Hello there!
This is me trying to get some life back into this blog..
I have been doing a lot of inner work over the last couple of years, which has led to some major and minor changes in my life and work.
First of all, I have put my illustration work a bit on the slow burner and have been putting my sculpting job on the front.
This does not mean I have stopped drawing, but this means I haven’t done a lot of illustration jobs, and haven’t been chasing any either. I am working more on personal work and planning on sharing more of that over here.
I have done more sand sculpting jobs and a big sculpting job for the stages of Tomorrowland, this has given me more space to invest in myself and dig a little deeper.
With the great help of my coach Femke Veltkamp, it feels like I’m getting to a point where I’m coming very close to the essence of what I’m supposed to bring to this world.
And it’s more than just art 🙂
Years ago when Martijn and I got pregnant, all our people said: “Well, that’s it! You guys are done traveling the world building sand castles! And we believed them!
So we started looking for other ways to get income, I started doing illustration which I felt very passionate about, and he worked hard doing sculpture for theme parks and swimming pools. But we never really could say goodbye to the life and friends we had in the sand. And somehow with the help of family and friends, we have been able to keep doing what we love. Maybe we traveled a little less, but we still went places building sand sculptures.
Even with three kids, we didn’t stop.
But I did have a feeling of missing out, not living the life as I was supposed to. We didn’t have financial growth or a pension plan. The MIND was interfering and preventing me from really FEELING happy.
So I reached out to Femke, and we started working together in various ways. I did a women’s circle that was very inspiring and helped me see that everything I wished for was already there.
Then we continued our journey with a smaller group, where I learned that it was now time to carry myself and embrace the fact that I was here to walk my own path.
Finally, we continued our journey with one-on-one coaching sessions and we went even deeper, slowly but surely I realized there was something more that I wanted to give, not only my art.
In that process, I also came to understand that chasing Financial growth and a pension plan wasn’t gonna make me any happier, but seeing what we already accomplished and enjoying just that was and will! ( this does not mean I have to stop chasing it b.t.w., It only means chasing it should not stand in the way of my happiness right now 🙂
It is from the realization that we as humans can be so blind to our own luck, that I’m inspired to share more of the things that help me wake up from a mind-dominated life and step into I life of listening to the songs of the heart.
I’m fully aware of the fact that listening to the songs of our heart is not a very easy thing to do, since our mind-dominated society doesn’t really like for us to so. And our heart often has a very quiet voice. But here are a few ways of how I have learned to listen to that quiet voice:
This always helps me to connect to my own nature, and there the heart is strong and her voice get’s a lot louder.
Journaling has been part of my daily routine for a few years now and it gives the mind a place to babble and babble until she’s babbled out and the heart starts taking over. (yess sometimes this takes a while)
(Ok often this takes a while)
Meditation has been one of the hardest ones to learn, for a very long time the mind always kept the loudest voice, but perseverance shows off because I’m starting to get the hang of it, and it is becoming my sacred space and it can be so magical
Seeking solitude is also not a very easy one as a mother of three, but I have always loved being alone and so I use all the opportunities I get to spend some time with my own thoughts. Also when I’m alone it takes time for the mind to quiet down before the heart gets the opportunity to speak, but she always does.
Obviously, this is not a very hard one for me, as most of my work is creative practice, but also in the creative process, it usually takes time for the mind to quiet down. And here it helps to tell her that it’s ok you are just here to have fun, and then when the heart starts speaking? that’s where creative flow starts and it’s the absolute best place to be in <3
I hope that inspired you! Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, there’s nothing I love more to talk about this as you noticed already 🙂
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yours Hanneke
