The strong start of the year continued over the second week. Plans are heading in the right direction. New themes for the year are emerging. And I'm getting very excited about what's to come. One of those emerging themes is inner work. And I feel this is going to be a focus point for an extended period. I found [this great YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@jordanthornton) on one of my walks in Italy and continued listening to it a lot. I haven't seen any material that goes this deep and explains things this clearly. The fact that it's all based on old books makes me particularly like it. I'm looking forward to expanding my library with these kinds of books. #### The Second Part Of My Book Last year my exposure to the work of Gregor Maehle had a big impact on my understanding of things. Which became a significant influence on the first part of the book. Inner work, and journalling, are the main themes of the second part. So I have a feeling that this newly entered rabbit hole of inner work is here to stay for a while. With my new writing habit, I can simultaneously use what I learn to write the relevant parts of the book. A nice example is that I got inspired by a friend to write about the different stages of spiritual development. This led to some nice realisations for myself and I enjoyed integrating them this week. I feel to have truly arrived at this final stage of stepping back into ordinary life with this elevated perspective. Becoming able to see the beauty in all the mundane things I'm a part of. Coming to terms with what I'm good at and what comes effortlessly to me. Part of this last stage is also about teaching and sharing what I've learned. This is why this side hustle is such an important part of my life now. To fill the need I was experiencing to publicly express myself. #### All The Light We Cannot See This feeling was synchronistically emphasised by a Netflix show we watched this week: "All The Light We Cannot See". It was recommended by friends and, besides all the WWII propaganda, it was very beautiful. It was about somebody who used the radio as the medium to share his lessons about the Light. Without knowing who was listening to his "ramblings". But he seemed to have significantly impacted the lives of a few kids. So much so, that it ultimately resulted in those kids, turned adolescent, being essential in the freeing of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was very moving and exactly the message I needed to receive. It helped to confirm my intentions for the coming year. I just need to make sure to get my message out through the travel vlog. And trust that it reaches the right people. Without stressing about needing to become a very consistent and successful YouTuber. So I can focus on further developing my current career and doing the necessary inner work. Coming to terms with this and being able to divide my mental capacity over these things is a very liberating experience. Let's continue with what that looked like this week. By presenting concise updates on the various topics of... ## [[My Wheel Of Life For 2024]] ### [[Escom]] This is the new client I'm going to work with this year. It's a different company from one of the founders of Park&Charge. He asked me to do a similar ISO9001 project for this other company. Since they were so satisfied with the results of last year. Thursday I was invited to their off-site day and had a lot of fun getting to know them better. I foresee that this assignment could serve two needs for me. One to get on the good side of this network of entrepreneurs and further establish my added value. And two, to use this as a use-case for the Source Mastery coaching program I'm a part of. I feel that applying the Source Work principles would be able to lift some complex bottlenecks for this company. I envision this to work so well that my contribution over the year will "magically" unlock their full potential. ### [[The Travel Vlog]] This week my video editor bailed on me mid-project. Which was a bit of a shocker, because I liked his work a lot. He received a large assignment that required all of his dedication. Initially, it got me a bit down since things were already taking longer than expected. But I was able to reframe it all within a few days. Initially, I had to choose between two good applicants to outsource this work to. I liked this guy for his style. But the other seemed more professional in the way he operates. So now I can use these first episodes as an example for the other guy. And hopefully, he will be a bit more reliable and consistent. If that turns out to work I was able to have the best of both worlds. So let's see if that is the way it is supposed to happen. ### [[The Book]] The morning writing seemed hard to keep up, without the accountability of the course. So I didn't do too well this week. But I will just get back on the horse next week and try to look for improvements in my morning routine. As described above, I sense a new wave of inspiration is coming so I just need to make sure I don't break my consistency. I should probably hold a similar mentality to this as I'm developing with yoga these days. ### [[Ashtanga Yoga]] It was [a random yoga video I watched on YouTube](https://youtu.be/db07NY83-Pg?si=ZkVm38bB1WYnOSOy) that impacted my mentality a lot. It inserted the mentality to simply show up for yoga every day and feel what I need on that day. It doesn't need to be the full intense Ashtanga series. It can also be another form of yoga or just breathwork and meditation. Ashtanga will remain my main pillar, but having advanced quite a bit I can more easily trust my judgements. Which is a nice stage to have reached. Besides that, my registration for the Shala in Mysore, India was confirmed this week. Which is super exciting and will lift my practice to the next level. In preparation, my main priority will be to at least know the entire primary series and have the knee pain resolved. I also gave my first unofficial yoga lesson this week, which I enjoyed and tasted like more. ### [[Self Care]] My intention of improving my hygiëne is also shaping up these first weeks. I decided to tie a few new habits to my quarterly cycles. So after each equinox or solstice, I will book a full-body TuiNa massage and go to the hairdresser. I did both things this week and it made me feel very good about myself. We also found a cleaner for our apartment that will come by this Friday. ### [[Nina]] The extra costs of the cleaner will be compensated by a new hobby that Chiara has picked up this week. After finding a dog-sitter for Byron through an app called Pawshake, Chiara became extra motivated to offer this service as well. She became super passionate and we have been meeting dog owners the entire week. Which is a lot of fun. This platform is truly an ideal solution because the pets get a very personal treatment and owners get to know more people in their neighbourhood. Although we had a bit of a rocky start this week we are both truly enjoying it! So let us know if anybody needs a dog-sitter in the area of The Hague! Those were the highlights of this week. Thanks for reading and take care! Ben