Wellbeing/Inspiration

Carrying a Sauna in My Pocket: A Memoir of Finland’s Warmest Tradition

Most Finns have their own sauna stories to tell. Here are some of mine. As someone born in Finland, I see the sauna as much more than just a place to sweat. It’s a space for relaxation, reflection, and rootedness— a tradition passed down through generations. Sauna is where babies were born, the sick were…

What makes a friend feel like home? And are you also that friend to yourself?

When we live across cultures, we meet amazing, diverse people. Still, forming lasting, true, or like-minded friendships can be hard. So much depends on our history, personality, location, language, role, life stage, and luck too. keep CONNECTING with an open heart During my 14 years abroad, I’ve found friends in all sorts of places: our…

Breathe in… Breathe out… Repeat

Breathing is the first and last thing we do here on earth. And there’s the whole lifetime between for us to learn to breathe better – in ways that improve our health and quality of life. Better breathing helps us to relax, sleep, digest, remember, focus, move… the list goes on. Fortunately, it’s never too…

25 ideas to brighten up the grayer days (that don’t look like these photos)

“What makes you happy in the rainy and dark autumn days?” a fellow nature-lover asked on Instagram. She mentioned photography and creativity as examples, and we agreed to make a list of things that bring us joy during this season. Of course, there is no one way to “do autumn”. Some take a more stoic approach, running in…

The many colors of the Sisu courage

You may have heard about the Finnish term/mentality called sisu – described as courage, grit and resilience. Like an inner force driving you to reach almost impossible goals. Sisu can be seen as a verb, it’s determination in action*. Sisu is often associated with toughness and masculine power but it also has a colorful and softer side that deserves to be shed some light on. A side…

Your energy is your currency – how to fill your spark account

There are many ways to fill our energy assets in addition to healthy nutrition, sleep and exercise. Make your own energy source list and check out 10 ways to boost your energy.

WOOP your wish come true. Wish-Outcome-Obstacle-Plan

The WOOP is a simple, easy and yet effective method to make your wishes come true. The abbreviation comes from the words W – Wish, O – Outcome, O – Obstacle and P – Plan.

Life Skill Souvenirs from Overseas

What can you learn from life abroad – when ‘sailing the seas of overseas’? In the beginning of this year – before this global crisis was on – I started listing things I’ve learned during my family’s* nine years abroad, and I’ve noticed that these qualities are helpful also in the volatile and restricted times…

The best teachers

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”– Pablo Picasso Every child is also a teacher. Here are things we can learn from kids: A child looks things from different perspectives and surprises in many ways. Kids can be delighted because of the rain, when many…