About living / Elämisestä

(HUOM! Sama mietepätkä löytyy suomeksi tämän englanninkielisen pätkän alta!)

First snow, first kiss, first holiday without parents, your own first home, first pet, first leaf buds on spring, first child, first real job and the first bites of the chocolate bar... Almost without exception we always get pleasure from the first things or situations and encounters. It's perfectly normal to give special value to the things that take our attention with their specialty or newness- they break that spin of your everyday life and arouse your numbed senses. 

Are you sure that wonderful things that are worth your attention tend to be rare? Only few of us bare to open they eyes while walking to school or work and just ignore everything that is happening around. If you'd only raise your head you'd see those beautiful colours on the sky, stop to listen to the raindrops falling down to your umbrella, see that morning fog and the different way the light behaves then. Funny four legged friends could be passing you by or you could get inspired by the most inspiring person you've seen in a while. When you truly stop to focus on seeing and experience things rather than just passing by them in ignorance you will get that special something into your everyday life. Satisfaction, experimenting and laughter would be the three words describing your life instead of the words monotonic, familiar and boring. 

I have noticed myself that the days when I'm focused on things I have to do when I'm on m destination (they can be lifts at the gym, undone schoolwork, making a dinner or going to the grocery store, getting on the train on time or escaping the cold weather) pass by too quickly. If someone would ask me what did I do then my answer would probably be "I guess I was at the uni and then at the gym or home after that, I have maybe even done some school work?". If these kind of days start accumulating the only thing I notice while looking at the calendar is "Where did this month vanish?" Does this sound familiar?

Open up and relax. Breathe and remember to use your sense of smell. Do not keep your eyes open just to see two meters ahead of you- look with them. Listen to the things surrounding you and your inner voice as well- do you want to remember only few things from this year? Why are you living if the only purpose to your life is to do the tasks you are given? Are you trying to do them so that you could have some time to DO the things that really make you happy? Here is one familiar thought from your own head that couldn't be more true: tasks never end. Those moments (that make you happy) you are trying to fit somewhere between your task list will never have enough free space to fit in if you don't do something. Leave the excuses and eye pads and enjoy the moments that make your everyday life. Don't bury yourself in the mountain of never ending tasks. Soon no one will notice that hand that is peeping from the pile and asking for help. It´s owner will neither be able to see the life he/she has been born to and see life itself happening around him/her from that pile.

Do not live only for the first moments- they are the minority on your path of life. You are living all the time and your life is going on all the time. Find time for yourself even when you're "on the road". Trying is enough. And no I'm not going to use the sentence "it is a positive step towards..." because the meaning of it just sums up the wrong kind of message of life. Life is not about living for and in the future and performing it step by step. If you want to live, live now in the presence. It's the only way of getting everything out of your life. Do not only wait for the weekend, getting home from work or the summer. Your life is your everyday life and your everyday life is your life. Make sure that you enjoy it and I guarantee that at the age of 80 you will be happy with your path. /

Ensilumi, ensisuudelma, ensimmäinen loma ilman vanhempia, ensimmäinen oma koti, ensimmäinen lemmikki, kevään ensimmäiset hiirenkorvat, ensimmäinen lapsi, ensimmäinen oikea työpaikka ja suklaalevyn ensimmäiset palat... Lähes poikkeuksetta me kaikki saamme nautintoa aina niistä ensimmäisistä asioista ja tilanteista sekä kohtaamisista. Se on normaalia antaa erikoisarvoa asialle, joka vie huomiomme erikoisuudellaan tai uutuudellaan- se katkaisee sen aistien ja arjen pyörteen ja olemassaolon turruttavan putken. 

Onko se kuitenkaan niin, että hienoja ja huomionarvoisia asioita tapahtuu niin harvoin? Harva jaksaa avata silmiään kunnolla taapertaessaan koululle tai töihin, vaan jättää sen ympärillä tapahtuvan melkein päivittäin huomiotta. Jos katseen nostaisi voisi nähdä ne taivaan kauniit värit, keskittyä kuuntelemaan ropinaa sateenvarjoa vasten, näkisi sen aamuisen sumun ja valon erilaisen heijastumisen. Vastaan voisi mahdollisesti taaperrella myös hullunkurinen nelijalkainen tai maailman inspiroivin tyyppi hetkeen. Kun asioita oikeasti keskittyy näkemään ja kokemaan, saa omalle arjelleen ja elämälleen aivan toisenlaista sisältöä. Tyytyväisyys, kokeminen ja nauru- ne kolme sanaa värittävät elämääsi sen jälkeen muullakin kuin tasapaksulla, tutulla ja tylsällä harmaalla. 

