Many years ago, I read The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. It was about Anybody who had a dream that absolutely compelled him to take action, but the moment he took action, almost everyone that he knew tried to dissuade him from it. And the person that tried the hardest was his mom! That part…
Author: Tessa van Niekerk
I am a firm believer in the power of Free Will, and the Karma resulting from exercising that power. I am a horrible employee and an even worse boss, so I choose to be neither. I am a dreamer, mostly doing so when I am awake. I suffer from analysis paralysis on a regular basis, tend to procrastinate until the eleventh hour, and would rather be reading than doing anything else. My drug of choice is caffeine and I indulge on a regular basis.
There’s just something about a stone house…
I found a stone house online this past week. It’s in a small village somewhere in central Portugal, and since the advertisement was posted recently enough, I have a suspicion that the photographs truly reflect reality. The house is built from granite stone (unlike the picture that I have picked for illustrating this post!) with…
Mindset Change: From Boring to Brave
It’s been a moment since my last post. I am very sorry for my silence. It was not intentional, but – to my defense – a lot has happened, not just in my life, but between my ears as well. If you have read any of my posts before, you would know that I am…
If you don’t ask, you won’t know…
I don’t go to my local police station often, even though it is situated a block from where I currently stay. Like hospitals and courthouses, I find police stations depressing places, filled with people who have had bad things happen to them, are about to have bad things happen to them or are supporters of…
Learning a new language, with a strange alphabet, in a fun way!
When the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out at the end of February 2022, I realized with a shock that my childhood obsession with all things Russian was totally misplaced. After all, the people, the music, and even the exotic place names were actually Ukrainian, not Russian! And on top of that, the…
Refocusing myself…
They say that the road to hell is paid with good intentions, and I fell into that trap solidly. Some of my goals have dates and actions, but most don’t and that means I have to refocus my efforts toward the end goal. I find that I tend to be extremely unfocused, flitting from one…
Tessa: at the start of the countdown to a brand-new adventure
“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” -Paulo Coelho I saw an interview that one set of ex-pats did on YouTube with another – a man and his wife on his sister and her husband – about moving to Portugal and thought that it would be an…
Qualified Permaculture Designer, at your service!
The shouting happened yesterday morning when I opened my e-mail box! I first let my boss’s boss know, as he was hugely instrumental in the success of my project, encouraging me every step of the way, inquiring about my progress, and also helping me secure the necessary permissions for the final project plans. And then…
All over, bar the shouting!
After spending much more than a hundred hours of thought on my final design, I have finally submitted it this afternoon. Now it’s just to see whether I did whatever was needed. (I never considered noise as a factor, but as my project is situated in the middle of town, it is a definite factor!…
A few thoughts on a sustainable lifestyle
Sustainability is a word bandied about a lot by corporations who wish to “greenwash” their operations. Unfortunately, any operation using a finite resource can – by definition – not be considered sustainable, no matter how pretty it’s dressed up. To be truly sustainable, the components of a system must produce more energy than they consume…