Olga L. (SEI)

The state of happiness for me is music and, of course, nature.

I often experience a state of happiness. Right now, the blooming trees bring happiness, the scent of blooming lilacs is such a delight! The leaves on the trees move and play with light and shadow! That’s happiness. It’s an overwhelming sense of the beauty of the world! Indescribable! And harmony in everything! Nature is everything! All of nature is beautiful.

Even in the north, it’s beautiful. You’d think, what’s there to see? But it’s stunningly beautiful: hills, white reindeer moss between huge moss-covered boulders, and bright red berries on it… An indescribable beauty. On the dark water, there’s pale ice, white on top, darker and darker underneath, with gentle sloping shores rising above the water... Happiness is the beauty of the world around us.

I experience a great physical pleasure, a wave of delight through the whole body from having something tasty, sweet, and it must be beautifully presented. For example, I bought a little white pastry sprinkled with coconut, placed it on a dark plate, and ate it with a silver spoon. Oh, what a pleasure! The key is the dark plate with the silver spoon! Pure delight. The body relaxes, complete bliss. It's twice as delicious. You’ve got to savor it!

Comfort and coziness are my thing; it's a complete state of inner harmony. When there's no comfort and coziness, my soul feels unsettled—I get jittery and nervous. Even if it's just one square meter that resonates with harmony—I'm at peace within it. Without it, I can literally get physically ill; no coziness, no harmony.

I like it when people's clothing is balanced. The inner feeling from clothing should be: comfort, confidence, and the sense that it suits you. I need to feel that it’s mine, and that’s it. Then I’m in a great mood. I put on a little makeup, step out with a smile, and go. Clothes should enhance you, not ruin your look.

And then I can endure a little discomfort for the sake of beauty.

The state of happiness for me is music and, of course, nature.

Music is a state of complete emotional and physical pleasure, a state of delight, happiness, and tenderness that literally brings tears to my eyes. When music is beautifully performed, especially symphonic music, that is pure happiness — it's magnificence.