I’m Kate Rouse from Albury, New South Wales, Australia. Out of the blue Rob Raggozine contacted me last week about doing a radio show on Awakened Radio. It was exciting to have someone in the USA interested in what I am doing.
I am a writer, artist, teacher and trained counselor. Three years ago I had pneumonia and during that time contemplated what I would write if my life was coming to an end. One year later, while farm-sitting on a remote farm in Queensland, looking after a menagerie of farm animals and set among sugar cane fields and forest the idea came to me to write, A Spiritual Handbook for the Modern Era, a handbook for life based around life stages. I was treating this farm-sit time as a retreat, doing meditation, prayer, reading and walking. The idea emerged like a new leaf unfurling. I wrote out a skeleton plan for the book and looked forward to writing it at the next house-sit.
Our next location was beside the ocean at Elliott Heads near Bundaberg. We only had a small garden to look after and lots of free time. Most days I would write, reading over my drafts to Shayne and then discussing the suitability of topics and insights. In the late afternoon I would walk down to the ocean’s edge and meditate and pray sitting on black volcanic basalt rock above the shore. It was a sub-tropical area and the water extended to the horizon in beautiful aqua. I lost myself in it and felt like I was a part of the ocean. I find much benefit in immersing myself in Nature and feeling that oneness within and surrounding all that is.
Our next house-sit was looking after two energetic Staffordshire arm pulling off terriers on the Sunshine Coast. We enjoyed long walks on the beach and exploring the rainforest just inland. I didn’t want to head south too soon. My lungs were still weak and I didn’t want to be south for the colder months so we did one more house-sit inland from Brisbane. That house had been painted and quite a bit of paint had been splattered on the floor – so I thought now’s my chance – some painting time. While in sunny Queensland I had been taking lots of photos of tropical gardens which I loved, forests and beaches. I decided to paint to the tropical theme – based on gardens and the tropical ocean. I loved the vibrancy and lushness of the gardens and the aqua sea. Painting was my primary activity for the next two months. Acrylics and then lots of varnish.