Experiencing "Different"

The other day I was in the subway station rushing to make it on time for an appointment. From a distance I noticed how there was a woman asking for directions left, right and center. Everyone she would ask would reply with an "I don't know!". By the time the subway came she asked about five people for directions and how she should go about reaching her destination. As the subway approached the station everyone started to ignore her and were rushing to get in while moving on with their lives. The woman asking for directions got frustrated and started screaming at everyone, me included, that how come no one is willing to take the time to show her the way. By that time the subway doors were closing and she was left in agony at the subway stop. Slowly slowly she would become smaller and smaller but her pain was still immense as she was standing there with her hands holding her face and she was probably crying. I felt responsible and she was on my mind after that. I took the subway back to see if she was still there asking for help. She wasn't there anymore.  She vanished into the unknown.

I am still thinking of this woman and how difficult must have been for her. Her English wasn't all that good either. I remember when I came to Canada seventeen years ago and how tough it was for me too. I didn't understand what people were saying and that was frustrating enough. I was isolated because I was somewhat afraid of getting lost in the unknown. How would I be able to get home after that? It was scary!

As a society we have become so isolated into our own worlds that we fail to take the time to lend a helping hand to strangers. Media had made us believe that everyone is bad and all of that just made us feel more isolated. We fail to think that that lost person could be us someday. Just imagine being in a place where the language and people are unfamiliar. How difficult it could be! How scary! If we just try to put ourselves in other people's shoes we realize that helping someone could also mean that we help ourselves. We gain a lot more from helping others rather than ignoring opportunities of supporting each other. The world will be a better place if we take the time to show compassion. It will be returned to us in more ways than we can possibly think of.

I encourage everyone to take the time to help at least one person that asks for help. Analyze how it feels. Do not look at reward from that same person as they might pay it forward to someone else, do it just because you are training yourself in the art of helping others. After some time stop and look at how much you gained out of this experience. You might be surprised to find out that you have also receive help from someone else and it felt good. Do it! Just Do It!

Practice Love!

D.

#usguysEH Tweetup

Yesterday I had one of the most amazing experiences I had encounter in along time: I had a last minute invitation to the tweetup event with the #usguyseh team.

Although I have seen tweets on Twitter  from people I have never met before in person regarding the #usguys  tweets, I am not usualy the one to jump into a conversation uninvited.

Let me share with you how it all happened. I was on my way to a networking meeting that I had signed up for a while ago. As I left my house, walking to the bus stop, I was checking Twitter  on my Blackberry  to see what is happening in Twitter Land. One of the tweets that caught my attention was from wonderful @DebWeinstein, the prestigious president from @SO_pr firm. I looked at the tweet stating that someone from the group could not attend last minute and there was a Free spot available for the first person to DM the interest request. My mind and my heart was telling me that this is such a great opportunity and to give it a try. I did manage to send a DM to @DebWeinstein and to my surprise she answered back with a few details about the event. Ultimately it was confirmed: I was the lucky opportunist to attend the big event. I have been to many events similar to this where people from the same line of work get together to share experiences, however the uniqueness of this event is that the majority of people in that room started a virtual acquittance that led up to the yesterday's event. To meet people virtually and to always wonder what would they be like in real life, is now something of the past. The internet had given us the opportunity to interact and connect globally and that is why I love Twitter . Although Facebook is great Social Media tool, I believe that Twitter  is a better tool to access information and to connect with great people at the same time even though there are only 140 characters allowed to be used per tweet. Many things are said in fewer words and more information is spread when less is said. After all less IS more.

Here is a list with just a few of the people that I have met at the #usguysEh tweetup:

• @DebWeinstein
• @sadiethefoodie 
• @samfiorella 
• @RLavigne42
• @jinner13
• @jackinessity
• @Josepf
• @peterfromottawa
• @martinwaxman
• @josippetrusa
• @TheSaaSGuy
• @karimkanji

And these are just a few of the people that the Universe had allowed me to meet and to be introduced to. Looking forward to connecting with you all again and I am keeping an open mind to the opportunity of meeting more wonderful people such as yourselves in the future. 

Love.

D. 

Embracing Life Experiences

Don't cry because it's over

Smile because it happened 

(I am not entirely sure who said that) 

First time I heard that was about a year ago, when one of my really good friends now said that to me while it was her last day at work. I was really sad that she was about to leave as she was my life line there. I am definitely happy that my time at the work place I was working at then is long over and believe it or not I am smiling at the whole experience. 

Think about it, if it wasn't for that work place I would have never had the opportunity to meet her. At the same time I would have never learned about the importance of employee appreciation at work.

There are many times in life we go through different experiences. What it is hard to realize, for most of us, is that we are there for a reason and that is to learn, to grow. As we break through these experiences we learn a lot about ourselves and the people around us. In business we learn about who we can trust to be our partners and who we can feel more comfortable working with. In personal life we learn about who we can trust with our everyday lives, our secrets. 

With that being said, next time you are in a situation where you feel you have no idea why you are there, start looking for the reason as there is always one. Ask yourself what are you supposed to learn from that experience. There is always something to take away from it although some things are better off left behind.  

Love.

D. 

Friendships

I look at my children and see how they are so easy to make friends. "Hi! Do you wanna play with me?" "Sure! Let's go see who's the first one on the slide!" Amazing!All that's left behind is the giggles of happiness that they bring through their laughter in the Universe!

I see that in life we are so hard to make friends and when we do have friends it is so hard to keep the ones that we have. Ever since the internet/phones were invented people do not seem to have the time to meet with each other face to face. We are so busy talking to strangers that we forget to be friends to the ones we have in front of us. Don't get me wrong it is good to make connections, but isn't it better for the connections to be real? Isn't it better for us to spend quality time face to face instead of hiding behind the computer screen? I miss going for a coffee with a friend. I miss hanging out with a friend. I miss going to the movies wiht a friend. I seem to be left behind when I want to go soemwhere with a friend. They are all just too damn busy! And when I go home and log on to the net I see all of my friends online. Did I miss something? yes I am busy too. Being a single mother of two children is not easy, but what happened with stopping by? What happened to calling once in a while? Where does the time go? Hmm I just wonder how my mother did manage to have a home full of friends at all times? How did she manage to just keep in touch with her friends? we didn not have phones or internet to keep in touch! We just kept in touch with the friends we had, the real friends! I find it that friendships were also long lasting back in the day too! Now aday if we do not work together, go to school together or just have a communal point to meet, we may never see each other.

I am seriously thinking to stay away from technology for a while, but then again I will not see my friends for the time I'll be away! I want to see my friends I want to keep in touch with all of my frineds that I have and I want them to keep in touch with me too! I guess in a way I am lucky because I do have theh few pwoplw that I can truly say they have kept in touch wiht me for decades and it didn't even matter that we do not live in the city anymore! Thank you!

My friends, I miss you people! Let's get together and have a party! Let's meet and hang out! Let's just share our experiences, let's just be!

Peace and Love!

Doina