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  • Wake up and make a change

    Wake up and make a change

    Waking up

    Very early this morning, after just four hours of sleep, i woke up filled with inspiration. Got up at six to draw some mindmaps. The essence:

    (Re)create healthy habits. Journal (on it right now). Get people involved (dito).

    Yesterday was a turning point

    Yesterday, following an unpleasant weekend, i found myself at a party feeling lost. I went home yearning for peace and quietness.

    It’s been a long time since i felt this way. What happened?

    For some weeks now, i have been feeling increasingly off-balance. Eating not-so-healthy foods, hardly exercising or practicing yoga, disregarding my feelings and loading myself with work didn’t help.

    I went to the party and felt a bit overwhelmed with the whole happening. When i needed to back away, i couldn’t. The sharpness of my soul crying for some space and the utter inability to change my own behavior felt devastating. I was alarmed by my own absence of centeredness and willfulness. It woke me up: something needed to change.

    My body was shaking with sadness and anger undealt with in the weeks before. I felt an urge to move and cry. The friends whom i shared it with, were of great support. Roald asked me what it was i needed (‘a strong presence to rest in’), and invited me to envision what it would be like to find this within myself. Toby invited me to spend a day in nature with him. Ronja hugged me softly and told me she loved me.

    I feel so incredibly rich to have friends like them.

    What is it you really like to do?

    A few hours earlier, on that Sunday early evening while i was doing some work sitting on the couch, my love Marco* had asked me: “Tell me, what is it that you really, REALLY like to do in life?”

    I couldn’t find an answer! I just forgot. I felt worthless, agitated, tired. And still, i kept on working.

    When i finally closed my laptop and was alone for a bit, only then some space emerged.

    Suddenly, the movement came automatically: i opened Spotify, played some music, got up and danced into my little kitchen.

    Cook! I love to cook.

    Some inspirators

    The past few weeks weren’t all that bad! I have met wonderful people and worked on some pretty cool projects.

    Paul Ricken

    One of them is Paul Ricken’s new website (now live at Paulricken.nl). Paul had lost his mojo for a while and then found it through a friend who read him a poem. This experience unleashed an unstoppable amount of energy and the ability to create ideas and content like never before. Working with Paul has inspired me to start to journal regularly and share the process with YOU.

    Rita Zeelenberg

    Then there’s Rita Zeelenberg, the owner of Mindful Eten (Dutch for Mindful Eating, we’re in the process of a big website restyling and addition of some very cool new features). Rita is a smart and committed professional and writes great articles. For you Dutchies: here’s her blog that inspired me this morning before i started to write this very post: 11 psychologische doetips voor je eetgedrag.

    Marileen Arbouw

    Next, there’s Marileen. My beloved princess-cookie-friend with whom i catered many a dish (vegan, organic, gluten-free, colorful & delicious) for groups of meditators and soul travelers. Yesterday, she published her website Marileenarbouw.nl which showcases her amazing artistic design and food creation talents. She got me all bubbly and full of inspiration to finish and publish this website (the one you’re reading right now).

    Toby Sebastian

    And then: Toby. When i’m around him, my heart opens and random thoughts dissolve into deep understanding. Toby just moved from England to The Netherlands and will be sharing his awakened insights in informal get-togethers, breathing life into a new project (including website) featuring today’s most valued spiritual teachers. (Update! Toby’s website is now live at tobysebastian.org.)

    Wow, right?

    Living a life in tune with your deepest values is easier when you surround yourself with people already living theirs. And i am so lucky to say there is an abundance of inspirators in my life.

    Creating habits for a healthy, conscious, minimal, joyful, connected, meaningful life of abundance and freedom is something i (will) write about regularly. Sharing experiences and growing up in public ;).

    Do you feel like joining in or just giving me a thumbs up? Let me know in the comments which habits you’d like to create for yourself and WHY.

    Thanks!

    * Update: things change and now years later, Judith and Marco are no longer together as a couple. We are still close friends.

  • Winter in the tropics – your advice please!

    Winter in the tropics – your advice please!

    My love and i are planning to stay the winter overseas, where Christmas is sunny and where New Year’s Eve is celebrated in bikini, with sandy toes.

    I feel so deeply happy and grateful to be able to do this… aaaaahhhh. Yay!

