#evdwstroke
For B
Keep your focus on what matters
The horizon plain in sight
Breathing in and breathing out
in the silence of the night
Let your heart decide its rythm
No use to control its pace
You are precisely where you should be
All your layers in one place
Feel the lifeline that connects you
from the organs in your chest
To the infinity around you
Everything is at your best
Eelco van der Waals
14 September 2025
Sep 14, 2025
Sep 14, 2025 at 2:53 AM UTC
A month ago when time stood stlll,
with hanging mouth and speech distorted
an ambulance appeared to take you in
It took a shock to make a change
enough to feel how it was needed
to reset everything and re-begin
Week one - stand still and learn
your body's beating inner language
Week two - reflecting outward
on the things you hardly knew
Week three - the first steps into
a training to recover
Week four - concluding practise
to integrate what's new
Each moment is a starting point
for new directions and behaviors
and each day brings a chance out of the blue ♡
Eelco van der Waals
20 August 2025
Aug 20, 2025
Aug 20, 2025 at 6:57 AM UTC
Our journey goes in circles
steady upward and around
through a little mountain village
and higher still towards the sound
of cow bells ringing in the meadows
along the footpath where we go
passing little streams of water
reflecting sunlight in their flow
When we reach a higher terrace
we stand and overlook the view
so much wider in perspective
than we, lower, barely knew
It takes altitude and distance
to see the picture as a whole
giving purpose to our journey
in the calmness of the soul
Eelco van der Waals
25 August 2025
Aug 25, 2025
Aug 25, 2025 at 10:28 AM UTC
Unexpected happenings
cast their shadows far ahead
as you notice afterwards
looking over your shoulder
Miles further on the way
you watch the landscape passing
and only then you notice
what you overlooked before
Small signs become signals
warning you in retrospect
of wrong turns you were taking
not noticing what lay ahead
A blush on the cheecks
a dizzy pressure in the head
should have told you to
pause the journey for a bit
as you have learned in hindsight
in gratitude of what went well
Eelco van der Waals
20 August 2025
Aug 24, 2025
Aug 24, 2025 at 5:52 AM UTC
Inside your head are
two balloons, one right,
the other left
They mostly feel the same
except for when in
tiredness
Then choosing words gets
complicated, taking
time to find
The answer of your body
is to draw back
in the mind
Slow down to zero, breathe
and lower pressure
in your brain
To even up the two
balloons and make
them rise again
Eelco van der Waals
19 August 2025
Aug 19, 2025
Aug 19, 2025 at 5:27 AM UTC
The freshness of
the early daybreak
with open windows,
sunbeams in
A blackbird singing
through the curtains
a whole new
morning to begin
This courtyard is
a place of mercy,
an island in a
world of stone
You wake up in
a new beginning
contentness
rising from the bone
So get up, step
into the garden to
feel this newness
in your pores
You've come from far
into this moment
here to enjoy
this time is yours
Eelco van der Waals
17 August 2025
Aug 18, 2025
Aug 18, 2025 at 1:18 AM UTC
Different moments on one day -
it could start with a giant leap
as if you were on a slide
whizzing straight forward
But then again, moments
looming like mountains
making you stop at once
and hold your breath
A day's length's too far ahead
to foresee when time can
seem a windscreen wiper
on a foggy road
Try not to concern too much:
still so many moments to go
look how far you've come
from point zero
So count your blessings
keep your fingers crossed
and feel the progress
you have made
Eelco van der Waals
16 August 2025
Aug 15, 2025
Aug 15, 2025 at 1:23 PM UTC
To C.
What you've
been through
ain't nothing
You don't need to
play it down
Stay in touch with
what's still fragile
as you walk
into the town
At the same time
feel the strength
you have refound
in your chest
Both are needed
in the balance
to live truthful
at your best
Eelco van der Waals
15 August 2025
Aug 14, 2025
Aug 14, 2025 at 11:22 PM UTC
Hospital bed
like a boat in the night
drifting on waves
of uncertainty
machinery blinking
on the pulse of your arm,
beeps on and off like
a lighthouse at sea -
your vessel reaches
the harbour of dawn
where white-coated sailors
enter the gangway
bringing news and measures
of a safe journey home after
a bumpy ride. You disembark
on shaky feet in gratitude.
