Biography of Fred Freitag
I remember the dreams and desires of my childhood when I roamed the forest of the nearby mountains, watching out for deer, rabbits and squirrels.
Sometimes I was sitting by a creek for hours and waited for animals to come by and I never felt bored or lonely. I imagined to travel to far away places like Africa or America and dreamed of lakes surrounded by wilderness and big Rivers nobody had paddled before.
I dreamed to become a poet, a writer and explorer and everything seemed to be possible to me.
At the age of eighteen I had received my diploma from the hotel business school and my parents sent me enough money to buy a new bicycle and camping gear to cross the Alps and see Italy. The taste of freedom was overwhelming. When I reached Florence,
I had written my first four songs and played them on my guitar. Even I had run out of money before I decided to return, I did not worry. Every evening when I met people, they wanted to hear me sing and they always gave me some food. Italian people have a big heart. I wanted to find sweetness in hard times of life- and I found it in my Gratitude.
The next summer my friend and I paddled our kayaks down the Adige through Italy and into the Adriatic Sea. We crush-landed in a storm on the rocky coast of Croatia, sent the foldable kayaks home and continued our trip to Rome, Pisa and Nice back home over Switzerland.
I worked in my parents’ hotel in Altena for two years and then took my kayak to the Baltic Sea. From the island Femarn I had to get used to take eight foot high waves broadside and paddled to Denmark and across the Koege Bay to Sweden. Then I hitchhiked to Stockholm, worked for six weeks and took the train to Finland and Narvik in Norway. I also had visited some Reindeer herders in the Tundra and bought two Reindeer skins and a nice set of antlers to decorate my packsack with.- According to plan, I met my friend, Heckens, in Copenhagen. When we saw the Guldfoss getting ready for the last trip to Iceland, we boarded the ship without any discussion. We just laughed as we bought the tickets. In Reykjavik we soon found jobs and stayed there over winter.
After returning to our home town we both worked for a whole year and saved very hard. Then we traveled to Chalon sur Soane. From there we paddled the rivers Soane and Rhone through France and to the Mediterranean Sea. In Saint Marie de la Mer we enjoyed the Gypsy Festival. We loved their music and dances and sensed their love for freedom.
In the old, crowded restaurant two men lifted a ten year old boy onto the table and cheered “canta, canta!” He wore rubber boots and a jacked that would perhaps fit his father. Suddenly there was silence and the boy stretched his hands forward and started to sing. From his expressions I felt that it was a song about his home country. His voice was an unbelievable belcanto tenor and reminded me of Mario Lanza. The young boy sang two more songs and all eyes were filled with tears.- Impressions like these motivated me years later to write three Gypsy songs: “The Gypsy Song”, “A Gypsy’s Love is Music” and “Dreams are Treasures in a Gypsy’s Heart”.
My own treasures were made of Dreams of adventures, my kayak and my guitar.- We continued our kayak trip past Marseille and along the exotic, rugged Costa Brava. In Barcelona we enjoyed our stay for a few days and appreciated Spanish gourmet dinners and excellent choices of red wine.
After we had traveled through the Swiss Alps to Lake Konstanz, we continued our kayak trip over the lake and about 400 miles down the Rhine to Cologne.
The next two years I worked without a vacation, yet the dreams of my childhood were still on my mind. I had made the decision to emigrate to Canada.
When I boarded the Arcadia, my intentions had somewhat normalized: I wanted to work hard, buy a house and have my own business before looking at any pretty woman. I held on to this decision for at least three days. When I met Renate, my future wife, a new dream started to emerge and we worked the next summer in Banff, Alberta. By the end of the season I had bought another kayak and we paddled the Bow River to Calgary together. The next five month we spent mainly in Mazatlan and Acapulco and joined a group of sporty people to venture all over Mexico.
In spring we settled in Toronto and worked in the hotel business for almost twelve years. During this time I bought another kayak and together with our friend Konrad we ventured an expedition from Whitehorse on the Yukon, Blackstone, Peel and Mackenzie River to Tuktoyaktuk at the Arctic Ocean.
The adventures of this 1,700 mile trip included several close calls for each of us but miraculously we survived. All of us are still convinced that we were Spiritually guided on nine occasions that prevented us from disaster with precise timing. Six times it saved our lives!
We moved to Scarborough and got married in the historic church in Myrtle, Ontario. Then we bought our first house just before our daughter, Christine was born.
During the following years I made a 16 mm film about the Canadian Rockies that also involved our three kayaks. Six years later we sold our house and moved to Vancouver Island. Near Campbell River we bought some property where I built a house and workshop.
There I designed and built 33 fiberglass boats. Life seemed to be great until I had an accident that disabled me for six years.
In order to recover from a spinal injury that caused multiple complications, we sold our paradise by the sea and bought a hobby farm in Sicamous, BC and started a health-food store.- We entered another era
of learning about health, nerve- and brain function, healing foods and the power of belief in a purpose. I studied many books and also practiced Acupressure. A chiropractor who treated the cause instead of the symptoms managed to correct my spinal condition. (Nucca.org) This brought me to a state of Gratitude, Joy and Enthusiasm and my wife had build up the business to be successful. Four years of hard work resulted in a short success because the logging and lumber industry shut down and most stores in the area were closing down. With a car load of basic possessions we drove to Victoria on Vancouver Island and started a new life once again. Gratitude still filled our heart when we enjoyed our Christmas dinner that year: Two turkey legs, a baked potato and some broccoli.-
We soon found jobs and I made good use of the new pen and writing pad my wife had given me as Christmas gift. I realized that the value of a gift includes all what one can create with it. I began writing poems and songs and wrote narration scripts for my next two video projects. It took me three years to shoot, edit and produce “I Love Victoria” and “Among Orcas and Sea Lions”. The last one is now available on DVD. Fifteen of my best poems are also available on DVD under the title “Yukon Memories and Dreamland Poetry”. I also produced two CDs with songs I had composed: “Island Breezes” and “If Your Soul is like an Island”.
My new Board Game “Conquer Mount Everest” includes copies of my poem “The Summit of Mount Everest” and will excite you with twenty-one authentic climber stories.
Then I wrote two Children Stories: “On Hills and Meadows by the River” and “The Grizzly Bear that Hitched a Ride”. Both are now combined on a CD and include background music and animal sounds. I will soon make all of these audio and video creations downloadable at Learn Out Loud.
But first and foremost I want to emphasize my audio presentation “YOUR MIND IS A RADIO TRANSMITTER”. I feel it is my purpose to share with you the evidence of Inner Guidance I experienced on my Arctic kayak expedition to give you a better understanding of The Law of Attraction, including the WHY and HOW
and help you to become successful in your life. I have worked on this project for three years and enjoyed every minute of it.
I am concluding this biography with my latest poem to share some thoughts with you:
Where Wilderness endured the Ages
Where wilderness endured the ages;
where trees and flowers greet the sea
I’ve listened to waves that whispered
while gentle thoughts found poetry.
I’m grateful for the rugged shorelines
where the seals and otters play.
I love the view of pretty islands
and the sailboats in the bay.
It takes some patience to discover
the hidden treasures everywhere.
With Love and Gratitude we’ll find them;
I know because I’ve anchored there.
All rivers I had ever paddled,
have never failed to find the sea.
My father told me an old secret:
All rivers go the lower way.
Far from emotions of my ego
I discovered things I love.
In Harmony I’ve found my purpose
like in a vision from above.
I’m telling folks to watch their focus
so they’ll attract their greatest goal.
Yes, their belief shall move their burdens
and find true Harmony in all.
Fred Freitag