Flow, new friends, writing, and music at a big lake (August 2022)

My idea was to drive from the car service in Plovdiv south in the mountains. But because the friendly mechanic recommended me the area and lakes/ reservoirs from Batak to Dospat, I went there. It was just a little further west and I felt like it would be nice to stay sometime at a calm lake in the mountains.

The lake was really beautiful and its appearance and the weather changed every day. It was so nice to witness these changes and I had a very calm time there. After I had faced my boredom and experienced kind of a liberation from whatever I somehow felt I should do and not do, and getting rid of the stuff, I felt very easy.

During my time at the UFO, I had got more and more into writing a lot of micro and short stories and I kept doing that. My love for writing, especially with making up all sorts of universes and the simplicity of writing got deeper and deeper.

At the lake I did come up with a story, that I only built in my mind: I did not write anything down. I just repeated it over and over again in my head and every time I did so, it was changing. I feel, that all stories are somehow alive and keep on changing but that one was and still is as alive as a story can get, I think. If you like to have an experiment, just try it. One of the good things about it: you don’t need anything apart from yourself and you can do it everywhere and every time. For me, it felt like having some kind of a pet or a weird type of companion. Now that I’m thinking about this story, I feel like it is more a real memory than a story I’m remembering.

In addition to writing, I did make more music on my iPad, again. This was super nice as well and both, writing and making music, felt very free to me.

But the most beautiful at that lake was, that I met a lovely and gorgeous family. They were living in their big van and traveling around for months. We had an awesome time together and a lot to share and feel. Playing with the kids was so creative and free. I loved it.

One day, they told me that they had been at a festival about music, nature, and spirituality some weeks ago. I had been looking for exactly that kind of festival in Greece and Bulgaria as well. I missed it just for a couple of weeks. But they told me, that in just two weeks there would be another festival of the same kind at one of the smaller lakes just a little further south and up the mountain! I was super happy about that and appreciated how things were developing/ flowing.

And this festival… Let’s say it will have some impact on me and my journey…

Back on the mainland of Greece, learning to fish and getting more into writing (June 2022)

Finally, in June 2022, I left Evia and hit the mainland of Greece again. After some weeks mostly in solitude, I felt like meeting some people would be nice. I looked for an easily accessible beach and found one with a great view of the mountains in the north of Evia.

On that beach, two super friendly, older Greek guys have been living for months. They had built up a little camp and one was fishing every day. They invited me to have several meals with them and it was super fun to talk with them about their perspective on Greece and how it has been and is changing.

I got to know another Greek guy who visited the beach every morning and evening. He had several fishing rods with him and showed me how to use them. For me, it was the first time using a pole and I enjoyed learning it. But at the same time, I felt very sorry for the fish. I’m mostly vegetarian but from time to time, if someone invites me, I’m eating little meat or fish. The fishing experience made me think about that again.

Most of the time, the water of the sea has been calm like in the video above. After the hiking on Evia, it was just perfect. I continued my swimming and bo staff training and got more and more into writing. I had started writing micro stories at the super nice mountain spot, I found on Evia. I just wrote whatever came into my mind and it felt very free and exciting. The joy of writing intensified over the weeks and very naturally a routine of daily writing established itself.