Harold Plasterer has been a mechanic, dairy farmer, Ferrier (shoes horses), jockey, and blacksmith among other professions.

HAROLD’S LESSONS:

Don't take yourself too seriously

Don't get caught up in chasing money.

I started out at 12 cleaning stalls in a horse farm and learning how to ride. And from there I did any number of things in the animal industry. I've always connected well with animals, cows, horses, dogs... things like that.

It was like riding a thousand pound rocket with no stop and no go.

I would work two days straight without sleep, just trying to make money, just trying to succeed. And now I'm closer to the “out” gate than I am to the “in” gate, and I see things a little differently… I don't think anybody would write on their tombstone, “I wish I would've worked more.”

If I had to do it over again, I may have gone to college or a trade school or traveled… taken the opportunity to see the world a little bit before I got all caught up in the melee.

I've learned to open my heart. That's what the message is for me on this retreat. It's been over and over again. I feel way more connected than I've probably felt ever in my life.