★The things that give meaning to our lives – and restore our smiles to us.
★In search of the important things in life – small, precious everyday things that shimmer like mother-of-pearl in the summer sun and conjure from us a smile.

"At some point, in a quiet moment, I found myself wondering, which meaningful details from the past twenty years I could still recall, and unfortunately there were not many. It was high time to hit pause, to question my present way of life, and to do something about it. I decided to start immediately."

It is the pointless and time-consuming things in our lives that rob us of valuable years. And yet a slower pace and taking only one thing in stride at a time are no longer high on Western society’s list of priorities. This is why it is easy for the whirlpool of multitasking to drag us along as the pace of life increases, pressuring us to accomplish as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. As a result, our lives are distilled down to the sole act of getting things done, of checking things off our lists, and before we know it, the truly important matters slip past us.

Lena Segler is convinced that we will remain incapable of perceiving and absorbing what is truly meaningful, unless we slow down, practice slow deliberateness, and learn to pause. In this beautifully self-illustrated book, she regales us with her personal experiences and impressions. She pro-vides ideas to help us practice the art of focused concentration on one single moment, one memory, one encounter, one thought, one object.
And by doing this, she assures us that we will be better equipped to make our lives shine once more.

LENA SEGLER grew up in a bilingual German-Finnish family, and once her studies in Nordic philology, Slavic studies and philosophy were completed, she moved to Finland, which she has called home for the past twenty years. After earning her doctorate, she published scholarly books (in Finnish) in the disciplines of pedagogy and communication. In addition, she has worked as an editor, secondary school director and university lecturer. Lena Segler is married and has two adult daughters.