About two weeks ago I overheard a conversation in a small local grocery store. A man asked the saleswoman: “Do you keep the large packages of hand dishwashing detergent?” The saleswoman replied: “No, we only have the small ones.” The man took his time to think and then said: “Well, I will take two small packages then.” The saleswoman diligently brought two packages to the counter without saying anything, but the man felt he should explain his ‘odd’ wish: “It is going to snow, you know. I live up in the hills on a solitary farm. Once the snow covers the steep road, I am cut away from...

An American psychologist who lives in Slovenia and has recently read my book said to me: »I think society IS mental illness.« I was puzzled for a while, but then I asked: »What are mental patients then? The worst cases?« To my astonishment he replied: »No, they are just people who are more aware of it.« I answered instinctively: »I’ll take this as a compliment.« Later I gave this conversation more thought. Maybe he was right. Think of paranoia. It’s one of the core thinking patterns. We are afraid of getting old, afraid of dying, afraid of being alone. So afraid that whole...

It’s not really a hacienda. This is only a nick-name for a cute little plantation of olive-trees on a hill overlooking the sea. It’s a magical place, where the retired parents of a good friend of mine live and grow olive-trees for a hobby. Among the olive trees they are also happy to show their guests the lemon-trees flowering in May and to offer them fresh fruits in late summer: apples, peaches, figs and grapes. Giving the prevailing pale green color of the olive-leaves a touch of colorfulness there are red poppies, pink honeysuckle, yellow Spanish broom and indigo colored sage blossoms...

I have read a paragraph in a leading national newspaper just recently: “Nowadays the society expects a lot from a woman. We have to be successful at work, be good wives, good mothers, look like models and keep smiling.” It’s interesting that such statements appear quite often and are usually written by women. Coming across sentences like this we gradually get the impression that the society sets a list of priorities for us. Give me a break! Who precisely is this “society”? Society in my opinion is nothing but a sociological notion. How could something that is not even a human being expect...

In my previous blog I was writing about the real karma. There were a lot of »should«-s. Surely some of you must have thought to themselves: »She preaches, but does she practice it in real life too? Posting on the net and getting all those sky-blue stars is one thing. Facing real people in need is another.« I couldn’t agree more. I hate to preach what I don’t practice and luckily this time I have some real life stories to tell. The first story started in autumn of 2007. I had my first volunteering experience. A went to the local old pensioners’ home and ask the social worker who was...