Christina Van Geel - Pen

I vividly remember the despair in the eyes of my Dutch teacher in the first year of secondary school when I submitted my free essay: I had filled 20 pages with writing about 'a day in the life of the trash can'. Two pages was the guideline. But a trash can has a lot to say. Once you dive into her head...

Writing, fantasizing, observing and especially listening to what trash cans and other interesting people and things around me had to say, it was already in me then.
I still like to do it: dive into people's heads and give language to their thoughts, stories, ideas and dreams. I catch them and I continue writing them.

Thanks to Mrs. Verboven, my Dutch teacher, who struggled through the 20 pages of thought-twists from a wastepaper basket and gave me a 20 out of 20 and confidence in my pen.

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Wat het is

‘What it is, many dreams later’ (Pelckmans 2015) is a collection of stories by 23 people, about their childhood dream and what it became so many dreams later.
23 Dream Tracks, from dream to action. Stories about signposts, stumbling blocks and companions on the road. About a life without dreams. About dreams that take on a life of their own.

I believe in the power of stories.
Stories help us to live. They are little pieces of blueprint of life. Because sometimes it helps if someone shows you how to do it.

And I believe in the power of dreams. I believe that formulating your dreams helps you to sniff out their trail and follow it. The dream as a kind of lighthouse light that helps you not to get lost in the maelstrom of life.

And so I made a book with stories about dreams.

You can read the dream trail of Celie Dehaene, Stef Bos, Roger De Vlaeminck, father Karel and son Wouter Torfs, Wim Opbrouck, Zuhal Demir, Kathleen Cools, Sister Jeanne Devos, Frank Van Massenhove, Alicja Gescinska, Bert Anciaux, Dominique Persoone, Dirk De Wachter, Pol Hauspie, Fien Sabbe, Kristien Dieltiens, Els Dottermans and Guillaume Van der Stighelen.

Kooksprookjes

In September 2010, the book Kooksprookjes (Cooking Tales) was published by De Eenhoorn.
Kooksprookjes is a combination of spicy stories (Christina Van Geel) and cheerful recipes (An Vissers), beautifully illustrated by Ann De Bode. Kooksprookjes tells the funny adventures of Warre Wortel (Garry Carrot), Benny Banaan (Benny Banana) and their crazy friends in Kooksprookjesland. It is an original read-aloud/picture/cookbook for toddlers and young children.

In het Spoor van Ikigai

In the footsteps of ikigai, Christina traveled to the Greek island of Ikaria - the island where people forget to die. She searched for traces that can help us live more meaningfully and thoughtfully. Because giving yourself the freedom to live your own life is the most important choice you have to dare to make.

What makes you stand up for in the morning? What gives you the energy, the desire and the strength to shake off the night and step into the day? Even if it is gray and foggy, also in your head. Do you fully support the life you lead? Or have you lost your way?
In other words, what is your ikigai, your true north, your heart's desire, your reason for being? How do you find that ikigai and what does it do to you? Is it a path to the good life - a meaningful and thoughtful life that resonates with who you are? A remedy for burnout and alienation? And if you have already found your ikigai, why is it often so difficult to live according to it?

Christina presents the tracks to more ikigai that she found on Ikaria to seven ‘wise (wo)men’, people she likes to take with her on her quest because of their life experience and professional background. You will read philosophers Alicja Gescinska and Johan Braeckman, musician Stef Bos, happiness ambassador Leo Bormans, founder of the Fonds GaVoorGeluk and former CEO of the Palm brewery Jan Toye, director of the Bond Zonder Naam Anniek Gavriilakis and psychiatrist Dirk De Wachter. If Ikaria is the mirror, they are the wise (wo)men on her path.

Spreuken Spreken

Voor Spreuken Spreken mocht ik drieëndertig prachtige mensen interviewen over hoe zij de spreuken van Bond zonder Naam actief voorleven. Hoe ze die spreuken inhoud geven en concreet maken, door wie ze zijn en wat ze doen. Vleesgeworden spreuken zeg maar! Bij elke spreuk schreef ik een reflectietekst, waarin we nog wat dieper duiken naar de kern van de spreuk.

"A word that touches the heart, changes the heart.
And with it, the person and the world in which he moves.

The monthly sayings are the DNA of Bond zonder Naam. Small 'shots' of wisdom, inspiration or reflection that make you stop for a moment, plant a seed in your heart and mind. A few words that sharpen our antennae. And direct our gaze inwards and outwards.

Because every saying is also a commitment, a task, a mission. Often such a saying gives us a meaningful kick in the butt. More than beautiful words, the saying invites you to be, to do. To actively commit yourself to that better world that starts with you, with us.

In 'Sayings Speaking' thirty-three well-known people with a warm heart for society tell how they live out the sayings of Bond zonder Naam, through who they are and what they do. Their words and their actions suddenly make our sayings very concrete and very active. Sayings speak and do!

With their testimony they also speak you. What do the sayings mean to you? How do they set you in motion? How do you touch, enlighten, soften the world around you?
Take a moment to think about it and realize how you too make a real difference every day, in word and deed.

Sayings speak, from the heart and from person to person. They are words that come to life when we give them content and meaning. When we actively put them into the world!

In addition to the testimonies, you can also read a reflection text with each saying in which we delve a little deeper into the core of the words and how they move us."