Olen itse huomannut, että päivät joina olen olevinani keskittynyt liikaan tehtäviin jotka minua odottavat määränpäässä (olivat ne sitten toistot salilla, sadat kurssitehtävät, ruoanteko tai kauppareissu, junalle ehtiminen tai lämpimään pääsy) lipuvat ohitseni liian nopeasti. Jos joku kysyisi minulta myöhemmin mitä tein, en osaisi vastata muuta kuin "Luultavasti olin yliopistolla ja sitten kotona ja salilla, ehkä tein myös rästissä olevia tehtäviä?". Jos näitä päiviä tulee liian monta peräkkäin huomaan vain katselevani kalenterin päivämäärä ja miettivän mihin tämäkin kuukausi oikein meni? Kuulostaako tutulle?

Avaudu ja rentoudu. Hengitä ja muista myös haistaa ympäristösi. Älä pidä silmiä auki vain siksi, että näkisit muutaman metrin eteesi- katso niillä. Kuuntele ympäristöäsi ja omaa ääntäsi- haluatko muistaa elämästäsi muutakin, kuin vain muutaman päivän vuodesta? Miksi olet saanut elämän, jos ainut tarkoituksesi on vain suorittaa ja tehdä eteen tulevat tehtävät pois alta? Raivaatko tehtäviltä sopivaa hetkeä saadaksesi oikeasti TEHDÄ asioita, joista saat iloa? Tässä pieni tuttu ajatus myös omasta päästäsi: Ne tehtävät eivät lopu ikinä. Niitä sinut onnelliseksi tekeviä hetkiä ei myöskään tule ellet itse tee asioille jotakin. Jätä tekosyyt ja silmälaput pois, nauti niistä hetkistä joista oma arkesi koostuu, älä hautaa itseäsi jatkuvasti kasaantuvilla tehtävillä. Sitä apua pyytävää kättä ei pian näe kukaan- eikä sen käden omistaja näe maailmaa, johon se on syntynyt. 

Älä elä vain ensihetkiä varten- niitä on kuitenkin elämäsi aikana liian vähän. Sinä elät koko ajan, elämäsi etenee koko ajan. Löydä aikaa itsellesi- myös kun olet ns. tien päällä. Riittää että yrität. Ja ei, en käytä tässä sanontaa "se on jo positiivinen askel kohti..." sen sanoma kiteyttää sanoman jatkuvasta elämisestä tulevaisuudessa ja määränpäihin pyrkimisestä.  Jos haluat elää, elä tässä ja nyt. Se on ainut keino saada omasta elämästä kaikki irti. Älä elä vain odotellen viikonloppua, kotiin pääsemistä tai kesää. Elämäsi on arkeasi- pyri siihen että nautit siitä niin takaan, että 80- vuotiaana olet tyytyväinen taipaleeseesi.

When you feel like eating ginger bread, eat. Let's forget those thoughts that it's not ok to do certain things if it's not their time yet. I made ginger breads look like animals- that's how they are ok at any time of the year! / Kun tekee mieli piparia, syö piparia. Unohdetaan ne "tämä tapa kuuluu vaan tiettyihin vuodenaikoihin tai hetkiin"- ajatukset. Minäpäs kuulkaas tein eläinpipareita- ne sopii jokaiseen vuodenaikaan!

- Herminica (...and now I have to start cleaning this place up! :) )

EUROTRIP 2013 PULA 1/2

Last summer we had one of the best trips we (we = Evi, Herminica and Sabi) have ever made. There were few setbacks and complications, but what would a trip without any adventures and inconvenient flashbacks be? They make every trip memorable. Traveling there took us almost 24 hours. First we had to take a bus from Mikkeli to Helsinki in the middle of the night, since our flight to Stockholm was at 7 Am. Once we arrived to Stockholm we had to wait for the next flight for 9 hours. We were so tired and bored, and because of H's leg pain, we couldn't move around much. We all took a little nap on that same bench, but we were mostly all doped with caffeine and just barely kept our eyes open. Those nine hours felt like forever and we were so relieved when the plane finally took off!

