I cannot make up my mind whether i should start by stating that i am thankful, that i am happy, that i feel blessed, or that i am in love. So better state it all at once. I am grateful, happy, blessed and in love for the opportunity to travel to a beautiful spot on this earth and be well received, for meeting beautiful people, for learning beautiful new things about the beautiful life on this planet, for enjoying beautiful food, for being out in beautiful nature, for making beautiful new friends.

Observing nature around me and seeing the trees growing, the birds singing, some fish swimming or a four-legged animal hiding in the brushwood i realise life is such an interesting undertaking for people who tend to ponder about the what and the why of their existence. Probably, it is by far our biggest challenge to live in the now moment as our mind constantly prevents us from doing so. However, it does not require much at all to be now. We practice our awareness and cultivate our appreciation for everything that has been given (everything in the sense of no matter whether we judge a gift 'good' or 'bad'); so we arrive here:

on the railroad to Snowdonia, Wales. It takes me the internet, trains, and maybe a phone to connect to people and go visit them. Lately, i often catch myself thinking about electricity and how our life has become so dependent on it. We could not go without it. Studying conflict violence as a scientific enterprise, i am scared to make up potential dynamics within a larger city once electricity goes off. And does not come back on. Start this mind experiment and you might as well get stuck in every corner of your life.

My friend Tom keeps emphasising the danger we face for no longer storing knowledge in organic matter. I fear he is so right. Imagine electricity goes off and you cannot consult the www for your survival. How will you learn where to find water, how to clean it, how to make fire, how to get directions to some place you need to get to on foot, what plants you can eat in the forest once the stuff in your fridge got spoiled and your stock went empty - without poisoning yourself, how to grow crop, how to prepare yourself for the challenges you might face at some point.

I realise that i am pretty unprepared for such situation. Neither do i have the knowledge nor the tools to ensure my survival. Out of the convenience of turning switches and taps on i have become alienated from the basic skills that underlie my existence. How does such ignorance pay off in the sudden case of disaster?

Many of us agree that Japan is a reminder. Everything can change drastically within moments, the currently unthinkable might as well become possible. My friends taught me about Yellowstone. We watched this documentary together. My perspective has changed since. If i yet needed an incentive for living in the moment irregardless of the tomorrow or the yesterday, this has been the one.

Welcome to life.