For a very long time, I didn’t think of myself as a creative person. Creativity to me was to be good at painting or drawing, or to write exceptionally beautiful poems. I couldn’t imagine myself doing any of those things. As I got older, my definition of creativity changed. First of all, the end result …
Or, what do I mean when I keep on talking about “mindful Nederlands”. Step 1: Accept where you are, and embrace it First of all I invite you to forgive yourself for being hard on yourself.For believing the story that you need to speak better Flemish at this point, because of …. (insert reasons here).I …
Improving your language the mindful way, in 4 steps. Read More »
Have you caught yourself saying that you should be doing something useful?Does guilt tend to creep up when you’re slowing down while your to-do list is still super long?Or have you realised that you often do things for others, before doing them for yourself? A couple of weeks ago one of my best friends sent …
Learning and growing, without the label “useful” Read More »
Last week I interviewed some of my friends about the topic of self-care. I had written an article about it, too, because I love the subject. For a very long time, when I heard the word “zelfzorg” I would just roll my eyes. I take care of myself, thank you very much, I don’t need …
I’m an introvert. When I say that, I immediately get pushback from friends and even people who just met me. As if I just said I have brown eyes (they are blue). Seriously, I do identify as an introvert, because I love spending time on my own and this is when I charge the batteries, …
I always have a lot of ideas, a lot of stuff going on inside my mind. And I can see very well what my ideas look like when they’re finished. In my mind’s eye, everything looks sublime, everyone cheers and loves what I made. In my imagination, my podcast is professional and has lots of …
They say language learning is like a marathon, not a sprint. I often tell my new learners this, because I think it’s important to keep in mind we must continue, even if no immediate results are apparent. It’s not only the case with language learning. Having your own business is like running a marathon as …
Last time I wrote about making your language goals fun, something to look forward to. So whether or not you’ve just tweaked a bit here or there, you might find yourself in another situation. The one that you might refer to as “I have no time”. My short answer is: It’s not a time problem, …
Ahhh, a very common question. I ask everyone before we start working together: “are you willing to commit at least 15min every day or 45min every other day to improve your language skills?” The answers are usually this question. Do I really have to? Before I get into the shoulds and musts, I’d like to …
Flemish or Dutch, what’s the difference? So, depending on where you are reading, you might have noticed the name of my website, learnflemish.be, and the fact that I refer to myself as a Flemish coach. I wanted to write something about Flemish and Dutch: I think it’s probably the most common question I get, when …
