The magic of the ‘in between’…
Inspiration shot October 2025
“Honor the space between no longer and not yet…”
Slowly, everything is moving again. After a peaceful month in Puglia, my calendar is filling up with new travels and projects: I will be speaking at conferences in Kuwait, Bangkok and Madeira. The olive harvest in Puglia is coming up. Several of my former book coaching clients are celebrating their book launches. I am guiding new writers and reviewing manuscripts again.
Meanwhile, my own discoveries through tango and dreams continue. I feel like I am still in an in-between phase, that moment between finishing and starting anew. Everything seems to change, yet one thing always remains: returning to the essence, the foundation, to grow from there.
📸 Photography: Ellen van Bennekom for @saarmagazine
Back to the basics
I found a wonderful tango teacher in Amsterdam. During my stopovers, I plan private lessons, which often feel more like life lessons than dance lessons. Often, we do nothing more than walk.
It is funny how tango always mirrors what is happening in my life. First, we peel off all the layers and return to the basics before building everything back up. Sometimes the solution is not to do more, but to do less. Back to the essence.
Pre-sale Olive Oil 2025
The olive harvest in Puglia, southern Italy, is almost here again. At the end of this month or early November (depending on the weather), the olives will be picked. The trees have had plenty of rain this year, so I expect juicy olives and a rich, full oil.
Would you like to enjoy my fresh TinyTrullo olive oil this year? The pre-sale has started.
You can pick up your order in Amsterdam (Haarlemmerplein) from early December. Only adoption parents receive their olive oil by mail.
Since the harvest decreases slightly every year, I have unfortunately had to raise the prices a little this time. This is due to the Xylella bacteria sweeping through Puglia. On my website, you can read what I am doing to save my trees.
Be quick, because the harvest gets smaller every year and always sells out fast.
Congratulations on your book!
Cheers to the following writing retreat participants and coaching clients who published their books recently.
Inspiration bites
LOVE LETTERS
Emails to trees
In Melbourne, trees were given their own email addresses, meant for reporting damage. But people wrote love letters instead. A beautiful reminder that technology can help connection bloom.
EARTH POETRY
A bold poem
Andrea Gibson makes the silence and strength of the earth tangible.
Watch the video and take a moment to let it sink in.
Did you know...?
… that I have recently started experiencing lucid dreaming?
That means you are aware you are dreaming WHILE you dream. Eventually you can even learn to influence your dreams.
I recognize that I am dreaming because the numbers on digital clocks appear blurry. And when I try to write, or use my phone, it does not work. Those are exactly the signs Tim Ferriss describes in his blog “Lucid Dreaming, a Beginner’s Guide”. Since reading that, I no longer get frustrated when something does not work in a dream, but instead realize: “This means I am dreaming!”
It is so strange to experience, because everything seems and feels normal, as if I am awake.
The next step in Tim’s 5-step plan is to experiment with what I can do in that state: flying, visiting people, and so on.
Have you ever experienced this? Or do you have fun ideas for what I could try? Let me know!
Where is Esther?
I am still savoring the memories of a few days in Amsterdam, plus of a wonderful trip to Madeira with 10 girlfriends from Nyenrode University friends. We have been going on holiday together every year for 35 years, and it is special how close we remain.
For the next two months, I will be on the road again, giving presentations and workshops, and meeting friends at various conferences and retreats in Kuwait, Thailand and Madeira.
I have just arrived in Kuwait and feel like ‘Alice in Wonderland’: everything is so different! I had never been there before, and together with a friend from the Dynamite Circle (DC) who lives there, we thought it would be fun to organize a mini-conference. I will give a workshop on ‘how to write a book’ in her bookstore. A great way to meet local entrepreneurs.
After that, I will travel on to Bangkok for the yearly DC conference and to Koh Phangan for my very last writing retreat. You can still join if you want to write your book in one week…
In early December, I will be back in Europe for the Nomad Island Fest in Madeira.
Want to join? Use code NOEXCUSESLADY2025 for a €100 discount!
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