Well its been a wet few weeks, the grass has been up around our ears but thanks to Lex its getting more manageable! (Thanks Lex!!)  Everything is so lush & green! What a change from the 7 months of drought last year.

We have been very busy with lots of new guests (new friends) and old friends returning to spend time with us. February was getting busier & its looks like March will be moving into a frantic pace as we are just about booked out for every retreat.

Last night we managed a bit of time away by taking Nicholas and Grace to a school fundraiser in town “Alice in Wonderland” which we all loved. A Gympie high school is raising money to send their teens this year to spend some time at an orphanage in Cambodia instead of sending them to schoolies. I think it’s a FANTASTIC idea and I hope all schools adopt this new thinking. I thing schoolies is just an excuse for bad bahaviour that gets tolerated (?) because they are schoolies!  Oh and of course businesses make money from it. Lets not forget the priority!!!

But apart from our short time away seeing a movie, Les and I are mostly working here and allowing ourselves to develop through our work here at Heartland. We endeavour to create Heartland to be a beacon of light and love to the world. Heartland is growing and making new friends all the time. We have a feature article in Australian Natural Health magazine (a great magazine) so look out for the March issue.

Coming up, we have the Easter Retreat which is always a wonderful time spent honouring the Divine within. We are not Christians, but we deeply appreciate the teachings of Jesus and that at Easter time we ourselves can be “born again”,  not in a religious sense, but in our hearts & souls. We can deepen our connection to our hearts. We can open our hearts & we can more fully  come from our wholeness and our lovingness. Can you imagine the world if everyone did this??? J

I know sometimes when I feel overwhelmed & perhaps the kids are speaking to me, both at the same time……  I say “shhhhh” and I take a few deep breaths. Suddenly, I begin to have clear thought! That little pause in an otherwise busy moment, enabled me to reconnect  to my heart and  therefore to the Divine within. So even when you are busy … take a few deep breaths and allow the moment to flow…… you might also feel a loving connection in your heart which will help you.

Love & Blessings,

Trudi

I liken the life of Tommy as a butterfly, because he was ever so fleeting. One moment we were celebrating his arrival, the next minute we were faced with his death.

We think it must have been because he was so frail and took so long to be born. Maybe he wasn’t strong enough to survive? I had explained to the kids the day he was born that he had to stand up to reach the milk - he had to have strength to survive. I told them how if you help a chicken to break free of the egg, it will die. The chicken must go through the difficulties of cracking open its birth chamber…. as that process makes its strong.

So for whatever reason, Tommy wasn’t strong enough and he passed away.

Nicholas brought me instantly into THE NOW after we told him what happened.

He exclaimed “OH NO”, and I instantly went into explaining…. he wasn’t strong enough bla bla bla…. but Nicholas cut me off and said “OH NO, now we have to dig a big hole” and my tears of saddness turned to tears of laughter as I realized that in THAT moment, Nicholas spoke the truth of what was happening. Tommy was gone. He was dead and now we had to deal with the body that WAS Tommy.

Thanks to Ali & Lex we didn’t have to dig the big hole - they brought up their digger and a beautiful frangipani to place over the grave.

All things pass…. animals.. people…. places…. nothing ever stays the same. And once again its all about “letting go”.

Blessings along your path.

Trudi

I think life is all about learning to LOVE…. everyone and everything – including ourselves and our shadow selves and all the many selves that are in others!!! Anyway, that’s what I am learning this week. It kind of all fits together in the “why am I here” box.

I think it all comes down to love.

Loving…. and letting go….and loving… and letting go… and loving again & over again……

I spent yesterday in the hospital with Nicholas (every now & then he gets “cyclic vomiting” & will vomit for 5 days if I don’t get him to the hospital.)

So, I am in there all day yesterday… relaxing… trying to be in the NOW & not think about all the things I SHOULD (or could) be doing at home with our group of guests.

But its all ok… I spent all day letting go… and seeing the Godlight in the wonderful nursing staff and doctors who were very helpful in assisting us.

