Live and Follow Your Heart

Kris Kolff moved from the Netherlands to New Zealand with his parents when he was eight years old. Growing up in Lower Mouttere and having parents who modeled an active life style shaped his character before he left for his university years.

Kris Kolff moved from the Netherlands to New Zealand with his parents when he was eight years old. Growing up in Lower Mouttere and having parents who modelled an active life style shaped his character before he left for his university years.

Tramps in the mountains with his father and brothers provided the impetus for fostering the physical aspect of his life, while his mother, who was more cerebral, provided the impetus for him to foster his intellectual side. He feels at home with both sides but prefers staying in touch with the land.

Kris lived abroad for part of his early adult years, including 13 years in Australia, 1 ½ years in Indonesia, and 3 years in Colorado. He then chose to return to the Nelson area where he has lived ever since.

“Life is to be lived fully and accepting with grace what comes our way,” according to Kris, who has had many diverse experiences, including being a Rajneeshi, a member of the Riverside community, caring for his partner who struggled with MS, and, currently, being a member of a group of people living on the land in the Motueka area.

How does a life like this happen? “It has always seemed obvious some how, even when there have been radical turns in my life. It just seemed like the obvious next step. I’ve reflected on it a number of times. Looking backwards it always seems like I wanted to do that. “It is a bit of a mystery. It fascinates me how it happens.”

“Somehow within me or through people near me, it seems like the obvious next step. For example, when I was in my twenties I was very involved in radical politics. I was invulnerable. I was young and changing the world. It was obvious. Then I was in the academic world, but after a life-changing experience in Java, it was clear I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life in academia. With my wife at that time, we said let’s go back to New Zealand. We knew people at Riverside, so we got a house there. It didn’t work out for us. It wasn’t our place, so what’s next? While renting an old house in Dovedale, the land fell into our laps. It was only $3,000 for 17 acres. It soon became a community. It always seems to be obvious.”

Kris has always looked younger than his chronological years. “I realised somewhere in my 50s that I was cultivating being strong, looking younger than I was, things like that. It was a matter of pride. But after a while I began to say, you may look young, but you are growing older. I just accept that I’m getting older and I’m enjoying it.”

“My wife died about six months ago after many years of disability around MS. I was looking after her more and more over the last 10 years. She was the main focus in my life over this time. I’m realising that my life is going to be quite different in some ways. But in other ways, it will be a clear continuation. Over the last 2 years, I’ve lived with very good friends in the Motueka Valley where I’ve felt the happiest in my life. I love the kids there.”

“There is a deep feeling for the child within me. I want to let it out and heal. Others around me are helping me do that. He was wounded somehow, but now he is being healed.”

Kris believes that life is about living well and being passionate about what you do. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes me come alive and then go and do that. That sums up an important part of me. The world doesn’t need people who are doing good. What the world needs is people who are alive and following their hearts.”

Read more from Agewell. 

By Mike Milstein.

 

Note: This article was published in The Leader, Nelson, NZ. It summarises an interview aired on Nelson’s Fresh FM that was conducted by Annie Henry for the Conscious Ageing Network (CAN), which is sponsored by Age Concern, Nelson. If you want to share your thoughts with CAN or wish to know when interviews will be aired, send an email to agewell@xtra.co.nz