Creating Happiness

When I read my posts from first 6 months of living and working in India, I notice how many times I mention " I want to be Happy". In fact, right now I realise I was happy all that time as well as quite dissatisfied with the professional experience I was (not ) having. Friends would say, "You can't have both: excelling at work and living a wonderful life". I would frown back and ask, "Why I can't have these both at the same time? It is only me who is responsible for getting what I want in life". "Yeah, but there are some internal or external circumstances which you have to take into account, you know. Especially in India, where nothing is stable and things change faster than a thought appears in one's mind" And I would be still frowning and disagreeing with this viewpoint. Yeah, call me stubborn or idealistic but this is me and I live with this spirit.

So when I look back at my year I lived in Latvia I am firmly reassured what year I had lived in my life. I headed to Latvia to see AIESEC in Latvia growing, having successes and learning from failures, daring to dream big and not being afraid of how big those dreams were, seeing the impact of his or her actions. I had one long term thought in my mind: I want to live a year of SUCCESS and ACHIEVEMENT, and share it with people around me. Living in India I came to a conclusion that I had success and achievement every single day during my term in the National Team of AIESEC in Latvia. Can you believe it - every single day? I say to myself - no, it can't be. How many times did you lose faith or get mad or refuse from an initial plan to accomplish a professional or personal goal? If at least it happened once, how can you declare you were successful every single day? But here is a trick: it is all about how you perceive it. Yes, we all get emotional ( and don't tell me lies that there are folks who are super perfect in managing their emotions ), Yes, we all may lose inner beliefs and give up, but that is the easiest way. For me it is a behaviour of me being weak, it is about wasting time procrastinating or complaining. The complaints do not bring solutions, so it is better to move on, to open your eyes and mind for other great upcoming moments, opportunities, encounters.

So after my 3-4 months of Indianness I made it clear for myself: in the year of 2010-11 I want to be HAPPY and see LOVE around. When I do not feel happiness or love - I create it. I go and try new things, I experiment with my body, with my mind, with my feelings. I travel to relax and live the moment. Carpe Diem, you know :)

Accidentally, I watched this video tonight:

Stefan Sagmeister: 7 rules for making more happiness | Video on TED.com

... after all, if you want to be happy, be (c)

Honeymoon

"Well, I am glad to hear you are doing great. I can hear it in your voice. And your pictures - well, they tell everything about you now. You love your life in India ..."

Well, yes, I love my life. Anywhere in the world. In India I found another meaning of life. I assume I will find more meanings of life and love while my staying here.

I don't know what to begin with. I have spent 6 1/2 months in India, and I don't know how many months I will spend more. I don't want to measure my life by days or months. Simply because at one point I do not measure it. Or sometimes, there are some breathtaking moments I encounter that make my life brighter, stronger, tougher, full of compassion and love...

Compassion. Last weekend I spent in Trivandrum, Kerala. It is in the very south in India. As soon as I got off from a plane I felt a high level of humidity and I smiled. This is that India I have discovered first time for myself when I was on a vacation 2 years back. Humid noisy colourful spicy India. I fell in love with it that time. That is why I decided to come back. I did not know that time what real India is. I do not know it even now after regular travels I keep going to, after working with Indian people in one of the leading IT companies, after researching the country ...

I have discovered a very compassionate India for myself. I am learning how I can be compassionate. It is sometimes hard. It is sometimes painful. It is sometimes graceful. Fearless. Tearing apart. Putting me down on my knees. But at the end of a day I know I need to stand up and keep walking. I know I can give a hand to those around me. Even when it feels uncomfortable. Even when I am about to cry. And then I feel as if I have cried out all my tears in the beginning of my Indian journey...

It is my Honeymoon in India. It is time when I am absolutely in LOVE with India.

Feeling back home... Again

Have never thought this small town - Riga - would be so dear to my heart. Irreplaceable...

Watching the video ( Thanks, Agnesita! ) I have walked the same roads as I did when I lived in Riga - the 21 and 41 bus routes, the silent walks on the bridge, wondering around in the Old Town with the interns, enjoying a bottle of wine in the park, catching some sun tan in Jurmala and loving the scenery behind the train window...

Latvia, Riga I miss you very much. Sometimes even more than my original home - the place where I was born and raised, where I studied and made my first independent steps, where my family lives and waits for me. I feel sparkling knowing that I have at least two homelands in my life. Will my heart stick to India that strong as Kazakhstan and Latvia do? :) ... there is some time I have, to spend in India...

Boomerang Children

...Baby, you are beautiful, smart, skillful, talented, unique. You are just YOU, so take it as a fact...

Intense, diverse, noisy, travelling, hard ( not challenging ), ridiculous, sleepless, tearful, tiring, careless, helpless, meaningful, learning, calm, "everything-is-gonna-be-alright", silent, talkative, friendly, supportive, back-to-basics days are being walked by me every day here in India.

But everything is gonna be OK in the end. If it is not OK, then it is not the end. Yeah?

What's next?