Searching For Happiness

My "journey"

2012-02-06T03:01:00.000-08:00

Now it is time to update you how my "journey" is proceeding. Last weeks I've been feeling amazing, I feel great and that is not because I've done something extraordinary, just the opposite. I've been at work the last 6 weeks, just focusing on the day. I have been reading books like Dalai Lama -"the art of happiness" and Deepak Chopra -The Ultimate Happiness Prescription: 7 Keys to Joy and Enlightenment and one of the best book I´ve ever read was The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma. Really good books and I can highly recommend those books to read!! The books have given me strength and believe that I can find my inner peace.

My daily routines have been consistent quite similar things everyday. I work 8 hours a day and try to eat at least 5 times a day, small meals though. I have added a serious work out program to my daily routines, the BOOT CAMP-program. I have been giving aerobic classes to my co-workers every second day which have helped me a lot to get fit and after every class I have spent about 20 minutes lying on the floor in silence trying to clear my mind. Amazing!! I am getting better on that.

All my days I have filled with different projects and things so I haven't given a lot of time to see the world outside this ship. I have created a small little world were I just focus on the moment where I can feel great, feel excited, feel awesome. I have been living in a moment.

"The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness."-Buddha

I have cut all "pleasures" and just living a normal life, doing normal things. What I mean about the pleasures is that I haven't drink any alcohol, no sweets and no sex. I have been living simple life and I LOVE IT!! My mind is clear, I don't have any worries and I feel COMPLETE.

Let's see what I have actually done for my happiness...

First, I have taken care of my mind and my body. I haven't put any toxic into my body and I have given my mind some "nutritions" by reading and studying.

I have been serving others by giving classes to my co-workers.

"True happiness can only be find by serving other"-Dalai Lama

I have been reading happy books which affect my mood and my attitude.

"Positive attitude is the key to happiness."

I have been meditating.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. -Buddha

I have been trying to clear my mind without any substances, I have to admit it has been hard but I am getting better. This is really important part of finding inner peace, to let your mind rest from time to time. All the worries and bad feelings comes inside us and usually it is because we are stressed, tired or something bad has happened to us. Able to control our mind we can change those feelings to good feelings. I have been trying it and it´s been hard but I believe that in few years I will be able to do it in same level.

"In the midst of moments and chaos, keep stillness inside you", -Deepak Chopra

I have given time for myself and doing things I love to do, like reading and working out. I have been analyzing my daily routines and trying to see things I could have done better. So I have been trying to developing and growing up but not as an adult, I mean as a human.

“The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers” -Deepak Chopra

"It's never too late to live your childhood" SOOOO TRUEEE!!! :)

I have been keeping myself busy all the time so the FLOW of my life have been active which have given me lot of joy and happiness.

"We are happiest when we do things we do best"

I have been writing and calling to my friends and family which have given me a feeling of belonging and being loved. One of the most important things on this life, "to love and be loved". Without love there wouldn't be happiness. Love is happiness.

"We have to love ourselves and give love to get love, a rule of happiness."

Moments, I have created moments. For example now good music is playing in the background, sun is raising and I am alone just seeing the beauty of this morning and loving the music. Simple. I appreciate the beauty of this world and enjoying it.

"Happiness is a ride, just jump onboard and enjoy the view."

I understand to appreciate everything and anything. I don't take anything for granted. I appreciate my health, my family and my friends. I appreciate my wok and other people. I appreciate my life, my home, my bed....

“The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe.” -Deepak Chopra

Self-discipline has helped me to feel better. I've done my work out on time and I have had restrict "diet". The achievement by being restrict to yourself makes you feel amazing!! :)

"Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward."

-Napolean Hill

So there are some of my feelings and things I do for my happiness. We are all individuals and something works for someone and other things works for someone else. These things works for me.

I am loving the ride every day I hope you could too.

Let's be happy because, just because. :)

xoxoxo

A Teaser, Searching For Happiness

2012-02-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

I would like to share this link with all of you who are reading my blog.

This link is a part of my search of true Happiness; Inner Peace.

This is a teaser for our upcoming documentary project: Searching For Happiness.

I hope you like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nS9KugHvoc

Happiness at work

2011-11-16T21:51:00.001-08:00

“Happiness at work is about mindfully makingthe best use of the resources you have to overcome the challenge you face.Actively relishing the highs and managing the lows will help you maximize yourperformance and achieve your potential. And this not only builds your happinessbut also that of others- who will be affected and energized by what you do”

-DefiningHappiness at work by Dr Laurel Edmunds and Jessica Pryce–Jones at Wikipedia

We spend hours and hours every week working, we spent days,months, years at work at least most of us. We spend big part of our livesworking, so should we enjoy it and be happy while doing it? I think we should. It is not easy to enjoy work all the time and be happy butthere are ways to make it better and more enjoyable. Most important; the workshould be FUN!!

Happiness is inside us so first we concentrate on that andthen we begin working on external issues.

Our mind is the tool to happiness; we don’t need more money,success etc…Our brain is adapting organ which develop constantly and bymobilizing our thoughts and practicing new ways of thinking, we can reshape ournerve cells and change the way our brain works.

-Crazy ah?

First things first, our attitude counts. Anything can be funif we think it is fun, it’s all in our heads. I know it is not that simple butit is a start. We have to start somewhere so we begin from ourselves. Maybe thejob doesn’t suck maybe the problem is us, the way we think and the way we act.

- I love my job, I love my job, I love my job…

-I don’t have a problem; my job is the problem or is itother way round?

STEP ONE

Let’s decide to be happy at work.

-I have to work or do I?

“Single biggest obstacle towork place happiness is the belief that we are prisoners of circumstance,powerless before the things that happen to us”.

SrikumarRao, the author of Happiness at Work

We have to see the big picture. Work is a big part of ourlives we just have to accept that, so when we accept that we don’t feel like weare forced to work. If we feel forced to work it can’t be enjoyable and wecan’t be happy. We do need money or do we? We need food and water all the otherstuff is extra. In western countries we really don’t have to work to get foodand money so we are not really forced to work, we have social security whichprovides us our basic needs. The more we understand this concept the happier wecan be at work.

-How can I see the big picture?

Many times when our bills are piling up and we feel that weneed to get some money and we need to work. We feel that we are forced to work.Let’s work on that. Can bills kill us?? What can happen if we can’t pay thebills? If we really think, nothing really! We could lose all our assets but weare borrowing them anyway, as we know when we will leave this earth we can’tget anything with us. At the end we are taking care of all kind of stuff andwhen we pass away someone else will take care of them.

Amazing!

- I hate bills but I love to pay them. If I collect amillion bills does it make me rich or poor?

12 tips by Arvind Devalia

1. On theway to your work place, get yourself motivated to face the day

2. Keepyour work in perspective

3. Rememberthat you are more than your work

4. Planyour time

5. Concentrateon the task at hand

6. Clarifyanytime you are not sure or where you are faced with conflicting demands

7. Delegatewherever appropriate

8. Haveregular breaks

9. Learnto relax no matter how challenging the work gets or how demanding your bossesbecome

10. Contribute towards creating a pleasant workenvironment

11. Review your day before you leave home

12. Switch off once you leave work

WORK, WORK, WORK

“Every minute of being miserable we lose 60 seconds ofhappiness”

-I will work until I die to make a million euros then Iwill be happy!

It is always good to see the bright side, it’s not alwayseasy but if we think why we should waste our time by being miserable becauseour time is limited. Like Dalai Lama wrote on one of his book that one part ofhappiness is to accept death. Our time is limited and we have to realize that,we can’t run away death, it will come. That is part of self-conscious whichhelps us the build our self-images which guides us to happiness. Like happinessin general we need to have our basic elements for happiness in order to achieveit also at work and accepting life as it is, is one of those elements.

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comesfrom your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama

We also have to understand that job satisfaction is nothappiness and we can feel fine at work but it doesn’t mean we are happy; wecould feel great and that is happiness. Happiness can be achieved in every workplace and it is contagious but not eternal. We will have up and downs likealways in life but happiness at work can be long-term if we just make ithappen.

LET’S HAVE A CHAT

“Lack of communication from the top was seen as one of thebiggest causes of unhappiness”

-Happinessat work research report 2007 by Chimento

We all are in the same boat as the saying goes and sometimesit is good to get to know who we work with, even if we are not interested. Getting known your co-workers help you worktogether. See socializing as a part of your work.

By socializing with other co-workers we create an openworking environment which helps us to communicate better which is part of workhappiness.

Top 10 factors that make us happy at work	Top 10 factors that make us unhappy at work
1. Friendly, supportive colleagues 2. Enjoyable work 3. Good boss 4. Good work/life balance 5. Varied work 6. Belief that we’re doing something worthwhile 7. Feeling that we do make a difference 8. Being part of a successful team 9. Recognition for our achievements 10. Competitive salary	1. Lack of communication from the top 2. Uncompetitive salary 3. No recognition for achievements 4. Poor boss 5. Little personal development 6. Ideas being ignored 7. Lack of opportunity for a good performers 8. Work not enjoyable 9. Lack of benefits 10. Not feeling that I do make a difference

-Happinessat work Research 2007 by Chimento

We should encourage people more face-to-face communicationso we could express more our feelings and ensure that our staff isn’t workingisolated without any support. We should be supportive to get support; team workis one key part to happiness at work.

- Talk to the hand!!

-No, take time to communicate.

FUN, FUN, FUN

Life is about moments and sometimes we need to escape fromour common lives and create some amazing moments. Also at work! They can besmall things like bringing a chocolate to your co-workers or rememberingsomeone’s birthday, anything, something out of the normal routines.

Good joke is an excellent way to have few laughs and relaxfor a minute or two. We need to “escape” from the work environment from time totime to clear our minds and get new perspectives to our work. It helps us to bemore creative.

5 tips by Laurie Tarkan,Fox news, 13/11

1. Havegoals, visualize them

2. Workautonomously

3. Havereasonable deadlines, reduce your stress factor

4. Havesufficient resources, be able to delegate

5. Learnfrom problems

PUMP IT, PUMP IT

One of the basic elements for happiness is your health andit also works at work. Our physical health is connected to our mental health. Eatinghealthy and exercising makes us happier; we have to work out for our happiness.

How much exercise do we need then? Here is one answer:

Recommended activity levels

According to the government, only 37 percent of men and 24 per cent of women take enough exercise to get any benefitfrom it. To avoid obesity, heart disease and other life-limiting conditions,the chief medical officer (the government's top doctor) recommends thefollowing:

· Adultsshould do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate-intensity physical activity, fivedays a week.

· You don'thave to do the whole 30 minutes in one go. Your half-hour could be made up ofthree ten-minute bursts of activity spread through the day, if you prefer -it's the total that matters.

· Theactivity can be a 'lifestyle activity' (in other words, walking to the shops ortaking the dog out) or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these.But it does need to be of at least moderate intensity, again measured by itmaking you slightly breathless or a little warm.

