once on the night train to barcelona, i remember being alone in the compartment. in south of france, at night, pouring rain outside - i opened the window, and held my head into the rain. being dripping wet, rain flying into my face - that was such a moment of happiness. it’s an enormous feeling of joy - to simply travel through the night like this. to see the sea, sit on the shores of the ocean, playing the flute, or not - that’s another moment of happiness.

from early on, i had this deep longing for america. at night in barcelona, when these huge passenger ships left the harbour, i always sat there, and enjoyed their departure: the music, the lights, the melting of the ship into the width of the horizon. then suddenly i was in rotterdam myself - to travel with a holland-american-liner to new york. first of all i spent one day walking back and forth along the side of the ship - almost unable to believe that i would be going to america on this ship. how could such good luck happen to me? boarding the next day, standing on deck at the rail, listening to the farewell music, then suddenly feeling that vibration, the ship starts to move, the sound of the horn, people on the pier getting smaller and sea gulls whizzing around, joining us - these are incredible moments of happiness. well, but after one week of rough sea and of being seasick - i was so happy when the skyline of new york appeared in front of us. then, seeing something the first time for real, that i only knew from photographies in books - really being there - that’s another moment of happiness.

that’s how i found happiness and some kind of independence in my youth. but as soon as one has ‘arrived’ somewhere, everything might still turn out differently. to have a profession, an occupation that’s fulfilling and makes sense - is one of the main tasks. in the search for this ‘calling’, dissatisfaction can be quite inspiring, and then the discovery of what you really want to do - that’s again another moment of happiness.

so, these are moments of happiness. caused by the awareness of the transient nature of life - a moment becomes even more precious, and joyful - with its uniqueness in mind. usually each of these moments is the result of a long path - but sometimes happiness just comes as a gift.