We can acknowledge our fear without allowing it to silence our passion. Have you ever carried a fear so private, so difficult to name, that even whispering it to yourself feels dangerous? The kind of fear that seems to gather strength the moment it is acknowledged, as though giving it words might somehow invite it…
Tag: longing
Outside Finns
Longing for where we came from is not a failure to belong where we are, but a reflection of how deeply we have loved both. There is a word in Finland for people like me, for people like us — those of us who were born there, but live somewhere else in the world. We…
Wood-smoke and Cinnamon
Life is fleeting, and that is all the more reason to notice, cherish and be grateful for its beauty while it is here. Finland is beautiful in every season, but autumn has always felt the most personal to me. There is something about it that reaches past the eyes and settles deep in the heart….
Treasured Simplicity
The deepest sense of home comes from feeling known without needing to explain who we are. Some places do not simply hold memories. They hold parts of us. That is how Finland feels to me. Not only as the country of my birth, but as a place where something deep within me still recognises itself….
Everyday Moments
Sometimes the way we see the world helps others rediscover the beauty they have stopped noticing. I have lived in Australia for most of my life now. As the years pass, I think we all grow used to the world around us. What once may have felt striking or new slowly becomes familiar, and familiarity…
Dancing Lights in the Sky
Contentment begins when we stop measuring a good life by the world’s expectations. I come from the country of the midnight sun, from a land of crystal-blue lakes and endless forests, where the air feels so clean it seems to wash over not only the skin, but the soul. I come from a place where…
Apples of Gold 