Across Ice and Ocean

Harmony in Nature’s Extremes

What does it mean to be truly happy? And how do the extremes of our natural world shape that happiness? In Chasing Bliss, host Paulino Duran journeys into two strikingly different terrains: the frozen wilds of Finland and the endless movement of the world’s waters. Across ice and ocean, the films explore how people living in these environments find balance, purpose, and peace by aligning themselves with nature rather than resisting it.

Finland: Happiness Within the Cold

In Chasing Bliss: Finland, we step into a world defined by quiet endurance and radiant simplicity. For much of the year, Finland is cloaked in snow and shadow, yet it remains home to the happiest people on earth. The documentary looks beyond statistics and into the hearts of those who live there to understand why.

What emerges is a portrait of people who find joy not in comfort, but in connection. When the temperatures fall, life slows. Families gather near fires, communities share warmth, and rituals like sauna and ice swimming become ways to honor the body’s resilience and the soul’s need for stillness. In the silence of the forest and the glow of early morning light, happiness reveals itself as presence rather than pursuit.

The Finnish people live with an acceptance that each season has purpose. The darkness deepens appreciation for the light, the cold heightens gratitude for warmth, and solitude makes space for reflection. It is in this harmony with the natural order that their joy takes root.

Sweetwater: Joy in Constant Motion

Chasing Bliss: Sweetwater offers a contrasting rhythm. Here, life is shaped not by stillness, but by movement. The story unfolds across coastal landscapes where the ocean dictates the flow of every day. Fishermen, surfers, divers, and dreamers all share the same teacher: the sea.

Water connects everything. It erodes, nourishes, and renews. It challenges and calms. The people who live close to it learn to read its moods and mirror its rhythm. Their happiness comes from surrender, from the understanding that life, like the tides, is never still. In their stories, we find that peace can exist within motion, and that bliss is not found in control, but in flow.

The ocean becomes a metaphor for the human spirit: vast, restless, and capable of great stillness when in balance. To live by the sea is to learn humility and trust. The rhythm of the waves shapes the rhythm of life itself.

A Shared Truth

While Finland and Sweetwater unfold in vastly different worlds, they are bound by a single truth. Joy flourishes when we live in harmony with nature’s extremes. The stillness of ice and the movement of water teach the same lesson: to live well is to live in rhythm.

The people of Finland show us that peace can be found in the depths of winter. The communities of Sweetwater remind us that grace can be found in motion. Both reveal that happiness is not an escape from our environment, but a deep communion with it.

An Invitation to Listen

The Chasing Bliss series reminds us that nature has its own language. In the creak of ice, in the crash of surf, in the quiet breath between seasons, there is wisdom. When we listen, we begin to understand that our pursuit of happiness is not separate from the earth’s cycles, but part of them.

Watch Chasing Bliss: Finland and Chasing Bliss: Sweetwater exclusively on CORE and experience how harmony with the elements reveals the truest form of joy.

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