourself in a situation like this, remember the next: Those two – giving and receiving – should be a part of our daily experiences. If the giving part comes natural and we don’t always analyze its benefit, the receiving one is vital to our mental balance and spiritual connection.

Life tip: Accept compliments, enjoy gifts, appreciate the people you have around, make the most of every little thing that is given to you! How can you do that? Improving your communication skills would be an idea. A ‘thank you’ is nice, but how about ‘That is so sweet of you to say that’ or ‘I really appreciate you noticing that’? If you’re bold you can even try an ‘You made my day!’.

I challenge you to use of those at least once a day for a week, then watch your perspective change 🙂

How Long is Forever?

October 26, 2014Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

A few days ago I found a picture in my Facebook news feed, one that was added by a friend of mine. On this note, I would like to thank Gabi for his kindness. When I saw the pictures he took of the locks in Verona, I wrote to him that I will steal his pics for my iPhone wallpaper and also for the blog. He then offered to send his pics to me, in full size. It took him 7 emails to send all those to me 🙂 And he had the patience.

So, as I was saying, I saw this picture and the first thing that went through my mind was – ‘How many of those couples are still together?’. How many of the couples who have a lock there still hold on to their promise?

I want to think of myself as a realist. I am romantic enough to believe in love and all that ‘together forever’ thing, I do hope that there’s a person for everyone, I would even use a lock to decorate the bridge there, if I had a chance and reason… But something made me think about the love stories I know and also even the ones I lived.

I’ve seen many beautiful love stories that ended sudden, mines included. But this is not about me or my failures when it comes to love, this is about love itself and the people who manage to cherish it.

We have a tendency of making promises when we are happy with one another, when we’re looking through the rose-colored glasses, when we’re still in the honeymoon period. And then what? What happens when all of that is over and the real issues make an appearance? Day-to-day life shows us how we really are. The moments when you’re overwhelmed and you still find the time, mood, understanding, energy for the one you love.

I do have some favorite couples among my friends. Couples that I’ve known since their beginnings, that have stayed together through the good and the bad and that still love and support eachother. I simply love them together, I look at them and they give me hope that fairytale love is possible in real life too. There’s someone for everyone.

I’ll leave you with a saying that I love – ‘Don’t make promises when you’re happy and don’t make decisions when you’re angry’.

31 Days Challenge, Day 13 – Happy as A Child

October 13, 2014Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

This is the only time I got pulled over by the police for alcohol testing. And that is my item from the memory box.

Last winter I had made a friend, a special friend if you want it. The type of unusual and exceptional person you meet once in a lifetime. We knew eachother for a few years already before we got closer and started spending time together. What brought us together was our passion for driving and cars.

He owned this convertible with the right-side wheel and since I’m really curious, I started asking questions. A lot of questions. Maybe that’s the reason he already gave me the keys and asked me if I want to go for a ride and try it out, from the first day. Maybe he just wanted to stop that avalanche of words.

So we started hanging out a lot more and often. That included having fun and driving.

One winter night, at 2 degrees Celsius, we went for a ride with no specific destination. We got the roof down and I entered my happy mood. It’s amazing how wonderful it was to ride a converted car in wintertime, when it was freezing cold outside but in the inside everything was so nice.

We got out of the town and after not long, the police pulled us over. I was driving. The policeman went on the left side, where the wheel would normally be, but he had a little surprise. He actually said – ‘Okay, I’m gonna talk on the other side then’. I was literally laughing out loud. The policeman started looking confused at me and asked if it wasn’t a little cold for riding with the rooftop down. I started laughing even louder and answered that it’s pure joy. The policeman handed me the alcohol test and asked for ID and registration. When he saw that I hadn’t drink anything, he asked subtle if I was on anything else…

I laughed because he really couldn’t believe how happy a simple ride in the night with the rooftop down could make me. I was like a child. But since everything was okay, he let me go.

My next car is going to be a convertible, there – I’ve said it. I look good in it, don’t I?

Barcelona, my love!

September 26, 2014Ana Maria Popa Leave a Comment

In September last year I went to Barcelona, for the second time in my life. The first was many years ago with my mum. You can’t really count those times you know, cause it’s not like you were in charge of anything. You just took pictures and bragged about it.

So September 2013 was the time I was in charge. For me and my cousin both. We stayed at a hotel near La Rambla for 7 nights, but didn’t have much money to spend. Now, I’ve seen Barcelona before, but this was a whole other thing.

I’m the type of person who likes to spend the days as local, not wandering through museums like all tourists. I mean, in my opinion, if I want to see the inside of a museum I just take the virtual tours on the websites, or if I want to learn about the history of that city I can search the web. I’m more into the human side of the city, meeting people, do it like the locals, just enjoying the moment.

So, with that idea in mind and short on money, I went on Couchsurfing searching for recommendations and info. I had the chance to meet there delightful people who offered to help. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to meet them all, but there is always time, cause I plan to see Barcelona again soon. Already did in November 2013, but that’s another story and it doesn’t diminish my love, my time spent in Barcelona is never enough!

So, on this occasion in September I met Jeremy, an English gentleman who moved to Barcelona about 5 years ago. The first time I met him, I would’ve not described like this. He was rude and impolite. I went out with him to a bar near the hotel and it was my name-day (Saint Anne) which he knew about. He tried to make a joke about how I didn’t deserve a rose for being sarcastic too much.

That was it. I hated him. It was only three hours since I arrived in Barcelona and did not have any change in my wallet, because I swear – and he too knows that – that I would’ve left the money for my drink on the table and just rush through the door. He sensed something was wrong and since I’m open I told him he was a jerk and that his joke, no matter the English humor, was rude.

Fortunately, from that moment on, he was the nicest man, a real gentleman. Yeah sure the English humor remained because without that what fun would it be?! He did knew some interesting and subtle jokes too, thank God! We ended the night on a pleasant note and started going out every day, he took me to the movies and we went clubbing (funny thing is that I don’t go clubbing in my own country). We had a lovely time together and got along so wonderful that we decided to try a long-distance relatioship. Well, that ended after some time, but he still remains a dear person to me, that I can’t wait to see again, in Barcelona or any other city of the world.

My time in Barcelona was fantastic, honestly! Me and my cousin went for walks, and to the beach, took pictures and had all the fun in the world. We even took part of their fiesta for Diada Nacional de Catalunya!

The most funny part (I mean now, but not then) was when we lost our flight. We got there two hours before and went to the gate shown on the airport table. Little did we know that El Prat Airport does not announce any changes in the flights’ schedule… So we stayed at that gate, I started daydreaming and looking through the pictures we took, and apparently I was really into them… Because at some point my cousin asks me naively if the plane shouldn’t have arrived, since the flight was scheduled to take off in 10 minutes. It was her first time traveling by plane. We went to check the info and the gate had been changed. No matter how fast did we run, the right gate was already closed.

Our luggage arrived in Bucharest on time, but we didn’t. Guess who helped us out then? Yes, that would be Jeremy. And this is another reason why this person will stay in my heart, no matter what.

Couchsurfing can be a truly amazing tool to experience lovely moments and create wonderful memories!

How about you, any of you tried it? 🙂
I’m really eager to find out stories on this topic, please feel free to get in touch with me on any social network present on my Home Page, upper-right-corner.

P.S.: My face when leaving Barcelona, maybe this ‘helped’ on losing the flight, haha.