e secret of happiness
Fairy tale advent of a successful woman, mother and a grandmother
Svetlana Miettinen
This book is dedicated to my family. A family is the roots that feed a person. Without roots, the stem and the trunk one cannot develop. I send gratitude to my parents, my children, and my grandchildren. They have given me the abilities I have, and my family has helped me to become who I am.
Translator Kristina Mantilla
Proofreader Maria Kiov
© Svetlana Miettinen, 2018
© Kristina Mantilla, translation, 2018
ISBN 978-5-4493-8911-4
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Author Svetlana Miettinen
Chapter 1. A Few Memories
It is easy to tell a fairy tale… In order to comprehend and for me to unravel the idea, I need to make a step back into my past. This will give an understanding of the types of obstacles I have encountered. In life there are no accidents, everything has its own meaning and its own lesson. All of us are “students of the school of life” or in other words “we are actors of our spectacle of life”.
I was born in the Soviet Union in a normal Soviet family. I do not remember much of my childhood, but the brightest moments remained in my memory. Like all of the children of that time, I attended kindergarten and then my most favorite activity was drawing. My parents originally were from a small village but we moved to the capital of the autonomous republic; this meant, a new kindergarten and new memories. Fear remained in my memory when in the morning the teacher scolded my parents and me for being late. Next couple of years of my life didn’t have any other memories. One vivid memory from this period that I remember, at nights in my dreams, I used to fly with my hand stretched out forward in order to navigate the speed of the flight. However, these flights didn’t last long. Soon came the feeling of impossibility to fly in my dreams, obstacles appeared, and I stopped flying in my dreams.
Black and wight, 2018
The memory that I have is from school times. In the school program, there was a story about a little girl who wanted to have beautiful red shoes and her mom did not have enough money. This is a story about the cruel world of capitalism. I remember how the teacher told us how happy we are that we live in the Soviet Union, where the state takes care of all the children. This reminds me of another moment of my life. My mom sent me to the store to buy 100 grams of lard; there was no more money for more. I was very ashamed and uncomfortable doing so. I was afraid to ask the seller to weigh 100 grams of lard for me. There was already a package of lard of 250 grams on the shelf and there was no need to ask anything, but I did not have money for the package! That’s how the propaganda of a happy society and the reality of life intertwined. Many psychologists will say directly, that this gave me insecurity and fear, which held my life for a very long time.
Another memory I recall from school years. At the drawing class, which was my favorite class in school, we drew a crow from a model. I drew it as I saw it, and it looked like the one in front of me. The teacher nevertheless did not give me the highest score of 5 but gave me 4 because the real crow’s tail should be longer than the one of the model. Because of my fear, I did not say anything to the teacher. That was the end of my hobby of drawing. At school, I studied well and education came easily to me. But the relationship with my classmates was not the best. Being an excellent student was not a trend and others considered me a «white crow». For the second time in my life, the image of the crow has appeared.
An awareness of the unity of black and white came to me. Without black, it’s just an empty sheet of paper. By adding black we create reality. From the world of imagination, we transfer our vision to the world we live in. There is everything in everything. We are part of the universe and the universe is part of us. I’m grateful for everything I went through. This gave me an understanding of how not to act. The path to myself and the finding of my individuality has taken me many years. We are all unique and each of us has our own unique task in this life. I want to share my path and the truth that I have discovered. A life is only a road to yourself, to your divinity.
I was active and sport brought me joy. I have happy memories of summer vacation at the river with my parents. I still like to swim and spend time in the water. Nature gave me freedom and inspiration. I liked tourist routes and trails. I had excellent physical health. I have preserved my love for nature, as well as my excellent health. Now I live in the city next to the forest. In the evenings it’s pleasant to go to the forest and walk for a bit, to stop and to be alone with nature and with yourself. I got a good training from life, which helped me to settle down in new places. In the beginning it that was Latvia, later Finland. I am a citizen of the world. I do not feel an attachment to a specific country. People from all over the world wish for happiness and love. I managed to travel the world and from my experience, I can say that any person is a priceless treasure. My book is dedicated to the discoveries of these treasures in oneself.
Chapter 2. My story and my paintings
The first work, 2015
I am a happy and a successful woman, a grandmother and a mother. I managed to make my dreams come true. I have excellent relations with my family members, we all live in different countries and even on different continents. We truly have an international family. I do what I love, which makes me happy. I travel the world and I get pleasure and inspiration from it. My travels and my discoveries encouraged me to write this book about my findings and reflections. This is my gift to you, my readers. In my professional life, I noticed that personal relationships between people greatly affect the result of work. The same message can be perceived easily by one person and rejected by another one. Many things have already been voiced somewhere and by someone, but there are always people who will receive this message only from me. Also, there are people for whom only another author is suitable. This is the law of freedom of choice and predisposition.
For a long time, I lived a normal life that most people have. The difficulties that I faced taught me lessons in life. I endured them differently. There were moments of deep despair and not even a desire to live. Dissatisfaction with life pushed me to look for the meaning of life. Books began to come across to me, by that time “perestroika” (reformation) had begun in the country. From the books, I discovered the meaning of religion and spiritual development. In order to rise to the light, I had to fall to the bottom. Experience acquired by my soul is priceless. I started to draw in the adulthood. It was an unconscious strong desire that I could not resist. I did not have canvas nor paper. Paint I was able to find from my daughter’s room. All my children are very talented in art, each in its own way. At that time, I was experiencing a deep depression. Only my responsibility for the children kept me in this world.
My first piece was in dark colors. A lot of space and uncertainty, also a desire for a change and joy and love for life was present in that painting. It has the energy of awakening, awakening from sleep, and a powerful call to life, to the Universe. I drew it using an old canvas that my daughter used for her practice. There were only small inclusions of light and purity. Our inner voice of the soul is always present in us and we just need to stop and listen to it. It was the cry of my soul, the cry that proclaimed to the