I feel for me right now, I am learning to love everyone – and myself – being here at Heartland. I AM meant to be exactly where I am.

The people that come seek only to be loved too. How best to show them, by simply loving me & loving them.

Nothing else matters.

Do we need to heal the past? Our fractured hearts and hurt souls carrying pain from the past & childhood memories.  Is it necessary to pull out all the old stuff & deal with it?  My inner voice says yes… when the time is right, the process will happen naturally. And as we heal all those parts of ourselves, then we become truly whole, loving beings.

The greatest gift would be to truly see everything & everyone as God. Living breathing parts of the Divine!!! YUMMMM!!!!!

Well I must go. Mantras are next then chakradance…… I was going to say “the best parts of the day” but I know in higher truth…. All parts are equally the “best bits”!!! J  

Blessings & may the Divine shine in you today!

Love Trudi

This morning at 5am we were woken by the donkeys braying so we raced out of bed & out the front door to find them all waiting for us outside. Aggie, who we had long suspected was pregnant, was indeed trying to give birth to her foal which was very much stuck.

.

So Les & I fenced her up & she lay down to receive some much needed help. Now Aggie is the donkey who is shy & timid and pretty much stands back when the others rush up to get food. She has always been very wary of us humans. And here she was, laying on her side and allowing Les to gently pull the hooves of her foal out of her. It was an amazing scene… but we were not sure if the foal was alive or dead. We watched & waited to see if the foal would breathe, and HE eventually did!!

.

It took another hour or so for the foal to stand on his shaky legs (they are all legs when little!) and this afternoon, he is happily sucking from his mother. Les, Nicholas, Grace & I took a “family vote” and after many many votes & re-votes, we settled on Tommy!! So please have a look at his cute photo on the website!!

http://www.heartlandretreat.com.au/Donkey-Sanctuary.html

.

A lot of people ask “why do you have donkeys?” and I guess a good answer is “why not?” Donkeys can be a neglected and abused animal – most in Australia end up in cans of dog food. We were looking for animals to put on our farm who would eat the grass but not the macadamia trees. The donkeys are in harmony here - we love them and our guests enjoy meeting & feeding them. That’s our happy news for the day!

.

Wishing you the “birth” of possibilities during this New Year. Blessings to all,

.

Trudi

A letter came for my son Sam, from the RACQ which I opened. I thought it was the roadside assistance account for about $50 and I thought it would be a nice surprise if we could pay it for him. But, it was his car insurance for $300!

So I sent an email to his dad to ask if he would go halvies with me, which he agreed. Then I sat at my desk and thought “mmmmmm, now I need $150!”

So, I said (not out loud ) “God, I really would like to pay this for Sam. I need $150. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou”. (I released the prayer, I surrended my need to control the how, why and when …. I simply “let go & let God”). And, I trusted in the Divine.

I left the office and my computer and  walked into the tea room and at that moment one of our guests opened the front door and said “Trudi, do you sell your paintings? I would like to buy 2.”

I was thrilled!!! I sold the 2 paintings for $150 and paid the account for Sam.

These kinds of things have happened lots of times in my life and I don’t put a lot of value on it – simply because I never stress about it. Its just a part of “normal” life!  Miracles happen!!!!

“Ask and ye shall receive”.

Blessings to all.

When I was 16 years old the suicide of my brother altered my life forever. It was the catalyst for change… although any positive change didn’t occur until a year later. For the first year after he died, his death affected me and my behaviour in a negative, detrimental way. I tried to wash away the grief by drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana  with my best friend – who was also running from her own pain. I did everything I could to numb the saddness of his death, even resorting to burning my arms with cigarette butts and cutting my skin with knives. I guess I wanted outside proof of my inner pain & turmoil.

I remember the day I looked at a friend of mine who was happy (to me) and she wasn’t drunk or stoned! She was simply having fun being herself…. And it was at that point that I wondered if I could ever feel that way too. I wanted to feel joyful! I wanted to feel happy! I wanted to feel as though I belonged on planet earth – and didn’t just arrive by some stupid mistake.