Eelco van der Waals
29 July 2025
Jul 30, 2025
Jul 30, 2025 at 1:17 PM UTC
Two feet going forward
one foot at a time, giving
every step a new direction
on the tracks of change
Who's in charge here?
the eye sees the path to go
the ear hearing fresh winds blow
the mind seems the one to know
Yet two feet shape their way
going further step by step
to targets and to destiny
where things come round
All is choice and choice is all
links together build the chain
of small events in a stream
flowing to the great blue sea
Eelco van der Waals
1 August 2025
Aug 1, 2025
Aug 1, 2025 at 4:39 PM UTC
Patterns woven day by day
in the workshop of your mind
all throughout childhood
getting tighter all the time
so that they at a certain spot
appear to be unchangeable.
Up till the turning point where
sudden signals shake you up
with threats ahead for life or death
and everythings stands still.
Away is all fixed certainty
from this new viewing point
where you take deeper breaths
and reset means a brandnew start.
Eelco van der Waals
2 August 2025
Aug 2, 2025
Aug 2, 2025 at 1:41 PM UTC
Getting older is a daily thing
ice gets thinner underneath your weight
and vulnerability is growing
in the mirrors that you pass
A vein in your head says no
and oxygen is blocked to your lip
that goes hanging, making words
different with a mumbling sound
Doctors are there, checking and
prescribing medicine to conquer
lasting effects after one night
in a hospital bed like a boat at sea
Every reason to be grateful and to
write poetry learning for now and
ever, expressing your gratitude,
celebrating vulnerability
Eelco van der Waals
3 August 2025
Aug 3, 2025
Aug 3, 2025 at 1:44 AM UTC
Horizons shift slowly
where we are, here on deck
with open water all around
carrying our boat
to unknown land
with every wave and
wind that blows
This journey has no end
but ports in a row
bringing cargoes and fixes
after rough and calm seas
All questions posed
by currents and winds
you answer holding
your hand on the helm
steering the bow of the boat
with the flow and then higher
to stay on your course
with time on your side
Eelco van der Waals
4 August 2025
Aug 4, 2025
Aug 4, 2025 at 3:46 PM UTC
Learning by doing,
doing things slow,
slow meaning half of
the speed that you know
Slow down your breath
and the beat of your heart
making things better
make a new start
Slower is better and
good for your brains,
as it helps to avoid
any stress on your veins
Learn to enjoy this
look and see more
right where you are
as you open the door
Take a new step standing
firm on the ground
breathe and enjoy all
the things to be found
Eelco van der Waals
5 August 2025
Aug 6, 2025
Aug 6, 2025 at 2:47 AM UTC
Accomplishing small things
like breathing in-and-out
standing up from the couch
taking a pencil and notebook
walking into the garden
seeing the sun through the tree
and making a quick sketch
means changing position
to see the whole picture at hand
so look at your life
straighten your back
feel wind on your face
hear the blackbird sing
and taste satisfaction
on the tip of your tongue
Eelco van der Waals
6 August 2025
Aug 6, 2025
Aug 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM UTC
No more nonsense
no more excuse
no more things
you can't refuse
No more blabla
no more delay
no more things
you should today
All that matters
in this quest
is what's beating
in your chest
Do not care of
all the noise
listen to your
inner voice
Eelco van der Waals
6 August 2025
Aug 7, 2025
Aug 7, 2025 at 7:42 AM UTC
Never knew this before:
waves of fatigue, like
walking miles on the beach
avoiding the water
coming in, pulling out
in an ongoing motion
of force and eternity
The waves rising inside
from the toes to the cheek
and up into the brains
where they urge to lie down
and rest
Tide and time together
holding your hand,
whispering promises
of strength and recovery
around the next turn
at sea
Eelco van der Waals
7 August 2025
Aug 8, 2025
Aug 8, 2025 at 5:48 AM UTC
Step out of the night
and wipe out the sorrow
this day's your tomorrow
that starts with new light
Stand firm on your feet
and feel how you're growing
the moment you're knowing
recovery's sweet
Today is the day
to smile and feel healthy
incredibly wealthy
that all is okay
Eelco van der Waals
11 August 2025
Aug 11, 2025
Aug 11, 2025 at 11:23 AM UTC
Feel the layers
in your body
from your skin
to flesh and bones
See the tree rings
bark to wood,
down into the core
where all begins
Learn to draw back
to your core
find the center
of your being
Safe behind
the outer walls
Eelco van der Waals
12 August 2025
Aug 12, 2025
Aug 12, 2025 at 7:18 AM UTC
An infinity ago
there was nothing
that you couldn't
An infinity ago
the whole world
was in your hand
An infinity ago
there was nothing
that you shouldn't
Until suddenly
a shock appeared
to make you understand
The infinity is now
from this moment
to forever
Looking far to the
horizon of this
new found land
Eelco van der Waals
13 August 2025
Aug 13, 2025
Aug 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM UTC