Heart of Berlin

Each year in preparation for Easter I ask the Lord if there is anything I should abstain from for Lent. This year the answer that I heard in my heart after prayer came to me as a surprise: “Abstain from doubting.”
Not doubting Him. Not doubting his goodness towards me – in spite of obvious challenges I was facing. And in spite of disappointments, broken dreams – the challenge was: “Do not allow yourself the ‘luxury’ of doubt.” Doubt is an easy way out. When you doubt you do not need to dare. Dare to trust. Dare to try new things.

And boy – do I need courage. For 12 years I dreamt about having a space where I could host people. (Young) people who would want to learn with me and from me. Who would like to stay for a few days or weeks to learn, be mentored, and share life. Twice it looked as though the dream would come true. And twice it crashed again. Painfully. Violently. I cried. I couldn’t understand God. After all – wasn’t it his dream, too?!

In the last month the dream surfaced again. But not in the form of a flat that was big enough for living as well as hosting as well as holding seminars, but a SHIP. It is simply cheaper to buy and renovate a ship than to buy a flat. And so much more fun. So I found a great ship on Ebay (!!!). I had a look at it with professionals who understand more about ships than me. And now I am going to buy it in the next twelve months.

I will renovate it. And make it a place for sharing life. And most likely I will name it “Heart of Berlin”.

Do you want to share the dream?

You can. You can make it possible in three ways: Prayer, p, and practical help.

- Prayer:
I know how much can go wrong in any project. I’ve had my share of painful lessons. Things going wrong that cannot possibly go wrong. But I also know that the opposite can happen. Things going incredibly smoothly. God’s favour on all sides. Deadlines met. So I really do appreciate prayer for wisdom, God’s favour and blessing…and I don’t mind a word of encouragement now and then.

- Gifts and loans:
In spite of the ship being relatively cheap I still need more than 40,000 Euros by the end of April 2012 for buying the ship, transport and building materials. From May onwards I have regular payments in installments for the work that needs to be done. So any one time gift – no matter how big or small, regular gifts and loans will help. For gifts you can use paypal: Kerstin (AT) down-to-earth.de

Practical help: Do you need some good exercise and want to grow some strong muscles? I do need a lot of practical help – both from people who know what they are doing (plumbers, electricians) and those who don´t (everybody can scratch off rust and paint a ship). So if you’re up for a working holiday on the outskirts of Berlin or know of people who are – let me know. And sooner or later I will need flower pots, cushions, curtain materials and lots of other practical things.

I am really excited about this project. Looking forward to creating a space for disciples, learners, nomads, and people who want to grow.

I will keep you updated.

I got talking to a lady who works for a publishing company at the Leipzig Book Fair. One of her company’s products are little cards with illustrated Bible verses. She told me about one encounter with a customer.
“The man had gone looking for our stand. At one of the previous Book Fairs, things hadn’t been going so well for him. He was facing a life-threatening operation. He happened to pass our stand and drew one of our cards. It contained the following verse: “I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.” (Psalm 118:17).
This man didn’t just see that as an encouragement before his difficult operation, it was also the beginning of his journey to faith. He began to pray and to find his way to faith.”

Working in a publishing company can sometimes be isolating. You sit alone in front of your computer screen. Most communication is electronic. Stories like this, give me new energy to keep going. Words can change peoples’ lives. Powerfully.

There are conferences you simply go to. You enjoy them – and then you go home. You get some nice ideas and fond memories out of it. That’s good. That’s great. That’s it.
And then there are others, and when you go you’ve got a hunch that what’s going on there has really made an impact. It sticks with you. For me, Transforum 2012 is that kind of conference.
Theme: Look Around. Stand Up. Get Involved. Justice for the City.
Why did this conference make such an impact? Well, it practised what it preached for a start. They didn’t spend their money on expensive decorations; instead the room was freshened up with tulips in milk bottles and drapes made from recycled cleaning rags.
They had a band, all from Berlin, and yet originating from about half a dozen different countries. They didn’t just talk at the participants with endlessly long presentations; instead they went for concise, relatively compact presentations supplemented by interviews, discussion groups, films and poetic/musical contributions, so that your mind could still absorb it all. Sensible eating also had a hand in that: fruit in the break and a delicious cooked meal with lots of salad instead of conference junk-food. Wonderful! And of course Fair Trade tea and coffee. Logical. Consistent.

