Follow your heart

Inspiration shot May 2022

After recovering from the post-Covid energy dip (which took longer than I thought), and some other hiccups/dips, I feel like there is a new quality in my life. I have had to slow down quite a lot in the past 2 months or so, which gave me time to practice surrender and being in the moment.
I want to be able to listen to my heart even more. The most important thing for me now is to live with my heart open. It has been scary for so long. Scared to be vulnerable, scared to be hurt. Yet pain is part of life. Even with my adventurous life full of great things, I cannot enjoy everything fully with a closed heart.
That’s why recently, in my beloved Puglia, Italy, I got a tattoo of a small heart on my heart; to remind myself every day to live with an open heart.
In this inspiration shot, I would like to share some things that may help you to follow your heart too.

I ❤️ Puglia

If there is one thing that makes my heart open and overflown with love, it is my Tiny Trullo project. The land, the trees, the nature, the peace and quiet, my sweet little trullo house… I always have a big smile on my face when I’m there. But until now it was always just a visit and then I had to leave again because I couldn’t sleep there. I did have electricity installed, but there is no water, toilet, or bathroom yet.
During my recent ‘Puglia inspiration trip‘ I decided to spend one night in my trullo. I borrowed a mattress and bedding, arranged a bucket of water as a ‘bathroom’, put candles everywhere, and let the magic of my trullo work on me all night. That way I could enjoy the silence, the stars, and the trees in the moonlight in the evening and especially at night.
It was truly magical. I can’t wait until the tiny house, with all its modern comforts, is ready and I can spend a more extended period of time there.
Follow @TinyTrullo on Instagram for more photos and news, including when my Tiny Trullo will be available for rent for your holiday or (silent?) retreat.

Beware, my Puglia passion is contagious!

Four ladies between the ages of 27 and 64 visited for the Puglia inspiration trip. We had great conversations about life and entrepreneurship. And we ate lots and delicious Italian food, of course!
At first, I had planned all kinds of excursions, but it soon became apparent that everyone really wanted to ‘land’, so we made room for just ‘being’. We did a meditation under the olive trees, walked in the countryside, picked our own vegetables from the vegetable garden of the B&B where the group was staying, and had a cooking class from a wonderful local lady.
At the end of the trip, one of the participants actually bought a plot of land with a trullo nearby! This is already the third person who got inspired to invest in a dream place and build a community of beautiful people here in the area.
Do you also want to experience this? The next inspiration trip is planned for October 27 – 31st, just around the time of my olive harvest!

I need your help 🙏

So on a whim, I had a small heart tattoo – as in the example photo below – tattooed between my breasts. This is how I want to be reminded every day to live with an open heart.
However, I feel like the tattoo is a bit too ‘simple’, especially if you compare it to my other tattoos. I was thinking of maybe incorporating another symbol into it, for example, the infinity sign, like in this picture I found via Google.
Do you have any other ideas? Please let me know!

Where is Esther?

This month I travel back and forth a few times between my old- and new love: Mallorca for my writing retreats and Puglia for my Tiny Trullo.
In fact, I am doing TWO construction projects here in Puglia: next to the renovated trullo, a tiny house of 30m2 is now being built. At the same time, I supervise the complete renovation of the townhouse in the village. It is an 1100-year-old apartment with 4 rooms with impressive stone dome ceilings and a beautiful roof terrace that we want to restore.
At the beginning of June, I will be in The Netherlands for 1 week. It is only the second time this year that I will be in my beloved Amsterdam, so I am already looking forward to that!
By the way, my social media assistant has recently started making beautiful reels (short videos with impressions) of all the locations where I am. Super fun to watch and travel a bit with me in under 1 minute. You can view them on my Instagram account.