· People whoare at specific risk from obesity, or who need to manage their weight becauseof a medical condition, need 45-60 minutes of exercise at least five times aweek. For example, if you have diabetes, it will be much better controlled ifyou exercise like this.

- BBC Health by Dr Gill Jenkins in December 2010

Sufficient sleep makes a huge difference. We shouldn’t tryto manage with few our rest, our body and brains need to rest.

Daytime naps are anotherstrategy some people use to make up for lost sleep during the night. Some evidenceshows short naps (up to one hour) can make up, at least partially, for thesleep missed on previous night and improve alertness, mood and workperformance. But naps don’t substitute for a good night sleep.

-YourGuide to Healthy sleep by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Healthysleeping habits lead to better moods, a reduced risk of obesity, better memoryand learning ability and a healthier immune system. How much sleep we get andthe quality of that sleep needs to be a part of our fitness program and apriority in forming a healthier lifestyle. Fitting sleep into our alreadypacked schedule can be a challenge and often becomes something that wecompromise…How much sleep are you getting?

Pack snacks with you. We all know how crumby we can get ifour sugar levels drop down. Have a snack every 2 hours to keep your sugarlevels up, that will help you to keep your positive attitude throughout theday.

MR. NICE GUY

We need to respect each other and treat everybody as wewould like to be treated. Be polite and do nice thing for your co-workers. Whatgoes around comes around. Times when you need help it make it so much easier toget if you have helped someone else earlier.

7 tips by Jeff Stiebel

1. Smile

2. Stopworrying

3. Take abreak

4. Dothings differently

5. Stopmanaging and start leading

6. Delegate

7. Havefun

ARE WE DIFFERENT?

Learning what truly makes us happy is an individualizedprocess and something that works for someone doesn’t mean it will work foreverybody.

One man’s happiness can be another’s living hell.

Working in a team is always a challenge, different backgrounds,and different religious and different ways of doing things. There are as many different ways to do thingsas they are people but finding the golden gateway it’s important. We have torealize that maybe the way we do things is not the only way; there can alwaysbe better and more efficient way.

We need to be open-minded to work in a team or even if wework alone, we still need to be able adapt new ways to do things. Even if wework alone, our work affects other people in some way.

We all are different and we all have different needs andhabits, different ways to do things and different opinions but that makes usall special. No one is better than other; we are all on the same planet, madeof same kind of flesh and blood but what makes us different is the way wethink. We all have same beginning but different ending. We choose the way wethink regardless of wealth, place or background. We choose to be happy and wedecide what makes us happy; it’s all in our heads.

DON’T BE AN ASS

No one wants to hear how good car you have or how big isyour house. People don’t like to hear those things. I know that I don’t feelcomfortable to hear how great other people lives are. I feel great hearing ifmy love ones are doing great but hearing people that I just know bragging abouttheir lives doesn’t make me feel good, just opposite. It is important to be theone who listen not the one who brags. No one likes show ups!! This helps you to create better relationshipswith your co-workers which lead to happiness.

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE

Sometimes our supervisors need us for some extra job, it isnot their fault, and they just need someone to do the job. It is always good to volunteer to raise thespirit and be example. Sometimes we feel tired and fed up but in the long termall the effort is worth it.

We know how boring it can be to attend all the meetings butit is important to be part of matters which concern your company, we need to expressour opinions because it does matter, it matters to you. Be proud what you doand feel passionate about your job.

Also all the company gatherings, parties etc. ATTEND!! Just pay a quick visit even if you are notreally interested to attend because as we all know the gossips and funnystories begin from those events and we want to be part of those laughs. Laughingrelaxes us and brings us happiness.

6 ways to find happinessby James Clear

1. DEVELOPA SOCIAL CIRCLE.

2. LOOKFOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH INSTEAD OF FAILURE

3. HELPSOMEONE SOLVE A PROBLEM.

4. TAKE ONADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

5. HAVEENOUGH COURAGE TO ASK.

6. TAKE ACTIONS THAT INCREASE GOOD WILL.

HAPPINESS AT WORK SURVEY

Let’s make a survey.

Answer the following questions.

Questions to Ask About Your Job:

Is my work important?
Am I giving something to my company?
Does my work excite me?
Can this work challenge me?
Can I be proud about my work?
Would I think about my work even when I'm not working
Am I passionate about my job?
Can I achieve anything?
Can I make true friends of my co-workers?

So how it went?

These are the questions we should ask when we arethinking about our dream job. If we are able to answer yes to all those questionswe are at our dream job but if we just got one or two “yes” - answers maybe weshould quit our job and find a new one.

Don’t get depressed if you didn’t get any“yes”-answers, we can work on that. Now we know what makes us happy at work sowe can start doing things for it.

We want to be happy at work? YES!
We know what we need to be happy at work? YES!

We can be happy at work? YES!

Yes, yes and YES!

CONCLUSIONS

At the end we are us happy as we think we are and happinesscan be found in every work place. The biggest obstruction to our happiness isour mind. To found happiness we need dedication, hard work and time. We need toknow what makes us happy and prioritize most important things in our life.

Work is just a work but it is big part of our life so whywaste time to be miserable at work if we can be happy.

·
Let’s decide to be happy.

· Make a survey

o What makes you happy?

o Does your work make you happy?

· Action

o Decide to quit or continue at your work

o Make happy plan

o Follow your plan

Have goals, see the big picture, follow your dreams and behappy.

Happiness is for everybody.

Inner Peace

2011-10-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS INNER PEACE? HOW WE CAN FIND IT?

This inner peace fascinates me a lot and I have been thinking about it for a long time now. I feel that we can control our minds and that is what inner peace is all about, controlling our minds and bodies. We all can find it or should I say we all can achieve it because it takes time and practice to master it.

Inner peace is a mind-set. It makes us complete. It gives us energy and strength and it is a gate to ultimate happiness. Inner peace balances us and it gives us ability to enjoy life more. It gives us new perspectives for better life.

For me full inner peace is a dream, it is a dream for better life. I believe we can always be better and we can always learn new things and pursuing for inner peace is one of my goals in life. I believe we all should develop ourselves all the time and learn from our mistakes and that is what I am doing. Every day I am growing up, learning new things and making best of my life.

Good example about inner peace and why we should seek it is the movie called “Kung Fu Panda II”, the movie is about inner peace, he has to find it to save the world. What a story! It is a good movie, you should watch it if you haven’t seen it already. Basically with inner peace you can find your hidden talents and use all your resources because you are in harmony with yourself and you are able to control your body and your mind. The movie tells exactly what inner peace is, it is power which gives you amazing powers.

WHY WE SHOULD PURSUE FOR INNER PEACE?

I feel like it would be achievement which would bring peace and happiness to my life. I think by finding inner peace it would make my life much easier and I could face all the challenges without any grief or worries. I could be steady all the time and I would get more out of my life.

My life is good, it is excellent. I have amazing family and friends, I don’t have financial problems and I am happy. I do feel complete but still I worry and I get all kind of stupid feelings like anger. I don’t want to feel angry or jealous; I just want to feel happy and steady. I want to cry and feel sad but I really don’t want to feel envy or other silly feelings. I believe that full inner peace will help me to control those feelings.

By being in harmony with our bodies and minds gives us the control of our lives and feelings. It gives us energy to live. It gives us inner peace.

FINDING INNER PEACE

We can’t achieve inner peace just by deciding that I will be in peace with myself and I don’t feel any anger or any other annoying feelings anymore. Inner peace comes with dedication, time, and practice and with compassion.

Compassion

Dalai Lama writes about compassion and I just read his book about it. I believe in compassion, I agree that it is a way to inner peace and happiness. By giving compassion without any prejudice it will give us back something that we can’t buy, it gives us back fulfilment. Why it so important to get that is because we need to feel complete to be happy and compassion fills empty holes in us.

Dalai Lama divides people in three categories: love ones, neutral ones and enemies. One of his exercises is to think how we feel about all those people and give compassion to all of them. He writes that without our enemies we couldn’t find inner peace. Our enemies are our friends; they help us to find ourselves. They gives us something to work at, they gives us anger which by practicing can be controlled. So we can learn from our enemies, they help us to grow.

By giving compassion to everybody regardless their backgrounds is the key to inner peace.

Complete

We all know how sometimes we feel that something is missing in our lives and we are searching for something…We have holes in our heart. We don’t know why but we just feel that we have to search and do something to fill those holes. Some of us try to fill those holes with stuff by buying everything, thinking that it makes them feel better, it helps for a while but it is not the solution. Some of us drink and some of us try to fill those holes with meaningless relationships. We all have different ways but how we get complete is when we decide to stop searching, that is how I found my fulfilments; I stopped searching. I accepted that I will die someday and I looked around and saw how amazing my life is. I stopped living in the future and started to live in the present. I decided that I don’t need any fancy car or beautiful wife. I just need to enjoy what I have now. That is how I filled all my wholes and got my heart complete. Sometimes I still feel that I am missing something but then I go through all my things again to realize what life is all about.

Time, patient and dedication

To achieve something we always need time, patient and dedication; this also applies with inner peace. I believe I will learn more every day by practicing control my mind and studying the way I behave on different situations. I am analysing myself all the time to understand how I react on different things and I am trying to identify reasons for all my bad feelings. I study and I learn.

There is no short cut.

ENDING

I am not saying that we all should seek for inner peace but I believe that it will bring me more happiness and joy in my life. I believe it will make me a better person.

Whatever we decide to do, it is right decision. We all make our own path which will take us to the end. Life is short, we have to accept that and we all are masters of our own lives. We are in control. We make our own decisions based on our experience and that will be the outcome of our life. We all make mistakes, we are not perfect but that is life.

It doesn’t matter what we do or not do, only thing matters is that we are happy whatever we do.

Happiness is for everybody.

Dreams can come true

2011-10-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

I am now at work sailing along coast of Italy, just heading to Dubrovnik. Life is good at sea and here I have time to do some soul searching. I spent some time in Cartagena and also some time in Finland with my kids but now I am at sea at least the next 5 weeks.

I have been searching my inner peace by reading books.

All this is preparing for my next adventures.

I bought couple books before I joined this mighty ship and one of them was the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Dreams can come true.

I am now telling the whole story so if you don’t want to know what happens on that book please do not read further!! I will read this book at least one more time to really understand its meaning.

It is a story about a Spanish boy who was a shepherd, he has few sheep and he takes care of them and travels around Andalucía. He knows all the best places to feed his sheep and they become good friends. He provides them food and shelter and they provide him cotton. They live in perfect harmony, life is good. Or is it? The boy started seeing dreams about a treasure near pyramids and on that dream a man says follow the signs. He gets some signs, he meets a king who knew about his dreams and he starts pursuing his treasure, his dream. He doubts a lot can he leaves his good and safe life behind and pursues something which is just a dream. He gets more signs and he travels to Egypt and he gets rubbed. He lost all his money but with his amazing attitude he found a job which gives him great fortune and he have to decide to continue following his dream or get back to his old good life. More signs occur and he has learnt new amazing things about life and people. While travelling he has been observing the world and learning from it. People thought him new skills and new languages. It was hard decision to continue following his dream but he did continue. He had to cross the great desert but before that while in Egypt he met love of his life. Love on first sight. The girl was Muslim so they didn’t have any physical contact but they talked and talked. They both fell in love. The girl wanted him to follow his dream and she promise to wait. It was true love.

