Writing time in Antwerp

One thing the Belgians are really good at is „Dagsoep“ - delicious, freshly cooked soups of the day, which are wonderfully warming after a walk in the fresh winter air.

Just like the soups, I'm enjoying being back in my „second home“ Antwerp, in the cosy flat of my friends, where I've already published my book „The hut and me“ have written. The flat has no internet - which is somehow really good, so nothing distracts me from writing. I've developed my own daily rhythm for the days here.  I dawdle a bit in the morning, not starting the day as intensely as I usually do in Berlin. After a cup of tea and some fruit - I don't want my stomach to be so full when I'm writing and praying - I start writing. I'm currently working on the new online course IDA: In your arms. Experience God's fatherly love. The course will start for the first time in April and all the content should of course be ready by then. I have the Registration to put a little bit of pressure on myself to finally tackle this good project. So you can sign up now - that will give me another boost!

There will be two emails a week for a total of three months, inviting and encouraging people to encounter God more deeply. The course is based on the quadro „God's Fatherly Love“ by Esther and Manfred Lanz, but goes beyond that. I add thoughts and impulses, Buchheims, videos, music and many practical impulses that help us to open ourselves to God's love.

I experience both when I write:

• Deep gratitude for everything that has already grown in my relationship with God and what I have already learnt.
• Longing, when I get to the places where I sense that there is „more“, which I have not yet or only rarely experienced.

I try to give it space, to take breaks in which God can also touch me.

At lunchtime: I've set myself a specific workload for each day - when I've completed it, I go to a café and enjoy the famous Dagsoep. And use the internet to answer important emails. Yesterday I thought I could do it in two hours - in the end it was four !!! hours that I spent concentrating on answering emails. Just the emails that had come in that morning. I was shocked. I know that emails take a lot of time, but I don't measure it that way in Berlin. But four hours!!!!

Mastering emails: For February - even before the four-hour shock - I have resolved to find ways to resolve the stress that the arrival of email triggers in me with my God... both practically and emotionally. This is my big learning project with my God, who I believe is wise enough to have solutions for this too. I already have some initial insights, but I'm still looking for more solutions. When I have found them, I will of course share them.

Afternoon I discover new and old places in this city. Art and creativity, fashion and design are everywhere here... a wonderful place for me. Familiar on the one hand and always excitingly new on the other. When I feel like it or it just gets too cold to walk around, I go to a café and watch people or read a clever book about time and self-management: 18 Minutes by Peter Bregmann.

In the evening: I make myself something small to eat - I consciously avoid heavy meals to clear my head for writing. And then I write something on the new Quadro „Living gratefully“. And read. Currently Fire in my heart by Johannes Hartl or Homsick a book about different people in Israel in the 90s. Then be a little grateful yourself... and that's it...

Maybe I should treat myself - and the people who like to read my stuff - to a few writing days like this every month!