Dear readers,

This is the last blog I write for Rapenburg100. My year here is over and I'm going to continue my journey elsewhere. For now, a final glimpse into how I view the current situation.

The corona time. In addition to the well-known questions about illness and suffering, here also a different perspective. Ralph Nelissen called it the crown time. A time when it is possible to turn inward and find your inner king again. Normally we are constantly on the go. Days are fully planned and we are constantly looking for the next or better. Perhaps that process has now come to a somewhat forced halt. For many of you, an open space has emerged, or at least more space.

More space also requires more reflection. When there is more space in your life, all the old patterns come to the fore. This way you can see yourself again watching Netflix, eating a lot or doing nothing all day, for example. If no one is after your pants and your normal obligations disappear or go online, what are you doing it all for? In that sense, this time can also be quite confronting. Yet it is an excellent opportunity to go in a little more with your attention and tune in to yourself. If there is more space, you can start wondering what you actually want with your life. Are you living the way you want to live? Are you happy with your relationships? Your study?

In this turbulent time, which on the one hand does a lot to our society, there is also an opportunity to reorientate. A crisis situation like this is unprecedented. The whole world is coming to rest. Nature recovers and there is space and time. Most life questions really need that: time and space. The time to germinate as a seed in us and to grow and take root slowly. Take the time to let everything you have been through in the past few years let go. You may be able to write down what you have learned over the past 5 years. What you have received from life or from others. Or perhaps now is the time to clear out your cupboards, make that painting that you wanted or just do nothing at all.

In any case, I wish you much love at this time.

All the best.

Patrick