Discover Rest and Rhythm through writing your Rule of Life
How do you find rest in the hectic pace of life? It is possible. Writing can be a helpful tool. It can be the backbone of your life.
I’d love to share it with you during a Personal Online Retreat. But maybe you just like to practice contemplative writing. Or start (or continue) your journal.
Just where you are: at home around your very own table.
(In any case: feel free to connect with me.) I usually respond in a few days.
Hello from the Netherlands!
What I am saying is this:
You’ve landed here because you’re probably looking for peace and rhythm in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Who doesn’t recognize themselves in this famous saying of the monk Augustine?
“Our hearts are restless
until they rest in You, O God.”
I can’t give you the peace that can only be found in God. What I can share with you are the lessons I’ve learned over the years to maintain peace in the hustle and bustle of everyday life—because that’s something I’ve been working on for years. I even wrote a book about it titled, HOLD ON: Develop Your Personal Rule of Life.
Let me take you back to the spring of 2019. We were about to move from Osijek, Croatia back to the Netherlands. It was our fifth international move in fifteen years. By then, I should have mastered moving with the family. But no!
I felt incredibly overwhelmed by all the tasks that still needed to be done. I won’t go into details now. But man, it was hectic. One day, I was sitting at our kitchen table, tearing my hair out, creating seven categories to organize all the tasks.
That’s when something was born at our kitchen table. What I did there later turned out to be the key to something that had grown very slowly and deeply inside me, like a tiny seed, and that I’d read a lot about over the years: a rule of life—my rule of life.
On this website, I’d like to share bits and pieces of what I learned with you, because perhaps, like many people these days, you too are living under pressure—differently than I did back then, but still.
Who knows? You might be wondering, how can I live holistically with the attention I want to give to different areas? How do I start and end from a place of peace? How do I organize my tasks? How do I care for my relationships, my body? And how do I nurture my soul? How do I have a full schedule and still not feel busy?
Because the expectations and demands we place on ourselves and others are often unrealistic and unattainable. The noise and unrest can obscure our vision of what truly matters and what doesn’t.
Since 2019, I’ve been living with a lighthearted lifestyle, (Rule of life) and it has given me much more peace and rhythm. It gives me control and focus on what I’m doing and the values I live by. I distinguish between what I can influence and what I can’t. After all, every person experiences environmental factors that influence their lives and make their situations unique. Life is full of seasons.
The question I’m answering is, how can you maintain some peace and rhythm in the hustle and bustle of everyday life? But beware: What you’ll learn here isn’t a quick fix. If that’s what you’re looking for, I’ll have to disappoint you. What you’ll learn here is a craft—the craft of mindful living.
Whether you order the book Hold On and practice living by a rule of life, or simply visit this online community and take it all in first, my desire is for you to learn to live holistically, based on peace and rhythm. And yes, it is possible!
As a busy bee, I have experience with this.
Leave your email address using the link below to receive a Monthly “From My Table” note in your inbox. On the third Thursday of the month, you’ll receive a blogpost.
I really do prefer to sit offline with you around a table, drink our tea, share our strories, but since that is not always possible. This blog will do in the meantime.
Welcome to this online community!
A Personal Online
Rule of Life Retreat.
A Personal Retreat is something for you if you think: “My, I am juggling through life! How do I survive!” If it is a life changing event or long term stress circumstances, the result is the feeling to be so overwhelmed.
During a Personal Retreat, we look at your life and the different responsibilities that you have to cover. The question we focus on during that day is: Where would you like to spend more time on. And how are you going to organize that. How do you have a healthy lifestyle, covering all different 7 domains, without a sense of stress. This Rule of Life is Holistic and Circulair.