The boy continues his journey through desert, war against tribes was going on and he met a new friend who thought him about books. While travelling the boy studied the world, the nature, the wind and the people, he started to understand the language of the world. Soon he was able to talk with the world. He understood that only way to really understand the world was to listen it.

Their convoy reached an oasis and they stopped to rest and waited the war to end. The boy went for a walk and had a vision that the oasis will be attacked by the rebels. The oasis was under agreement that the tribes won’t attack there but the boy was sure about his vision and went to the leader of that oasis. First they didn’t believe the boy but they didn’t want to take any changes so they prepared themselves for a fight on condition that if no one will attack the boy will die. Next day there was an attempt to take over the oasis. The boy got rewarded and got offered a high position in the community.

The boy met the Alchemist who could transform led to cold; an ancient skill which required a motivation, understanding and patient. The alchemist has had a vision that a boy would come and he should teach him, that day came, the boy was there. Once again the boy had to decide which path he we would take, to return home as a wealthy man, stay in the community as a respected citizen or continue chasing his dream. He decided to continue his journey. More difficulties and challenges were on the way but the alchemist thought the boy to listen his heart. He learnt it. He was able to communicate with his heart and he realized that a heart guides and protects him.

They could almost see the pyramids when a warlord captured them. The Alchemist got them more time to live saying that the boy could transform into wind and fly away. The warlord was curious and gave them 3 days to prepare. The boy was scared; he didn’t know how to transform into wind. The day came and the boy was standing on a cliff trying to transform into wind. All the soldiers and the warlords were waiting a miracle to happen. The alchemist believed in him, he knew he was special. The boy started to listen and he realize that while travelling he had learnt the language of the world. He was able to speak with the wind. He asked the wind to transform him into wind but the wind didn’t know how, so the boy asked the sun and the desert. The sun was not able to help but it advised the boy that the only the ONE could help him. The boy started to pray but he didn’t ask anything for himself so the GOD almighty helped him and turned him into wind.

Finally the boy reached the pyramids and he got rubbed and mugged again but got his final sign which said that the treasure was where he first started his journey; it was where he has lived his whole life.

He founds the treasure and he gets the girl. Happy end! J

This was long story short.

Amazing story! That book gives something to think and it gives hope. Hope to pursue our own dreams.

It is a story that if we don’t pursue our dreams we will never be truly happy. With open heart and mind the world keeps us safe.

In the happiness point of few there was really good points. Let’s make a list.

Pursue your dreams.
Don’t give up (attitude)
Believe in love (family) THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD; LOVE!
Listen your heart it will guide and protect you (safety)
Believe in life (attitude)
Listen the world it will teaches you so amazing things (flow)
Smile and the world smiles back to you
Faith

The book is a love story but it’s also a story of hope and life. Challenges are part of life and we all get them but we shouldn’t give up, we should face them and learn from them. Life goes on whatever happens and there is a treasure waiting for all of us somewhere, we just have to follow the signs and listen our hearts and just keep going.

This story is for everybody but especially it is for all those people who are sitting at home thinking that they should chase their dreams but are too scared to leave everything behind.

GO, take a change!!!

There is only one life, one opportunity to feel and see. We are alive so let’s start living.

Life is not easy and lots of challenges are on our way but is makes us stronger, it makes us what we are and behind every corner there is something new and exciting waiting for us.

The book is also about power of love and pray, nothing can beat them!! Love makes the world.

I recommend this book for everybody. Amazing book!

I now preparing myself to my next step to ultimate happiness and I will do lot of reading and self-examination which I will share on my blog.

This book gave me power to continue doing things I do, it gave me support what I was thinking before. AMAZING!! J

Happy thinking!

Life is an adventure.

Home sweet home

2011-09-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful. - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

I am in Cartagena, Colombia. I am home. I have spend the last month just relaxing, doing nothing. I have felt my "emotional fuel tank" was running in low gas but it is filled up now. What I mean about emotional tank is that we only have certain amount of energy and we use it when we keep our mind occupied like being under stress. We have to listen our bodies, that is one part of happiness, we have to know what is going on inside us. I really felt I needed rest. I know how my body works and every time after a long contract I need to rest my body and my mind. Heart is a good example, did you know that a heart only works 9 hours a day and it rest 15 hours? Amazing. We should do the same. We should not burn out our bodies and minds, we should take care of ourselves. That is what I have been doing the last month, just relaxing, giving my mind some rest.

I have been slightly stressed out due to my current work situation. I had to look for a a new job after my time in Africa and it is normal to stress out when you are unemployed and no sign for a new job. How I deal my stress? I try to build a watertight wall around me and not worry about the past nor the future, I try to live today, not tomorrow or not the past. Key part of happiness. Sometimes it is difficult to actually do that but it feels so good after you realize that you can live the present and not to worry about the future. Usually nothing will change by worrying, it just make it worse. I have been thinking a lot how to live in present and it was good to spend some time in Africa because that is exactly what people do there, they live in the present. Why they are happy there, because they don´t worry about the future or the past. Okay, that is not the only reason but it is a big part of their happiness.

It is amazing to be here in Cartagena which is in the same latitude than the place I were in Africa so the weather is the same but the culture is so different. Same kind of place but totally different. My point is that people make the place, people make the difference and people can find the happiness everywhere in the world in them. Happiness is a state of mind. Cool ah??

"Nothing is worth more than this day."
- Goethe

My normal day here in Cartagena is that I wake up around 9 am and and make myself amazing breakfast which will take me an hour or two to finish while watching TV or listening radio. Best time of the day. After I normally have my morning swim in our swimming pool or I go jogging. I love to make food and everyday I do something, some days twice a day. I just love cooking!! During the day I visit the city or go for a cafe in some cafeteria. Evenings are for relaxing at home; watching movies or making some great food with good wine. Simple things but so good. So this time here at home have been my time for refueling my "emotional fuel tank". Simple things, things that I love to do.

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

- E. B. White

Summarize my time in Africa...it was amazing, it was great. Would I do it again, absolutely. It was amazing experience. I met so amazing people who I miss already and Africa thought me about life and gave me some cool ways to see life in a new more amazing ways.

Being here in a country with everything and comparing this to the country I just spend 3 months, things for happiness are still the same. My happiness is about small things, I don´t need to do anything amazing to be happy, I just need to do things I love, that is happiness.

There are always challenges in life. Life is not perfect, attitude makes the difference. There are good days and bad days, it is the way you see them.

I will continue searching happiness and my next step for finding ultimate happiness will take me to the source of inner peace, it will take me to Nepal. I found a monastery by searching internet and I found a place where I want to go but now I will concentrate on my family but also on my trip to Nepal where the monastery is located, the plan is to stay there for a month to learn the inner peace and find the ultimate happiness. Hopefully that trip will happen end of next year.

"As human beings we want to be happy and free from misery...we have learned that key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachments, fear ans suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness". -DALAI LAMA

That´s all for now. After a month here in Cartagena I can´t wait to get to Finland and spend some time with my kids, friends and family. That is happiness.

how to find happiness??

2011-08-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here are 10 free tips to find happiness.

Please note that all these tips are applicable all over the world!!! It doesn’t matter where in the world are you, you can still be happy.

While reading these tips, think about your happiness and think how these tips applies to YOU!

1. Decide to be happy

The first step is to decide you want to be happy! Happiness is a state of mind and it is inside us, in all of us. We just have to find it.

2. Positive attitude

Our attitude will determine our future. To be happy it is important to have a right attitude for it. With a right attitude you can change the world. If we think nothing is going to happen to us, nothing will happen but if we think something good will happens, it will.

Positive attitude brings happiness! It is well known that positive people are happier, of course. So this is not really secret but still people don’t understand the value of positive thinking. It does not only get you closer to happiness but there are other benefits too.

There is lot of studies regarding of positive thinking and the benefits it brings. Optimists live longer, they have better immune system, and so they don’t get sick so easily and their standard of living is much better than pessimist.

So thinking positive give you actual benefits, and its free!!!

Positive thinking is something we can learn but its need real work to achieve it.

We don’t born with positive attitude, we learn it.

3. Faith

Have faith. Faith will bring you safety, faith will give you comfort and faith will give you fulfillment. It will also give you some answers.

4. Live today

Live today! Life is about moments. If we think our life’s we just remember the moments. We have to see and feel the moments. Happiness is to live now, not in the past or in the future, NOW. Like one Wiseman said: “past is gone, the future is not yet born, present is now”. So we should learn to live in the moment and enjoy our everyday life.

Normal mindset is that we are happy when we get a better job or when we get married and so on.

NO! Look around and be happy now!

Don’t wait tomorrow to come, live today. Be happy today!

5. Love

Love is good, live is kind. Love is everything. Life without love would be like a day without air. We need love to be happy and this is one of the most important elements for happiness. But first we have to learn to love ourselves; we can’t give love if we can’t love ourselves. Love is everywhere and it is amazing feeling.

There are many different types of love; you can love your wife, your family, your friends and etc. It doesn’t matter what type of love you have, it is just important that you have it.

6. Appreciation and gratitude

He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

STOP! Look around you, what can you see? Wherever you are, you can see colors and shapes. Imagine if you were blind.
Listen! What can you hear? You can hear music, birds, people talking and so much more. Imagine if you were deaf. Feel! Touch something. Feel the softness, hardness, stickiness or any other surface or thing. Imagine if you were num. Smell! Smell the flowers, smell your favorite perfume or smell good food. Imagine if you would lose your sense of smell. Taste! Food…mmm…!! Imagine if you couldn’t taste.

I think you got the idea.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Days go by and we don’t realize what we have, we don’t THINK.

Start appreciating things you have not things that you might get. That is the gemstone of happiness.

Think about your family. How often you tell them that you love them? Not often enough. The words are free, so why not to use them.

Appreciate your family and your friends and show them that, and you will live happier ever after.

Research has shown that the happiest people are close to their family and friends. They appreciate what they have and value it.

7. Stress free

Stress is path to unhappiness and poor health. A primary cause for stress is repeated desire for preferred results. Worrying things will not turn out as we’d like. Stress can be non-stop and can destroy a person. Stress is a physical reaction of a thought. A thought can be chosen; therefore having less stress in your life is a choice. If you integrate the following into your beliefs, you will reduce stress.

8. Work out and eat healthy for your happiness

Exercise, exercise and exercise!!! Healthy body means healthier mind. Your physical shape is linked to your mental health and to be happy you have to be mentally health. Happiness is a state of mind.

9. Flow

Life satisfaction often occurs when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time and stop worrying that is called flow.

Start your engines, put on the first gear and step the medal to the pedal! Keep yourself busy! What motivates you? What keeps you going? What is your fuel?