    We’ll be working from there (as well as doing yoga courses, jungle trekkings and whatnot) and so we’re looking for the perfect places for digital nomads like us to connect to local people and nature as well as… well, wifi.

    We’re thinking Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia. Maybe Bali. We heard good things about Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Ho Chi Minh City (‘Saigon’, Vietnam). Marco will be starting an online photography business, i will continue the website and catering businesses that i love as well as develop exciting new business ideas AND of course sharing our adventures with you…

    We’re also open to all opportunities you may think or hear of :).

    So, dear friends, we’re calling on you! Please let us know in the comments:

    • Have you lived a location independent/digital nomad lifestyle abroad?
    • How’s your experience?
    • Where should we go?
    • Do you know people we should connect with?

    I can’t wait to hear from you! Thanks a lot.

    With love and sunny kisses,

    Marco & Judith

    Update! We’ve booked our flight to Bangkok even before this blogpost went live on the webz. Still very curious for your tips & tricks, so do let us know your experience! Love, Judith

  • Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot Salad

    Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot Salad

    Ahhh yes this one is a classic, fun to make and a big winner – probably because of its nice warm flavors.

    I bought the ingredients already sliced in julienne. If you want to do it yourself, a julienne cutter comes in very handy.

    Recipe for Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot salad

    serves 4, as a side dish

    • one handful of raw carrot, en julienne
    • one handful of beetroot, en julienne (raw or cooked, i used cooked)
    • ginger syrup, two tablespoons
    • Chinese five spices (fennel-pepper-cinnamon-coriander-anisseed-mixture)
    • handful of raisins
    • handful of seroendeng (Indonesian dried coconut & peanut mixture) *
    • dried chili flakes
    • sesame seeds (i may have added some hemp seeds as well..)
    • greens to decorate, such as diced peppers or coriander leafs
    • some oil, sesame or sunflower for example

    Toss everything together. Let sit for 10 minutes (or more) so that the tastes can all combine nicely.

    Enjoy!

  • Stuffed bell pepper

    Stuffed bell pepper

    In my local Turkish shop, i found dried aubergines (eggplant) and bell peppers. Wow! They’re very tasty and they look so festive, don’t you think? Also, they’re very handy to stock up in your cupboard. They’re cheap and won’t spoil. They look great. They’re a perfect way to make tapas at home. Yay for dried veggies like these.

    You  can just put them in warm water and leave to soak for some time. How much time depends on wether you want to steam or cook the stuffed veggies later on. If they’ll be heated later, soak for only 20 minutes (while you prepare the stuffing). If you’ll eat them right after stuffing, soak for at least one hour.

    Another great thing: you can stuff the peppers or aubergines with any leftover you have, possibly add some nuts or spices, drizzle with olive oil and here’s a beautiful brand new dish!

    For this dish, i used a mushroom risotto leftover and added some dried tomatoes and roasted pine nuts. Add green leafy vegetables such as arugula (rocket salad) for color and vitamins and this is a perfect dinner starter or even lunch.

    You could also use a pasta, potato or rice dish, stuff the bell peppers with that and simmer everything in a tomato sauce with garlic and oregano for some time. This is perfect for preparing and keeping warm, then serving because it doesn’t really matter how long the dish is simmering. Very comfortable when you’re expecting guests.

    Or you could crumble a veggie burger and combine with onions and cream cheese… hmm!

    Endless possibilities. I say: go find yourself some. And always drizzle with olive oil in the end.

  • Ocean of consciousness

    Ocean of consciousness

    Just wanted to share this:

    “What if you are not nearly as limited as you were led to believe? What if you are vast enough to hold and contain all of life’s energies, the ‘positive’ and the ‘negative’? What if you are beyond both, an ocean of consciousness, unified, boundless and free, in which even the deepest despair has a resting place?
    What if your depression was simply your infinite intelligence calling you back Home, in the only way it knew how?
    Your melancholy may contain natural medicine.”

    From:
    Jeff Foster: Falling in Love With Where You Are

  • Making your soul smile

    Mooji is a wise man. I love listening to his awakened teachings. They bring the mind to a natural rest and warm my heart.

  • Favorite foods in India – quick impression

    Favorite foods in India – quick impression

    Funnily, here’s a very non-typical impression of the food we ate in India. Not representative, because there’s a big one missing: CURRIES. In the land of curries, i managed to not photograph any of them. Bad foodie.

