What do we want? Enlightenment!

When do we want it?

NOW!!!!

Why are we in such a hurry to be enlightened?

Do we think the world will look differently to us then?

Do we expect to be forever happy?? Forever satisfied?

If only we were enlightened?

My truth is that we can have moments of true connection with the Divine-where we feel at peace & at joy & in harmony with everything and everyone around us. At other times… I cook, I clean, I am being a mum, wife etc… & I am  doing+being  as best I can.  

I practice being God-in-action. I am being aware of what I am doing, doing it with purpose and to the best of my ability. Isn’t that how we best express ourselves?

I read where some monks after many years of meditation have experienced enlightenment for only glimpses of time… the rest of the time they are simply expressing their greatness in everything they do.

I have looked up what the word enlightenment means…….

Enlightenment ;  Education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge.

(Websters online)

enlightened ;
1 showing understanding, acting in a positive way, and not following old-fashioned or false beliefs:

enlightenment;  
1 the state of understanding something:
2 in Hinduism and Buddhism, the highest spiritual state that can be achieved

(Cambridge online)

Sometimes I think we choose to stay in our “little-self” and can’t possibly see how we can ever be enlightened! We choose to stay small and not become our wholeness or our greatness.

But looking at the above meanings I think we are more often practicing being enlightened in simply ways even when we are not realising that is what we are doing.  

Being understanding… being positive…showing kindness….giving from your heart….

We don’t have to be a monk in a monastery – we can be a wife, mother, brother, sister, friend…… we can express our hearts and enlighten others to do the same! In this way we can express being enlightened and certainly help this world to be a more enlightened place to be! 

Love Trudi

One of the wonderful gifts of being here at Heartland is meeting the most beautiful people in the world.

We think that to be “great” in this life, we have to be more than we are already…. and one lady who is here now is a great inspiration to me.

She is an older lady in her 70’s, who dedicates her life to helping others. She is not the only lady we know who is doing this, there are good people everywhere!

When we switch on the news (why why why???) we get bombarded with what is corrupt, scary and certainly NOT the “norm”. But trouble is, if we watch this day after day… we begin to believe that it is “normal” to live in a society which is dangerous, angry & rude. We start to believe the crimes on tv are just a normal part of life. Where have the values of yesterday gone?

Thankfully, they are alive and well in lots and lots of wonderful people expressing love & generosity to others. The lady who is here is expressing love-in-action. She is generous of her time, generous of her love and generous of her heart. THAT is something we can all do!!

So next time you are feeling down or desperate, reach out and help someone. Because in that very act of giving you will connect to the greater part of yourself and when we reconnect with that, we are truly expressing our wholeness – and are expressing God-in-action.

We can all make this world a better place, one act of love at a time.

With Love, Trudi

On Friday the 3^rd of April, Yoshoda had a baby (boy) donkey!!!

I was at the hospital with Nicholas when I got the phone call from Les. He was in the middle of trying to shift the male donkey out of the paddock as apparently they will attack even their own offspring. I don’t know if he would  as he’s never shown any aggression before (if you don’t count his attack on Will the dog) – but we were going to play it safe anyway. So we put on our farmers hats once again and cut & rejoined fences to separate the donkeys.

After we’d gone to all the trouble of building a shed for Yoshoda (thanks to Steve, Nick & Les),  Yoshoda gave birth in the furthest part of the paddock!! She couldn’t have got any further away from the shed if she’d tried.  Les decided the baby and mother should be in the shed after all and so he carried the baby across the paddock and struggled up & down hills to get him there! Naturally, both mother & baby stayed in the shed for awhile (while we were around patting them) and once our backs were turned, she took him back into the corner of the paddock! Even animals have their own free will to do what they want to and not heed the advice of others.

They are both doing well, Nicholas is fine and Les is recovering from his weightlifting exersize! Ahh… the many joys of running a spiritual retreat center. Multi-tasking!

Blessings to you all over Easter.