EVE IN PARADISE
Iara
I am Brazilian and from Rio Grande do Sul, my mother gave birth to me in Ijuí, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, on December 12, 1975. Ahead of her time, a strong, empowered woman, a History teacher with a very critical look at what was coming written in books, sought to give a much more realistic vision to his students. I hope to one day be half the woman she is.
My father, for many years was a priest in the Catholic Church and left the cassock to start a family, and only for that reason my brother and I are on this earthly backdrop.
Pelotas was the city where I spent most of my childhood and adolescence, where at the age of 15 I found the other half of me, who in this incarnation is called Marcelito.
By an irony of fate, Octávio Steffens (my father) became a meditator and in 1998 he discovered this place called Colina do Sol, a hill in the interior of the state, the city of Taquara. A charming village that covers the entire top of the hill, wooden cabins in the middle of nature, with lakes, trails and breathtaking views of the mountains.
Three years later our first and only child, Yago, was born, I could see all the truth of the universe in his dark brown eyes. Son of this hill of magical energy. There our family of three is complete.
Since then our family lives in this place, which follows the naturist philosophy. Where we can walk naked feeling every vibration that makes this place pulsate. We look into each other's eyes and every feeling comes from our hearts, no labels, just impressions.
My brother bought a piece of land in the heart of this community, with a hotel, restaurant and a condominium of houses under construction where I am the designer and interior designer by profession with joy! And this complex is called Ubuntu. Said the very philosophy that we follow here.
In these last few years with such a beautiful connection to mother earth, an observer of her cycles, I ended up with a much greater connection to our universe.
I can count on my fingers the number of people who really know me inside and out. If you're a friend, you're family. When I love, I love relentlessly. fiercely. without apologizing. I am a depression survivor.
For many years I thought there was no place in this world for me. Today I wake up every morning and I am grateful that I found this place. Wounds turn into wildflowers in time. When I was a little girl, all I wanted was to be pretty when I grew up.
I didn't see myself as I really was, I always thought I was inferior to other girls, fifth grade was the loneliest year of my life. I made the bathrooms my safe haven during the day, my diary my refuge at night.
I learned to belong to myself. Seeing every inch of my being through the eyes of unconditional compassion, and that enlightenment gradually grew until it became my living reflection in everything around me.
Each of us is on a journey of becoming what we already are.
So I became my own refuge. I became my own home.
