What’s the opposite of FEAR?

Safety, trust, assurance? Faith, joy, confidence? Calmness, ease, contentment? Sure. But I’d say GRATITUDE Counter to intuition, opposites aren’t  contrary in every possible way, rather, they are the same in every way but one – they are on the opposite sides of a scale. Think about it. Rich and poor, for example, are both about…

Writer’s struggle

I recently bought a lovely Dutch magazine called Happinez. It was their first English issue and it was beautiful. Eagerly, I went to the last page of the magazine to find out when the next issue would be out. Nada. No information. So I went to their homepage. Nothing again. Rather frustrating, but hardly serious,…

Spain can be anywhere

I booked a family vacation. Charter. For the first time ever, we are going on a beach vacation. One week of sunshine, 7 swimming pools, a long beach, and all meals included. It’s I myself who’s chosen the uncharacteristic destination, I’m usually dreaming of going to big cities and museums… And even though I must…

A stroke hits hard

When meeting acquaintances on the street or in the grocery store, and they’re looking at me with kind, big, compassionate (sometimes pitying) eyes, asking how we’re doing, I tell them: “There are no words which could even come close to describing our current life. Not the difficulties and struggles, fears and exhaustion, but neither the…

Moments of anxiety

Lean in to the difficult emotion. Don’t try to suppress it, or to wave it off. Stay with it. Where do you feel it in your body? I want to run and hide. Okay. Take a deep breath. Now, what do you feel in your body? There’s a big lump in my throat. Makes me…