About me
Certified Life Coach Josina Bekaert
Hello! Let me introduce myself: I am Josina Bekaert (1982), the driving force behind Ithaki Coaching. As a Life Coach I guide international clients online via video calling in supporting their self-growth. I offer tailor-made online coaching programs where I support you during your inner journey to the best version of yourself. The key to a happier and healthier life, in balance with yourself and your environment.
I have been living and working for years in Southern Spain (Malaga) with my husband and daughter. As a multicultural centipede, I grew up in Belgium, but it soon became clear that I wanted to explore the wide world. My study Social & Cultural Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam made this possible. As a citizen of the world I have lived, studied and worked in different countries: the Netherlands, Argentina, Greece and Spain. I am fluent in Dutch, English and Spanish. As a hobby I am learning Modern Greek online, because Greece is a special place for me. You can see that from the photo below, taken on the Greek island of Ithaki: my hair is all messy from the sea and the wind, but I don't care because I am completely in my element there on that Greek Island!
Wherever I am and whatever I do, one thing is central: my passion for a good connection with people. And fortunately that is possible anywhere in the world. Thanks to the new technologies, I can stay connected on a business and private level with clients, business associates, family and friends. As long as there is a good internet connection, video calling brings us close together again in no time, also for a coaching session.
In 2020 I made an important dream come true and I obtained my Life Coach diploma at CIVAS. Subsequently, I successfully completed the Online Coaching specialization at CIVAS, because I really believe in the power of connecting online and coaching online via video calling. Because of the corona pandemic, we can make a virtue of necessity: using video calling in coaching is very convenient and effective. At the moment I am doing a specialization in HSP coaching (coaching Highly Sensitive Persons), which was a very natural decision since me myself as a HSP, I can understand what HSPs encounter and that a slightly different approach can make a world of difference.
Ithaki is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. But above all: Ithaki symbolizes your own life journey and your personal growth. According to Homer's Greek epic poetry Odyssey, Odysseus was the king of the island of Ithaki, making it a mythical place. The island turned into a symbol for everyone's inner journey in life.
The beautiful, world-famous poem by the Greek poet Kontantinos Kavafis aptly describes the symbolism of Ithaki (also known as Ithaka) with an important message: the journey is more important than the destination, enjoy your life while pursuing your goals despite obstacles on your path.
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As a Life Coach I can support you in your life journey, in search of your inner compass, which will bring you closer to yourself and your Ithaki.
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Ithaka
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BY C. P. CAVAFY
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TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY
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As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
C. P. Cavafy, "The City" from C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Translation Copyright © 1975, 1992 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
Source: C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems (Princeton University Press, 1975)
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