28 January 2012

If the sky had a "like"-button...

Paradise can be closer than you think.


Vaasa shows its best face in the cool winter sun. Even when the sun is gone I don´t want to let a minor thing like weather get me down. There´s a sun within you if you want. Sometimes I just smile for the mere fact of being alive and free.

The search of "high life" continues. When I´m not admiring the beauty all around, I´m a hunter-gatherer in a modern sense. I hunt for the best foods, which are abundant these days, and gather them on my bike and carry them to my cave. I´ll present a couple of my recent founds:


Yogi Tea comes in all kinds of flavours and each teabag includes a small wisdom. (Notice how it goes together with my mug!) This first one I´m trying is a Ginseng infusion. Like! (bought from Life)


I can´t believe it but I have to admit... Halpa-Halli has some nice chocolate! This divinity contains 60% of cacao; just the way I like it! And it was (could still be) on discount: 3 bars for 2€. Halpa-Halli is worth a visit sometimes...


I´m a massive fan of soya sauce and here´s the very best I´ve found so far. And believe me, I´ve spend a lot of time reading labels and comparing contents. To make things clear, good quality soya sauce doesn´t contain preservatives nor artificial colours. The rule of thumb "the shorter the list of ingredients the better" applies here, too. Pearl River Bridge is black and thick as ink and I love it! It costs 1,10€ in the local Asian shop.

I´m always hunting for more good stuff and I like to share it. I used to be stuck with old playlists full of music that I felt I already heard enough of times and that didn´t give me the kick anymore. So I abandoned the thought that I can only really like guitar-based indie music and I was amazed to find a whole new world of... different kind of music I can like! This is monsieur M83 from France:


Enjoy. Everything.

14 January 2012

Forgoing


In a local museum of contemporary art I came across a piece that got me really thinking. It was called Forgo (“luopua) and consisted of stories about giving something up, voluntarily or not. The actual artwork was a “house” made of embroideries about the subject. Many of them depicted countries. It´s unimaginable for me to be forced to leave your home country and maybe never come back but that´s something countless numbers of people have to deal with.

I thought about what I have had to give up in my life. They´re not as big things like home but quite minor things. I have given up negative feelings. I have given up eating meat. I have given up some of my freedom in order to achieve something better.

You can easily slip into thinking about breaking up or dying, giving up people. In the physical sense it´s not our choice to give someone up but it´s definitely for our minds to let them go. And that´s what real giving up is about: making peace with the fact that whatever was can´t return.

I found another artwork in the museum connected to this theme: lost&found. When you lose something valuable, be it a scarf or an expensive gadget, the reaction is quite the same as in giving up. First you try to fix things, then you grieve over the loss, then you blame it on someone (often yourself) and eventually accept. In giving up the order can be different with acceptance being earlier. 


I had my fare share of trying to make peace with reality and accept it. I think it´s important to acknowledge that it´s not always up to you. Some things are not your responsibilities. Even if you sometimes owned something it doesn´t mean you´re bound to it forever. And as for people, you can´t lose anyone because you can´t own anyone. We´re all just visitors here and travel side by side for times and then go separate ways. Nothing stops being when they leave your hands.

Another thing that I´ve thought about sometimes is losing your mobility. That´s maybe one of the hardest things to accept but you can always read about people who keep on living, happily ever after. That´s why I think giving up and losing is very educational. You don´t even have to take is as a loss but as a “change of life conditions”.

It´s a marvellous feeling when you stop mulling over the loss and, instead, become happy about what was.

09 January 2012

Have a REAL New Year !

I´m simply
unable to
not
blog !!!

My courses just started today, on this awfully beautiful winter´s day. Yes, proper winter has finally arrived. Well, it might not be proper January for some as it´s merely -7 degrees for the time being.

So my courses started and I´m excited about hundred other things aswell ! (Aswell, indeed, because atleast today´s "Oral English for humanity students" was really fun.) Another major thing to smile about is that ecological and "back-to-the-roots"-kind of thinking is spreading more and more and more. I can tell by the increased number of organic products in my local supermarket. And there are organic products in nearly every department! It´s really awesome to be able to compare different organic products instead of just grabbing the only sort. In that way organic living doesn´t have to be expensive. Today I bought 500ml of organic extra virgin olive oil for about 6€ which is quite decent price for any olive oil.

 


This trend of turning to things genuine and even old-fashioned can be noticed in the field of music, too. Atleast I really love this kind of uncomplicated honest music like what Arttu Wiskari (above) does. He says in an interview that he rather uses real stories in his songs than invented stuff. And that´s exactly why his songs are so real and touching. And national romantic in a good way! :)

Another amazing musician is Lassi Valtonen who just recently released his debut album. Known from the Finnish Idol, he became hugely popular because of his great voice and overall modesty. Even now after becoming a recorded artist, he still looks like the same guy-next-door. 



Yes, so good music and good olive oil... one doesn´t need much more. Another happy thing is that I now live in a lovely old house from the 30´s and one of my walls is made of old logs. It´s beautiful, reminds me of old man´s skin. 

There´s still room for improvements in my Super Diet. I have a short shopping list for iHerb or such even though I´m still eating only the good stuff: loads of veg and fruit, fatty cheese, organic milk and yoghurt, domestic fish, berries, eggs, 100% rye bread... And my very own raw chocolates. These days I´m not even tempted to buy crisps or milk chocolate. It´s liberating. That´s why I feel unable to stop sharing this message of good food and good times. I´m always inspired by the "Jungle Man": www.viidakkomies.com
One of the most popular blogs in Sweden is also about real living and basic values: www.underbaraclara.com 
It´s really cute, sometimes a bit materialistic, but all about "homing" alltogether.
I wanted to tell you like dozen of other interesting things but I´ll save it for later. For now, I leave you with a wish of a better and more genuine New Year !

xxx