Category: under the oak tree

By the sea

For me living at the beach is paradise. I’ve always had a magical connection with the sea, but it took me a while to get to this place. When I was a child we went Scheveningen once a year and I would play in the water for hours, until my mum would drag me out at the end of the day – blue lipped and shivering – and I would scream my lungs out because I didn’t want to go. In my twenties I moved to The Hague and found a small flat about ten minutes from the beach. How I loved it there! I spend every free moment at the sea side, going for long walks to Kijkduin – come rain or shine. Somehow I still thought it’d be a good idea to move to London. It would take me more than 4 years to find my dream again. Each day I wake up early and go to beach, still wearing my pajama shorts, hair tousled in the wind. I love it when the sea is calm, just a single line to the horizon. Absolute quiet. And then there’s the moment you dive in, into the cool glistening water. You float on your back and take in the blue surrounding you. When you dry yourself, letting the sun warm your skin, feeling rejuvenated, you realise that you are truly fortunate.

Take flight

Autumn used to be my least favourite season. I would hide under a blanket, depressed, longing for the winter solstice and the longer days that it promises. But this year I have felt mesmerised by the changing colours of the trees, playing with the red and golden leaves with a happiness that I remember only from childhood. For the first time I am embracing the dark evenings that invite me to slow down, reflect on and let go of the exuberance of summer, to read my favourite books in the light of cinnamon scented candles and quietly do my meditation practices before bed. At first I didn’t notice this change in my spirit. But as this new energy takes me to the beach each morning to witness the rising of the sun and breathe in the crisp air, I was walking through the dunes at dawn when out of nowhere a murmuration rose up from behind the hills and flew right over me, almost knocking me down. With the beauty of the world in my face like that I couldn’t help but see that, to be free of the things that are holding you down is the most liberating feeling in the world. And to fill your life with things that lift you up, the greatest treasure.

My home is the sea

The world is full of beautiful places, but for me nothing is more magical than the sea. Going to the beach helps me to find my balance whenever I’ve lost it. Walking along the shoreline, the endless horizon stretched out before me, always fills me with newfound trust, strength, and joy. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why the sea has such healing qualities – even more so than a forest, lake, or mountain top. Perhaps it is something about the coincidence of, not two, but three natural elements, Earth-Water-Sky, that creates a special kind of synergy that you cannot find anywhere else. But the power of the sea becomes even more clear, when you decide to shed your clothes and submerge yourself in the water. Now you are floating, slowly drifting, between the earth and the sky. You don’t have to do anything… just let the salt water wash away your sorrow, as you listen to the calming sound of the rolling waves rushing over the empty seashells. If you’re lucky an inquisitive seal will and come play with you. But you can’t have expectations, because every day is different. Like the water, you too must surrender to the sun and the moon.

Paradise is where I am

After a couple of radiant days of spring, the weather has taken a turn. Stormy winds and downpours of rain that turns into hail whenever it gets the chance. Occasionally the sun comes out, but never for more than fifteen minutes. My shorts and slippers are lying abandoned in the hallway, without purpose or hope. I had big plans for my day off – into the woods, a swim in the sea, lying down on the grass in a city park – relaxing and laughing with friends… Instead we trod through town with soaked jeans, hiding under our hoodies. We stop at our favourite coffee place and sit down on the wooden benches outside. The clouds rush on, allowing a splash of sun that lights up our faces. A flower has fallen, face down, on the dark soaked wood. The radiant colour is enhanced by tiny drops of water, a perfectly shaped carpel in its centre – a miniature universe. As so, as I am raptured by the pureness of this beauty, I realise you don’t have to travel far to find happiness. You only have to open your eyes.

Come away with me

Let’s go on an adventure! To a small island in the northern archipelago, where we can breathe in the endless beauty of the nature reserve, where life moves to the rhythm of the tide, and wading birds welcome you on the stretched out mudflats, where you wake up at dawn to the smell of dewy grass, go for an early morning swim to wash away your haunting dreams, lay down on marram-covered sand hills, let the sun warm your skin and the sound of the sea shells playing in the waves tells you it’s time to sleep, until the wind invites you to cycle along the coast to the pier and find an enchanted place on the top of the woods, where you can sit down carelessly under the pine trees to have a sweet picnic of fresh greens and do Nothing, follow the dancing butterflies, get lost on the heath, stumble upon a marsh harrier dozing off in the shimmering sunset, play hide-and-seek in the crescent-shaped dunes, and watch the dazzling stars shoot through the sky until you can no longer remember where you end and the universe begins.