Sometimes you just have to stop and watch.

I watch Ali Rüzgar under the sun, with his childlike curiosity, shaping an eye out of sand. It feels like another universe, the hero of a tale he created himself.

Watching him, I relive the past and take an invaluable lesson: Simplicity. Seeing how a child, with the simplest materials - just sand and water - can build such a vast work of art, such a deep happiness, makes you question your own complicated life.

Imagination has no limits, but our expectations of happiness do. And yet the formula is this simple: As Kul Nesimi says, “Love is with a handful of soil, a drop of water…”

We do not need grand plans or perfect vacations. Real happiness may be hidden in those tiny moments on the beach, beside our loved ones, simply being without doing anything.

I tuck this moment into my pocket. Because I know that when I remember it later, what will touch my heart will not be the hotel’s star count, but the eye Ali made from sand.