“Travel with me through numerous countries as I experience the culture of a variety of peoples. My wish is that the alive and kicking ancient wisdoms I gathered along the way also inspire your own wisdom and that the stories of pristine wilderness awaken your inner nature.”
Wendy Hobbelink
“A beautiful, genuine book, that shows how traveling through the pristine wilderness activates your inner nature.”
Frans Schepers
Managing Director at Rewilding Europe
“A unique and honest book about finding freedom within yourself.”
Patrick van Hees,
Happiness expert, CHAP Happiness Institute
“From the first sentence, Wendy whisks you on her journey along different countries and peoples. Her stories and experiences provide an alternative perspective on life. By intimately sharing her own reflections, she connects eye-to-eye with the reader. The reflections concern themes such as the interpretation of dreams, extraordinary connections, the essence of inner freedom, the eyes of the heart and the influence of nature. The open style of writing instills one with the desire to be more open in life.”
Wiet de Bruijn
Chairman Foundation for Natural Leadership, Partner Inner Peace Network
“Wendy’s adventures and the wisdom of ancient communities provide support in being open to the world. Discover how curiosity and listening lead you to the answers to a life with boundless freedom.”
Daphne Laan
Managing Director Down to Earth Collective
“In this fascinating and original book Wendy Hobbelink describes her intense search for inner freedom, resulting in a journey of personal growth, acceptance, surrender and the lesson of letting go. Such a spiritual search for freedom can take the form of a physical odyssey to other cultures as well as be an intuitive journey inward. In this remarkable book, Wendy describes a combination of the two. It reveals that having a new and open understanding of herself and a deep connection with others and nature are crucial and essential to her. This inspiring book will undoubtedly stimulate the reader to contemplate their life’s choices. Highly recommended!”
Pim van Lommel
Pim van Lommel, Cardiologist, NDE-researcher, Author of Eindeloos bewustzijn.
Journey along with me and let yourself be inspired by alive and kicking ancient wisdoms, pristine wilderness and experience what boundless freedom could mean for you. The book and e-book are available in Dutch at your local bookstore, Bol, Managementboek, Ten Have and other locations.
During my travels across heavy seas, barren deserts and rolling hills, I encountered Aboriginals, Native Americans, Maori’s and Zen teachers. Their old wisdom inspired my wisdom and humbled by the beauty of nature I learned to live in harmony with my inner nature.
As a senior coach I often ask people critical questions, however during my travels I asked those questions to myself and was surprised by the answers I uncovered. In the meantime, I documented my experiences and inspiration in colourful journals.
After a long trip with my green hiking tent through New Zealand and Australia in 2019, I wrote my first story about an exhilarating situation in inland Australia. This story recounts how I ended up stranded on a steep and narrow potholed dirt road when I came to a sudden stop and I was stuck between cliffs on a precarious hilltop. The area was rumoured to be home to venomous snakes. With the sun hot on my face and with the crickets echoing, it became deafeningly silent within me. And with uncharacteristic confidence, I turned the car around.
I later wondered if I had turned or if I had been turned. This question drove the first story: sometimes it’s necessary to turn around, it just might be the return to yourself.
Each story washed up to me, like waves on a beach. Stories about how an Aboriginal painting taught me to look with the eyes of my heart, about a ceremony amongst rattlesnakes with a Native American and about infinite potential while watching English carp and cows.
About being free to pursue the most important things in your life. About being free to remain peaceful no matter what happens. About being free to let your destination find you. After each story, I reflected on my own story. The coach in me asked myself: What did I just experience that could help you?
The book became a magnet: It was the first thing on my mind in the morning as I ran down the stairs to my computer. Yet when my mind decided what I should be writing, I shut down. I learned to truly listen to what wanted to be written, instead of what I wanted to write. A lesson in humility and patience, mainly spent on a wooden stool, in the middle of a nature area in Midden-Delfland.
If I stared out over the top of my screen, I would gaze upon fields with herons, hares and cows. When I ran out of inspiration, I would put on my polka-dotted boots and take a stroll in the orchard or go for a swim in the Schie.
After five months I was able to send my first draft to twelve critical reviewers. With their advice in hand I approached publisher Ten Have. Two weeks later, they invited me to their office in Utrecht and we made it official! ‘Today’s wise lessons from all over the world’ my publisher wrote in their brochure about my book.