My animal alter egos are asking questions these days…
I use these times to reflect on different thoughts, listen to my inner voices, and why not consider connections beyond ourselves, including interspecies dialogue. Through drawing and the use of colours, I explore simple, creative ways to engage with philosophical ideas.

As the new year began, I found myself on the phone with a friend. We exchanged warm wishes for the year ahead, but our conversation quickly turned to an unexpected theme: fatigue. Despite having enjoyed restful New Year’s breaks, we both admitted to feeling more like we were bracing ourselves to get through 2025 rather than charging into it with excitement.

It got me thinking about how we can shift this mindset. Instead of rigidly planning every detail, maybe the key lies in taking a step back, reassessing, and reconfiguring the "now."

There is an almost classic meme from an old American "How to Draw" instruction book.

"How to draw an owl."

The meme highlights our universal desire for simple solutions. We want instructions and precise roadmaps. At the same time, the meme shows that it's usually impossible to jump directly from A to Z. It also illustrates our impulse to run away from the discomfort we feel when we don’t know exactly how to reach our goal.

In our fast-paced world, it is easy to get caught up in roles or hamster wheels. Daily self-reflection can be a powerful tool for staying connected, understanding you true preferences , and living a life aligned with your values. Below is a set of 50 questions designed to help you pause, reflect, and gain clarity on your emotions, goals, and well-being.

Recently I have been less into writing and more into drawing and collages. Here's a blog post featuring drawings of birds on maps. I'll delve into my wanderlust and our ongoing adventure of living on two continents.

When I miss my daily practice, I feel it. I feel it in my body, but even more so in my everyday communication with the world and myself. When I am not based in my body, when I am not grounded in my mind, I tend to overreact, underreact, project, compare, and multitask. I overreact by screaming at my kids. I underreact when I do not pay enough attention to my dog’s education. I project my old wounds onto my loved one’s nowadays behavior. I compare myself to all my favorite activists, artists, writers, interior designers, politicians, yogis, and meditation teachers all at once.

Today, I want to reflect on my many coaching sessions with the question: too many? As I have the feeling, I do suffer from something like coaching burnout. I am a twofold certified life coach. Yet still, I have my doubts about the whole coaching business. Maybe I miss the right mindset. Maybe I was expecting too many wonders. Maybe I was not putting in enough work. Maybe it is time for me to move on?

This blog post is about "I did not do my art today." It's about motivation, lurching, creative doing, and creative not doing.

I'm inspired by Australian Madeleine Dore, who wrote a great book about the productivity craze called, "I didn't do the thing today." (Madeleine Dore: I didn’t do the thing today, Murdoch Books Australia, Crwos Nest, 2022.) Still, I will be more specific about the motivation for creating art and design processes.

How do we get from “I didn't do my art today” to “I did do my art today”?

Let me please humorously present 10 + 1 golden rules for co-production in arts and culture. These are drawn from my own learnings and experiences collaborating with diverse partners in international cultural contexts. I hope you may get some insights for collaborative joy, growth, and well-being in your own adventures.

Talk held at the MuseumNext: MUSEUMS, HEALTH & WELLBEING SUMMIT, 31 January - 2 February 2022

I am convinced, that well-being at a museum has to start with the well-being of the people working for the museum. The people who are the core of the museum. If we are not feeling well, how are we supposed to make others feel well? “Happy mom, happy kids.” Shall be translated to “Happy Museum teams, happy visitors.” 

I feel the need to talk to you today about Deep Listening.

With Deep Listening, we engage with things we may not yet understand. And above all, I accept that I too can change, through what I hear.

Deep Listening can thus create a space of transformation that challenges our own complacency. Deep Listening creates the opposite. Deep Listening creates stress relief and empathy for one another.

Being means creating. Creating something new. Being is not the repetition of stereotypes. How would it feel, to let go of your old bag filled with expectations, and focus on the being, the doing, the creating instead?

20 questions for being connected and living in the now

Internalizing the 4 questions of The Work by Byron Katie supported my ability to get out of overwhelming feelings and negative thought circles, rather quickly. I experience awareness of the choices I have when it comes to my own thinking. More and more I enjoy being present in the Now. 

Recently I re-watched Powers of Ten with my students. Their first reaction was, to think about their own being in this world. The video invited them to distance themselves from their current drama in life. They rather started to explore themselves from the viewpoint of a distant observer.

I do not believe in affirmations I do not believe in. Like the super-self-helpy ones, such as “I am slim and fabulous.” Or: “I am rich and beautiful.” Affirmations like these make me either puke or laugh my head off in disbelief.

It has little to do with body obsession. I love all the side effects. Like most of us, I have been working remotely for the last 15 months.

Have you ever heard someone say: “I wish I had not gone to yoga class today.” or “I so regret practicing yoga.”? I have not, never once.

4 plus 2 questions to live your life’s purpose with exactly the material things you need.… A couple of weeks ago my 72-year-old mom moved to a smaller elderly-friendly apartment. On the day of her move she fell…

King, D.: Do I have to turn forty to become an artist? published on medium, 2021.