Flow, in other words, to get something to do, is well known way to become happy and stay happy. Flow is a big piece of the happiness puzzle, the puzzle which makes you happy when you finish it.

Happiness is like a puzzle, you get the pieces together, keep them together and the happiness is yours.

Scientists have shown that people are happier when they keep their mind occupied, so they get stimulated.

10. Make time for yourself.

It is good to give time but it also good to take time for yourself. It is super important to we have some quality time to think and relax.

_____________________

Happiness is for everybody!!

We don’t have to be rich or poor to be happy. Happiness is FREE and it is for everybody.

HAPPINESS CAN BE FOUND!! IT CAN BE FOUND IN YOU!!!

Let’s be happy.

Happily ever after?

2011-08-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” Dalai Lama

I have 2 more weeks left and I feel great. I feel amazing!! We have overcome lots of challenges and I have been growing up as a human to tolerate and be more patients towards other people but also I have learnt lots of new things which I think life is all about, to learn and to develop. I believe we are never ready and the life is constant learning and growing up.

"Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal."

The time here has been amazing, all the experiences and all the people I have met have made this beyond amazing. I have seen the beauty of this country and I have been lying on these gorgeous beaches relaxing and enjoying the life.

Happiness can be found in this country.

There is song called “I love my life” and it is playing here constantly on the radio and every time I hear it just makes me smile. We have listened it so many times while driving around the crowded streets of Freetown. It is a good song!! Music definitely brings happiness but also silence can bring you peace and happiness.

I met a guy last weekend on our diving trip to the Banana Island and he is from Latvia. He has been living on that small island for 3 years now. First let me describe the island…It is small island, two hours away from Freetown and it takes about 45 minutes to get there by boat from the nearest land. There are 150 habitants and they have own schools and small shops, African style though. J He had a newspaper business here in Freetown but all the stress and working drove him to move to the island. Now he said that he has never been happier and healthier in his life!! Couple more things about the island…There is no electricity and it is impossible to get there after dark.

It was really cool to hear his story how he left the business life and trade it to peace and happiness.

Living on an island…Happiness? Maybe for someone but I think I couldn’t do that, I still need some challenges and people around me for my happiness but it was a good story.

Living happily ever after I need to take care of myself and I will give you some ways how I work out for my happiness. I have a secret for happier life and I will give it you. The secret is water…WATER!! Amazing!! So simple thing but so beneficial for your happiness and your health! What water gives you? It gives you energy, it gives you better skin, it gives you great feeling and it purifies you. Water is like high quality oil which helps you to run your engines. Our bodies are like engines, we need fuel to run it but we also need some oil to keep running. I try to drink 3-4 liters of water everyday. It is amazing what water can do for you.

Few weeks ago I felt tired all the time so I increased my daily water dosage and it helped, I have much more energy everyday.

I have never been on a diet but I have lost some weight few times because I have started to eat more. What?? More!! Yes, by eating more I have increased my metabolism which has led to weight lost; even I have wanted to gain some more weight. I try to eat at least 5 times a day to keep my motors running. Sometimes it is difficult especially here in Africa but I still try. I try to eat small portions and lots of fish and chicken. That is my secret for happy life.

The belly rules the mind. ~Spanish Proverb

Food is really important for your happiness but also exercise makes a big difference to you mood and also to your health. Health and happiness goes together. Sometimes we are too tired to work out and we just eat some junk food because it is easy to get and it is tasty. I do that time to time and there is nothing bad about it. I know if I don’t work out in a week or I am not able to eat healthy, it affects me, it affects me a lot. Happiness comes inside us and if we keep putting all the junk inside us and do not burn them, we start feeling depressed. I have been feeling it many times but I have managed to get back to my routines, back on track, and started to work out and eat in a right way. It makes such a huge difference.

Worries go down better with soup. ~Jewish Proverb

Three key elements for happiness and healthier life:

Healthy eating habits (low fat, chicken and fish)
Water!! (3 -4 liters per day)
Exercise ( at least 3 times a week)

So let’s work out for our happiness.

How the rest of my time will go here in Africa? Today we will have a film festival. Some of us have made short movies and we will have a festival to see them and the best ones will be awarded. There are 10 movies and 6 prizes. Our movie is called “sal y amor”, salt and love and it is about love, salt and heroism!! J

On Saturday I will be a nurse for a day, just to see how it feels!! I am excited, new experience!! Next week I will hopefully work in our Starbucks Cafe serving café for our crew; also a new experience!! I also asked if I could cook for the whole crew and yes, I can, so I will also be a cook for a day and work in the galley. I am super excited for all these opportunities!! J COOL!!!

I am still going to be a full time Chief Officer but I want to do everything and be involved. EXPERIENCE!

Happiness is for everybody!!

“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…”

Dalai Lama

Are we all in prison?

2011-08-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart. –Thich Nhat Hanh

Freedom, what does it mean? I visited a local prison last weekend; I can tell you that the prison was “slightly” different which I we have used to see in

Finland

The prison is made for 300 inmates…currently there are about 900 inmates. You can do the math.

While we there we talked about some issues and one of them was; are we living in a prison or are they living in a prison? Literally they are but at the same time they can be freer than we are outside those gates.

So what is freedom?

Does it mean that we are not locked away or we are not under some foreign government or under some evil dictator?

I think freedom is how you think and act. I think freedom is to be able to control yourself. The question is: Are we really living free or are we prisoners of our own lives? Do we actually control our thoughts and our decisions? Is our body telling us what to do?

Many of us lives in a prison, prison of habits, prison of routines, prison of life. When we can’t get away from our routines or habits it means that we are living in a prison. It can be even worst than being in actual prison because there you can still control your thoughts and your actions but if some “force” is keeping you under command, making you do stuff you shouldn’t be doing, it means that you are living in a prison, prison of your own life.

Escape completely, like they say on the Princess Cruises ships, escape from yourself!! Don’t eat junk food everyday just because your body tells you to do that or don’t walk on the same routes everyday. Do something different, escape from your routines, escape from your prison. Escape from your life.

Some people spend their whole life living in their neighborhood and vacations they spend in their backyard complaining how things are so miserable.

They live in a prison.

We can choose, we can choose to be free. The person who is keeping you in that prison is YOU and only YOU can free yourself from there.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. –Abraham Lincoln

If we think about our lives and if we think about how many our decisions have been influenced by something, something external or even internal feeling or thing? For example: we know we should work out and eat healthy. Do always do that or does our body tell us what to do? Most of the times our body is the one who tells us what to do! Am I right? I know I am.

What about the decisions we make…Like working, how many of us work willingly??? Or do we work because we have to? We need the money. There are certain standards in every society which we are meant to follow. Most of us follow those rules and regulations because we have to, not because we want to. Is that freedom?

Free will and happiness goes together. Being control of your life make you happier. Making own decisions accordingly what is good for you; make you happier.

We shouldn’t do things like we have always been doing just because we have always been doing them or we shouldn’t eat all the junk food just because our body is telling us to do so. Of course we have to listen advises from other people but also we have to listen our own body just to know what is good and what is bad for us.

Living in freedom is happiness.

Living in prison is unhappiness.

I choose to live free. I choose to be in control.

If my body says that I should eat some sweet I can say no; and if it says that I shouldn’t work out just because it feel tired, I still will do it. I am controlling my life. I am in charge.

If I can do it, sure can you.

I want to be happy so I choose to be in control.

What does it mean, be in control? It means that you will do decisions based on knowledge not desire. I take advises but I still make my own decisions. Decisions which are right for me! I don’t let the pressure from outside to affect my decisions. I am in control. I am in charge.

If you want to be happy, set a goal, commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes. – Andrew Carnegie

What love got to do with it?

2011-08-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher

Being so many kilometers away from all your love ones can be hard, I had one of those days yesterday. It was my kids birthday!! They are 7-years old now and they will start school this year!! I will miss their first school day. L I can see them being nervous and really waiting to see how the school is on their first school day. I so would like to be there, support them. Give them courage. But I will miss it. L I have missed so many things like weddings and birthdays. Life is about choices and decisions and we can’t get all the things we want. It is hard to miss all the special occasions. Choices & decisions!

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.~Angela Schwindt

I feel lonely. I am surrounded with hundreds of people everyday around the world and I feel lonely. I have so much love in my life but still I feel lonely. I am blessed with great family and amazing friends. I have amazing women in my life. My life is good but still I feel lonely. It is not fair. I don’t want to feel lonely but it is part of this life style.

As the sea is beautiful not only in calm but also in storm, so is happiness found not only in peace but also in strife.
IVAN PANIN, Thoughts

I have been travelling for years now and I should be used to loneliness but I’m not. Due to my happiness I am able to live with loneliness, far away from my love ones but still there are days that it just feels really hard.

Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

Franklin P. Jones

On the other hand it is good to feel, it is good to miss so I know that I am capable to love. To give love and receive it! Being alone so much have given me opportunity to explore myself, feel and see how much I love all the special people in my life.

Without love I wouldn’t be here doing the things I do. Love has given me strength to carry on. All the love and support from my family and from my friends have helped me to achieve all my goals and dreams so far. Love is the cradle which has kept me on track.

I know that I can always go back home and I can always get help if I need it and that has been my safety net on my adventures. Having a safety net has helped me to go further without fear and get more from life itself.

I love the people in my life and they know that because I say that to them. I only say that when I mean it and I find it really important to say that from time to time.

I love you.

Sometimes it is difficult to say it but it shouldn’t. You should be able to express yourself to the ones you care. Sincerely and honestly!

“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.”
George Sand

So love is everything, love is a feeling, love is power, love is strength. Love is good, love is kind. Love is around us and inside us. Love is everywhere!

Love is happiness.

Having love in my life is huge part of my happiness puzzle. Without love there is no happiness.

But there are so many different types of loves. You can love yourself, you can love your family and you can be in love. It really doesn’t matter what type of love you have, you just have to have it.

-LOVE-

PS. I found out my blood type today…it is B+!!! J

BE POSITIVE!!

How cool is that??? That explains a lot!! J

Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.
Everything is, everything exists, only because I love.
Leo Tolstoy

The way we live in Freetown, Sierra Leone

2011-07-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

If we think about our life’s we only remember moments, sad moments, and happy moments.

Life is about moments.

Some live in moments and some create moments.

I do both.

Everyday is a challenge and everyday is different here in Freetown on the

AFRICA

MERCY

Able to live in a moment brings happiness. -Ville Patrikainen

Yesterday the Bosun who is my right hand man, stopped me and told me that his girlfriend is in critical condition in a hospital. That happened around 19:00. So I offered to take him to that hospital and so we went. Here in Freetown the traffic is horrible and there are no rules, traffic lights or street lights and because of all that, is always a challenge to drive here. We arrived to our destination but it wasn’t a hospital, it was her home. She lives up onto mountains about 45 minutes drive away from the ship. Anyway we finally got there and we stepped off the car, it was pitch dark and we were somewhere in the city…We had to walk between houses, downhill, on the slippery road and it took us about 15 minutes to get to her house. We found her lying in her bed, shivering; I think she had a fever. How Bosun described me her condition was like she was dying!! Luckily she wasn’t. We prayed for her and Bosun had two bottles of olive oil with him. Yes, olive oil. First the olive oil was put on her forehead and then Bosun and she drank it. Yeap, they drank olive oil. The purpose of doing this was that his faith was in that bottle and he could transfer the power of heeling from the bottle to her. Interesting! It was really WOW. It is strange to put faith in some kind of form but I think it was a good thing. If a person really believes that something can heel her or him it will help. The power of believe can be really strong. She was working today; she is one of our day volunteers so maybe the olive oil helped!

