Dear reader,
happy 2016! Hope you’ve celebrated it just the way you like most.
I’ve spent it in Sahara and they don’t celebrate New Year’s eve. This travelling was a gift for my husband’s anniversary as he’s always wanted to see the desert. So we saw the desert of Northern Africa. It is so amazing how different people live and what their life circumstances are. Since I’ve travelled a lot and have visited many continents, you could say I’m an experienced traveller (which is quite different to being a tourist!). Now I’m beginning to really appreciate the European continent. It just isn’t a matter of course to recycle rubbish or obey traffic lights. It is far from everyday use to have a drinking water and clean sheets. Not to mention the choice to have a variety of foods available or plenty of clothes on demand or being able to walk dressed as you like in a company you choose.
This time I really felt lucky to be born in Europe – it is for me the best continent to live with the mildest climate and the most beautiful landscape. Also, I’m beginning to appreciate our ancestor’s efforts to create social security system based on solidarity and humanistic values. It didn’t just happen – somebody had to work hard to make it happen. And during these nervous times we can loose it faster than a blink of an eye.
We’ve made new friends and all of them have expressed desire to escape and move to Europe even though they love their countries. Us that were born there, are extremely lucky. Suddenly I have no desire to travel anymore – I’m happy to realize I live in the most precious gem of this beautiful Earth.
These were the thoughts rolling through my mind as our journey was coming to the end and I was beginning to be fed up with dirty trains and cigarette rooms. Until the minute we got home. There was plenty of mail waiting for me and on January 2nd I got two terribly bad news – I owe a huge amount of money to the tax administration and my Ribalon didn’t get the funding for the 2016. What a lovely way off to a fresh start into 2016. I’ve no idea how I’m going to get out of this and once more, I’ll have to start over.
And yet, what’s interesting here, is how our aspirations and expectations change according to horizon. We are never happy and satisfied with what is, we are constantly looking for something else – for that turquoise blue coast on the other side, that looks perfect from the distance, but only as long as you are far enough so you cannot reach it. That same pattern emerges with human relationship – until we have it, it looks tempting and inviting, but as soon as we get it, it disappoints us in one way or another.
This is ego. There is some nice proverb that goes something like
Poor is not the one who doesn’t have much. Poor is the one who needs a lot.
So to start a new year, if you celebrate it or not, how about we start off right where we are with what we have? We actually have SO much and for many, this is the turquoise blue coast … or a sandy desert 🙂
Welcome to 2016. Stay connected.
The desert. Feels like eternity.