The End And The Beginning

I feel melancholic and enthusiastic at the same time. It is sad that my great sabbatical and this beautiful summer has to end. But I am so excited to start a new job. I am lucky to have found this new work community which feels so right, like long lost friends or family members.

Work has always played an important role in my life. At times I have felt guilty about it but now I am totally fine with it. I have a passion for a meaningful, challenging and empowering work. Professional, humane and inspiring colleagues are of high importance.

This blog has been so important to me, more than I ever expected it to be. It has been a tool to perceive, structure and analyse my thoughts. It has been my close friend who to tell my feelings. It has been a way to share my experiences to you my dear blog readers.

This blog has been a story about my 10 months sabbatical, in search of new ideas, insights, new ways  of being, stop and think, study and enjoy life. I have written 70 short stories and you have viewed them more than 10 000 times. Thank you all.

This will be my last blog writing, but I will keep this blog public. You can any time browse the stories and pictures about my travels in Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, East Timor, Sri Lanka and Maldives. And Finland.

And who knows if there will be a Travel With My Mind Vol 2 one day? It could be about the adventures in work life?

From now on, I will be reached at my new job, LinkedIn and - believe it or not, I just joined FB. Let's keep in touch! Be happy! 

It's A Pure Thing

I have learnt to know so many new great things this week! One is this man who cured my aching shoulder. I had already tried massage, acupuncture, pain killers, liniments... But this guy treated my muscles with electricity and laser!

Another pleasant surprise was to find a new, organic, super food cafe. My Green Power Smoothie had nut milk, avocado, cucumber, spirulina, lemon, protein powder, crystal salt, chia seeds... It looked a bit scary... And it needed two pieces of raw chocolate to go down... But I felt energetic and strong the rest of the day. And the atmosphere and service is definitely a bonus in this tiny, cosy place. It is Pure!

I also bumped  into my ex-colleagues, had warm hugs... And I had a refreshing and meaningful chat with a vegetable seller at the market place... I was inspired by all those fellow early birds doing cross fit training at 7 am... I was selling old clothes, shoes, hand bags, jewellery, kitchen ware etc. at a flea market, so  relieving to get rid of things and get them recycled... also a nice way to spend time with friends.

Saturday was a "National Cleaning Day" and all parks were occupied as flea markets.

Lunch Beat!

I experienced something extraordinary the other day! I visited a Lunch Disco. Sooo cooool!

Think about having your lunch brake at a disco, dancing yourself into a trance, forgetting the outside world, it is just the beat, dance and you with the other smiling, happy dancers...

I like the rules at the Lunch Disco: "You don't talk about your job at Lunch Beat" and "If you are getting too tired to actually dance at Lunch Beat, please have your lunch at some other place".

There's also lunch served. The lunch smoothie consisted of avocado, berries, raw cacao, maca powder, chia-seeds, organic coco oil... It was delicious and filling!

I hope there will be more these happenings. I'll be definitely in! Who will come along?

 

Visiting A Neighbor (Country)

How lucky I have been to have had 6 months in tropical and exciting Asia and 4 months in sunny, warm and fresh Scandinavia. It's been like 10 month's never ending summer.

Stockholm is just one night ferry ride from Turku. You can spend a full day visiting the sights of the city before heading back to your cruise ship. We used to call them party boats when I was younger... But now it is are just a mode of transportation.

Stockholm is an old and historical city, but at the same time modern and cool. I love to visit the city's numerous vintage shops, cafes and museums. Even though it is so close and easy to visit, it is still traveling abroad, speaking another language and using foreign currency. A great getaway for a day!

Helmut Newton in Fotografiska: "The perfect fashion photo doesn't look like a fashion photo, but more like a film still, or a portrait or a keepsake photo - somehow like anything but a fashion photo"

Everything Changes

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get", said Forrest Gump. During the last two weeks I have found out that really, really you never know what comes up next. I certainly believe that you can influence happenings and can master your own destiny to a certain point. Your mind is a powerful tool to make things happen. But - unexpected things can happen. In good and bad.

Everything happens for a reason? It can be difficult to find a reason why a husband of somebody at my age and a father of young children has to die suddenly. Or why somebody who has worked hard so many years looses her job. And why somebody so beautiful, talented and a great personality is diagnosed with serious, incurable disease. I can't help thinking that it could me me. But I most probably couldn't be as brave as she is. She is a real hero, calm and quiet inside of her, power words tattooed in her arm.

As the good unexpected news, I received a SMS yesterday about a newborn baby. And I were lucky to meet one cute healthy baby boy last week. Another friend is happily expecting a baby after years of waiting. Somebody got a job of his dreams. And one lucky person finally met the Mr. Right One.

Nothing is permanent. Either the suffering or the joy. Everything changes. Can you think something that doesn't change? But still, how hard it is not to get attached to material like a beautiful house, or people you love, your body, the world, especially when that time comes that you need to give up and let go. It is hard for me I can tell you.

I am sending warm thoughts to all those who are right now saying goodbyes to something or someone they love. May the power be with you.

“The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough", Rabindranath Tagore.

The Art of Circus

There is a Circus festival going on in Turku. One day I followed the students of the Art Academy practising acrobatics. They study four years to get their Bachelor degree and become circus artists. Wow! I instead try to juggle three balls, and still don't get it... But I have decided to learn it, sooner or later. Most probably later...

Why do I want to learn to juggle? First of all, I want to learn a new skill. Secondly, juggling develops your brain, it enhances the connections between the different parts of the brain. And the good news are that you don't need to be good at it, it is the learning process itself that develops the brain.