I stopped smoking marijuana and limited my alcohol intake. And for many years, I tried to be happy & joyful….. I tried to find my purpose and tried to find meaning to my existance. I married at 24 & had 2 beautiful boys, eventually divorcing  and entering into single parenthood. I had begun the soul’s journey just after the birth of my second son, and nothing was going to stop it! Once awakened, it seemed to have a will of its own!

In my late 30’s,  Les and I began our new journey together. People think that finding your “soul mate” must be bliss all the time, but it doesn’t come without its challenges too!! But being on the same path and treating each other with love, courtesy & respect was certainly the way I wanted to live. During one of the workshops that I participated in, Les had all the participants think about the worst event that had ever happened to them in their lives and make it a joyful celebration about how it had altered our life!

Naturally, my mind went immediately to my brothers death… but how on earth was I to tell this in a joyful celebratory way???????? I stood in the middle of my group, each group having about 6 people in all, and I smiled and explained what happened to my brother and how it had affected me. My tears of saddness were indeed starting to change and at that very moment I had the  realization that my brothers death had actually taught me the precious value of life!  That life was an extraordinary gift – and that it can be a celebration of our existance if we so choose it to be. We don’t have to become anything extraordinary, we don’t have to become something special, we don’t need fame or fortune, we just need to be ourselves.

My brother taught me the value of life. He taught me that life was worth the living. That life was a gift. And what do we do with a precious gift? We look after it!

So, thankyou Les for bringing this gift into my awareness and thankyou Mick for teaching this gift to me.

In memory of my brother, Mick Leary. Bless you always.

Heartland always goes through changes just like we ourselves do. We change, we evolve and we blossom into our full potential more & more! (Hopefully!!!)

I feel that at times when we come from our personalities and not from our

God-Light, “we” get in the way!  We stop our God-Light from shining and we come from our “old” selves, our “poor-me’s”…. our victim mind-set. We are choosing to see at that moment through our filters that have a build up of hurt, of pain and of negativity.

I have noticed in myself that sometimes when I don’t even feel like getting out of bed in the morning I can (and do) push through that feeling and by the time I have said good morning to all the animals and fed & watered the guinea pigs, the chooks and Will the dog, I feel peaceful and happy again! I sing my way down to Heartland (singing little ditties about how Will is the most beautiful dog in the whole world! J ) and say good morning to the donkeys… and my whole perspective changes from feeling a bit flat, to feeling once again… full of joy and ready to embrace the day!

Some people say that they are not morning people, (and I come from a long line of not-morning-people) and I can tell you, that you can move past that – it just depends on if you want to or not. Its all about our perspectives – and we have the power to change our perspective at any time we want to.

Les teaches how we can change our perspectives - in our 5 day Healing Renewals. He also teaches us how to quit sabotaging ourselves. He is a great teacher & one of the first things I ever noticed about him was his great sense of humour and how down to earth he is! He loves a good laugh - we don’t need to have a laughter club here at Heartland….. we just need  Les to share his funny stories and jokes!  I just have to make sure that we get him some new jokes occasionally…. So if you know of any, please send them to us (but no rude ones please!).

With Love & Laughter & Joy! Trudi 

Well, its amazing how quickly this year has been flying by! Nicholas has just celebrated his 17^th birthday and enjoyed the “radio” birthday cake that Maxeen  creatively decorated. Wow! It even got a mention on the local radio station!!! J

So, Maxeen has rejoined us, and with Chris and Kelley, we are sure getting lots of wonderful support and help. We are SO BLESSED.

The gardens are growing well – I guess the garden is really the yard-stick on all the new growth going on around Heartland. Firstly, we are all getting to know our inner artist – and lots of our guests are learning that they really ARE creative after all! This is always such a wonderful Blessing for us to see. This week they have sculpted hebel, painted their own unique work-of-art on canvas, all created their own soul-healing collage and its only Wednesday!!!!

Tomorrow, they all go to  hand feed the wild dolphins at Tin Can Bay, come back to Heartland for the yummy (gluten free) zucchini & carrot pikelets, and after their tummies are full they get to feed their souls and listen to another wonderful installment of Les’s inspirational talks, then after the “art of healing”, we all go to meditate at Point Pure! Wow. Another wonderful week here at Heartland.

