When was the last time you have…

• switched off your phone for a whole day or a couple of hours?
• sat down to journal about how you are feeling?
• paused, anywhere, to simply look around and soak in your environment?
• simply done what you felt like and not what you were supposed to do?
• spend the whole day outside?

Mindfulness. A word that I have come across only recently. Yet, it is becoming a part of my daily life. My monday morning started with disturbing news: Two men that I have known from my political and Youth Press work in Germany have died on the weekend. They were both my age. I wish their families a lot of strength.

I am not exactly sure what feelings these news triggered. A mix of anxiety, gratitude and awareness. I do know what eventually got me going and I wanted to share it with you: I am extremely thankful for what I can do every day to follow my drive (to wherever it might lead me). And that, even after two years of living abroad, I have a supportive and encouraging network of family and friends at home. That makes all the difference! I complain about my home country a lot, but the source of this anger and disagreement is passion. It is my relentless drive to bring out the best in this country. And given the current state of Germany and Europe, it will take a lot of driven people in our generation to keep the European idea alive.

This summer makes me realize how much the ocean means to me; it is currently the source of my peace of mind, my replenishment, my encouragement. During the last two weeks, I have bathed in the Pacific and the Atlantic, in California and Massachusetts and spent many hours listening to the calming, yet powerful sound of the waves, letting my feet sink in the sand, taking walks with friends along the coast, being mindful.