Gan Habait - My second home

     What conditions make you peaceful inside? Where do you let your mind feel free? Breathe deeply and imagine this calming place...

I have found my heaven on Earth in the northern part of Israel. Today I would like to introduce to you an unique place - Gan Habait. It is an organic farm based on variety of fruits, vegetables and love for the people in need. The name of the farm means "Home Garden" and describes it perfectly.

What is so beautiful about this place and why did I fall in love in it? 

The first thing would be THE IDEA. The farm was established over 10 years ago in collaboration with kibbutz Harduf which runs a therapeutic house for the people with mental issues and diseases. Inhabitants of the kibbutz follow the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner - antroposophy. Here you can get many detailed information about this philosophy of freedom. 
 https://waldorfanswers.org/Anthroposophy.htm

Thanks to that very specific way of looking on our life, education, agriculture and universe itself, people that create Gan Habait farm seem to have some kind of inner peace and understanding of general truth.. I have never felt so much acceptance of who I am as I did during this few weeks that I volunteered there.

As volunteer in Gan Habait you have to work 6 hours a day from 6 a.m., so every morning you have a possibility to appreciate beautiful rising of the sun above the green hills that are surrounding the area. Actually, to APPRECIATE is what you do there the most. While picking strawberries or beetroots, planting lettuce, ginger or tomatoes, weeding vegetable patches you learn communing with nature in its purest form. Everything that grows from this healthy soil which has no idea what pesticides are, is full of freshness and distinct taste and smell that we won't find in anything that appears on shelves in our supermarkets. It was my first experience of working on a farm and I have to admitt, that I would have never thought that I would like this dirty job. Each day you finish being fully covered with mud, sweat and dirt that goes deep under your nails and sticks into your hair. But somehow, because of pureness and simplicity of kneeling between plants and giving them attention, you become calmer. You can get into very meditative state of mind that is being deepened by breathing fresh air and seeing bright colours everywhere you look.

 I would recommend every single person that doesn't have close contact with nature in everyday life, to give yourself the experience of really touching and carrying about plants, watching them grow and blossom in front of your eyes. 

Besides all of the great nature experience, there is also an unique human nature exploration that you can open yourself too. First - in this "Home Garden" you can take time for yourself and notice how your body and mind are working when there is no stimulus from the outside world. No television, no radio, no commercials, no billboards. Only sky, soil and plants in their full colour palette. 

What are you thinking about when there is no worries? What do you feel when nothing is taking your attention? How big diversity of sound can you hear when there is no hustle-bustle around? Will you just smile to yourself seeing all this beauty?

The best part of Gan Habait experience I left for the end, when I hope you already have a feeling of this place. 

Rudolph Steiner gave hundreds of lectures to expose his philosophy to the wider audience. Some of them were touching the subject of mental issues as depression, schisofrenia etc. What he advises is to help the people with this kind of problems not only with psychotherapy. This is why on this extraordinary farm there are people that use the contact with nature in order to clear and soften their minds. To have a "nature therapy". It was amazing and unusual to spend time with people that in regular conditions could be seen as "crazy". In fact, after having some long conversations with the ones that wanted to make contact with me, I can say without doubts, that they were more "normal" then most of the humans living their fast and furious lives. Why is that? 

HONESTY - this is what touched me the most in all of the participants of treatment in Hiram (which is a therapeutic center that sends their patients to Gan Habait). It is not that common to hear people expressing their needs and fears openly, in front of the group or people they have just met. While working with them I heard many times: "Be honest, with us you can". Thanks to their openness to every emotion or state, I felt comfortable with speaking about my personal fears and wonders and I felt understood. During our conversations I also learned how to really listen, sometimes to the stories that weren't easy to handle, because my working buddies had long-term depression, traumas after military service, huge fears. What I also heard from them a lot is that this work on the farm was helping them to find inner peace, calm down and rest. That they feel better after contact with plants. I felt it too! I believe there is something about love awakening inside of you when you take care of any life form. And love is what sooths us and makes us want to keep going.

Getting to know people from Hiram, which some of them I can now call friends, was a huge lesson about how each one of us just wants to be noticed for who we really are deep inside. That the troubles we are facing have influence on us, but they don't have to outshine our interests, knowledge or hobbies. Seeing all this people creating a strong supporting family where everyone can feel how they feel and act how they want, restored my faith in human spirit.

I've spend in Gan Habait around four weeks in total and I am sure that I will be coming back there each time I will visit Israel. This farm is an asylum and second home for me and for many that need an uplifting power of nature. The message that goes from there is to notice the beauty, appreciate all kinds of feelings and wanting to meet new people without judging from the beggining but being interested of their true essence. 

Thank you Gan Habait, you've changed my life :>

What are the life-changing places for you? Are there places that helped you to understand yourself more? I am really curious about your experiences! Leave a comment with your story, let's share the good destinations :)

Today I want to recommend a movie that reminds us that we are all HUMANS. Despite different nationalities we all FEEL the same. Watch it and share it with at least one person, so that we spread the good thought :>

"Human" - documentary movie from 2015

"Human"