Perfect happiness is not unattainable. It’s also not a utopian idea, we just have to know how to sense it. Everyone is supposed to know at least roughly which things make them endlessly happy, and I’m not talking about luxurious traveling or expensive dining, although everything counts. But what I am talking about are the simple things that we can conjure up daily. A good capuccino or latte always make me happy, if they areserved in the right cup and with a cookie, or at least with feeling, because these are small rituals that make my day. I also like my goodnight tea now and then, with lots of honey, served at home, because I have to be in my pajamas and ready for bed to make it even more magical. And I love having friends to get pizza with, or having ten minutes to myself so I can paint my nails violet and let it dry. Small joys that matter.
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
I was thinking about thisover the weekend as I was oven-baking bass and setting the dinner table on the balcony. I thought about how I like the whole ritual of preparing dinner: peeling potatoes, washing my favorite sort of lettuce, chopping homegrown garlic, the olive oil I got in Sicily and the entire story of how it became the official oil at the Oscars. I was switching between one kitchen counter and the other, barefooted, my hair pulled back in a high bun, so happy for not having a single thought in my mind and there was no weight on my shoulders, no special tasks but the lunch that was about to be ready. I picked the nicest napkins, glasses from a store at Lago di Garda that I love, I set the table on the balcony and had nothing left to do but realize the temperature was perfect and so was the light and it was peaceful. Did I need anything else? I really didn’t.
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
These are the moments I look around me and think: “More, please!” Even though nothing special seemed to have happened, the truth is that indeedeverything happened. The world came into its place, the light reached my heart, the thoughts calmed down. And I wasn’t even abroad or on an extravagant vacation, I was in my home, calm and happy, a little bit hungry, looking forward to a delicious dinner. I made these moments of happiness simply because they belong to me and they’re all mine, from the first to the last, without exception. If we take a look around ourselves, even right this moment, we’re bound to sense things or moments that can add to our internal happiness and help compose the mosaic of our life. Maybe not entirely, but every step counts as does every piece we add and realize it’s finally in its place.
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Do you know what else I like? The fact that summer is coming, because this love scented season makes me overjoyed, just like reading a book and long nights when crickets don’t stop singing and nature becomes wild and sexy and all we can do is wonder, how is it possible, thatthere’s so much beauty allaround us. Every part of me becomes strewn with magical dust, I carry a well of youth within me and you can think I’m crazy, but at 43 I feel as though I’m not a day over 30 and this limit can go lower, especially when the right people are around me. Alive and in love with life, I don’t need anything else but the deep, peaceful swim in the endless sea within me. I explore the surface then the bottom, currents, sand dunes and here and there bump into rocks. In this magical story, I see Sofia, like the mermaid that gave me the essence of living on this Earth and to whom I am grateful for showing me new ways and often choose the right people for me.
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
Foto and make-up: Biljana Babic
I am content as I walk around my blue kitchen that looks like a piece of heaven in the middle of vanilla cream. The fish is ready and the balcony becomes paradise that silently tells me that I don’t need anything else. And then it dawns upon me that this is perfection.
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4 thoughts on “More, please!”
When you think of all the things that you have to be grateful for, you realize how blessed you already are. Amazing article!
Practice smiling more and see how it affects you internally, as well as those around you. You can always afford to give a smile. Smiling can make you happier — even if you have to force it, you’ll still feel better.
Sometimes after we’ve achieved our own personal goals, we still feel empty inside because we haven’t made a meaningful contribution to someone else’s life. When we volunteer or help others, it feels good to just be of service to someone else. The impact we make feels fulfilling and is a big potential source for our own happiness. Nice reading…
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Aristotle said this more than 2,000 years ago. And it still holds true today.