F**K IT MILES, GIVE ME SOME PRIVACY

One of the things I've learned in the last few years is to express gratitude more. Even on a most unproductive, lazy day you can find things to feel gratitude towards to. The best thing about gratitude is that you can be grateful for just about anything.  When you try it for a while, you'll realize that gratitude will increase the overall feeling of happiness. Once you appreciate the little - and big - things you are or that you have, you'll start to feel more satisfied with your life. Gratitude will help you stay in the present moment, and let's face it, the present moment is all that you will ever have, so you might as well concentrate and enjoy it! Gratitude doesn't stop on yourself, because once you consciously teach yourself to be grateful, you'll find it only natural to help others find more things to be grateful for, too.  Three precious things I'll always be the most grateful for. I thought it was going to be hard to write a list

A friend of mine emailed me earlier asking about life in Finland. She is from across the Atlantic has has lived in Europe for nearly a decade with her European husband and their child, in a few different cooler climate countries. They have previously visited Finland and were wondering if the things they say about Finland are true, especially regarding the primary education. My husband came home for lunch just as I was reading her message. My instant reaction was not to be sure what to answer, as I've been living outside Finland for a decade, so I turned to him for a second opinion. He has never lived in Finland, but he has been vacationing there a lot. So much that at one point we calculated the time he has spent in Finland would be several months all put together, so he surely has a somewhat idea what the country is like from a foreigner's point of view. All he said though was "I guess it can be tough if you don't know the language." Although a lot of the youn

Sometimes I worry I'll end up like Van Gogh, who saw the beauty in things around him despite his own struggles, translated it on canvas and no one understood him until he was gone. Then I snap out of it and realize even this might be wishing too much. A step back. How much does this all matter? My personal battles, my feelings of being not understood. To me, obviously, they feel at that moment very important, but how much does an individual's setback matter? Someone has a bad day.  The cake fell on the floor when taking it out of the oven.  A stolen bike.  A tick already with its jaws buried in the scalp. Someone not taking your feelings in consideration. Sickness. Loss. Bad hair day.  From minor to major and back, the whole spectrum ever present. Not again, man... And the larger struggles. Failing policies. Terrorism. Climate change. How much do they matter?  You only need to go to space and our Earthly problems gets insignificant very fast. You only need to

I bought a book a while back by Po Bronson called "What Should I do with my Life?" The cover was bright-red and when I picked it up, I knew it was the red color psychologically triggering me to pay attention to it. I'm glad I gave in to this marketing trick.  The book is not a novel, nor is it a self-help book claiming to have all the answers, but a collection of stories of how people realized their true potential or found a meaning to their lives. There are some who struggled for decades, some who did massive career changes and then there are some who followed the obvious path that they had been ignoring for a while. The book doesn't give direct answers, but it provided so much insight (at least to me) that I felt it truly helped me understand myself better. If I ever was delusional about having an epiphany at one point of my life about my true calling, I realized after reading the book that most likely it wouldn't unfold that way for me.

It's 22:16 when I look at the time. The kids have flu and have been sleeping since 19:05. My husband went to bed half an hour ago saying that he'll wake up with them in the middle of the night if it's needed. I thank the Universe for him. I have done enough work for one evening and decide to switch on some leisure time, which means I'm going to find an interesting lecture, a presentation or whatever I tumble across on YouTube that is easy-listening and will sit in the bed listening to it.  The computer batter is running low, but it still has some 30% left. I make a quick list in my head of the things I still need to do before going upstairs with the laptop. I want to drink a glass of water. I need to visit the toilet. Brush.  I look at the coffee table before getting up and decide to bring the empty cups and plates to the kitchen on my way for my glass of water. On my way I notice my daughter's half eaten dinner still on the dinner table. I bring the dishes

This is about my experience and thoughts about deliveries. This is not comparable as such to anyone’s individual birthing experience, but it has a message that might be useful to someone.  I read a couple of articles yesterday about C-sections on my Facebook stream.  One of them  was about how C-sections are best with a little labor, meaning that the labor starts in itself and includes some of the “you’re about to be born” messages to the fetus. I’m a bit puzzled about cesarean sections gaining popularity in our society. Especially I’m surprised about the increasing number of planned C-sections. There are well studied reasons why they are popular in  some parts of South America for example , which is mainly to do with the doctors scheduling instead of respecting the natural run of labor. To see the practice gain ground in our society however makes me uneasy. The reasons women go through a surgery vary from complications during pregnancies, avoiding risk factors to simply be