THE LAST DAY

The sun will rise for the last time in 2012 in just a few hours and I suppose that many people around the world are making the choice on how they wish to remember the year that is passing by.

This is a choice we all have to make each year and it is probably through this decision that we create the base on which we set our expectations for the following year.

Most of us wish that the year to come is to be better than the previous one, thereby always setting the mark that the years that have gone by have negative connotations tied to them. Yet, while it is very important to never forget the bad times, it seems we have gotten so caught up with keeping score of them that we easily let go of the good ones.

All moments, good or bad, deserve to be remembered and used as a guide for the following years. A year should not be defined either as positive or negative simply because there cannot only be pluses and minuses in someone’s life.

Sure, there are periods where the one side overlaps the other, but life is never flat. Think back on the best year you consider you have ever had and I’m sure that if you dig deep enough you will find moments that were full of negativity and bad luck.

Pick your worst year ever and even though it might feel as a long stretch to discover a glorious and happy moment, I’m sure again, that you will be able to retrieve one out of the corners of your mind.

Personally, I have to admit that 2012 has been the most difficult year I have encountered in my entire life. I could call it the worst year, but I consciously choose not to, because I believe that life just brings you difficulties. Difficulties that you must learn how to overcome and accept in order to move forward.

The word difficult is tied closely with the word challenging. Each year presents us with various challenges, either good or bad, and we must embark on a quest to successfully fulfill them.

There is really no point with arguing with yourself or God on why you have been chosen to go through certain things. You are not the first, nor will you be the last. Make no mistake. You are not special in this department and life does not take it out only on you.

It would be extremely selfish to think that the universe, or whoever, is mad at you and you are the only one facing challenges. Female or male, Greek, Chinese, American, or German, black or white, we all have to wake up every day and be prepared for what the future holds for us.

I happen to find that when things get rough and bumpy, there is usually a lesson to be learned. A lesson that can lead you to great personal gain as far as your evolution in this life is concerned.

Besides, as one great poet once wrote, it is all about the journey. «Σαν βγεις στον πηγαιμό για την Ιθάκη, να εύχεσαι να ‘ναι μακρύς ο δρόμος, γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις.» Κ.Π. Καβάφης.

How will we be any different the coming year if we choose to completely disregard of the long path we walked on in 2012? We can wish all we want, but we will never be able to cross-out the deeds of the past.

Life may bring us all these challenges, but the way we decide to face and act upon them is entirely up to us. So let’s face it. What we really want to cross-out are the ways we acted upon various situations and not the challenge itself.

But, if you manage to delete all the bad stuff and the wrong choices you have made, how will you ever going to choose the right thing to do in a similar situation?

Each year that goes up is stacked on top of the rest as a chapter of our lives that we need to cherish and go back to whenever we encounter these difficult situations and challenges in the future. It can serve as a guide and a map that will draw a better path for us to follow.

Each year serves as a marking point on who we are and who we have become over the years. So unless you want to delete your entire previous existence, then you cannot forget about the past.

Think of them in difficult times and cherish the knowledge they have given you so you can move forward to better years in the future.

The past is there to guide you. The future will be whatever it will be. But the present is for you to live fully.

So tonight do not think of what happened in 2012. And do not daydream on how you want your 2013 to be like. Just relax, breathe and live every minute until this day ends.

You are lucky, my friend, to find yourself on the borderline between these two years. Almost at the absolute zero. Enjoy the peace of the one exiting and the one entering your life.

Good night and may you have many happy new years stacked up on top of the old ones!

A QUEST FOR HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 1: Exploring the dark.

The most precise definition of the dark is the absence of light.

And one of the most accurate observations is that we are all afraid of it more or less. Nobody likes walking in the dark with little or no light to guide their way. Nevertheless, we spend so much time trying to fill our lives with darkness.

The absence of light is not only a matter of the lack of electricity during the night, the flame of a candle or the moonlight that breaking the nightfall. It can be seen metaphorically as the lack of brightness in our inner existence.

As the nightfall is characterized by the absence of light so are human beings who have forgotten or do not know how to light their own flame and illuminate their existence and the people that surround them.

We often hear of the so called dark side of people which apparently is real enough since we seem to talk about it all the time. If it was not for people who are completely consumed by the dark our world would not frighten us so much at times.

Those who have been drawn to the dark side are not necessarily the evils of our world. Even the faintest negative thought brings darkness into our lives and sinks us into the abyss of desperation.

Now more than ever we are all so full of negativity that we think that the glass is half-empty instead of half-full.

Sure, it takes only but a few moments to think of something that makes us miserable or unhappy, and it is also true that there are usually more than one reasons that exercise this dark effect on us.

