The Northern Lights Don't Perform on Demand

Here is how strategist and leadership mentor Sonja van den Bosch describes the experience of seeing the Northern Lights on my Aurora Tour. (Captions by Ove Lillas)

There’s no guarantee. No switch you can turn on. No strategy that forces them to appear.

And that’s exactly what makes the experience so powerful.

The experience of the Aurora Tour is elevated by the way I do it: far away from lights, sounds and people.

Yesterday, we stood in the middle of nowhere close to Nykarleby in Finland with Ove Lillas Nordland Aurora.

No big buses. No crowds. No tourist production line.

Just snow under our boots. A fire we built together. Sausages roasting over open flames. Stories shared in the dark. And the vast Arctic sky above us.

Earlier that day, we visited Ove’s gallery. We saw his breathtaking photographs, listened to his stories, and felt his passion.

This isn’t “just a tour” for him. It’s a calling.

Visitors in the Nordland Aurora photo gallery.

Through his images, his storytelling, and his Aurora show, he brings the experience alive long before the sky begins to move.

If you ever find yourself in Finland and want an Aurora experience that feels real, personal, and far from the crowds, Nordland Aurora is something truly special.

And then, hours later, it happened.

The sky shifted.

Green light dancing across black space. Silent. Wild. Alive.

No one spoke.

You don’t control moments like that. You witness them.

The Northern Lights slowly dancing over the frozen sea. It's impossible to show the size of them in a photo.

When we first spoke about this travel adventure, Jordi said immediately: “I want to see the Northern Lights.”

No overthinking. No debating whether it was practical. Just clarity.

That simple, grounded knowing.

Making the fire and roasting sausages is part of the outdoor night experience.

Sonja with husband and son. Happy when the aurora dream comes true.

When the show reaches its climax you become speechless.

It reminded me how often we override that voice as adults.

We talk ourselves out of what feels right. We choose what makes sense on paper instead of what feels true in our body.

But the most enriching experiences in life, and in business, rarely come from playing it safe or following the mainstream path.

They come from choosing differently. From going off the beaten track. From trusting what lights you up.

[...]

Standing under the Aurora, I realised something:

Growth that works and feels good is a lot like this.

You can’t force it.

You can create the conditions. You can step into the cold. You can light the fire. You can choose to show up in the middle of nowhere.

But you cannot control the magic.

In my work with business owners, leaders, and marketers, this is what I see again and again.

When you choose growth that reflects who you truly are, not what others expect, everything shifts.

When you follow what feels right for you, even if it doesn’t make sense to everyone else, you create experiences and businesses that are richer, deeper, and far more sustainable.

My work is simply an extension of how I choose to live. 

Choosing aligned adventure. Depth over surface. Relationships that last. The path that feels true.

[...]

The Aurora doesn’t appear because you demand it.

It appears when you stop forcing and start trusting.

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Sonja van den Bosch

Read the complete article on Sonja’s website Twinlife Forward Inspiration

A powerful moment when the Northern Lights fill the sky.