Back to Work

The gentle scent of autumn fills the nostrils on August mornings. While the scent is pleasant, it also carries a message of change ahead.

The days we chose according to our wishes, preplanned or discovered during the free wandering of summer holidays, are now returning to routines, office corridors, online meetings and pending tasks.

When Returning Feels Easy, and When It Doesn’t

We may breathe easily, happy to join our colleagues again, our heads filled with ideas we cannot wait to pursue, showcasing creativity we rediscovered while out on nature trails or foreign lands, exploring new paths.

Or perhaps we are beginning a new post, or an altogether new career.

On the other hand, there may also be a sensation of tightening around the chest as we breathe in the autumn air.

Something may have revealed itself while we were away, when we were better in tune with ourselves: an uneasiness about trying to fit into something that no longer serves us.

Returning to the old.

To the place that is exactly as we left it, offering the same space where we somehow no longer fit.

But we all have to go.

Yes, we do, for the time being.

Take Your Time

Time is of the essence. It is the capital we have.

We only have that, and yet we also need to take our time.

Before anything happens, many steps have usually already been taken, bridges crossed, before we arrive somewhere where we are ready to move forward, whatever that may mean for us.

I myself started something new this morning: writing three pages freehand in a notebook.

I believe in journaling. Short notes or longer texts, reflecting on your feelings, recording dreams belong to mornings for me.

Like morning stretches or simple Pilates movements, they help me stay in tune with myself.

Instead of simply making notes in my Thoughts from the Journey folder on my phone, I actually pulled out a notebook to reflect beyond my normal routine.

A Notebook From 2018

By accident, I came across an old notebook of mine where I had last written in 2018.

Its cover read:

Believe that something magical is about to happen.

It made me smile.

The last thing I had written in it was a note about what sisu, Finnish gutted persistence, means to me.

It read:

At a point there comes a time when something snaps, and in that moment you draw from the sisu, gutted persistence, and make your move forward. Leave the situation, relationship, post that no longer serves you.

I stared at the sentence for a while, looking back at the person I was at that time, understanding that something was already happening.

Change was coming.

The Path We Take Inside

There is no tightness in my chest anymore.

I am at home, wherever I am.

It took me time. A long walk before I arrived here.

Nothing happens overnight.

There may appear to be sudden events, but seldom are they truly sudden. Only the viewpoint is different. The full path we have taken inside ourselves remains invisible to others.

Wherever you are this August, gaily moving ahead or dragging your feet, only you know the weight of your steps.

And as you begin to understand where they are taking you, perhaps they become lighter.

Take a Walk With Me

I’ll be happy to take a walk with you and help you shed some of the load you no longer wish to carry.

Sometimes a pause, a walk and a different environment are enough to hear more clearly what has already been quietly asking for your attention.

Through Luontopolku – Back to Your Senses®, reflective walks and slow travel experiences, I create space for that pause, in nature, through the senses and through meaningful conversation.

You can make message me or book your discovery call online.

Have a lovely August week ahead,

Mirka Kristiina Bruun
The Finnish Happiness Coach
Founder, The Journey Studio