Another interesting event happened to me on last weekend. I was riding a motorbike taxi and while riding on it I was thinking the fact that most of the drivers are ex-child soldiers, who got their bikes from the government that they could be integrated to the society! Hmmm…is it really safe to ride on those?? While I was thinking that brakes got broken and we hit a tree!! Amazing!! I got into accident in Africa, it wasn’t the first time but that is a different story. Okay we hit a tree but I managed to jump off the bike before we actually hit the tree and at the same time I grabbed and pulled the driver off the bike too so nothing really happened to us. The bike got little damage but that’s it. It was really funny at the end because I was holding that guy and he was hanging like being in a hanger from my hand. I don’t know why I grabbed the guy, everything happened automatically. It was just funny!! J

Also another exciting event happened like a week ago. I got called in the evening that there was a boat in distress; they ran out of gas, just next to our ship, we tried to call the port authorities but they didn’t respond so we lowered our rescue boat to help them. I went down with couple deck guys and we tried to tow them ashore.

We tried…

...and we tried!!! J

Our small rescue boat wasn’t strong enough to actually tow the boat so we just ended up going circles and further away from our ship!! We were useless!! J Finally the local pilot boat came to safe the day, they took over and towed the boat ashore. It was a good exercise for us. Exiting event!! A rescue operation!! J

Today another boat had problems with his engines and she was drifting next to our ship. We called the pilot and they responded promptly which is great. The pilot boat towed the boat away!! All good!!

All these events were moments, moments which I will remember rest of my life. Amazing moments! Happy moments!

We should create moments or at least see the moments as a special occasion that we could remember them rest of our lives. For me small things have been most memorable like drinking wine with amazing people in candle light, listening good music. Simple but happy moments!

I love life, I love moments.

If I think the time here in Africa I remember the challenges and one of my biggest challenge has been the people here on the ship. For me it is hard to believe that people are people were ever I go. I am dealing same kind of issues here than I have been dealing on the cruise ships. I thought that people here would be different. No, in general they are the same. Of course here are some amazing people who are doing amazing job but still here are some individuals who behave like jackasses in the name of God. I have been having some difficulties to understand these people. Why they are here and why they are behaving the way they are? I came here with an attitude that we can change the world and I thought everybody else are here thinking the same. NO, Ville, no. Sometimes I think I am just a young kid who thinks the world is perfect and everybody is nice to each other. Again and again I found that is not the case. The world is not perfect!! Why I still believe the goodness of people? Why I still believe that we can change things? Because I want to!!!
I want to live in a perfect world. My world is perfect. The world we are living is not perfect but I love my life and it is perfect. I don’t want to become miserable old men who don’t believe in anything and complains about everything. I want to believe and I stand behind my believes. I want to live in my world which is the perfect world for me. That makes me happy. I want to believe in love, in people and in life!! I believe that there is only one life, one opportunity to enjoy all the beauty in this world. I don’t want to waste my time here, I want to enjoy!

Happiness is to enjoy the ride, ride of life. –Ville Patrikainen

RIDE ON!!!

What is happiness?

2011-07-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

“Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of travelling” –Margaret Lee Runbeck

I am happy or am I?

I have found happiness but can I be sure that I am really happy?

Is happiness my ultimate GOAL?

What is happiness and what I get from it?

There is no perfect life and there is no life without sadness or problems. Happiness is strength to overcome all the challenges on our way. Happiness is not a destination, is a way of travelling and to found happiness we just have to look inside us. The happiness is in us. What ever country or society we live in, we all have the same desire: to become happy.

So yes, happiness is my goal. My ultimate goal!

Buddhists believes that happiness is the ultimate freedom from suffering…I like that and I think it is true. Basic human being is to be happy, when all the bad thoughts are taken away only thing left is happiness.

Happiness is the present moment, is neither the past nor the future. Happiness is now. We can’t think that we would be happy when we get married or when we get the job we have always wanted. That is not happiness. Happiness is in that moment we are living right now, it is the way we choose to live. We make our decisions according to our happiness and the out come is the result of our state of mind.

I choose to be happy.

Happiness brings me joy, it brings me pleasure.

“Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholehearted, one directionally, without regret or reservation”. –William H. Sheldon

I had amazing weekend and it wasn’t great because amazing things happened, it was great because of my happiness. I am in the poorest part of the world and there are not so many things to do but still I enjoy every minute and every second while I am here. I find joy from small things. I find energy from people which bring me happiness.

Simple things make us happy. I had a quite routine work week, no big drama or great challenges, just work. On Friday I organized our department to get together and we went to the beach. Some of our local workers have never been on that beach!! They have lived their whole lives here but they have never gone to these gorgeous beaches!! Amazing!! So they really appreciated that day and it made them happy!! Such a small thing!

On Saturday I visited the Chimpanzees sanctuary which was really cool and in the afternoon we made few dives. It was extreme diving because the current was so STRONG!!! I got drift away so many times and we got separated few times but I did enjoy it. It was a good day.

On Sunday we just had lunch in a really nice beach restaurant with few friends.

It was a great weekend. A beach, good company and nice food! Perfect.

Happiness is about small things.

“Happiness is something that you are and it comes from the way you think” –Wayne Dyer

HAPPINESS AND FAITH

“Happiness is a spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude” –Denis Wailey

Time here in Africa is a journey to me and while travelling in this path of happiness different feelings and emotions goes through my mind everyday. One huge thing is my faith. What to believe?

Is there a God?

If there is a God, where he came from?

What is heaven?

What is the purpose of life?

Is there absolute truth?

All these questions go around my head all the time.
This is really emotional time for me.

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and the end of human existence” -Aristotle

I have googled some of these questions and when I googled “what is heaven” I got interesting answers. One of them was that there was a war in heaven. (Rev. 12:7) and there was violence in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 11:12). Argument was: do we really want to go in the place like that?

No comments.

My point is that people just see what they want to see. Faith is like being in love. Love is blind so is faith. People see the God as they want to see, like they do with their faith. People believe what they want to believe.

So what is my faith?

I believe that we all have our own God which guides us on our journey. Why but a name for it? I feel closer to Buddhism than Christianity and I feel that my journey might take me to Tibet to search for ultimate happiness. I have been fascinated by Dalai Lama and Gandhi. I have been reading about them and studying their thoughts. I find them interesting. I am curios to see if I could be happier. The time will tell if I will end up someday searching for happiness in places like Tibet. Maybe…J

Life is an adventure and that makes it amazing.

It is good to be alive!!

Good Morning Sierra Leone

2011-07-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

THE GOLDEN RULE!

One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself

That is the official

GOLDEN RULE.

I didn’t know that there is a rule like that but apparently there is.

Am I better than others?

How we know are we better than others?

Who can say am I better than others?

"What you do not want to happen to you, do not do it yourself either". Sextus the Pythagorean

There is only one world and we all live on it. Are we all equal or what separates us?

We watched a video clip about how we treat other people and there was a good point. We meet random people all the time but we treat them differently according to their position. We treat them according to their value; their value to us. The more value people have for us the better we treat them. Is that right?

Should we treat everybody as equal?

I believe we should. I believe what goes around comes around. So how we treat other people reflect back to us, one way or the other.

Small things make a difference like saying good morning or just asking how things are can make a difference. I can see it everyday when I walk around talking to people. People smile to me when I say good morning or good afternoon. I try to treat everybody in a same way and that helps me in many ways. Every time I need something it is easy to ask because I have treated others in the same way, also every time someone smiles to me I get something from it, I get energy. A smile gives me energy.

“Smile and the world will smile back to you.” –Ville Patrikainen

Of course the world is not perfect and there are people who are always crumby and rude even if you treat them nicely but just because someone doesn't treat you like they would like to be treated don’t mean you should do the same to them.

We are all humans. We are flesh and blood. Inside we all look alike. So why there are racisms? Why blacks, yellows and whites can’t live in harmony??? What makes the black people so different to us white people? Skin color??? Sounds so stupid!!! We segregate people according to their color…We don’t do it with other stuff!! Would be silly to valuate a house according to its color or to valuate a car based on its color. But we do it with people. We treat other people according to their value, according to their color.

Funny thing is that we get value when we are tanned. The browner we are the more valuable we get. But it doesn’t work with black people. If they try to get whiter they just loose their value. J

Who can judge other people? Who can say what people’s value is? I can’t.

I can judge myself; I know what is right and what is wrong. I do my own mistakes and I learn from them. This is my life and I am the judge of it.

I follow the laws as they are guidelines for all my actions and if I break the laws I will get judged accordingly. Fair enough.

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

We create our own world; we know what is right and what is wrong because we can feel it. If we do something wrong which we wouldn’t like to be done to ourselves we feel it and we know it is wrong. That is how we know what is right and what is wrong. We learn by feeling things.

We don’t want someone to steal from us. We don’t want someone to kill us. We don’t want someone to burn our house. We feel it what is wrong!! We know it inside.

EVERYTHING WHICH WE WOULDN’T LIKE TO BE DONE TO OURSELVES IS WRONG!

We feel it. We know it. So why we don’t treat other people like we would like to be treated?

It is super important to listen yourself and explore your feelings that you know what is wrong and what is right. All the answers are inside you. Just ask would you want it happen to you? Or would you like to be treated like that?

Positive people attract other people. By being positive and treating others equally you will double your changes to success in life.

By listening people we learn, everybody has their story and everybody has made some mistakes from which we could learn but we have to listen to hear people mistakes and learn from them. Feel the stories and feel what is right and what is wrong. The more you listen and feel the more you learn and better you will get. The better you are the better life is.

Be able to listen is a valuable asset.

“Treat people like you would like to be treated and listen”. –Ville Patrikainen

Life is amazing, we feel, we breathe, we are alive. Let’s start living!!!

My sex is on FIRE!

2011-07-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

“Challenges come so we can grow and be prepared for things we are not equipped to handle now.

When we face our challenges with faith, prepared to learn, willing to make changes,

and if necessary, to let go, we are demanding our power be turned on”.

Iyanla Vanzant

Life is good.

The fire inside me has been burning heavily. All the visions, hopes and efforts regarding my work here in

Sierra Leone

are fading …I have been feeling more frustrated and disappointment due to different issues.

This is a hard work but I knew that before I came here. The job is sucking lot of energy from me and it has started to affect me. Everyday day is a challenge, EVERYDAY is different. I wake up every morning hoping that nothing dramatic would happen. I have been strong enough to just laugh when we face new challenges but how much can I take?

