I appreciate my home. I appreciate my workplace.

In this modern life we work for living or we live for working.

It seems most of our life, with few exceptions, it happens between our home and our workplace, and sometimes the two even combine.

These last few weeks, with summer in full bloom, I had two experiences: one that made me appreciate my home more and one that made me appreciate my workplace more, and both together that energized me to write some more.

I will first talk about my first experience, a vacation of only four days but which gave me energy almost like one of two weeks. I took two days off and combined them together with the weekend to go to a festival, called The Dakini Festival, which took place at the seaside, where there was music, yoga, talks about spirituality, wisdom teachings, sessions of reconnection and, of course, sun, sand and sea. It was a dream come true because I wanted to go to a festival like that for a long time, but I never had the chance.

It was wonderful, but not in the terms of a five-star hotel, but in the terms of reconnecting with nature, with the energy of the earth, the sea, reconnecting with myself and with humanity, because in everyday life we are more disconnected than connected despite the fact in terms of technology we are more connected than ever.

I opted to stay in a tent so that I could fill myself with the earth energy. I really enjoyed it. Listening at night while falling asleep to the sounds of nature, without the noise of big cities, it has been revitalizing.

Of course, there were some bad sides, bad sides that brought me teachings (so maybe they are good in fact). There were showers but water was only two hours per day and for so many people that were there, there wasn't enough. However, we found a solution: using bottles of water to shower. It wasn't quite a right shower but it did the job. Being summer and very, very hot it wasn't quite a happy picture and this was the reason I could not last more than three nights.

But, it got me thinking, thinking about how our ancestors lived, how difficult were their conditions, how many people are still living today, without even the luxury of bathing with bottled water.

And so, when I got home I appreciated my home more, I appreciated the fact I have hot water, a proper bed (I really liked sleeping in a tent but still), I appreciated the fact that my home is a space where my energy can flow.

It's good to reconnect with nature, but we should also appreciate the luxury modern life has to offer us. We should not disconnect from the ancestral teachings, that is from where our vital energy is coming, but we should not throw away modern day progress, we should learn to combine them.

Be aware of nature every day, appreciate the comfort you have and think about how to make the world a better place. This is the conclusion of my first experience.

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The second experience it's been an even shorter vacation, of only one weekend on the seaside. It wasn't for attending a festival about spirituality, but about enjoying the modern life kind of fun: sitting on the beach under an umbrella, which is a modern facility, just saying, wearing fancy clothes, taking proper bath and going to fancy places. Looking at all the people throwing too much money for things that don't last it got me thinking. I felt happy I don't exaggerate like that, I felt happy I can have that kind of fun but without overspending, but by being balanced. And I also thought about the people that cannot afford even the minimum vacation I had. So when I came back, I appreciated more my workplace which is why I have what to eat, where to stay, the reason I afford to take vacation and do things that bring me wonderful experiences.

My conclusions maybe are common sense ideas, but I think sometimes we forget to appreciate them and to really feel that appreciation from our deep self.

Repeat everyday:

I appreciate my home.

I appreciate my workplace.