Today there was absolutely no traffic on our way from kids’ school to MMA. Thus, we arrived one hour earlier. I had one extra hour of training and it felt like a gift. It was a gift. We are not entitled to anything. Everything we take for granted is such a gift.

Being able to play violin is a gift. Because I only started doing it a year ago and I have been practicing almost every day since. This time, this ability to practice, this motivation are a gift. Desire to play is a gift. I love that I take the violin and listen to the sounds it makes and it still enchants me. It is like having my head on somebody’s shoulder and listening to beautiful stories from the insider point of view.

Being able to practice jiu-jitsu and kick-boxing is a gift too. None of us is entitled to it. It is great to have people around who want to practice with you, to have the arms and the legs and the body that is so akin to sport. It is great to be able to come here every day. Because it builds you up, it gives you energy, willpower and it helps you to work on your goals in all areas in life.  Still, it is not granted to all of us and I appreciate every hour I can train.

It is a gift to be able to see and meet people every day. Some of them we meet daily, at work, at school, some of them not so often. It is a gift to see them, to hug them, to see them smile, to talk to them. Their time and words are a gift to us. Nobody owes us anything. We do not owe anything to anybody. Everything that we make happen is a gift.

To work at our jobs and on our projects is a gift. To have problems and to solve them is a gift too.

I was in the changing room at MMA and I told somebody after training, “There was no traffic, so I arrived one hour earlier and it feels like a gift.” Because this is exactly how it felt.