If you’re going through hell, keep going.

Winston Churchill

I feel that we don’t get all the things done we could get done. People are wasting time. I don’t feel that there is a great spirit to make things better. I feel alone…

But I haven’t lost my fire.

Any small thing makes a difference.

We still have problems with water and that will never stop. Last week we were struggling to get any water and yesterday one of our water pipes got broken, so we had to shut down the whole system for a while. Also yesterday during the football match against local team; one of my guys got injured. He is still in our medical center recovering, he got a major hit to his head and he wasn’t able to respond on anything for a long time.

Garbage system doesn’t work, our garbage haven’t been picked up for a week now and normally it should happen every second day.

I lost one of my day volunteers due to misunderstanding, the normal story from the world I have been living the last 4 years, a boy meets a girl and they are from different culture, they go out together, start kissing and the girl says no but the guy think she means yes. I heard that happened many times on the cruise ships. I don’t know all the details but no one got hurt and as I understood no any official criminal actions was conducted. Just misunderstanding! Both were sent home and the case is still under investigation by the local police. These are just a few examples for all the challenges from last week. WAU!!! J

We have had lots of changes in our department and we have few more coming which is hard for all of us. We are loosing good men which are affecting our efficiency. But what can we do? We have to play with the cards we have been handed to.

Let’s get to the fun stuff…Wednesday salsa night was awesome. We went to the Aberdeen to a place called Atlantis which is a restaurant on the beach. We have been going there few times for salsa lessons. Our salsa teacher is ex US marine and he really doesn’t look like a salsa teacher!! J His teaching method is…interesting! It’s like being in an army!!! J How it is possible to teach salsa in military way??? My opinion, no possible!!!! We had lots of fun anyway and we all learnt few new moves!!!

On Friday we had few beers (not on the ship!!) and Saturday was a movie day. We watched quite a few movies on that day. On Sunday we made a diving trip to a wreck. We took our rescue boat and head to the lighthouse diving site. That trip was amazing!! Good fun. Dan, our diving leader managed to get few craps which we let go later because they were so small but it was good fun catching them. In the evening on Sunday we went to this local movie theater which had a movie called The American. The cinema was quite nice but the movie wasn’t the best! J I had a good weekend. Amazing!!

We celebrated the US independence day!

I have been filming almost everyday to get more material to our happiness project and the more I have been filming the more I have been noticing the small things in life. I have started to see different angles and those angles are the small things which make me see more happiness, like a smile or a laugh or just a child playing with a ball or anything beautiful. This filming project has been really therapeutic. Nowadays I spend more time just looking things. I am not in a hurry, I don’t stress, and I just look. Happiness is everywhere, we just have to stop and look around to see it.

Regardless all the challenges I have had and all the difficulties, I have found more happiness everyday. This journey of searching for happiness has got me deeper into to the world of happiness and I feel I am growing as a human being because of all the challenges and all the happiness around me. I have learnt many things from the people here on the ship and also from the people of Sierra Leone.

I started writing this blog in the morning and since that so much have happened!!! I am on fire!!!!! I received email from Finland. The email was replay for my request for stability program for the ship and they said YES!!! J YES!!!! How cool is that!!! We might get a new stability program from Finland!!! Amazing!!

Also another thing happened…I googled: “Finnish people in Sierra Leone”, and I found out that we are funding, we Finnish people, an education program in the near by city. So I contacted them and got invited to visit them!! How cool is that!!! Next Saturday we are heading to Bo, which is the second largest city in Sierra Leone. A road trip!!! J I am super excited!!! We are taking a government bus which takes about 5 hours and we are staying overnight there. We will visit the school and we get a tour around Bo. Wau!!!

So in the morning I was feeling that my fire is fading but it is fully on now!!! J

Last thing…My sex is on fire!! It is a song. What does it mean, my sex is on fire???? J

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault

Make love not war by loving yourself!

2011-06-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I have been super busy the whole week. It has been a challenging week. I could compare my work for making a snow ball. I have been rolling it and it has been getting bigger and bigger and it has started to get so big that it is difficult to control it. At the moment it is just a perfect size to make a snowman!! J I feel that I want to do as much as I can while I am here but I have to know my limits. I can’t be doing everything and being everywhere. That is what I have been doing the last weeks and I have started to feel it. I have been tired and frustrated. Also I have been feeling slight lack of motivation due to fact that I am burning myself up. I am trying to give too much. I realize that.

Part of happiness is to have time for yourself and I have been ignoring my own needs and that is affecting me. I have been concentrating doing things for other people which is good but the most important person into the world is me. It sound selfish but it is really important to understand! If I am not satisfied who I am, how I feel and what I do, it is difficult to give anything to anyone. How can I love someone if we don’t love myself? How can we accept people how they are if we don’t except ourselves the way we are?

So the first person you should help, if you want to help, is yourself.

We just discussed in one of our meetings that running away from home, from work; from marriage is not the answer for problems. The problem, in most of the cases, is the person himself and we can’t runaway from ourselves. We make all our problems, everything is in our heads. Wanting to make good begins from a person himself, he or she needs to be happy and in harmony with himself before he or she can help others. To find a solution to any problem, we should start looking it inside us. Most of the problems are in our head like the solutions.

More positive we are fewer problems we will have. Attitude makes a difference.

I feel that some of these people here are not with pure heart just helping other people, they are running away from themselves and that is affecting other people who are here sincerely to give help to them who are in need.

I have had lots of challenges during this week (Notice challenges not problems! J) and few of them have been relationship issues and position issues. Some people here are not happy of their position…what??? People are following the guidance of Jesus and I don’t think that HE thinks that we should put our own interests over the needs for other. We are working here, we don’t get paid and we are not looking for promotions. We are here to help the people in Sierra Leone, what does it matter which position we hold??? We should be here for one goal. One goal only, the goal to make things better but I feel that all of us are not, which is sad but we are not living in a perfect world!!

Really???

We all have some own interests but we should concentrate working for the poor and sick people, am I being stupid to think that?

Should I also start complaining that the food is not good or the working hours are affecting my social live. Or I should be the Captain because I have the license. NO!! We are in Africa and we are here to provide hope and healing for the local people. This is not a holiday and we are not here to get glory and to have a great career with all the benefits!! Although this is a really nice place for all us and maybe it is too nice! People forget why they are here and for some of these people this is a great getaway. Mercy ships provide such a good environment for the crew that it is easy to lose yourself from reality.

We should make time for ourselves and pursue for our own interests that we could help these people more but we shouldn’t forget why we are here!

Anyway the topic for all this was the importance to spend some time with yourself and remind yourself what you are doing and why you are doing what ever you are doing. What you want to be and how happy you actually are. It is really important to explore yourself and do things that make you happy. Have some quality time with yourself. Find all the solutions for your problems inside you. Look hard and you will find the answers in you. It is NOT important what you do, where you are or what is your position. It is important what you think about yourself and how happy you are what ever you do.

It is NOT important what other people think about you, it is important what YOU think about yourself!! –Ville Patrikainen

Big part of happiness is to have time for yourself and you have to make that time or you get unhappy and you burn out. We have to be selfish to be happy and to be able to help other people. We have to start loving ourselves to be able to give love and make love.

LOVE…what amazing thing!!

What the world would be without love?

Nothing.

Little bit out of topic but love is good, love is everything. Love is HAPPINESS.

Let’s make love not war by loving ourselves. J

"Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure: where your treasure, there your heart; where your heart, there your happiness."
Saint Augustine

Why the world sometimes sucks?

2011-06-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

“Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun”.-Colleen C. Barrett

It’s been a hard week. Emotionally, physically and mentally but extremely satisfying in every aspect! The harder I work the better I feel, so it is true that more we give the more we get.

Anyway, after the garbage fiasco we have encountered few other challenges like our diving operation on Friday. Wow, the divers jumped into garbage, literally. Our water around the ship was covered with all kind of dirt, dead rats, food waste and some other garbage but we had to clean our intakes. Luckily it wasn’t my turn to dive but I feel sorry for the guys who did it. Good work.

Also I did some safety rounds and noticed some defects in our Galley which need urgent attention, so that will be next week’s huge challenge. On a ship like this which is in a place like this, the challenges just don’t stop. Everyday some new surprises appear to challenge us but I have notice that people here give up. They stop caring…During this week I have tried to get people understand that they just can’t give up, we have to keep on trying to make things better. People think here that it’s okay to work in dirty conditions with broken tools, we are in Africa. TIA (“this is Africa” from the movie Blood Diamonds). NO!!!! and NO!!! Even the Europeans and Americans think that. If we don’t show example, why we are here then? I thought that we are here to make a difference, to help these people to develop and grow. I know that we aren’t here just to live like them and accept things how they are. We are here to change things!!!!! Nothing is going to happen if we, the people who have come here to make difference, stop caring. We have to pursue for excellence in all areas. Small things make a difference and a several small things make a change.

That is how I think.

“You really can change the world if you care enough”.-Marian Wright Edelman

I have felt frustrated because I feel like I am the only one here with all this big ideas to change things. People are with me but they just don’t have the FIRE in them to make things happen. Why they are here then???? Waste time? Nothing else to do? For an adventure? Maybe, I don’t know. Or maybe they also have felt frustrated and haven’t had enough strength to do anything and they have just stopped caring.

I have noticed that some of the people here just do the minimum hours, complain how things are here and do noting about it. Wow. I don’t understand the mentality that something here is someone else responsibility and noting can be done because it has been always like that. I feel…disappointment. That mentality makes my work harder and it affects the life’s of these people here in Sierra Leone. The less we complain and more we do, the more we will help. That is why we are here. TO HELP!

Amazing, that is the world what people are doing here so don't get me wrong. So many good things happen here everyday but I just feel that we could do more.

I am privileged to work with these amazing people but sometimes its good to shake things up and that is what I am doing, I am trying to give these wonderful people more strength to do what they do and I think and I know that they are doing amazing work!! J

“Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can't be done”.-Bo Bennett

Yesterday I needed a break too, so we went on a beach but before we got there we had to take a taxi or kind of local taxi, boda, boda. First we had to negotiate a price which took an hour because some of our group members were not happy about the “service” and the price. I was amazed but anyway the driver didn’t know were the beach was. That was ONE of the first issues and then of course the price. We were fighting over few dollars and we had a group of 14. Funny! How people find energy to fight over things like that but when it comes to work they are tired. J Finally we found a solution and on our way we were. The next challenge was when the cops stopped us and the driver didn’t have a driving license. J Well, he paid the officer. And on our way we were once again…Smoke started to come from the engine which wasn’t a good sign but we continue our journey and we finally got to the beach. We had a great time there, lovely day. On the way back our driver were having lots of problems with the clutch and the gearbox but we were moving ahead anyway. Also on the way back was funny to see when the driver started drink beer while driving!!! I have never seen that before. So the driver didn’t have a driving license, he was drinking, he didn’t know the directions and the vehicle was falling apart. A great taxi ride!!! J

I had a blast, what a road trip!!! J

Experiences like that just give us energy, energy to help. All the challenges give me energy, especially when I get over them. Seeing the positive side of things is energy. What ever happens and if we survive from it and can laugh about it, is like a superpower which helps us to make great things.

“Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill”.-W. C. Fields

If you think that the life sometimes sucks it is because of your attitude. Life is amazing.
Positive thinking is the key to a better world. I am doing my part, what about you?

NO PAIN, NO GAME

2011-06-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”

-Dalai Lama

Yesterday was one the hardest days while here in Sierra Leone. We helped the garbage guys to pick up our garbage. Why we did that, it was because normally when they come, if they come, they just pick up what is appropriate for them. Fair enough. They don’t get paid and their only income is what they can find from the garbage. The Government is providing this service and they should pay these people. It is not happening. So when they come, they leave most of the garbage in our garbage container which causes some health and smell issues. Not a good thing.

Yesterday we were IN the container, shoveling garbage for two hours, trying to make things better. My hands still smells…It was a crab job.

Which does not kill you, make you stronger! Yesterday was one of those days.

I have been trying to make things better regarding the garbage by calling different people, trying to get things moving and sometimes it has helped but most of the time I got replay that call someone else. Wow, what to do?

I have been trying to talk with the garbage guys and every time they agree to do as I request them to do. Perfect, or not!

Corruption is so deep here that without paying to some one, nothing really happens. So once again, what to do?

Yesterday I tried to find a solution and we fed all the garbage guys and we also offered to help to recycle our cans, that they could get the cans separately to make some money. Once again they agreed to help us, even the manager of the garbage company, who came to visit me agreed.

The future will tell what the outcome on this matter is…

Trying to find happiness on this feels little bit hard but not impossible. We worked as a team and we had few laughs after all the hard work which brought us together. Challenges and difficulties bring people together and a feeling to be part of a team is one piece of the happiness puzzle.

I was really happy yesterday when I finally got in the shower and got rid of all the dirty, smelly clothes. Happiness is about small things, like a hot shower after a long and hard day or a bed, were you can just lay down and relax after all the challenges.

It’s good to look around and see the small things; the happiness is hiding in and on them. Or if you just listen and you can't hear anything except silence; that is happiness. :)

“Happiness is like a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”. –Nathaniel Hawthorne

Sex, drugs and rock n roll - or NOT!!

2011-06-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

I have committed to serve here for three months and on those months I have committed not to drink alcohol while onboard or do any immorality acts which mean no sex. So where do I get my pleasures? We can’t consume any alcohol? Here are no really places to shop and the food is really simple rice and meat stuff. Sex is not allowed. So where do we get our pleasures and do we need them for our happiness?

“The essence of philosophy is that man should live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things”. -Epictetus

This blog is about pleasure vs. happiness.

Today we went on a local church for Sunday service. It was a gospel service and there was some preaching and singing. It was an experience. A good one! People got pleasure by getting together for singing and worshipping. After the service we were invited for a lunch in one of our workers home. She made us some local food…interesting experience. J But it was really nice way to spend the Sunday afternoon. We Socialized, ate, walked a little bit and got some sun. It was pleasures but there were some basic elements of happiness.

People confuse happiness with pleasure all the time, difference between those two is that happiness comes inside us, and pleasure is depended on external stimulates. Happiness can be and should be long lasting; pleasure is usually a short joy.

What I mean about all this is that we can fill our lives with joy, with different pleasures both still be unhappy. Pleasures don’t bring happiness. It might help but it also can be a gateway to unhappiness.

There are so many different types of pleasures like eating, drinking, shopping, having sex…

For example too much eating, too much partying or too much shopping, any of those usually leads to unhappiness.

So where is the line? How much pleasure do we need to be happy or do we need even it for our happiness?

Here on the ship people get together, have dinners together, watch movies, go to the beach and just hung around; chatting. I love that. We don’t have to get drunk to have fun and have hangover on the next day while trying to remember what happened. I feel like I am happier that I can have fun without all the drinking and partying. I haven’t watch TV while being here so that is liberating, I have so much more time to do other stuff like socialize, read, and work out, and so much more. By stimulating myself with different activities I make myself happier. If I would just sit all day, doing nothing and watching TV, I would get unhappy. Don’t get me wrong, I do spend days doing nothing and it can be really relaxing. But to be happy, we have to keep our minds busy, challenge ourselves, socialize and do things that make us happy. We have to understand the difference between pleasure and happiness to achieve real happiness.

We do need pleasures to be happy but we have to choose the right pleasures.

Here the local people don’t have lots of external stimulants to pleasure them and people are happy!! It is amazing to see how people are happy here and I think there are lots of reasons for that. No worries, they socialize, no stress, they have time for themselves; they have time for their families, they live simple lifes. We could learn these thinks from these people.

Simple life brings happiness.

“If you want to be happy, set a goal, commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes”. –Andrew Carnegie

-Simple-

I have a dream!

2011-06-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

"Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world." Joel Barker

Working as a leader in a multicultural environment is a challenge. On my team we have people from Russia, U.S.A, Ukraine, Philippines, Germany and different parts of Africa, so it is a mixture of everything. How to get people from different cultures to work for one goal as a team? That is the question I have been dealing in the last few weeks or actually I have been dealing the same problem in the last four years while working on Princess Cruises ships.

I have a dream. I do have a dream. My dream is to help these people and not only the people in

Sierra Leone

, the people here on the ship.

I have been working to get everybody together by being example and by being there for them. I listen and I am always available. I care.

You block your dream when you allow your fear grow bigger than your faith.

I work by them, and with them, as a team. I encourage them to get better and now we are about to start new training schedule which include different types of training for all. The objective is to give these people skills to handle all types of work no matter what it is.

We created a new group of petty officers. We picked up the most skillful people to lead, share their knowledge, and teach and to be an example.

I am really excited about all this. I feel really good about it, I have been getting good feed back.

Would we be able to get everybody to work as team and share our knowledge beyond the borders?

I belive we can!

I have lots to learn but I also have lots to give and I hope everybody feels the same.

Building a team takes time and effort but I know we on the right track now.

I just said to my team today that we not here just to help the people in Sierra Leone, we are here to help each others and we are here to help ourselves. It is important that we develop ourselves as a human being and also as a worker that we could get more out of lives and we could help others better. The better we are, the better we can help others.

What goes around comes around.

The biggest challenge is the get people motivated and that is my main focus. That is why I want to create different types of training for these people, different jobs. I want them to feel that is fun to work. I want them to feel that they are challenged on their work. I will try to get them understand the benefits of hard work and the idea of that the better they are, more valuable they will be.

We have about 10 local guys working on our team on deck and on the café break we get together and it have been amazing listen these guys when they talk about the war. Stories bring people together. Anyway we watched the movie blood diamond few days ago and that movie is about the war in Sierra Leone. On that movie the rebels cut people hands and it actually happened for real. I have seen few of those people here whose hands were cut…wow. Also one of my deck guys was forced to join the rebels when he was 6 years old and he spent 6 years with them. Now he is about 20 years old.

The war ended 2002.

So to get all these people together is a challenge.

Challenges bring happiness.

Do we have to be lucky to be happy?

2011-06-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

“The more we work, the luckier we get”.-Tero Pilvi

When I was flying here to Sierra Leone I met this Finnish guy on the airport and we started to talk about happiness and later on we changed some thoughts via email and he sent me email saying that I should write about luck. So now I am doing it.

So do we need to be lucky to be happy? I am also doing a documentary about happiness while I am here in Sierra Leone and I just did my first interview yesterday. I asked a question: “Are you happy”? And this local fisherman answered: “No”, because he didn’t have nets to get any fish but he would be happy if he would get those net. So I started to think what do you need to be happy?

We stayed overnight on an island and this local fisher man provided us food, drinks and made us a campfire. I gave him few advices how to do business and how to get customers, he really appreciated to help I was giving him and we talked about happiness. His happiness was depending on fishing nets. With those nets he could get enough money to buy some food, a land to build a house and get his daughter to a school.

So, for happiness we need:

Food and drinks

Place to live

Something to do

Someone to love

Simple things!

All the rest of the things for happiness come inside us. Happiness is inside us. We just have to find it.

Do we need luck to be happy?

I think we don’t. We make our own luck. The more we work, the luckier we get is a good saying and it is true. We can be happy anywhere if we are provided with basic things which I mentioned earlier but we have to work for our happiness.

When we were on that island yesterday, we ate a simple dinner, we slept on the ground and we drank water. We were HAPPY. We had a nice group of people and we talked about everything between the earth and the sky. It was amazing, it was really good. All our basic needs were satisfied so were able to be happy. That was happiness.

Why we complicate our lives with all the worries and problems? The more things we buy, the more complicate our lives become. We buy a big house, so we have to clean more; we buy lots of clothes so have to wash more. We buy two cars and we have to do maintenance for them and everything cost money. To get all that we have to work more and at the end we are so stressed that we forget what happiness is. We make our life so full of material stuff that we don’t have time to be happy because we have to take care of all that stuff. Why?

The more simple life we have the happier we are.

We have to understand the difference between a pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is depending on external things and happiness is not. The more we pleasure ourselves unhappier we might get. Pleasure is short term solution for sadness for example unhealthy eating. If a person eats unhealthy all the time he or she becomes fat and will have lots of health problems. A good health is a basic for happiness.

Should we buy fewer things to get more time to ourselves and to our families? How much is enough? Does all that stuff really make us happy?

These are good questions; we just don’t think about them, we just buy…

We make our own luck, like we make our happiness. We have our own lives and we can make our own decisions. I decide to be happy.

“If you want to be happy, be”. –Leo Tolstoi

The best drug in the world.

2011-06-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

"Achievements are built by being available". -Ville

Tonight we had a community meeting and during that meeting so many emotions went through me. Amazing! Today’s topic was “ be available” and it was a story about a man who was walking on the mountains and got robbed. When he was lying half death on the ground the first two people passed by him but the third person helped him. He made sure that the man was taking cared of and he promised to come back. The question was: are you AVAILABLE? The third person was. But why?

Powerful story!

Everyday people here go really deep, I mean really deep into serious issues. It is a journey to be here. I thought I didn’t have any issues but all these things make me feel. I don’t know what but I do feel. It is great to feel, I feel alive.

Coming back to that question am I available and I can honestly say that I am. Then I started to wonder WHY? Why I’m available. I don’t expect to get any reward or I don’t expect to get to the heaven. So why am I doing all this. Is there something wrong with me? People have actually asked me that question, why I am helping other people. For me it is a stupid question, of course we should help other people, OF COURSE!! We can be selfish, love ourselves and do things for ourselves but at the end the most rewarding is to help others. So why we should help others is because by doing that we are helping ourselves and it is the right thing to do.

That is how I feel in my heart.

I have to admit that I don’t even know the right answer why I am doing this but I just feel that it is the right way to do. Everything here just feels right. I am feeling that I am, at the moment, in the right place doing the right thing. It is amazing feeling. I am high, high on life.