Talking about the brain, this video, stroke of insight, is worth checking out: http://youtu.be/UyyjU8fzEYU

Today I went to see a small independent circus group presenting Dracula Varietee, and that was really spectacular! Isn't it an amazing story that one Finn and one Russian met when touring with Cirque du Soleil around the world, they got married, settled in a Finnish country side by the sea and got two children. They set up an international circus group and will be touring internationally but based in their country home in Finland.

Circus is an art form that attracts people from all age groups. It can be glamorous, funny, exciting, moving or even sad. As it's best, the performance can have a story to tell and make you think. Next week I will see Circus Cirkör and "Knitting Peace" performance, which is supposed to wake you up and make you think about the values of life. I can't wait to see it, their trailer is really promising:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUq2t65jlr8

Here it starts, just years of practicing and practicing...

This guy is a two-time World Champion of Sport Acrobatics, so the six-pack is not painted...  

Can you knit peace? I'll find it out next week.

My Days Just Go By

I have had plenty of leisure time lately. I confess that after I returned back home from my six months trip to Asia, I have just been hanging around. And that is actually what I did all those six months, too. Hang around. Chill out. Relax. Cool down.

I am still on sabbatical, and I have no projects, plans, trips, obligations or commitments what so ever. How luxurious. But I am getting restless. So I guess I am getting ready for my work that starts in September.

I wonder if there's something I haven't done now when I have this unique opportunity to have time off. Because soon I don't have these unorganized and unscheduled days anymore.

Should I have been more efficient during my sabbatical? Should I have spent my time in to more useful or educating matters? Why have I started to feel a bit guilty about all this time I have, this slowness and inactivity? Is it the Lutheran (protestant) culture we Finns are brought up, that teaches us to work hard and diligently to be saved.

I didn't continue French classes. I am planning to start Salsa dance. I am learning to juggle three balls (but I can't figure out how to get the third ball into to the game). I signed in to a first aid course. I will continue the NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner course. But that is so fun it is hard to be categorized into the educating and useful box. Even though it really is.

I will let myself to enjoy this last coming month of my sabbatical without feeling guilty. I will be efficient and organized when I will get back to work. Or... is it necessary? Maybe I will try to work in less efficient and more relaxed way  - to achieve something different...?

During this sabbatical year I have read more books than ever. Lately I have read books mostly in Finnish by the Finnish authors. When traveling, the books are what might come up in the guest house shelves. Nothing serious or educating in this pile... Highly recommended is "Shantaram", one of the most amazing books I've ever read.

Eating well, enjoying time with friends is an essential part of life. This giant ice cream bowl followed the appetizer and the pizza..

And I ate this all... and the ice cream too!

Working out regularly has become important for me. I hope to keep it up when I start working again. There's 168 hours in a week, so it shouldn't be difficult to take couple of hours for the kettle bells, right...? Plus some hours for mountain biking, dancing, yoga, reading...? I might need to prioritize...

Cross Fit training is so much fun!

Touristing in Helsinki

From Turku to Helsinki is only two hours or less by bus, train or a car. But two days in an other town feels like being abroad! So we made a trip from the former capital city to the today's capital city.

A nice day as a tourist starts at Krulla's breakfast buffet

before stepping into our hotel

in a picturesque neighborhood

There's always time for a little shopping before seeing the sights, right?

A new Helsinki Music Centre where we heard a short day concert

Surely you can understand that somebody can easily spend one hour in a tea shop, sniffing and comparing different tea qualities

Taiwanese Spring Tea, first flush; aromatic, juicy and refreshing

Church of the Rock

Falafel, halloumi, salad, tabule, matbuha, tzatziki in a pita bread, with extra chili sauce at Fafa's

Fresh green peas make a good snack

See and hear the amazing story of the Afghan Girl in Helsinki Art Hall: Steve McCurry found this girl in the picture 18 years later!

The building of Kiasma is artistic and harmonic

Ruisrock Rocks!

The second oldest rock festival in Europe was held in Turku again for the 44th time, since 1970. I cycled to Ruisrock through the national park, enjoyed the wonderful, sunny weather and great bands like the Finnish grand old rock/ blues/ country man J. Karjalainen and the young reggae artist Raappana. Unfortunately Erykah Badu (U.S.) performed so late it was time for me to cycle back home again... ;-)

"At the end of your life, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away (Shing Xiong)". What are your breath taking moments?

What makes you feel happy? Could you try something really different this summer, maybe a new unexpected experience is waiting for you...? Have you visited a flea market - or even better, been a seller at a flea market? How about a classical music concert, or a dance class at a park?

Visit a cat show, make a train trip, visit an old friend or a relative, say hello to a stranger, buy strawberries at a market place or pick blueberries in a forest, swim in a lake, or...? Enjoy your breath taking moments!

Lazy Weekend

My husband was off for the weekend and I enjoyed my time on my own, doing nothing. On Friday I met a friend in a cafe and coming back to the street I bumped into another friend, and off we went to have some tea again. This great coincidence followed with an invitation to her home on Saturday evening.

On Saturday I enjoyed my time at my favorite place, home, and played with a camera, read a book, cycled to my friends house and had wonderful time with her and her family.

Now on Sunday I wondered if I should clean the windows, or the sauna, do laundry, at least cook or do something else useful... But, instead, I walked in a park, read a book, ate ice cream and strawberries, did some non-serious workout in a gym... All that was useful, enough, for me, for now. What a nice, relaxed weekend!