But why does it always take longer to remember just that one single bit of our existence that makes us smile?

No thought is more discouraging than the fact that we believe that happiness is playing impossible to get. The notion of the most precious things being the hardest to achieve is solid because it shows how much they are worth the fight. However, believing that they are never going to come our way is a complete distortion of life itself.

We are not meant to be miserable. We are not meant to be unhappy. And surely we are not meant to be left hopeless in the dark abyss that we have created for ourselves.

All those negative thoughts about what is happening right now, or even worse, what is going to happen in the future, and the self-doubt buzz that never silences are keeping us in the dark. Unable to react, to turn on the switch and let the light come rushing in.

Drowning us in a world characterized by the absence of light and leaving us static, allowing life to pass us by and leave us behind like ghosts left hanging around when their souls are being detached from their bodies.

This may sound creepy and it actually is. Can you imagine anything creepier, scarier, more tragic than abandoning yourself to the dark?

It is similar to committing suicide, a spiritual suicide that is. The more you leave yourself to darkness, the more difficult it becomes to make a comeback towards the light. It is almost like falling into a deeper coma every time you turn off your lights. And patients in severe comas rarely wake up. They are left hanging between the living and the dead until someone pulls the plug and leaves them dead for good.

Nobody likes to hear that they are in danger of fading into darkness. Nobody likes to hear the truth. But accepting that you have let yourself fall deep into a world without light is the very first step to come out of this coma.

Happiness is associated with light, brightness and a clear mind. One must step out of the dark in order to have a fighting chance at happiness.

So be inspired by the following song and 

PUT YOUR LIGHTS ON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5a0OAtzrXE

STRUGGLING ONCE AGAIN: Immigration during the recession

Not long ago we were all living in a world where worrying too much about our future was not part of our lives. In the last few years this image has changed, being replaced by the agony of what tomorrow may bring.

The 21^st century recession in Greece came sweeping us off our feet, crushing most people’s dreams and plans about the future and sinking us into uncertainty. People who have been working for most part of their lives lost their jobs and the country’s population does not smile anymore.

But keeping in mind that we are still at home surrounded by our loved ones is good enough a reason to bring a smile to our faces. Others are less fortunate and have been forced to flee their own countries in order to survive.

Coming to Greece in hope for a better future, thousands of immigrants have resided here in the last few decades. However, the struggle for survival has come knocking their door once again and they now face a dilemma. Should they stay or should they go?

Deciding to leave the country is not an easy choice at all since there is a vast majority of immigrants who have been here for more than a decade and are accustomed to living in Greece. Many have created families and their children grow up as natives and others have married Greeks and are even more incorporated in the greek society.

Ali Rahsan, 45, is a carpet shop owner from Iran who has been living here for the past twenty years. His wife is from Crete and they have a 12-year old girl. “The last three years the shop’s revenue has dropped 40-50%”, says Ali about his business. The situation is very difficult and he continues saying that “My wife and daughter have been long asking me to move to Iran, but I wish to stay here and keep trying.”

Going back for an Iranian is a tough choice since their country is ruled by a theocratic regime. Those who do not share the political views of the President and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not treated equally in the professional field. One of Ali’s brothers is a civil engineer who has been unemployed for years because he does not support the government.

Finding a job in Iran is not the issue for Ali because working hard here in Greece has paid off and he has made investments in Iran that can provide for him and his family. Censorship is the real issue here and this is why he does not wish to return and will keep on fighting in order to maintain his freedom of speech.

His brother Javar, however, has made his decision to go back no matter how the situation is in Iran. The 30-year old has been working with his brother for the last three years because he cannot find any other kind of job. “Since work has dropped so much in the shop I have decided to move back to Iran in a couple of months and see what I can do there.”

Javar is not the only one choosing to leave Greece as things are looking grimmer by the day. Many immigrants and not just Iranians are migrating once again because they do not have jobs or are paid so little that they cannot support themselves anymore.

Muhammad, a 27-year old Egyptian, has been living and working here for the last five years. Now he is employed as a roaster in a local rotisserie in Gerakas as his previous job in the construction no longer exists.  

He works in a suffocating atmosphere from 12 in the morning to 12 at night every single day, but still makes barely enough to pay for the very basic. “I have about seven Egyptian friends who have already left because they couldn’t afford rent and food”, he says.

 “I am going to leave eventually. I’m just waiting for the elections in Egypt and see how the new government will act in the first year and then go back”, Muhammad adds.

Immigration is experiencing its own crisis not only in Greece but in almost all member states of the EU. Percentages vary from country to country but there are cases like the Czech Republic and Ireland where it has been reduced almost by 50%. The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) states in its recently published 2011 International Migration Outlook report that the overall migration has decreased by 7%.