    Coconut

    Shown: Drinking coconut water through a straw. After you’ve drunk all the juice, you go back to the seller and he’ll chop the coconut further. Using one of the chopped coconut pieces as a spoon, you can scoop out the fresh, blubbery coconut meat.

    Thali

    Then, very important: thali (small amounts of curries, dhals and condiments to go with white rice and/or breads such as chapati). So niiiiice! There are many restaurants where they ‘just’ offer one or two or three choices of thali. It gets served on a metal plate with small cups or on a banana leaf and you eat it using only your right hand. It’s an art and we mastered it very quickly.

    Salad

    And finally, shown: salad. Aaahhhh salad. Every few days, we’d find a place where they served them ‘continental’ style. Be it plain lettuce, avocado and tomato, or maybe cabbage, carrot and raisins – my belly was sooo happy. You know, all those curries are delicious but they are also thick with unidentified mixed onions, garlic, spices, ghee (fat) and sugar. I just yearned for raw, freshly cut veggies which were just, and no more than, what they were: veggies.

    Missing: curries

    NOT SHOWN: all the wonderful, spicy, versatile curries we had. Man, so many curries. One dish per person was usually enough for us (we shared almost all of them). I don’t know how i managed to NOT take ANY curry pictures! It’s crazy.

    Flex

    Spelling, in India, seems to be not taken very seriously. If it sounds somewhat alike, that’s good enough. So you end up eating becked omblets or plane porege. Heck, why not? This girl took a nice menu shot:

    mennu-kochin-300x295

    http://www.chhavisachdev.com/2011/03/30/omblet/.

  • To ink or not to ink

    To ink or not to ink

    CONFESSION: I loooove tattoos. My mother still believes it’s the influence of my love, Marco. But I think we just share our wish to ‘be naughty’ and paint our bodies in many colors of the rainbow, paying symbolic tribute to the beliefs, values and insights we hold dearly in life.

    There are some questions around it arising in me at times: is this tattooing a thing of holding on, of identifying, of trying to create a story of me for myself or the outside world…? Or is it, as a friend put it: a shamanic practice, serving spiritual development? Or is it just play?

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]

    The girl you see in this photo: I am absolutely in love with her body and the creativity she expresses through it.
    The girl you see in this photo: I am absolutely in love with her body and the creativity she expresses through it.
    Is my naked skin sacred and am I harming my mother’s gift to me as I came into this world by putting ink into it…? Or is life one big painting brush and my skin one of the many possible canvases?

    And although I don’t intend to be all covered in tattoos, I do like expressing some of the teachings that have meant a lot to me in my life, through the canvas of my skin.

    Whether there’s only this one life or many others will follow, I choose in this one to play around a bit.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • The Art of Asking – Amanda Palmer

    When i saw this Ted Talk a little over a year ago, i felt so happy and inspired. To me, it’s about following what you in your heart believe to be true and right, even if that means going against mainstream and getting shouted at by some people.

    When i tell people i Couchsurf often and hitchhike sometimes, they mostly weigh the comfort of traveling ‘for free’ against the risks of being dependent on strangers.

    I ask them: do you know from experience what it’s like to PLAN a little bit less and instead TRUST life to provide you with anything you need? It’s spiritually liberating.

    To me, the most joyous and fulfilling of experiences were given to me when i trusted the infinite originality of the universe more than my own limited mind.

    While keeping a clear sense for avoiding stupidities, of course ;).

    Let me know in the comments: when have you last CROWDSOURCED an open question for support instead of PLANNED your own solution?

    Crowdsource – Couchsurf – Crowdsurf

  • Physical problems can be great teachers

    Physical problems can be great teachers.

    Yesterday, i woke up with the sound of swooshing swords in my ears and a spinning sensation, especially whenever i looked to the right. Walking to the doctor, carefully crossing streets, i contemplated how well everything usually works together in the body and how ‘off’ i was at that moment.

    Vertigo.

    Made me think of this super Radiolab podcast episode about the relation between brain and bodily perception: http://www.radiolab.org/story/91524-where-am-i/. If the perception of your body and the rest of the world are just the slightest bit out of sync, this makes for very interesting experiences, for example because the mind is trying to account for the bodily sensations. Do check out the podcast, i found it quite enlightening.

    Doctor’s verdict: shingles (that’s chickenpox re-awakened) spread to the labyrinths. I’m on meds now and will be fine in a week or two.