In this enlightening and entertaining video, you'll see The Work by Byron Katie applied by a woman who holds strong grudges towards the meat industry. She quickly realises how her negative thoughts are preventing her from seeing clearly and compassionately. She comes to see how she has been a slave to her own thinking, and [...]
A little while ago, a friend had been cradling our then 13 month old daughter as she was struggling to sleep. "She required nothing but complete presence," he said afterwards, "or she would cry." Indeed, when he picked up a book, she would wake up and cry. For her to sleep, he had needed to [...]
Pondering the unspeakable And how to speak of it A thought comes: Life gave me life Water pouring into water Snap Visionary imagery Curtain radiant with being Then stillness - Timeless unity One an instant Eternal minute Mind no more Everything I Blissful smile Then back online: Hey, I should really write a blog about [...]
One of my teachers, the beloved Ananta Kranti, was liberated while doing time in a Japanese prison. The intense regime and extremely limited freedom led her to finding peace within herself, a limitless place underneath the experience of severe deprivation. Another friend woke up in the storm of heartache after losing the (then) love of [...]
A couple of days ago I read Sacha Post's post about asking yourself your Most Important Questions. In it, he recommends intentionally asking the Most Important Question (MIQ) that is alive in you right now, then get into a relaxed state for the remainder of the day and revisit the question first thing in the [...]
I love this poem, which is not really a poem but a piece taken from a letter from Rilke to a young friend. It opens the space for the creative power of life to answer what is alive in our hearts, instead of putting pressure on the mind which is often a bad advisor anyway: [...]
“There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind - you are the one who hears it.” ― Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Here's a fun exercise: write down your thoughts for a day, or even a couple of hours. [...]
This video actually comes from the hypnobirthing online course that we took but it is a life hack for everybody, not just parents-to-be :). In short, the lesson is: whenever you are presented with a difficult decision, use your BRAIN. That means asking the following questions: Benefits - what are the benefits? Risks - what [...]
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - Gandhi Conscious activism is enlightened activism. It is acting from love. As long as I sense hatred in my heart towards the people or system I am fighting, I need to heal myself first. What always helps me is The Work [...]
It's been almost 10 years, but I remember vividly. I am sitting in a room full of people dressed in white. I myself am dressed in white. There is music, people are dancing. I hear the sounds of the scene, but as if from a distance. Within me is space, peace. A silent joy. Every [...]
Today, April 19th, we celebrate international bicycle day. On this day in 1943, Albert Hofmann ingested a high dose (thinking it was a small one) of LSD, the molecule he had shortly therefore extracted from a fungi. It marked the beginning of a period in which psychedelics were regarded the most promising drugs in mental [...]
I have always loved my coffee (the smell of the ground beans, the brewing sounds, the heat coming from the cup...), but about three months ago I quit drinking coffee from one day to the next. As my mind and body have become more sensitive, over the years, to what I feed them, I started to notice [...]
Fun disclosure: my loved ones will laugh when they read this. As with most of my blogs, I am growing up in public, sharing what works - and doesn't work - for me, hoping it may work for you as well. If you tend to regularly forget your phone, loose your keys and waste your own [...]
Can I sit with someone and let them fully live their experience in the moment, without the need to change it? Sure, there are times to speak up, reach out and even take over. Wisdom, however, is to recognize what is asked for in the moment.
After journeying through tropical Costa Rica and Brazil for months, I thoroughly enjoyed the late Winter snow and early Spring sun rays in Holland during the last couple of weeks. The cold Dutch ground and early flowering trees helped me integrate the intense travel experiences and reaffirm my career and life choices. Medicine for Mind, [...]