Prospects for the resolution of the economic crisis are not looking good in the foreseeable future. It is anticipated that the situation might be even worse in the next few months and more immigrants will be forced to leave Greece.

Hundreds or perhaps even thousands like Ali who have been postponing their decision because of the unstable or unfavorable conditions in their countries will have no other choice.

“Returning to Iran was never an option for me, but if this goes as bad as I think it will in the following year, I’ll force myself to do it.”, he says. 

Blank Page: Ας γράψει ο καινούργιος χρόνος ό,τι θέλει

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«Γιουπιιιιι»,  «καλή χρονιά», «το 2012 είναι εδώωω» λένε όλοι.

«Χρόνια Πολλά, καλή χρονιά παιδί μου και ότι επιθυμείς» φωνάζει η μητέρα ανοίγοντας τα χέρια της για μια αγκαλιά.

«Καλή χρονιά κοράκλα μου και ότι καλύτερο στη ζωή σου», αναφωνεί ο μπαμπάς.

Οι ευχές και οι αγκαλιές δίνουν κ παίρνουν στο ζεστό από το τζάκι σαλόνι που είναι γεμάτο από αγαπημένους ανθρώπους.

Το 2012 είναι και επίσημα εδώ δίνοντας σε όλους τους ανθρώπους μια ακόμη ευκαιρία για καινούργια αρχή.

Κάθε νέο έτος η αντίδραση όλων μας είναι ελπιδοφόρα και το χαμόγελο φτάνει μέχρι τ’ αυτιά λες και έχουμε μόλις βγει από τη φυλακή και μπορούμε επιτέλους να ξεκινήσουμε από το μηδέν.

Η αλήθεια είναι ότι όταν ο χρόνος πετάει αντίστροφα και βρισκόμαστε πάλι στην πρώτη μέρα του όλα όσα περάσαμε την προηγούμενη χρονιά μοιάζουν να μένουν εκεί. Κλεισμένα στο χρονοντούλαπο με τους περισσότερους να έχουν μια διάθεση να τα διαγράψουν τελείως από τη ζωή τους και να μην κοιτάξουν ποτέ πίσω.

Όλες οι 365 ημέρες είναι γεμάτες από στιγμές που θέλουμε απλά να μας προσπεράσουν αλλά και από άλλες που είναι ευχή μας να θυμόμαστε για πάντα. Μήπως όμως επιλέγοντας να τα στριμώξουμε τις κακές στιγμές μέσα σ’ ένα σκοτεινό κουτί και να πετάξουμε στο κλειδί στη θάλασσα ώστε να το φάει η μαρμάγκα, ρισκάρουμε να χάσουμε κι εκείνες τις μονάκριβες ευτυχισμένες στιγμές;

Και αν κλείνοντας όλα τα άσχημα κάπου τα όμορφα αρχίσουν να μοιάζουν λιγότερο ξεχωριστά γιατί πολύ απλά δεν θα υπάρχει σύγκριση; Όλη μας η ζωή και όλες οι αναμνήσεις θα είναι μεταξύ τους ίδιες. Και οι άκρως ευτυχισμένες θα αρχίσουν να φθείρονται σταδιακά και μετατρέπονται σε κάτι λιγότερο. Απλά χαρούμενες. Μέχρι να φθάσουν να γίνουν κοινότυπη καθημερινότητα αφού δεν θα υπάρχει κάτι εναλλακτικό.

Κάθε νέο έτος αποτελεί μοναδική ευκαιρία για ένα reboot. Μια ώθηση προς τα μπροστά. Δεν σημαίνει όμως ότι πρόκειται για αλλαγή σκληρού δίσκου. Αυτό που μας καθιστά δυνατούς για νέα ξεκινήματα είναι το γεγονός ότι κοιτάμε πίσω στα προηγούμενα χρόνια, αναγνωρίζουμε τα λάθη μας και μαθαίνουμε από αυτά και αποφασίζουμε να χτίσουμε ένα καινούργιο όροφο πάνω σ’ αυτές μας τις εμπειρίες.

Ο καινούργιος χρόνος μας προσφέρει μια λευκή σελίδα για να γράψουμε πάνω για κάθε μία από τις 365 μέρες του. Μετά το τέλος του όμως αυτή η σελίδα θα μπει στο τετράδιο δίπλα στις σελίδες όλων των προηγούμενων χρόνων.

Ας γράψει λοιπόν το 2012  ότι θέλει και μετά εμείς θα το φυλάξουμε στο πολύτιμο αυτό τετράδιο δίπλα στην καρδιά μας.