The word “karydi” means nut in Greek. Karydi beach, about four km from the entrance to Vourvourou area, is one of the most beautiful beaches throughout Chalkidiki. White sand, crystal waters, rocks carved by the sea and the wind in odd shapes, shadowy pine trees around. It’s not an organized beach and in summer it’s quite crowded. Since 2000 all Vourvourou area has joined the network NATURA, where there are strict restrictions in terms construction, operation and general exploitation of the natural environment…

“Of course we need to accept ourselves as we are, but we can’t stop there. We also need to value ourselves enough make needed changes”. Steve Goodier I read once in a book about the management of the self and the team what a pity and bad luck are to live or work with judgemental people. This statement was so clearly true that immediately brought to my mind incidents of the past. We all experience at least once in our…

Nectarine tree, persica lezvis, is a variety of peach, known for its smooth rind and its sweet taste. There’s a general belief that the word nectarine comes from the word nectar, a fabled saccharine drink of the ancient Greek gods with a pleasant taste. This is quite strange, as nectarines imported in Greece at a later time and they called apple peaches, while the word nectarine is met for the first time in the English dictionary in 1616. There is another…

It is one of the strangest economic stories in European history – an early economic bubble. In the 17th century, the price of tulip bulbs raised extremely extraordinary levels. Merchants made fortunes in one night and then lost everything, as tulips price suddenly hit rock bottom. It’s still a mystery why tulips, and no other flower, became an objective of such a mania. Yet, this beautiful Asian flower was always related to high values, like beauty, wealth, even holiness, due…

“So if decline to accept your abuse, does it not then still belongs to you?” Buddha You think you are a positive person, even though inside you there is a critical voice that you always try to mute. You try to act gently and with understanding. You want to flow like water in this world, not to battle without a significant reason, not to see everywhere competetitors or enemies. You think yourself as a happy person.  And, then one day…

I know two forms of indecisiveness from self-practice; when one can’t decide for a long time and when he finally does it, his decision is made under pressure and out of time. And, when one makes a decision emotionally or impulsively, before getting or ignoring the required information. Indecisiveness has many causes that turn out to be different sides of the same coin; the coin of fear. Fear of losing, fear of pain, fear of mistake, fear of responsibility, fear of not be perfect, fear of disappointing…

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck”. Dalai Lama I can imagine at least a hundred of book titles that promise to reveal one of the biggest secrets: how to get what you want. It’s like a cake recipe. Everyone claims that have the perfect recipe, but in the end all have almost the same materials, only proportions change. The result depends upon the same factors: good materials, well-functioning devices, excellent and precise…

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck”. Dalai Lama I can imagine at least a hundred book titles that promise to reveal one of the biggest secrets: how to get what you want. It’s like a cake recipe. Everyone claims that have the perfect recipe, but in the end, all have almost the same materials, only proportions change. The result depends upon the same factors: good materials, well-functioning devices, excellent and precise performance,…

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights”. Maya Angelou Is it a coincidence? All playwrights and novelists from ancient Greek tragedies to contemporary movies and theatrical plays use stressful and extreme events to reveal their characters. Imitating real life, writers know very well that circumstances are the triggering events to bring to light our characteristics, our dispositions. Chancy events,…

“Nothing is more fragile than the surface”. Gilles Deleuze