I spent Easter down in Zeeland at a friend’s house. We took long strolls along the sand dunes and on the beach, had numerous cups of tea, and played some fierce games of shithead.

I was shocked to realise I couldn’t recall the last time I really smelled nature- trees and grass and plants. Nature and fresh air really do wonders to your head! An obvious concept, but very easy to forget when you live in a city. It’s much easier to think without all the manmade clutter. (let’s just forget about the fact that a lot of the Dutch land has been ‘made’ by man)

Now I’m listening to Sigur Rós and trying to remember the grass in the wind, the smell of the sea, the deer footprints in the sand, the slow mornings… And instead of re-filling my mind with useless crap, I’m going through some assorted wise words, such as these:

• Things I have learned - a project by Stefan Sagmeister (whom I admire a lot!). People’s visual answers to questions, such as “What have you learned in your life so far? What is it that you are fairly sure about? What is it that you believe in by now?”.
• Think Simple Now - a blog by Tina Su. Currently on a break due to her ‘mini-retirement’ in India. Full of simple tips to improve the quality of life.
• Getting to Good Enough - an article on tackling perfectionism on Lifehacker.org.