Role Model-Annemarie Postma

Writer and life-coach, Annemarie Postma has had a chequered career to date. She studied law at University in her native Holland before becoming the first professional European model with a handicap - the result of an untreated tick bite when she was 11 that left her as a partial paraplegic. In 1995, she was featured in Playboy magazine, which resulted in her becoming a sought-after guest on national and international talk shows. Since then, she has developed into a successful publicist and writer, specialising in self-esteem and self-respect which she views as the two aspects at the absolute core of contemporary self-development. She is also goodwill ambassador of the Netherlands Foundation for Handicapped Children.

Terms like ‘disabled’ can’t apply to Annemarie Postma since she is very able to do whatever she sets her mind to, as Claire Gillman discovered

 

Writer and life-coach, Annemarie Postma has had a chequered career to date. She studied law at University in her native Holland before becoming the first professional European model with a handicap - the result of an untreated tick bite when she was 11 that left her as a partial paraplegic. In 1995, she was featured in Playboy magazine, which resulted in her becoming a sought-after guest on national and international talk shows. Since then, she has developed into a successful publicist and writer, specialising in self-esteem and self-respect which she views as the two aspects at the absolute core of contemporary self-development. She is also goodwill ambassador of the Netherlands Foundation for Handicapped Children.

 

At the age of 11, before the untreated tick bite that left you as a partial paraplegic, did you have a vision or dream for the future? Did you realise that dream anyway?

My dream was to create awareness of the way we treat our fellow animals. From as soon as I can remember, I was appalled by the disrespect people show to animals; even domesticated animals – let alone animals in the wild. So way before I got paralyzed, I was very passionate about animal welfare. Every day after school I walked door-to-door with a petition to collect money (for Greenpeace on even days and for a Dutch organisation against vivisection on odd days).

As a child I refused to eat meat because I didn’t want to support the bio industry. The way in which animals were raised, held and kept for our meat consumption reminded me of the concentrations camps in World War II. I always dreamed about working for Greenpeace and the protection of animals. Three years ago I initiated a unique book concept in Holland; I approached all Dutch great authors, columnists and cartoonists to support me with a column, short story or cartoon to protest against seal clubbing. I also asked them to write the same article in the magazine or newspaper that they worked for. The monies raised were reserved for IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) and Bont voor Dieren (Fur for animals). I am an active ambassador for BvD.

 

 

It's an unusual career move to follow a law degree with a career in modelling. How did you cope with the change from a cerebral pathway to one where appearance/looks take primacy?

I started doing modelling to fund my education so it’s not so far fetched as you may think. It was never a change for me actually. Someone who is empathic to the troubles of the world doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who doesn’t like to look good, or feel good or be comfortable in her/his own skin or have a job that has to do with appearance. Inner strength and spirituality do not dismiss any of the beauty in the world including the beauty created by people. So, I love to shop, I love to take care of myself and I love to surround myself with things that I find beautiful. For me, the big change was from being mobile to getting less mobile, from being psychically totally free to being physically less free.

The key to all of this is self consciousness. Don’t forget: whatever I wear people always notice me; I can never hide. From that point of view, I’m always naked. A beautiful top model can hide behind sunglasses and a hooded sweater after a bad night. But how would I hide? Since childhood, people have always noticed, or recognized me - no matter how big my sunglasses are. When you have a handicap like this, you get to be very self-conscious because you are made aware by those around you and by your surroundings that you are ‘different’. And most models experience that feeling for the first time when, for example, they take their clothes off and pose for a magazine like Playboy. You have to realize that when you are disabled, this self-consciousness is part of your daily life; you’re never invisible.

Research shows that this is the reason so many woman in a wheelchair (or with other visible handicaps) are basically more comfortable in their own skin than most of the women with ‘normal’ and perfectly functioning bodies.

 

As the first professional European model with a handicap, did you have any doubts about doing the Playboy shoot in 1995? Was your decision influenced at all by your discovery of The Path (exploring the bridge between psychotherapy and spirituality) in 1994?