However, that was not the end of training our buttocks... or discomfort. We had rented an apartment beforehand and had the address on our phones. On our behalf we were well prepared. However our taxi driver didn't tell us he didn't know where our apartment was before we were already driving. The taxi meter was racing up while he was just driving without any destination. He stopped few times to ask directions and ended up leaving us in the middle of nowhere and not even close to where we were supposed to be. Unfortunately we did not now that before we had already paid him and he had driven away. Lucky us! Those first couple of hours in Pula were spent on phone trying to find the number of the new landlord. Thankfully she was very nice woman and offered to come to pick us up and drive us to the apartment since it was already dark and we were completely lost... It smelled like a dog poop in the place we were at that moment (Local Youth Hostel - never go there!). It was not the best first impression I have to say. I remember us almost crying that we were going to stay there for that one night and leave somewhere else first thing in the morning. Hungry as three stray dogs that nice lady showed us where is the nearest bank machine, grocery store and pizzeria! Our first pizza in Pula was funghi... but it was definitely not the last one!

After a good night sleep and with full and round stomachs we managed to calm down a little bit. We decided to give another chance to Pula and check out the beaches before completely hating the place and leaving it and as a result we were super happy we did. It isn't the most traditional place to go on a beach holiday, because the beaches are mainly cliffs. Getting in the water (unless you wanted to jump) and getting out was a real challenge, but we had never seen as bright and clear sea as in Pula. Once you got in the water you didn't want to leave. (Take this from a person who doesn't really like swimming. Honestly I may even hate it. Usually I only go "swimming" when I need cooling down and mostly just took a dip and came right back. But in Pula the water was like magic. The color was so bright and turquoise that it felt like out of this world. Swimming there felt like flying, like I weighted nothing more than a feather and like you could swim forever and you would never get tired. - Evi )

The funniest thing ever was to see Sabina, who is absolutely ridiculously scared of fish. You could see fish swimming from more than six meters below you to few cm's from you. It looked like you could reach them with your toes and Sabina would just freak out. The other really weird thing was when you spit in the water, the fish came and tried to eat it. We used to just sit on those rocks and spit in the water and watch fish swimming between our legs. Other people must have thought we were insane...

Sunbathing on those rocks was not the most convenient unless you had really thick yoga mat. But the wind was just amazing up there and you could do so much other stuff beside just laying down and be boring! Snorkeling in those kind of a glassy waters is amazing and you could even do cliff jumping. The best part was that there were no kids screaming and crying and the beach was never crowded. Sounds to us like a paradise!

Pizza in Croatia and Bosnia is really good! We ate fungi and vegetarian pizzas every day- mostly because they were so damn good and it was almost impossible to find any other meat besides pork in Pula. Pork is something we do not tend to eat. All that amount of pastry made us feel really uncomfortable- like three little balloons floating on the beach. We usually never eat wheat that much normally!

Check out this little grumpy fellow below. She/He is the most hilarious cat we have ever seen! :D

We used to walk every night for two kilometers to the city center. The old part of the town was bigger than any other old town we've ever visited. It didn't take us long to find our stamping ground where they just made the best coffees in the world! Our regular night out in Pula consisted of coffee at our regular spot, eating (pizza), souvenir shopping and few times clubbing. 

We think that fish in a resort cities is ridiculously overpriced, but still we wanted to eat some sea food. It had to be cheap so we ended up tasting squid, and it remained only tasting, because it tasted awful! It was slimy, smelled like raw fish and just had a rotten taste to it. We were so embarrassed to leave all that food on our plates so we wrapped the squid in napkins and smuggled it out in Sabina's hand bag. Guess what we did next? We made some stray cats the happiest cats in the world! And Sabina's bag smelled like a dumpster of a typical fish restaurant for the rest of our journey. That night we ended up leaving home with a pizza box... again. 

- Evi and Herminica