Personal highlights: the presentation by Harald Sommerfeld on the topic of “Look Around.” With his usual acuteness and creativity, he pointed out the areas where we have a warped perspective of things. If we think about misuse of tax payers’ money, then the first thing that pops into our mind is often those who are living on social security without really needing it. Harald then outlined some (very conservative) estimates. The estimated cost of social security abuse is 3 billion euros a year (currently about £2.5 billion). The estimated cost of white-collar crime: €100 billion (ca. £83 billion).

Ouch. Who are the criminals?

Change of scene: the Tottenham riots in 2011. Harald went into detail about a relatively large gang (more than 600 members) who were partly responsible for the excessive violence and who also had a few other crimes on their record, like domestic violence, bodily harm, cashing false checks, shop-lifting, fraud and drink-driving (84)!

One London Gang
• 29 were accused of domestic violence by their wives.
• 7 were imprisoned for fraud.
• 9 were accused of distributing false checks.
• 17 have led at least two companies to bankruptcy.
• 3 have a criminal record for bodily harm.
• 71 can no longer receive credit due to insolvency.
• 14 were arrested due to accusations in connection with drugs.
• 8 were imprisoned for shop-lifting.
• 21 are presently involved in legal proceedings (as the accused).
• 84 were arrested in the last year alone because of drink-driving.

And the members of this “gang”? That would be the right honourable individuals who sit as elected representatives of the House of Commons.

Wow. That really hit me. Like many other people, when I think of crime the first thing I think of are those further down the social scale, not “them up there.”

Look Around. Or Listen In. As another part of the presentation some young rappers from a district in Berlin called the Soldiner Kiez talked about their experiences: “I’m sick of hearing from everyone that I’m responsible for 9/11 just because I’m a Muslim.” “I really want stay straight and get somewhere in life, but when you’re sitting in a class at school with five heavies, it’s not that easy.” “I often can’t sleep at night, because so many questions are going through my head.”

And then on Friday morning: Stand Up with Sister Margit Forster from Solwodi (Solidarity with Women in Distress).She talked about the fate of women who are kidnapped by traffickers and sold into the sex-trade. It even happens in Europe. In Berlin alone, there are an estimated 10,000 prostitutes. They work on the streets, in brothels and in the backrooms of bars. Some do so of their own choice in order to earn money (although can that really be called choice, when there seems to be no other way of staying above the breadline?) Many do so to finance their drug addiction (is addiction a “choice”?).
Then about 70% of these women are controlled by a pimp or procuress. “If you make a break for it, we’ll do you in.” Or “We know where your family lives. If you don’t play ball, we’ll do them in.”
What really hit me is that many African prostitutes are Christians. One woman that they had visited in a brothel said that she often listened to worship songs and had a Bible in her room. This “job” is by no means something they want to be doing. They’re prisoners of circumstance. That really hit me hard. The Bible says that we should care and provide for all people, but especially for our brothers and sisters in faith.

I often cycle past a street in Berlin where women are standing. I’ve often asked myself why they don’t just make a break for it…the next underground station is just 100 metres away. Now I know. And now I ask myself what I can do about it. My career requires too much travelling to regularly get involved in an area. But I spoke to Sister Margit. They need women who can help former prostitutes who want out of the game to get into the world of work. People who can act as mediators. Encouragers. Now and again. As the need arises. I can do that. But I’ve got cold feet. I don’t quite know what I’m letting myself in for. New territory. But these women have much more reason to be afraid than I do. So I can just get on with overcoming my teeny bit of terror. I’ve written to Sister Margit today: “Count me in.”

