This list contains works that have inspired and accompanied me in my quest for well-being. I am delighted to share it with you! As with the personal development books, this list is far from exhaustive, but will be added to as I discover new works. Kind regards, F. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One (Raphaëlle Giordano) The Man Who Risked It All (Laurent Gounelle) The Man Who Wanted to Be Happy (Laurent Gounelle) Long Walk to Freedom (Nelson Mandela) Siddharta (Hermann Hesse) I'm Off Then: Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago (Hape Kerkeling)

May Nelson Mandela's wisdom accompany us throughout this week - and all those to come: « May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. »   Wishing the best to you all,   F.

« I never lose. I either win or learn. » Nelson MANDELA   This strength of character is within everyone's reach, if such is our will. Have a nice day,   F.

After the rain comes fair weather!   When we find ourselves in a situation that affects our emotional and mental balance, it is often difficult to remain optimistic and keep in mind that this situation will come to an end...   Everything then depends on our ability to bounce back and hold on to the belief that better days are ahead.   Just as we know that a rainbow is a promise of good weather, may we always anchor our thoughts in the certainty that better days are coming! F.

It is not always easy to say ‘thank you’ when life's ups and downs shake us up. For a long time, I ‘cultivated’ anxiety, fears and pessimism before realizing that I was maintaining a state of mind that, far from being fruitful, was distancing me from the serenity I so desperately longed for... That's when I started saying ‘thank you’ for the little things that life offered me or allowed me to experience: thank you for the flight of butterflies that I am able to observe, thank you for the music whose sweetness envelops me... And little by little, my state of mind began to evolve and open the doors to serenity. This state of mind recharges my batteries and allows me to navigate the ups and downs of life, not with carelessness and naivety, but with discernment and lucidity, and with an ever-growing confidence that I will overcome whatever I have to go through. Wishing everyone this state of mind,   F.

Feeling good and staying positive... Easy to say, but oh so difficult to achieve when your heart, mind or body are suffering...   This July 2025 pushed me to my limits.   I have already experienced a lot of physical, emotional, psychological and even spiritual pain, but I had never broken down or cried out in pain like I did this July.   My lower back had already warned me in the past that I had been carrying a crushing burden for too long, but sciatica – taking root in that same lower back – left me with no choice but to believe that I would NOT be able to get over it in no time with the help of ointments and medication.   This sciatica forced me to listen to my body: it prevented me from resting or sleeping. The only thing I could do to calm it down was to walk... day and night... without respite... for a whole week (despite the prescribed painkillers)... Sitting for more than half an hour was impossible, lying down was hellish... At the end of the sixth day, I found myself on all fours, in the middle of the night, crying my eyes out... all those tears I had never cried and which had frozen, crystallised in my lower back.   Enough is enough...   Everything that is not expressed ends up, sooner or later, being imprinted on the body, and everything I had not expressed – since my earliest childhood – had chosen to freeze, for the most part, in my lower back...   Very strong painkillers eventually replaced the first ones, which had no effect, and taking them in very high doses finally relieved my pain. But this suffering triggered my reflection, my need to understand the root of this acute and incisive pain.   And as one thought led to another, the transgenerational component of this pain also became clear to me: my mother has suffered from lower body pain for a very long time, my father hardly ever takes off his lumbar belt (herniated discs causing him pain with astonishing regularity), and my two grandmothers (maternal AND paternal) spent their last years paralysed – their legs had stiffened and rigidified to the point where they could no longer support them.   So what? Did I come into this world to carry this burden as my inheritance? That is OUT OF THE QUESTION! I categorically REFUSE to be the third generation to suffer such a yoke!   So, in addition to my medical follow-up with a general practitioner and a physiotherapist, I decided to give Natacha Calestreme's book a try: ‘The Key to Your Energy : 22 Steps to Rebuild Your Energy and Free Yourself Emotionally’ – a book that I had already come across, but whose urgent usefulness I had not yet realised.   I tell you all this not to make you feel sorry for me or pity me. I just share my experience to show you that the saying ‘what is not expressed is imprinted’ is not just a witty remark: it is a FACT! And what is imprinted on the body ends up, sooner or later, being expressed through pain... Pain that I would not wish on anyone.   Don't let unspoken words, repressed pain (of whatever kind), or swallowed tears (yours and those of the generations before you) take you hostage and prevent you from fully expressing the potential you came here to embody!   Don't allow that to happen! That is all I wish for you!   So speak up! Put your feelings into words! And dare to reject destructive legacies, Truly, In kindness towards yourselves and towards others, But firmly, And fully aware of the wonderful and indispensable beings that you are in and for this world!   Take good care of yourselves, F.

Have you heard Cynthia Erivo's masterful rendition of Nina Simone's ‘Feeling Good’? If not, enjoy the discovery! F.

" Love is the only flower that grows without the help of the seasons. " Japanese proverb

Don't allow conditioning to suffocate your potential! Don't allow inappropriate, malicious words or actions to damage your self-esteem! Don't let others, circumstances or events define you!   Instead, embrace with kindness and lucidity everything that makes you unique: ● your skills and qualities, ● your faults and flaws. All this makes up the person you are - UNIQUE and PRECIOUS - whose presence matters in this world.   So BE! Embrace yourself, all that makes you you, without taking pride in your light or judging your shadow parts.   Just BE! In truth, with humility and authenticity.   F.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." African proverb often attributed to Nelson MANDELA

Not all truths are meant to be told … Yet there are many facts to prove it: the truth may take longer than a lie to reach the finish line, but it always gets there in the end...   By distorting or concealing the truth, a lie keeps (or even reduces) those who believe it in ignorance, and ends up putting its author (and even those close to him) in a very embarrassing position the day the truth comes out... Because sooner or later, the truth always comes out...   With this in mind, and if we choose - to the best of our knowledge and belief - to be clear and transparent with ourselves and others, may we always bear in mind Socrates' 3 filters when it comes to passing on information that we believe to be true:   Filter 1: Truth Are we really sure of the accuracy of what we are about to say? Have we checked the information beforehand? And if so, do we have irrefutable proof?   Filter 2: Goodness Do we really want to say something ‘good’ to others? Will this information do them any ‘good’? Or do we use the pretext of ‘telling the truth’ with the sole aim, not of passing on information, but of hurting others through it?   Filter 3: Usefulness How will this information be ‘useful’? Will it provide others with all the information they need to make a conscious decision, in full knowledge of the facts? Or will this information be used as a sword - against others, or by others?   Filtering our thoughts and intentions conscientiously has the capacity - and this is my deep conviction - to contribute to a more peaceful world...   What about you?   F.

‘To show respect is to bend to the will of others, to their needs, expectations and desires (to oppose them is a flagrant mark of disrespect and a clear sign of a lack of education and good manners)’. That's what my upbringing told me.   But now here's what my heart tells me, based on life experience: "Bending to someone else's will is nothing other than submission and is no mark of respect. Just as demanding that others submit to my will, on the pretext that they “owe” me respect, is nothing other than the expression of an unhealthy egocentrism and the manifestation of pride in a constant quest for superiority."   By respecting myself, I honour my own dignity: I take into account AND take charge of my needs and desires. And because I respect myself, I am able to... recognize, respect and enforce my limits - firmly, but without aggression, recognize and respect the limits of others.   And finally : Because I respect other people's limits, I recognize and honour their dignity.   F.