The best drug in the world is to start living. To get high on life!

I have opened my heart and my mind to the world and the world is coming to me.

By being available have given me so much, it’s just awesome. It just is.

Today was the end of the work week so tomorrow we are going camping…me camping? J After all the luxury ships and hotels it is great to go camping. J It will be great fun, I am sure.

Sleepless in Sierra leone

2011-06-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

“People love others not who they are but how they make them feel”, -Irwin Federman

Another week in paradise…Work wise these people have done great work; we have achieved quite a lot in the past week. No major problems and things are just going smooth.

In the morning is great when we get together and like this morning we started our day by singing some songs. Happy songs, songs about Jesus in a really nice way. What amazing way to start the morning. I felt much better after few songs, great!! I have never done that before but it was GOOOOOD.

Could you image in our work place that first thing in the morning you would get together and sing few songs? You should try it!! You can start by listening music in the morning or singing by yourself. It makes a difference.

Why the title sleepless in Sierra Leone is because there are so many things going in my head all the time that I am too excited to sleep. I do have good 6 hour rest every night but I feel like I would love to do everything, all the time!! Life is good.

Today we visited our hope center where some of our patients spend their nights due to lack of space here on the ship. We stayed there an hour walking around and playing with the kids. For me is amazing why they just want to hold your hand and be really close. All this is so opposite to Scandinavia where people think you are crazy if you touch them. Or if you smile to someone you are crazy too.

People in

Finland

think I am weird because I like to kiss on the cheek when I meet people. I love to do that!! I feel like I need to touch a person to get any kind of connection. What is wrong to be touched? What is wrong to smile? Why some people feel threatened if somebody touches them? Touching is good, touching is nice and smiling is amazing!!

I have a good story about meeting new people and greeting them. Few years ago I met my ex-girl friend’s mother in South Africa…In South Africa family and friends kiss each other, not always though, on the lips and that also happened when I met the mother.

–MWAH- STARIGHT ON THE LIPS!

I have to admit that it was little bit occurred but funny.

I really think touching and smiling brings happiness and happiness brings happiness.

These people smiles to me and they look happy even all the misery that is here. Seeing them smile makes me smile.

A smile, just a small thing can make a huge difference.

So let’s be happy and smile.

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared”.-Buddha

What a weekend!!! :)

2011-06-05T02:11:00.000-07:00

“Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for”. –Joseph Addison

Amazing weekend.

Weekend started at Friday, we worked until 1700 and we managed to get things done for the weekend. It was raining on Friday and of course the container which we were waiting for arrived when it was raining most heavily. J I had to supervise that the operation went well in HEAVY rain…I was soaking wet!! But it was only water. We tried to do some chipping and painting but it was useless due to rain.

Really good thing about Friday was that we managed to improve our water connection and I ordered a new mixer which helps us to get better quality water. GOOD. Friday was a good day.

In the evening on Friday we went for a dinner in some local restaurant, first of all we drove there for 2 hours!! The traffic is horrible here, chaos. Rules, lanes, traffic lights…?? NO!!! Here are rules of the jungle, go if you dare and use a lot of horn!!! Funny, but can be dangerous. Anyway we had some food and I had a coke, few jokes, stories and few laughs. We had a great time. People are really nice here.

Saturday, amazing day…We went on a beach and there was just us. Beautiful beach just for us, amazing! So we spend the whole day there, talking, swimming, eating and playing with the local kids. We played Frisbee and some football. These kids are so good and they were having such a good time, they were happy.

There was an island close by and we swam there, we met this couple who are here to help people to build. It was so great to talk with them and I made a deal that they can visit our ship if I can spend over night at there place seeing what they are doing. Great!!

I was really touched when we were leaving; the kids hold my hand and asked if I am coming back on Sunday, they walked with me all the way to our car holding my hand. Wow.

Some thoughts…

I have been thinking during these few days are how important is to appreciate what we have and have someone to talk to. So, looking at these people here who believe, they thank God for everything what they have and they appreciate their family and all the things God have given them. Apperception is a huge part of happiness!!! It is important that we look around and see all the things we have, especially we, who lives in Europe or in North America. We have everything but we just don’t understand to appreciate it!!! These people here have nothing but still everything because they appreciate things what they have.

“The richest person in the world is the one who appreciate the most” –Ville Patrikainen

Something to think about.

Other important thing to be happy is to have someone to talk to and these people here have God, they talk to God.

I have been thinking why believers are generally happier people and it is because they understand to appreciate and they have some one to talk to.

So if you want to be happy, make sure you have someone to talk to and not just about the weather, you have to open up and talk how you feel and what you are going through.

Mother,

I love you so much and I appreciate all the things you have done for me. I wouldn’t be here doing what I am doing without you and your support. (I am crying…) I just think I have the best mother in the world. Thank you so much for everything!!!

Aiti, ma rakastan sua. (in Finnish, Mother I love you)

For the rest of my family and for my kids I love as equal now and forever.

Happiness is a state of mind

2011-06-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

The essence of philosophy is that man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. -Epictetus

Last day of the working week. Strange. Normally on the ship we work everyday, all the weekends. Now I have weekends of, wow! What can I do in Freetown on weekends? Here we have change to visit local communities, local churches, women prisons and many other local institutes, all this is organized by the ship staff. We have several cars we can use so we are able to drive around and do things. Pretty great!

Today it’s been raining almost whole day but we still managed to do some paining and chipping. We washed our decks and we managed to close few other projects, it has been a really good day.

Yesterday I was listening women who works on the shore side trying convert African people to Christian. They are organizing meetings around the country for locals to hear the God words and trying to get them join. I just wonder what does it matter who is your God and what do you believe. I would think it would be more important to focus on working together and help others. How we know whose God is the real one? I would think that everybody thinks that their God is the right one. Can you change your God if you don't like the God you have? Does he go mad if you do that?
Another thing which came in my head was the idea that if you worship the God you will get to the paradise. Mmm, so people will do all what God said just to get to the paradise? So they are working to get something, they are working for themselves, for the reward. Is that selfish? Are all these people working here to help others because they feel that is right way to do or are they doing it because there is a reward?

These are just thoughts. I am not judging anyone, ever, but I do like to think what makes people do what they do.

For me one part of my happiness is to let people are what they are and not trying to change them or judge them. I don’t want to waist my time of something which doesn’t really matter.

For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

I know most of the people are in pure heart, sincere, just helping people without any expectations to get anything back.

Few days ago, this ship made history. We had local people here on the ship doing fundraising and we raised over 30000 dollars to help local people. So the rich helped the poor. It is a big step!! Amazing!!

This is for now.

Happy people live longer….

Community gathering (Two different worlds)

2011-06-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

I am the only Finnish onboard...I was surrounded by few hundreds crew member who are guided by Jesus. First we prayed, then our President gave a award for people who has served 5 and 10 years. I felt so strange in there. I am in Sierra Leone, in a hospital ship, singing songs about Jesus. There were good songs though but still it is so different what I have ever done.

It was two different worlds there. Me and the other world.

I have been going thru several different emotions during these 2 days. First when I arrive I felt scared, I was thinking what I am doing here. On the first day I was nervous but felt pretty good.
Today I have been feeling extreme happiness until tonight. It is a strange feeling to be surrounded by totally different people.

How I see all this. Tonight was good to get out from my little world and be part of something different. I went there with an open heart and mind and it was nice. Something new. Something different. Something real.

It is good to open your mind for new experiences and feel something different. Feel the love and the kindness of other people, amazing feeling.

During the songs some people were keeping there eyes closed and raising there hands, on that point I really felt their believes. Would I be happier if I would follow Jesus?

I don't know.

One thing I know I will get richer by being here and most likely happier and I will get so many memories and good moments which I will have forever.

Amazing day!!

2011-06-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

This is what somebody has put on the wall in my office:

"Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God's Paradise".

The day started with a meeting, deck and engine crew got together to discuss the weeks events. We started the day with an African song about Jesus. It was a good song and it made me smile!! J After that our President and founder of the Company made a fine speech how all of us are equally important on the cause we are doing.

After the meeting we got together with the deck crew and I briefed them about the days work. It is amazing work with people who are actually doing this for charity. Everybody knows this is my first time as Chief Officer and they have helped and supported me a lot. Amazing. In these two days I have been able to get over 20 projects with many different departments. I have just been running around the ship looking for things we could do to make things here better!!! It is great feeling be able to help and see things which actually matters.

We have 70 patients here on the ship and everyday we treat several patients who need immediate assistance. It is so good to be able to help these people. As a Chief Officer I coordinate all the deck work and I am responsible of the ship safety and security. I can say I have been enjoying every second.

Today we cleaned the top deck and we also managed to chip and paint quite a lot, also on deck 8. We solved few issues, got few things sorted out and we did it with a smile. Life is amazing.

We had a fire drill today and I am the on scene coordinator. We have 4 fire teams which I coordinate and we had 3 fires on deck 7. It was challenging but I managed to do my work great, really great!! It was such a good feeling, everything went amazingly good!!! All the top guys were really pleased how we all did. Great team work. It is different work with people who are actually motivated!!

The weather is really hot but I think I get use to it later.

Tomorrow is the last work day for this week. Weekends are off!! GREAT!! J I only work from Monday to Friday. 8-17.

One of the biggest challenge here is to get clean water, we are struggling to have good water onboard and the sea is so dirty that we have to make 3 dives a week to clean our engine intakes.

So happiness…I have been so happy on these two days!! My happiness has come from my work. I have been doing work that I love. That is important piece in the happiness puzzle. There has been a huge FLOW. I haven’t had time to think anything else except how to fix things here, how to make things better. I love my work.

Now I have to go, we have community gathering at 19:30, it will be interesting…

First day on the ship in Sierra Leone, Africa

2011-06-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

-Be the best today but better tomorrow-

I arrived yesterday here in Freetown, Sierra Leone. I was nervous, lots of butterflies in my stomach but happy. I have gave up my job on the cruise ships to come here. I was thinking what I am doing here, I was thinking REALLY??? This is so poor nation, people are living in bambu houses without nothing but still kids are playing on the street looking HAPPY!! That made me feel happy. I have met lots new people and it is strange to work with people who are actually doing this for nothing or are they? Volunteering gives so much back so is it really for free or do we actually get more than we give? Lots of different questions runs in my head and this have been the first day. Amazing

On a first day we met with the deck crew, I introduce myself to everybody and got accepted really well. After that we had a meeting, we watched a videoclip about what faith is and how we can feel It. Faith was descripted that it is like a music, you just have to go with the flow and let the music take you. Interesting...Then I met the Captain and had a good chat with him, really nice person.

Another meeting at 09:00, all the head of the departments got to together and we discussed about future stuff.

Rest of the day I was walking around the ship, talking and asking all sort of things regarding my duties and any concerns regarding the safety or anything.
There is so much new things to me which I have to learn, all this is a huge challenge.

Life is an adventure.