How I discovered my questions while searching for answers
January 3rd, 2021
Five seconds. And everything smells of heaven, wet grass and happiness.
Think about it. How many times have you cherished a sunset or sunrise? How many times have you woken up early in the morning just so you can see the earth breathe fog? On how many days have you taken the time to enjoy the little things: the pleasant smell of a flower, the sound of the river flowing at speed, the noisy silence of the forest? How many times have you rushed through moments, without enjoying them, in a hurry to get to another moment and another and another?
Life is too beautiful to live at speed
We complain about the cold in winter, the strong wind in spring, the heat in summer, and the rain in autumn. Seasons must be divided into moments. Life must be divided into moments. These are moments in which to enjoy the unmistakable smell of freshly laid snow, of nature that comes to life as if “by a miracle, not by biology”, summer apples, boiled or baked corn, late plums, trips to the tops of the mountains and hot weather, quinces with frost on them, freshly squeezed grape juice, and many smiles.
How many times have we taken the time to admire the high flight of birds, mingling our thoughts with them up there, and waiting for them to descend smoothly? How many moments have been spent in silence, lying on the green grass and listening to the perfect music of nature, with all that it means? How many times have we carved out five minutes from our lives just to watch the activity of bees or ants? How many times have we been surprised by the rapidity of change around us? If we slow down, our moments will slow down as well.
How many times have I lived?
We must make time for moments when we can put aside negative thoughts, and focus on what we can do for other people. How many times have we cried for ourselves, while pretending to cry for others? And how many times have we pretended that success is happiness, but forgot to be happy when we were successful? How many times have we stopped to answer the questions our children ask us? How many times have we stopped to answer our own questions? And if we haven’t stopped, why?
How many times have we sought perfection? And if we searched for it, but didn’t know where to look, haven’t we wasted too many precious moments? What if perfection is relative? What if we are perfect for each other, but can’t be perfect for everyone else?
Looking for answers, I found a lot of questions, and scratched a few thoughts in my diary: “Today I looked at the clouds for hours. It’s nice when it’s quiet around, without the deadlines and the missed calls. A little normalcy in the middle of a life that has become more and more abnormal. Is that what we were created for? Should we run fast through the moments of our lives (not even through them) to get as high up as possible? It takes years to reach the top in my career, and I managed to reach the top above the clouds, by a glance. How can you not love everything around you? How can you not make time to love? And about love… I feel it, I say it, but do I show it? When will I succeed? I’m in a hurry to run through the moments. But now I took my time. I go through this moment aware of everything that has been created and exists around me and aware that I love my friends, my family and that I love God. I take time to live and be happy. In finding questions, I have begun to find answers and I am satisfied. Serendipity, I managed to discover myself!”
Bulat Silvia
Related articles
Noemina is a graduate of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, where she majored in health care. She is working in her field as of 2012. The journal excerpt she sent to us reflects her week-long experience at the epicentre of the battle with the new coronavirus in the intensive care unit, where serious cases are admitted.
Even in difficult times there are many things we can do at home to help children as well as teenagers to feel less worried.
These days we all need to hear good news—that life will soon return to normal and that we will be able to return to the troubles of yesterday, which now seem small to us. In the meantime, our lifestyle has seen changes that we could not have imagined just a few weeks ago.