There is so much growing, sharing, caring, & loving friendship. We are all truly Blessed to share this experience.

Thank you all for sharing our journey.

May God guide you.

Trudi

Spring has sprung here at Heartland! The sun is shining, the birds are singing (the king parrots are back!!) and the frogs are singing into the nights….. our guests are enjoying our morning mantras (and we are all getting our tongues around the Gayatri Mantra!!!) and the NEW TEMPLE!!!!! It is wonderful and the energy in it is truly beautiful. I have painted a gold Om on the altar side of the temple (outside) and finally my big buddha has been put together to sit in the garden in front of the gold Om.

Les was sharing yesterday that the sanskrit Om shape actually means “everything” which means God is everything, everything is God.

Some people come here and wonder why we like the number 3 so much!!! J ha ha

We are enjoying the art space in the afternoons, the inspirational talks (thanks Les!) the wonderful massages and treatments (I am going to have one this week too!) and we are busy bees as per usual. Viv is back in our Heartland kitchen serving up delicious meals for us – and Kelley is on her way home to Heartland after being away for a week. Kim has been helping us along with Vanessa. Both have been such wonderful helpers this week. I couldn’t have done it without you girls! J Bless you.

Its funny but I didn’t think life could get any busier until 2009 came upon us! Phew… Sometimes I really am amazed that we have developed such a beautful place as Heartland – that it is our vision come into fruition! It truly is growing into a special place.

We would love to have a healing yurt in the garden – and a labyrinth to walk – down near the lagoon. We want lots & lots more trees planted – so if ever you feel inspired to come & help (either by donating trees or donating your time to plant them) we would love to hear from you. I have found that the more we give of ourselves, the more we have inside to give! Its amazing really. Les always says “be the love, be the peace, be the giving”. Churchill once said, that “we make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give”.

I have written in the front of my address book – “I myself do nothing- the Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me” by William Blake. I love that! It is a reminder for me that the spirit which I am, is the same spirit in you. We are all one in spirit. And that spirit flows through us (like our breath) and we are always that connection to the Divine energy. There is nothing else. We are a part of that “everything”. Try being that “flow” of life, while meditating (or going about your chores…) Being that Divine expression coming in with the in-breath, and allowing that Divine expression to flow out with our out-breath. Mmmmmmmm thats nice… I might go & practice that while I set the table for lunch!

Bless you all.

Trudi xxx

This week is seeing many changes around Heartland. We are extending the Temple – to offer other groups to use Heartland as a learning facility for their own workshops & programmes. Please let other teachers & facilitators know that Heartland now offers its wonderful rooms, Temple, Library & kitchen (we supply all vegetarian food for workshops) as beautiful facilities for hire.

The sun is shining, the garden is green, we have a helper in our vegie patch (thanks Peter), Kelley is here being a wonderful help & support to both Les and I. Maxeen is returning in September (hooray!), and Chris is arriving in a few weeks to take over in the Heartland garden & orchard! Thanks Chris!

So, Les and I feel extremely blessed once again, to have the wonderful support of like-minded people who share the same vision of Heartland. May it continue to inspire & support those who are walking a path of Light and Love on this precious earth.

I have been reading many different inspirational books (I always have a few on the go at any one time) and listening to Wayne Dyer’s cd’s in the car, and hearing over and over that we are such powerful beings of Love! I picked up a flyer on autism yesterday and in it I found another inspirational message “that we are what we think we are”.

So,  if we are truly connecting to the Divine that is within us, there is no disease. That there is only health in the Divine – and that we can be  blessed with good health too. We get sick – often from our random-out-of-control-negative-thoughts that we seem to replay over & over & over.

We can truly break the cycle of our own negativity, if we simply step into our abundant power – of God, of Good. I am going to practice aligning with the Divine energy every day. You can too! I look forward to seeing your God-Light shine next time I see you! Bye for now, Trudi x