Olga Konovalova
“The period from 20 to 30 years of age is a time of youth, discovering oneself in the professional sphere, searching for a lifestyle, forming tastes, refining one’s values and habits, searching for a life partner. This is a very significant period in the life of every person– one for discovering inner potential, learning and self-determination and to ask oneself: Who am I, and who do I want to be? Who do I want to be with? Which direction will I go in?
Until the age of 30, we make the most significant contribution towards our future life, and we need to use this time very wisely. I have been practicing Heartfulness during this important period of ten years, which the authors of the books usually call “the defining decade”. I got to know about the Heartfulness practice when I was 20 years old. This coincided with very important milestones in my life which saw me graduating from university, looking for a job and solving the issue of housing since I came to study in the capital from a small town. At the same time, another important event happened – I married the young man who I met at university and with whom I began the Heartfulness practice of meditation.
At the start of the third decade of life, my lifestyle and worldview turned 180 degrees, thanks to Heartfulness. I began to look at the world from the inside, and many things around me began to change rapidly and acquired some kind of direction and aspiration. My environment was completely altered; at one point I was left without my usual friends with whom I spent time in my student days walking, having fun and adopting each other’s habits. I could have lost my inner essence and orientation if Heartfulness had not been a part of my life.
I completed my PhD and gained experience working as an artist at the oldest unique textile factory (which recently closed) in Russia. My family was formed and strengthened; my husband and I had a baby, and we settled down in the largest and most expensive city in our country. Together with my husband, and now our baby, we travel to India and practice Heartfulness. My husband and I are both Heartfulness trainers.
I feel I am entering a period of maturity with confidence, determination and joy. I feel like myself, that I am living my own life and listening to my heart. I am still open to the world and its possibilities. I have not lost my flexibility and desire to change and develop. It is common for people in their 30s to ask themselves if they imagined being where they are in their 20s. It’s wonderful that I can answer that I had no idea about the significantly real and beautiful things that I would acquire by the time I turned 30! And it, undoubtedly, happened thanks to my Heartfulness practice!”