P.S. The Website for Transforum is worth a visit. The main presentations will soon be available to download online.

Why do we sometimes make life so difficult for ourselves – when it could all be so much simpler?! I found these ideas somewhere on the Internet – and I thought they were great!

There are phases in life when we’re caught up in the daily grind. That’s how it was for me in the last few months: lots of larger projects from the new shop to the Plain and Simple book series demanded my attention, and I had little energy left for new discoveries. That’s fine – as long as it’s just a phase.

Now I find myself raring to get going again! First and foremost I want to learn something new: at the moment I’m intently looking into various nutritional ideas so that I can pass on well-founded knowledge at the LEA Training sessions (available in German), and of course because it’s of personal interest to me too.

For the same reason I’m also looking into the EKS and coupling that with Coaching training. The EKS focusses on strategy-based approaches to working through difficult phases; the terminology is a little unwieldy, but beneath it lies a really fantastically conceived strategy for employed, self-employed or business people who want to discover how and where they can act most effectively. Since again and again I find myself coaching the self-employed or people who want to make headway in their careers, it’s important for me to have a thorough grounding so that I can give advice that’s based on well-founded strategies. What’s more, I’m currently editing a Quadro on the topic of “Finding your Focus” written by the EKS expert Kerstin Friedrich: you can expect it on the shelves in a couple of weeks.

Last but by no means least I want to go on a journey of discovery in Berlin. Yesterday I bought myself the book “111 must-see places in Berlin”. Since about 80 of the places mentioned in the book are still unknown to me, I’m looking forward to exciting new discoveries in the next few weeks and months.
I consider it a blessing that this super-intensive production phase is finally coming to an end and that I’ve got space – and more and more energy! – to set off on a journey of discovery. How exciting is that?

My friend Hannah sat me down on her garden bench and asked me to explain the concept of SWING in “Swing your life into balance”. In English. In five minutes. You can find the result here.

Do you like Rainer Maria Rilke. Here you can hear me reading one of Rilkes poems in German and my friend Hannah reading the English Translation.

I was recently at a business summit, a one-day seminar for people who want to make a difference in the world. One of the workshops introduced a project that really inspired me. People are taking the leftovers from ground coffee and other organic waste and using them to grow mushrooms. The dregs come from cafés in Berlin, which would normally throw them away.

I was less than inspired by the comments of one of those present: The best case scenario would be if we didn’t import coffee at all. They were right of course, to a certain extent. But if we think that through, the logical conclusion is to go back to being hunter-gatherers in the woods. Not exactly the perfect solution.

And I don’t like it when people pooh-pooh the first steps of something: neither as far as a project is concerned nor during coaching. Every step in the right direction is a reason to celebrate. That’s what I believe: with conviction.

Elderly people are a real inspiration to me at the moment – especially those who are still active and taking pleasure in life. Like Joan Erikson, the wife of psychologist Eric Erikson (who invented the term “Identity Crisis”. She was still active and agile at a very old age, never stopped learning new things and loved to embrace the world in all its diversity. Her friend Joan Anderson described her and her unconventional approach to life in the book “A Year by the Sea” which is my bedtime reading at the moment – not to send me to sleep but rather to inspire an inner reawakening. You can watch her in a short video clip (Part I and Part II)

Or what about the world-famous ceramicist Eva Zeisel, who was still designing pottery and appraising collections at the age of 105? She saw no reason to take it easy. Take it easy from what? “I’ve never worked. I play.” She says. You can listen to her on TED (a forum for inspiring speeches).

A while back my friend Hannah Stoney made two short videos with me. One reading some Rilke Poems in German and English. The other one explaining my concept of a balanced life based on the seven days in the story of creation.
You find them in her “on a park bench” series – No. 6 + 7 (also watch the other great characters)