elisabeth, Author at follow your wild heart

I’m done!

I have a big confession to make…

(there’s also a german version of this in video format)

About 7 years ago I have set out my journey to radically follow my heart. And some time along that way, I got extremely sidetracked by my fear of not being a productive member of society / my clan, which in turn – in my head – is tied to earning money. I have figured out that I like helping people, so all the things I have been doing the last almost 4 years have been – on the surface – geared towards that.

In the beginning, I even “allowed” myself to have the time and space to find my connection to my inner voice. For 3 months or so, and I constantly talked about how important it is, to listen to and follow that inner voice. And it is – to me – the most important thing. But I haven’t radically truly communicated that to the universe through my actions. I did do a lot of self-discovery and unfolding of my inner voice, also after these initial 3 months, but I hadn’t noticed that I had put myself in a cage to do so. read more

Are you powered by fear?

What is your main driving force for doing something? And have you checked over time if it’s still the same?
Are you “all in” with your current project? can you feel, that you reached the point of no return? That the only way out of it is through? And you’re ready to do whatever it take? Do it, or die?

If you don’t have something like that in your life – and that can also be your personal journey of self-discovery -, you can skip this article and come back when you do. Because then, you will easily find excuses as soon as it gets a little tough, and won’t have the strength to look at your fears. read more

Why intrinsic need is important to sustainably implement anything

I see and value the importance of self-control, and to learn to step back and be of service. But that topic reminds me a lot about all sorts of trainings, or efforts to achieve something in general.

The pitfalls of freedom

When we feel controlled by others or our surrounding, all we long for is freedom. Freedom to do whatever we like. Freedom to lie around all day, freedom to travel the world, freedom to create art, and anything in between. But is there such thing as too much freedom?

Am I racist?

I have been silent. Silent for far too long. I have observed the uprisings in the US and the solidarity in so many other countries, and felt paralized.

Emotional, Vulnerable, and still Strong?

What does strength really mean? And what about vulnerability? And how can we be strong in hard times, and at the same time feel our emotions and let them be present?

Challenges of Self-Quarantine

... This included keeping my distance from everyone, not touching door knobs, not taking part in the dinner ritual of sending my bowl, and also not cooking at the same time as the others and not cooking for the community.

The richness of slow travel

Slow is a very relative term. In the past, traveling by train was considered fast, compared to traveling with horses or on foot even. Now, it’s considered slow, compared to airplanes, that have become such a common mode of transport nowadays.

A lot of people would have thought me crazy or stupid for taking the train to ride from Minneapolis in the center of the United States, all the way to Portland, Oregon on the westcoast. The whole ride took about 38 hours – not counting the different amounts of delay – and almost 3000 kilometers. That sounds like a lot. And it is! But then, time is also relative. read more

What is community?

Community is such a big part of our DNA… It’s the feeling we all long for in one way or another. It is about being truly seen, being accepted, being loved. It’s about belonging to something bigger than ourselves, living our gift to others, and seing our purpose in the world unfold.

At the end of March this year, I spent one week in the North of Sweden in the middle of nowhere together with nine other people. The only thing that we knew about each other were, that we were all interested in native lifeways and learning about Sami culture and crafts. read more

Blessings and Curses

When a person I talk to is unhappy with a situation that happened to them, I love to tell a certain Zen story about a man and his son, showing that nothing is ever only as it appears in the beginning. That apparent blessings could later be seen as curses and vice versa.

About three weeks ago, something happened, that now I have my own real life story somehow similar to it! You can skip right to my experience if you know the Zen story….

Zen story

It might include some creative freedom.

One day, out of the blue, a man gets visited by a rich relative, who gifts him with a horse. So when he rode into the village, everyone said, what a blessing it is that he got that horse, because it can help with work on his farm and so many other things. But the man just said: We’ll see. read more