No, I know and love the work of Eva Pierrakos very well and studied the Path since I was very young, but her work has nothing to do with that. It’s who I am. I may be ‘disabled’ but I do not hold any boundaries about reality in my mind. In my reality anything is possible. This happened to appear on my path and I grabbed it with both hands, because it seemed like a fun thing to do and it also seemed important to do it – to show other people that the only real boundaries that exist are the boundaries in our heads. This is how I live my life. I don’t think that there is anything that I want to do that I can’t.

When did you first become interested in self-development and teaching it to others? And what prompted your special interest in self-esteem and self-respect in particular?

About a zillion lifetimes ago? (laughs) We are spiritual beings who come to this earth to become human. I’ve been aware of this truth ever since I can remember. My special interest in self-esteem grew during my almost five year rehabilitation treatment. I soon found that my dreams were more and more determined by what the people around me thought was possible for me, given the circumstances. This did not feel right to me. And I was supported in this by my parents, especially by my mother. She has always supported me in staying true to myself, wearing my fate with grace and dignity, having faith in what life had in store for me and the meaning of all that was happening to me, and never giving up on my life goals - disability or no disability.

It was at this time that I became aware that this outlook on my situation, life and future was pretty unique. Most people around me were led by their disability. In order to sustain my life path I could not rely any more on others and on what was common or the ‘standard’. So it was from this moment on that I was on my own and I was confronted with my own level of self-esteem as the means to fulfilling my dreams. On this path of self discovery, which mostly focussed on my own goals and means, more and more people were asking me how I was doing this. I’m not a born teacher and never aimed to be one - but there was no way of avoiding it on my life path. So I wrote my first self-esteem book which became a huge bestseller here in Holland. Can you believe that last year my 11^th book was published? And that The Deeper Secret is now conquering the world?

 

You see mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health as inextricably linked to one another.  If you are guilty of neglecting one of these aspects of holistic health, which would it be? Or do you concentrate more on one aspect than the others?

My focus lies on my spiritual health. I feel that mental and physical health are highly over-rated. You should feel at home and at ease within your life and within your body. Whatever that life throws at you or whatever problems you may have with your body. Consciousness is much more exciting than a body! And the intelligence of the heart is much more accurate and reliable than mental intellect.

 

If your life's purpose has been to help people gain an insight into self-understanding and ways to realize their true dreams, how has your handicap helped you to fulfil that purpose?

My disability created a tremendous focus on my life goals, and adds power and strength and credibility to my presence. And therefore I became a ‘role model’ or an example for many people - even though it took me a while to realize this myself.

You stress in The Deeper Secret the need to know ourselves fully before we can achieve our dreams. For those who have been on a pathway of self-development for many years, what is the crucial point that they have been missing?

Acceptance. Focus should move from ‘change is necessary to become happy or fulfilled’ to ‘acceptance and surrender to reality’. It’s not about what we want from life but what life wants from us! When we are busy changing life’s reality, we are blindsiding ourselves from this truth. Things don’t have to get better to be good. It’s good already. Usually we just don’t know it because of all our ideas and concepts of what reality should be.

 

The Twelve Laws of Creation that you describe in the book build on the concepts of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which in turn were inspired by an ancient book. Do you think that the Ancients had a closer understanding of spirituality and are we any closer to rediscovering our link to the Divine in the present day?

The Secret was in the first place of course never a secret really at all. The reason why we don’t understand Universal laws like for example the Law of Attraction any more lies in the history of the development of mankind. In past decades, we developed ourselves more and more in a ‘mental’ direction, the technique and illusion that we could control and give direction to life with it. This is why we lost contact with the deeper source of knowledge and wisdom in ourselves and we lost contact with our real creative strength and inner power. We lost contact with the intelligence of the heart and our intuition and therefore lost contact with our deeper knowledge which could have helped us in every situation, at any time.

You can compare it with the development of a person: for a very young child the world is full of magic, and what happens in fairytales seems like the most normal thing in the world. But when we grow up, we become more and more alienated from the intuitive and imaginary world. But, in reality, life is much more magical than we think. The only problem is that we have lost contact with its magic and wonders. We are becoming more and more aware of the fact that the visible world is just a small part of our existence. Just because we cannot register something with our eyes doesn’t imply that something doesn’t exist. We make the same mistake people in the early days made when they said that bacteria didn’t exist; bacteria were not visible so therefore they were not actually there!

The Law of Attraction is one of the laws of creation that is part of that lost world. I think we are indeed getting closer to rediscovering our true nature and reconnecting with our real strength and knowledge. So many people right now are unsatisfied and are asking themselves questions like: who am I, why am I here? How can I make my life more meaningful, how can I deepen my everyday life? How can I find or follow my real passion and find my real life purpose? I think al lot of people in the world right now, know that there is more to life than what we can touch and see, that we’re part of a bigger picture. A lot of people right now are ready for a wider, more complete look at life and their lives and themselves. And… are aware of the urgency to do so. The world, nature and animals are in desperate need of our spiritual awareness, of a deeper understanding of what life is and how everything and every creature on this earth is in fact linked with each other.

 

As a goodwill ambassador of the Netherlands Foundation for Handicapped Children, what do you enjoy most about the work? And have the children taught you anything?

I’m happy to see that because of the way I live my life and just for being myself and going my own way against all the odds, handicapped children are inspired to find their own strength and to claim their right for existence. Especially handicapped girls who don’t have so many role models (I didn’t have one when I got in a wheelchair).

It’s very important for handicapped children that they learn to accept (and make peace with) their limitations and it’s important to speak to their inner strength and power. I know how important it is to make every child feel welcome in the world – however ‘imperfect’ their appearance may look, or whatever difficulties their body may have.

It’s so important that they too can be an unconditional and light-hearted child and that they are able to participate. Children with a disability have, like every child, the right to be able to develop themselves. It’s as important for them as for any other child. In fact, they’re already ‘locked up’ in a limited body. Therefore it’s very important to make the world as big as possible for them. In that there is still a lot that we have to conquer and a lot of barriers to overcome, and don’t forget… preconceived opinions to break. I hope I contribute to that by just doing what I’m doing and living my life.

Handicapped children teach me every day that people don’t have handicaps for nothing, that failures of nature don’t exist. Almost all parents I know with a handicapped child are grateful, and say that their child is the best ‘teacher’ they could possibly think of in showing them how to let go of their old beliefs or views on life, and how they have enabled them to deepen their lives and have given their life more meaning.

 

To what do you ascribe your boundless energy and zest for life?

First of all: I have a very healthy lifestyle; I eat very healthily, I swim a lot, and every day I spend hours outside in the woods where we live with our dogs. And I am very careful with the thoughts that I think and the people I let in. Also thoughts are healthy or ‘junk’ food and also people are healthy or ‘junk’ food. (I wrote two books about this lifestyle because I got so many questions the last few years about how I could stay healthy and at my natural weight in spite of a ‘sitting’ life.)

And I think most of all my zest for life comes from my love for life and reality, and I fuel my life with my own energy. Energy-wise I’m self-supporting and not dependent on others or things outside myself. Besides that, I don’t waste energy on resistance. I don’t fight reality, and that saves a lot of energy!

Do you have any other projects on the go at the moment?

I’ve also written The Deeper secret of love, and there’s going to be a beautiful gift set of Deeper Secret Coaching Cards. And another book of mine is also due to be published; it’s entitled Questions for a stubborn soul – the power of no-nonsense spirituality.

More information

Annemarie Postma’s latest book, The Deeper Secret (Duncan Baird, £12.99) is out now.

For more information about the book and author, go to www.thedeepersecret.nl/english.htm

(ends)

 

by Claire Gillman
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